Thursday

CVSing: Everything you need to know to Succeed at it!

Ready to shop successfully at CVS? First thing you need to know is their coupon policy. Read it, print it, learn it, shop with it...click here to print the CVS Coupon Policy.

Next CVS You will need an extracare card to participate and be able to earn CVS extracare bucks or ECB’s; this is their customer loyalty program called ExtraCare. Just pick up one of these cards the next time you are in the store, and start earning ECBs then.

If you already have a card then give them your email address and they will email you a coupon that will get you started, and they will continue to email you great coupons every week or so. You can also scan your card at the red coupon printing kiosk (pictured above) in most stores to get additional coupons.

The Extracare program is a customer loyalty program like most grocery stores. You always have to show your extracare card to receive the benefits. The program does not save you money off normal prices; however, what it does is reward you after your purchase with Extracare bucks that print on your receipt that you can then use on your very next purchase.

Each week look at the sales ad or come here to Swappin Spoons to see what items are producing these Extracare Bucks; most of the time when an item produces an Extracare Bucks that item will end up being free!

Example:
Go into CVS and buy 1 of the free after ECB items. (The first time you do this you will actually pay real money – so for the very first time it is technically not free but from here on it will be.)

Here's a little scenario for you::
Buy 1 Listerine Smart Mouth Rinse at $3.49
You pay $3.49 plus tax
On your receipt it will print an ECB for $3.49 that you can use on you very next trip.

You can even walk back to the tooth care isle grab another bottle walk up to the counter, hand them you next bottle and hand them your ECB from your last purchase. You might owe a penny depending on your state tax system, and on your receipt will print another ECB for the same $3.49. You can continue this cycle of handing them play money until you either reach your limit for the item or the cows come home if you keep grabbing free items.

Pretty good huh? But wait it gets better...Remember that coupon they emailed you when you signed up?

Let’s take a look at scenario #1 and this time you checked here on Swappin' Spoons and got prepared for the deals before you went. You walk in for your very first trip with multiple coupons in hand and a shopping list.

You buy:
2 Listerine Rinses at $XX each (produces ECBs)(Limit 2 ECB deals)
2 Head and Shoulder's shampoos at $XX each (produces ECBs) (Limit 2 ECB deals)
You Total, $20.96

You have your CVS store coupon (from the email) for $4 off $20 and you have (2) $1.00 off Listerine coupons you printed and two $1 coupon for the shampoo.

You pay 12.96, plus tax, after all your coupons(this is your first trip, so you pay with real money)

It will print the full value of ECBs on your receipt so you now have 20.96 in ECBs!!! These ECB will be in the amounts totaling the different products that you bought. You can again use these right away if you like or just use them before the expire.

Now with your $20.96 in ECBs in hand you can go back in and buy 2 more of each of those items pay with you new CVS ECB’s and again at the end of that receipt it will print another $20.96!

A few rules to always follow:
•Make sure you always give them a Dollar off coupons first (like the $4 off $20) before manufacturers coupons. In the example above had I used the manufacturers coupons first the total would have been less 20 dollars.
•Always have a list of exactly what is free, sometimes it is very specific items and you want to make sure you are getting the right things.
•If you are using a $4 off $20 or type of coupon like that make sure you have a few backup plans to hit your $20 in case your CVS is out of something.
•Take a calculator to help you quickly add up your total to make sure you are going to have the right amount for you ECB’s to cover it.
•You need to always make sure that what you are buying is equal to your ECB’s or a little more (pennies). You can pay for $4 worth of items with $5 in ECB but you are losing money that way and don’t really want to do that. So find some filler items that you like, a pack of gum, knee highs, notebooks, clearance items---there are lots of options.

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