Couponing at CVS

Couponing at CVS is such a blessing to me; they have so many great deals on health and beauty products that this is usually where I get everything from toothbrushes to vitamins. I have more of a problem getting good deals on food as the CVS I shop at doesn’t have a very big or massively stocked grocery section. But I do get to store as early as possible the day the sale starts because (as I’ve learned the hard way) hot health and beauty deals get the shelves cleared very fast. I could always sleep in on Sundays and get rain checks, but I would just rather be the first in the store and walking out with my bags full of goodies!

The first step to successful couponing at CVS is to get yourself a CVS ExtraCare card. You can sign up in store or online by clicking here. If you do sign up online, they will give you your card number so you can start using it immediately until your permanent card arrives in the mail. Use this card EVERY time you go to CVS and you’ll start to see the savings immediately.

The card takes off a little bit of money on everything you buy and gives you the discounted prices if something is on sale. I’m also pretty sure that if something is on clearance, you can’t get the clearance price without the card. (I’m not 100% on that, but in my experience when they ring the item up before my card it rings up at full retail until after they swipe my card.) You also get 2% back in ExtraCare Bucks quarterly for whatever money you spend in store. In addition to all these goodies, when you swipe your CVS card at the kiosk in store it spits out store coupons for you which are sometimes very high value! Basically, if you’re going to shop at CVS you HAVE to have this card.

Another little addition to the greatness of CVS is the Green Bag Tag. You can find these at the register (they look like little leaves) and cost about $1 to get one. Attach this to any reusable bag (I have an actual CVS bag just so I can remember that at CVS I use the tag, instead of picking up a random bag and it not having the tag on it), bring the bag with you every time you shop at CVS and every time you use this bag instead of a plastic one, the green bag tag will be swiped. Every four swipes, you get $1 ExtraCare Buck! So basically CVS is paying you to be green! However, even if you make two trips to CVS in one day, you can only earn one point per day.

** A little tip: When you first get your permanent card swipe it at the kiosk and it usually spits out a coupon for money off a green bag tag!**

One more fun thing that earns you extra ExtraCare Bucks is the Beauty Club. In the makeup section of CVS you will find tearpads with the Beauty Club signup info on them; just tear one off and take it with you when you checkout. It doesn’t cost anything to you and you only have to scan it once and you’re in! Here’s how it works:

For every $50 you spend on beauty products, you get $5 back in ECBs! It works on items you are already getting ExtraBucks back for and clearance items as well! I just got a deal where I found four bottles of Pantene shampoo on clearance for $1.49 a bottle and I had two $3/2 Pantene coupons, so my OOP cost was $0, plus I got an unexpected $6 in ECBs back and $5.96 went on the register towards Beauty Club! This is also a must have goody at CVS!

When shopping at CVS you can use three types of coupons on one item: a manufacturer coupon, a store coupon and your ExtraCare Bucks from CVS. You can also EARN ExtraCare Bucks on items you use coupons, which is the perfect example of another way to make “money” at CVS. For example;

Centrum Pronutrients Bottles on sale for $9.99, buy two and get $7 ExtraCare Bucks

Buy 2 for $19.98

Use 2 $5/1 manufacturer coupons

Use 1 $5/1 CVS store coupon

Receive $7 ExtraCare Bucks

Final Price: FREE + $2.02 moneymaker!

CVS also has a great promotion they usually run which is the “Spend $30, Get $10 CVS Cash Card”. Still rolling with the Centrum product (since this was a very hot deal a couple weeks ago) here’s a second example of how to make money with a Cash Card promotion;

Centrum Pronutrients Bottles on sale for $9.99, participating Spend $30, Get $10

Buy 3 for $29.97 (being this close to $30, should trigger the $10 Cash Card coupon)

Use 3 $7/1 Centrum Pronutrients manufacturer coupon

Use 1 $5/1 Centrum Pronutrients CVS coupon

Pay $3.97 OOP

Final Price: FREE + $6.03 moneymaker!

**Another plus about these Cash Card deals; when you find one that’s a super hot deal like this, you can roll it five times before the Cash Card will reach its limit on your account!**

The final thing (well, not absolutely final, but the last thing I will mention in this post) about CVS is that you can use your earned ExtraBucks to cut down on your OOP costs. For example:

Skinny Cow Dreamy Cluster Boxed Candy, on sale for $4.00, receive $2 ECB

Use $1/1 Skinny Cow manufacturer coupon

Use $1/1 Skinny Cow CVS coupon

Use $2 ECB (earned in previous transaction)

Pay $0 OOP

Receive $2 ECB

Final Price: FREE!

As you coupon more and more, you’ll get a good grip on these concepts. I had one heck of a time understanding all this until I went hands-on. So try a couple deals and promise me you won’t beat yourself up if it didn’t go as well as planned; a lot of my first tries were duds. Moreover, once in awhile we all mess up, and that’s ok too!