Making Money at CVS

My biggest and proudest moment at CVS was when I spent a little bit over $ 3 dollars on products worth $301.10 dollars. In no time you too will be able to save just as much at CVS and this is how we are going to do it. Let’s say that CVS is running a special on Colgate toothpaste, buy one at $3.49 and get 3.49 ECB, and in small print it is noted limit 5 per household. This means that you will pay out of pocket $3.49 and CVS will give you at the end of your receipt 3.49 Extra Care Bucks to use on your next purchase (expiration date on the ECB is listed on the coupon). ECB can be treated as real money at CVS and any item can be purchased with them. Now, since the ad stated that you can purchase 5 tubes of toothpaste per household, this means that you can reuse the same 3.49 ECB to purchase 4 more tubes of toothpaste at no cost to you! At the end, you spent $3.49 out of pocket, purchased five tubes of toothpaste and left with 3.49 ECB to use on your next purchase. The trick of using ECB is to keep on rolling over the free money before it expires, which will allow you to purchase discounted items or score free items. CVS has an item almost every week that is free after Extra Care Bucks. Sure, you initially might have to invest $20 out of pocket to gain ECB money, but it is all worth it in the end.

Now that you have invested in ECB, you are ready to make money at CVS. Let’s use the same scenario with the toothpaste. You are purchasing Colgate toothpaste that cost $3.49 and you have $1.50 manufacturing coupon that you clipped from your Sunday paper inserts. Now you will only have to pay $2 dollars out of pocket and CVS will award you with 3.49 ECB. I call these transactions, playing a CVS game. So if I have five $1.50 manufacturing coupons, when rolling my ECB from one transaction to another I can pick up a pack of gum for $1.50 to make up the difference and pay nothing out of pocket. This means when I hand over one tube of toothpaste and one pack of gum, my total would come to $5 dollars. I then hand over $1.50 coupon for toothpaste that brings my total down to $3.50 plus I have 3.49 ECB this means that my purchase is free. However, please note that you do have to pay taxes on the items that you purchase and ECB do not cover it.

Since I have acquired so many free items by playing CVS game that I now utilize my ECB each week on free items. When I make extra ECB by combining sale with coupons, I save the bucks and then redeem them for items that we need. For example, I paid only tax for two boxes of trash bags because I had extra ECB that I needed to spend. I hope that now you feel confident in shopping at CVS and making ECB to cover your needs and wants. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at tightwadintraining @ gmail . com (remove spaces).

Ten Steps to Saving Money at CVS - Part 2

Yesterday we talk about the first 5 steps that will help you save money at CVS and today we will continue to talk about the last 5 steps that will help you maximize your savings.

6) Get to know your cashier and please be nice to them

Cashier can be your best friend or your worst enemy, when it comes to coupons. I am always nice to all my cashiers because I can only imagine what goes through their mind when I present 20 coupons for them to scan. Most of them do not mind and I always try to make their scanning job as painless as possible. If you nice to your cashier, they will be nice back to you. My favorite CVS is about 20-25 minutes away, which is 10 minutes further from the CVS that is closer to our house. I do not mind driving 10 extra minutes because I love customer service and I got to know the manger of the store, who is super nice and always there to help. When you do establish your favorite store in which you like to shop, give a call to customer service and let them know about your pleasant experience. Sales personnel at the store work hard to please you (customer) and deserve the recognition from time to time.

7) You can shop at CVS on Saturday for the upcoming Sunday’s deals.

The sales cycle at CVS starts on Sunday. However, most stores switch to Sunday sales on Saturday around lunch time. This means that on Saturday you can score this week’s and next week’s sales. Check with your local CVS to find out when they switch to next weeks sales. When I walk into the store on Saturday, I ask for the upcoming week’s sales paper just to make sure that I grab the right size item that CVS advertises. You can also visit www.iheartcvs.com to have a sneak peak of upcoming sales.

8) Always stop by the Red Coupon Machine

Most CVS stores around the US now have the red coupon machines. As soon as I walk in to the store, I scan my card and it prints coupons. The best part about shopping at CVS is that I can combine store coupons with manufacturing coupons. For example, when I recently scanned my card, I received a store coupon for $7 dollars off $20 dollars purchase of Revlon products. The following week CVS had B1G1 sale on their Revlon line, plus I had $2 dollars off any Revlon product coupon. I used $7 dollars off $20 dollars off coupon combined with several $2 dollars off manufacturing coupon. I paid pennies for 4 mascaras.

9) Look out for unadvertised sales and clearance

CVS likes to be sneaky sometimes and have unadvertised deals that I came across several times. One time I was buying miniature snickers to send to my dad in Belarus. My plan was to use my ECB and pay nothing for two bags of candy. When I brought two bags to the cash register, I learned that the price is not $4 that I anticipated, but instead $0.49 per bag. You guessed it right; I went back and grabbed several more bags. Next time you shop also look out for clearance. Right after Christmas time, CVS marks down most of its cosmetics 75% off and when combined with coupons can cost you less than $1 dollar.

10) Pay attention to the limit

When you spot an amazing deal while studying weekly CVS sales paper, read carefully the limit underneath the deal. Let say the sales paper is advertising toothpaste for $3 and you will get back 3 ECB. If the limit states 2, that means that you can purchase 2 tubes of toothpaste and will received 6 ECB. However, if the limit states 1 the 3 ECB will only print once. If you decide to buy another tube of toothpaste no ECB will print at the end of the receipt.

Happy CVS shopping!

Ten Steps to Saving Money at CVS - Part 1

When I first started to coupons, all the ECB and RR lingo was confusing to me. I was so thirsty to learn how to save money using coupons that I read anything and everything that had a word coupon in it. I learned that saving money at stores like CVS can be very rewarding, but also frustrating if you are a newbie. So today, I would like to take you shopping with me to CVS and share tips to maximize your savings.

1) Sign up for CVS customer loyalty card

All your savings at the store are tide to your customer loyalty card. Make sure every time you purchase a product from CVS; you let your cashier scan your card. Every quarter I received free Extra Care Bucks (ECB) based on a percentage of my spending for that particular quarter. Usually I get $1 ECB per quarter, which I can’t complain because it is free money and I didn’t have to break my nails to earn it. During weekly promotions if you buy a specific item that awards ECB, your card recognizes the promotion prompting the register to print your bucks.

2) Sign up for e-mails updates

I get very few e-mails from CVS promoting their products. Most of the e-mails I receive are surveys, which award me 4 or 5 ECB for participation. Not too long ago I received an e-mail from CVS with a coupon for $4 dollars off $20 dollars purchase. So make sure to sign up for updates and customer survey with CVS

3) Utilize your Extra Care Bucks

Extra Care Bucks, also known as ECB in the coupon world, are your free money! You can buy almost anything in the store; it does exclude purchase of gift cards, stamps, prescription drugs. I like it because instead of spending cash to buy a product that I want or need, I utilize my ECB to acquire the item for free. And we all know that free is good. ECB print at the end of your receipt, so make sure to check it before throwing it away. Also make sure to check the expiration date on the ECB. I love the fact that CVS has long expiration period and most of the managers will allow you to use expired ECB (ask first).

4) Read your receipt carefully

At the end of your receipt is a place where it says how many more purchases are needed to fulfill the requirement. Let me explain. If you open an ad and let’s say this week they are running a promotion that would require you to purchase $10 worth of Cover girl (CG) products in order for you to receive back 5 ECB. The good news is that you do not have to purchase $10 worth of Cover Girl products in one transaction. Your loyalty card tracks for you how many more items you need to purchase to fulfill the requirement. I can buy $4 dollar CG product today and $6 dollar CG product tomorrow. The day that I fulfill the requirement the ECB will print at the end of the receipt. Please note that you must purchase all the required items to qualify for ECB during the week of that promotion.

5) Invest in Green Leaf Tag

The cute little green shaped tag will make you money. It only cost $0.99 cents and you will make money that will cover the cost plus more. The way it works is that every time you scan the green leaf tag along with your card, it registers that you made a purchase. After four purchases you are awarded 1 ECB for free because you simply used your green leaf tag. Now, you can scan your tag only once a day, in other words you can not have 4 separate transactions in one day scanning your card 4 times. This will not generate you 1 ECB, because computer keeps track of your scanning. The creation behind the green leaf tag is to encourage customers to use reusable bags. However not all stores enforce this rule. You will meet some cashiers that will not scan your tag until you show them your reusable bag in which he or she will place your purchased items. Other cashiers will scan your card with no problem without enforcing the rule.