Huge Money Savings at CVS Drugstore

To begin saving the big bucks at CVS, you need to have the Extra Care Card. This is a brief one-time process you'll go through to sign up for the card. The card entitles you to

• sale prices
• Extra bucks deals - Extra bucks are printed at the end of your receipt.  They are like "CVS money."  You can spend them on anything in CVS except prescription drugs, alcohol, or cigarettes.
• a percentage back at the end of each quarter, also printed as Extra bucks once each quarter.
• personalized coupons to be printed each time you go into the store, printed at the Extra Care kiosk located somewhere near the front of the store.

The CVS ad comes out in Sunday's paper. You can also pick it up at your local CVS. Many of the coupon websites, such as Hot Coupon World posts the ads up to several weeks before they come out.

As you are looking through the ad, take notice of the yellow bubbles. Those signify deals that you receive "extra bucks" on. Here's an example: The Herbal Essences shampoos, conditioners, and stylers are on sale. You pay 2/$5.97 with card. You receive "extra bucks" back, $2 on the purchase of 2. Just say you happen to like that shampoo, and you have the Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupon that was in the December 26th Sunday Paper. Here's how it would look:

They will scan your Extra Care Card

They will ring up 2 @ 5.97.

They will scan the coupon and enter the amount of 2.99

You will pay 2.98 + sales tax

You will receive $2 back in Extra bucks

Those $2 extra bucks can be used towards another deal.

The M&M's are also on sale for 5/$5 with card. You're thinking those would be nice in those cookies you have to make for the kids' classes. CVS is offering an extra buck if you buy 2 bags. You just happen to have that coupon from January 23rd's paper for $1.50 off 2 M&M's bags.

They scan your card again.

They ring up your M&M's 2/$5.

They scan your coupon for $1.50 off, so the total is down to $3.50

They scan those extra bucks you just got back from your shampoo deal, bringing the total down to $1.50.

You pay, and they give you $1 extra buck.

You just spent $4.50 at CVS, and you bought about $12 worth of stuff, and you are leaving with an extra buck in your pocket. This scenario may not apply to you if you don't use that type of shampoo or eat M&M's, but if that is just one little scenario, taken out of one Sunday's ad, just imagine all the deals and bargains you can find.

It can get tricky discerning what you need and what you can get for really cheap. Be careful of that, because that can lead you to spend more money when you don't need to.

Okay, back to our scenario - was $4.50 too much for you to spend on those things? Well, what if I told you that you can get it for free?

There is a great way to get free stuff at CVS.  You still have to bother with the above scenarios - using coupons and extra bucks if you want LOADS of free stuff, but you don't if you just want a little bit of stuff for free.

Do you have any prescriptions that you need filled?  CVS will honor other drugstore/mass merchandiser's coupons for "Free gift card with purchase of prescription."  You see these in Target's ads about every-other-week.  If you think getting a free $10 is good at Target, think of how far it will stretch at CVS if you work the deals.  Kmart also has those coupons, and their's are usually available anytime in their stores at the pharmacy department.

If you get your free gift cards by using CVS' pharmacy, and then do your extra buck work, you can stretch a gift card beyond belief.  

I had a challenge one year - my uncle gave me a $20 gift card to CVS and challenged me to get as much as I could with it.  I ended up recording over $405.00, with some still left.  I just stopped keeping track.  Here is what I was able to get with a $20 and some strategic planning:

4 btls. Pert Plus Shampoo
1 pk. Mach 3 Razors
2 btls. Covergirl Smoothers Foundation
1 pk. Instant Energy Drink
2 bxs. M&M Premiums
4 bts. Covergirl TruBlend Foundation
2 bts. Children's Advil
1 Oral B Advantage Tooth Brush
1 Bandaid Comfort Strips 80 ct
1 Revlon Blush
1 Reese's PB Cup 8 pk
5 Johnson & Johnson Bath Buddies Soap
2 Johnson & Johnson Baby Bath
2 Johnson & Johnson Baby Lotion
1 Tylenol Sinus & Congestion 24 pk
1 L'oreal Hydra Vive Conditioner
1 L'oreal Hydra Vive Shampoo
4 1lb pks. Twizzlers
14 bottles Sally Hansen Nail Polish
2 pks CVS Supreme Diapers
2 bxs. CVS Cotton Swabs 375 ct
1 Febreze Fabric Refresher
1 Febreze Air Effects
1 Febreze Noticeables Starter Kit
3 bottles of Dawn
2 cans Pringles
4 CVS Makeup remover cloths
2 pks CVS Tampons
2 pks CVS Pantiliners
50 Bags of Life Savers Candy
1 24pk of bottled water
2 Coppertone Sunblock Sticks

Now granted, CVS used to have a lot more "free after extra bucks" deals than they do now, but even if you just got HALF this much on your gift cards, that is AMAZING!

Some of the best deals at CVS are "money makers." I call it that when I get back more in extra bucks than I spend out-of-pocket.

Here's an example out of this week's CVS ad:

Spend $10 on Physicians Formula Cosmetics, get $7 extra bucks back.

Buy the bronzer for $10.99, use my $5 off any bronzer coupon, pay $5.99 and receive $7 extra bucks.

When you register your card online and attach it to an email address, CVS will send you coupons. A lot of coupons. They usually have short expiration dates, but are worth $3 off a $10 purchase, or $4 off a $20 purchase. Sometimes they will send out a 20% off your entire shopping visit coupon. And all that is before any other coupon is applied. These coupons are typically good as a one-time usage. Here is an example:

You pick up to buy the Herbal Essences products we talked about earlier, the M&M's, and the Physicians Formula. This time, you get them all in one transaction, so it looks like this:

Shampoo 2/$5.97

M&M's 2/5.00

Bronzer 10.99

= $21.96

Minus your $4 off a $20 purchase

=17.96

Minus your manufacturer coupons

- B1G1free shampoo coupon 2.99

-$1.50 off 2 M&M's

-$5 off bronzer

=8.47 AND receive $10 in extra bucks

See where these particular coupons can really help with your savings? It's like CVS is paying you $1.53 to walk into their store and take out shampoo, candies, and makeup.

Please remember this is just an example scenario that I pulled from the Jan 30-Feb 5 2011 sales ad and may not be an exact scenario for you.

Most CVS stores have the kiosk now.  Just ask a cashier if you don't see it near the front.   When you do see it, scan your Extra Care Card and coupons will print out for you.  They are usually great coupons, and can be used right alongside of manufacturer's coupons.

Your quarterly extra bucks will print out there as well.  You can also scan items to check their prices at the kiosk.

Once you've gotten your card they will probably ask you if you would like to join the "beauty club."  You do!  You do!  When you join, you will receive a 10% off shopping pass for beauty products that is good for three days, and you will also earn $5 in extra bucks for every $50 you spend on beauty products.  What qualifies as beauty products?  Check out their long list!  (This comes right from the CVS ad)

• Cosmetics
• Ethnic Hair Care
• Fragrances
• Hair Accessories
• Hair Appliances
• Hair Care
• Hair Color
• Healthy Skin Care
• Hosiery
• Skin Care
• Sun Care

See how it all adds up and just seems to build one thing on another.  If you did the entire scenario that I mentioned before, you would have simply paid for your prescription out of pocket and received a $10 gift card to pay for your $8.47 purchase, and leave out of there with all that stuff, PLUS $1.53 on a gift card, PLUS $10 extra bucks, PLUS $16.96 toward your $5 reward, PLUS a 10% off coupon to spend on beauty products during the next three days.

Enjoy CVS!