CVS basics

CVS is a gold mine if you know how to work it. It is one of my favorite place to shop and get deals. In order to really take advantage of sales and CVS Extra Bucks it can get pretty complicated, but well worth the mental effort walking out with a cart full of free stuff! If you don't have a CVS card yet you are missing out on some good deals so first things first, sign up for a CVS card. On your next trip in stop by the register, fill out your information, and get your card. They may say to you, "You can take this home, fill it out, and bring it back in the next time if you'd like." You'll forget, take the time to do it now.


What's an "Extra Buck"? Extra Bucks is CVS's rewards program. They will advertise, "Get $4 Extra Bucks if you buy a ProGlide razor," or something. If the razor is $7.99 it's like buying the razor for $3.99 because you are getting back $4 Extra Bucks. $1 CVS Extra Buck equal $1 dollar in-store so your rewards are as good as cash! Your EB print out at the bottom of your receipt and you can use it on your next transaction. 

Here are the advantages to shopping with a CVS card:

• You get 2% back on all purchases, given out quarterly.
• You earn $1 Extra Buck for every 2 prescriptions purchased. 
• You can take advantage of the special deals CVS runs each week earning more Extra Bucks on select items. They also do a lot of "Buy $25 worth of these specific products (for instance baby stuff or Proctor & Gamble product) and get $10 EB". These are great because it's $25 worth of products before coupons. So if you can match coupons with those specific items in the deal (which are usually also on sale) you not only get a great price for them, but you get $10 EB back to spend on your next transaction! 

Here's how you put it all together for big savings. 

Example:

You see Crest toothpaste on sale for $3.49 and they are offering $2 Extra Bucks after you purchase. Say I have a $2.00 coupon for Crest toothpaste. So you end up getting the toothpaste for FREE plus you make $0.51 off your buy. Matching coupons with sales and getting Extra Bucks back is how you work it. 

Here's where it get's complicated though. The Extra Bucks don't print out until after you pay. I had to sit there and really think about this the first time because, I'm still paying for it you know? On the example above I would still be paying $1.50 at the register. I would get $2 back after my purchase, but $1.50 is still coming out of my pocket right then and there. So am I really saving money? When I first began my CVS scheming I was expecting to pay a penny out of pocket and walk away with all this free stuff. That's why you need to sit down and make a good plan before you go in to shop. 

TIP: Extra Bucks (EB) also print out in the amount that they were issued. For instance, if you were getting $10 EB back on one item it will print out as $10 EB on one piece of paper. If you are using it on your next transaction make sure the total amount of that transaction is at least $10 because they don't give you change with your Extra Bucks. If your total is only $8 and you use your $10 EB slip to pay, then you will miss out on $2 because they can't give you change.

They do allow you to make a couple transactions in a row in order to use your Extra Bucks so you need to figure out in what order to purchase your items. Here's another example of a run I did last night and how I planned out using my Extra Bucks. 

My Strategy ...

I bought my Extra Bucks things first. Tena pads, Crest rinse and floss, and Dial lotion. By the way, every item I purchased was on sale and I also had a coupon for so it ended up coming out to FREE or next to nothing after my Extra Bucks. Here's a link to my full post on that run in case you want to see exactly how the numbers worked out. I paid $17.25 out of pocket, but that gave me $17.99 in Extra Bucks to go towards my next transaction. My next transaction I did Lansinoh pads and a box of diapers. Using my $17.99 Extra Bucks that printed after my first transaction I ended up only paying $11.04 plus I got another $10 in Extra Bucks back from buying the diapers and Lansinoh pads together (a special deal they were running). My final transaction I bought Purex laundry detergent and Hefty bags. For 8 boxes of Purex plus the Hefty bags my bill would have been somewhere around $10 and I could use my remaining $10 Extra Bucks to pay for that. My total spending $28.29 and I saved over $100.00. So yes I did pay some out of pocket but I walked out of there with over $100.00 of FREE product! 

* You may see a different saving amount then in the link I posted. I added in what I would of saved had they had the 8 boxes of Purex in stock that I was planning on buying.

Now it is possible to do even better than that. With practice I am going to try to get my out of pocket spending down even more. So there's the trick to CVS, hopefully it made sense. Feel free to post any questions you have and I will do my best to answer!