Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Friday, June 4, 2010
My thoughts on how to begin shopping for CVS deals
If you are serious about wanting to save money, then CVS is a good place to start. You will be able to save lots of money on a variety of personal, cleaning, medicinal, and food items.
The most important thing to do first is sign up for an Extra Care Card. This card is a must for getting deals. This could mean very cheap items, free items, or items they pay you to walk away with because you were smart enough to bring in a coupon for that item. It could be also, that they sent you a coupon for that item. You may have a coupon for it and they sent you one also, so you get to use both coupons on that item.
Once you have obtained your CVS Extra Care card, then you need to sign up for their emails at https://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/user/extracare/extracare.jsp , if at all possible. The reason being this is where you get most of the CVS coupons. They email them to you. Once in a great while they will snail mail one to you. Most probably upon signing up you will get an email for $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase.
Also sign up for Upromise.com as items you may purchase at CVS may apply to that and you can request a check or have the money you accumulate in your account used as a savings for college for your children or grandchildren or to help to pay off someones college loan. I have mine applied to my daughters college loan to help pay off what I can on hers with my earning from them.
If you belong to recyclebank.com you will see that when you acquire enough points, that you often are able to purchase a $5.00 off $25.00 coupon to use at CVS also. You acquire points there by recycling products in your home in certain cities and other ways. So even if your city doesn't cooperate, there are still other ways to qualify for these.
When you scan your extra bucks card when entering the CVS store you may also score a 4 off 20.00 coupon, 5 off 25.00 and so on. You may also just get free extra bucks. The other day it just shot me out a 2.00 off extra buck. Be sure to keep scanning your card until it quits shooting out coupons. Now they do this quarterly for everyone if you spend money there that quarter. I usually get anywhere from 2 to 7.00 extra bucks quarterly when the first day of the quarterly payout arrives.
There are CVS coupons to print off their website also. They can be combined with manufacturers coupons that are in weekly inserts or printed offline. Combining these coupons will really get you some great deals. Many websites will call this stacking your coupons.
As you can see, CVS really wants your business and they are willing to put out the coupons and extra bucks deals to get you to shop there.
The first thing to do when getting ready to shop is to get a CVS weekly add or go online and search out the CVS add for your area. It should most probably be ready to view around 12AM PT. So whatever time that is at your home, then that is when you might expect them to have it ready for viewing at www.cvs.com. You will have to enter a search for the weekly add with your zip code. Make your shopping list while browsing whats one sale and print it off.
When looking at the add you will see something called Extra Care Bucks listed with some of the items that week. When purchasing these items you will get these extra care bucks printed at the bottom of your cash register tape. There will be a limit listed of how many of these items you can purchase and get extra bucks. The limit may be 1 or more depending on the item.
These EC Bucks are basically CVS money that they give you if you purchase their items offering EC Bucks. In other words, it is money in your pocket, billfold, piggybank, or whatever, because you can spend this money in their store and bank yours in your billfold. You can turn around and spend this "CVS money/EC Bucks" on most items in the store, but not on cigarettes, liquor and some others items that will be printed for you to see. The item may be on sale for 5.99 and you may get back 5.99 or maybe they will say another amount if you purchase the item. Many times you will get back the full amount in extra bucks. Often times, you will also have a manufacturers coupon to use when purchasing the item, allowing you to make a profit off the deal. It could be the item you purchased was taxable and this coupon would then help to cover the tax on that item.
Granted you will not need or be able to use all of these items that you will be able to get for free unless you have a very large family. Therefore, I suggest you help out those in your immediate family who are in need, your local food banks, animal shelters, etc. I have even donated some items I have gotten to schools. They appreciate blood sugar monitoring machines and all sorts of school items. One school asked for little items to put in their little store they allow the children to shop in for gifts for their parents and family members for Christmas with points they had earned in school so far that year for doing good on their assignments, etc.
There are two places that I search out CVS adds several weeks before shopping that week. www.iheartcvs.com and www.slickdeals.net. You will see post listed there for maybe as much as 3 or 4 weeks ahead. It is a good idea to look at these and search out what coupons you may have for that week. It is also a good idea to print out any coupons they may have listed on the weekly sales that you plan on using around 1 week before the sale. Do not wait until Saturday night before the sale week as they may have shut down the print of the coupon because the amount they intended on printing has already been reached.
Usually on Friday night or the Saturday before the sale I will see on facebook that many of the blogs I watch will post what good deals they see for the Sunday sale and where to find the coupons in the weekly inserts and if there are any available on websites to print for that week.
Some of those I watch are Coupon Pro, Coupon Mom, Deal Seeking Mom and Coupon Cravings.
I check out all of these because each deal is not caught by each blogger and then I am prepared for most of the deals without having to search out all of this information by myself.
Be sure to check out two weeks before if any coupons are on any of the coupons websites that match up with the sales also. These websites are www.coupons.com, Smartsource and Redplum.
Also, check the CVS coupon area for any you might be able to use. There is one more place you may want to go to look for coupons and that is Facebook. Check the products on sale at CVS on Facebook and like them if you can, as there may be a good coupon to print off there.
One last thing I can think of at this point is to look at your shopping list and see how much money you will be getting back in extra bucks. If it is, say over $20.00, you may want to divide your shopping list into more than one trip to CVS and use your extra bucks that print on the first trip, on your second trip, to help pay for some of the products and the next trip also, if needed. This way you will not tie so much money up in extra bucks. Often I make two or more trips to CVS weekly in order to keep my extra bucks amount low.
Well, there is a lot of things to know and learn about CVS. I sure hope this makes sense to you and that it will help you to get lots of free stuff. That you will be able to make your money stretch further and possibly even to help others with all your goodies you accumulate.
Happy CVS shopping, with those EXTRA BUCKS, you will be saving!
The most important thing to do first is sign up for an Extra Care Card. This card is a must for getting deals. This could mean very cheap items, free items, or items they pay you to walk away with because you were smart enough to bring in a coupon for that item. It could be also, that they sent you a coupon for that item. You may have a coupon for it and they sent you one also, so you get to use both coupons on that item.
Once you have obtained your CVS Extra Care card, then you need to sign up for their emails at https://www.cvs.com/CVSApp/user/extracare/extracare.jsp , if at all possible. The reason being this is where you get most of the CVS coupons. They email them to you. Once in a great while they will snail mail one to you. Most probably upon signing up you will get an email for $4.00 off a $20.00 purchase.
Also sign up for Upromise.com as items you may purchase at CVS may apply to that and you can request a check or have the money you accumulate in your account used as a savings for college for your children or grandchildren or to help to pay off someones college loan. I have mine applied to my daughters college loan to help pay off what I can on hers with my earning from them.
If you belong to recyclebank.com you will see that when you acquire enough points, that you often are able to purchase a $5.00 off $25.00 coupon to use at CVS also. You acquire points there by recycling products in your home in certain cities and other ways. So even if your city doesn't cooperate, there are still other ways to qualify for these.
When you scan your extra bucks card when entering the CVS store you may also score a 4 off 20.00 coupon, 5 off 25.00 and so on. You may also just get free extra bucks. The other day it just shot me out a 2.00 off extra buck. Be sure to keep scanning your card until it quits shooting out coupons. Now they do this quarterly for everyone if you spend money there that quarter. I usually get anywhere from 2 to 7.00 extra bucks quarterly when the first day of the quarterly payout arrives.
There are CVS coupons to print off their website also. They can be combined with manufacturers coupons that are in weekly inserts or printed offline. Combining these coupons will really get you some great deals. Many websites will call this stacking your coupons.
As you can see, CVS really wants your business and they are willing to put out the coupons and extra bucks deals to get you to shop there.
The first thing to do when getting ready to shop is to get a CVS weekly add or go online and search out the CVS add for your area. It should most probably be ready to view around 12AM PT. So whatever time that is at your home, then that is when you might expect them to have it ready for viewing at www.cvs.com. You will have to enter a search for the weekly add with your zip code. Make your shopping list while browsing whats one sale and print it off.
When looking at the add you will see something called Extra Care Bucks listed with some of the items that week. When purchasing these items you will get these extra care bucks printed at the bottom of your cash register tape. There will be a limit listed of how many of these items you can purchase and get extra bucks. The limit may be 1 or more depending on the item.
These EC Bucks are basically CVS money that they give you if you purchase their items offering EC Bucks. In other words, it is money in your pocket, billfold, piggybank, or whatever, because you can spend this money in their store and bank yours in your billfold. You can turn around and spend this "CVS money/EC Bucks" on most items in the store, but not on cigarettes, liquor and some others items that will be printed for you to see. The item may be on sale for 5.99 and you may get back 5.99 or maybe they will say another amount if you purchase the item. Many times you will get back the full amount in extra bucks. Often times, you will also have a manufacturers coupon to use when purchasing the item, allowing you to make a profit off the deal. It could be the item you purchased was taxable and this coupon would then help to cover the tax on that item.
Granted you will not need or be able to use all of these items that you will be able to get for free unless you have a very large family. Therefore, I suggest you help out those in your immediate family who are in need, your local food banks, animal shelters, etc. I have even donated some items I have gotten to schools. They appreciate blood sugar monitoring machines and all sorts of school items. One school asked for little items to put in their little store they allow the children to shop in for gifts for their parents and family members for Christmas with points they had earned in school so far that year for doing good on their assignments, etc.
There are two places that I search out CVS adds several weeks before shopping that week. www.iheartcvs.com and www.slickdeals.net. You will see post listed there for maybe as much as 3 or 4 weeks ahead. It is a good idea to look at these and search out what coupons you may have for that week. It is also a good idea to print out any coupons they may have listed on the weekly sales that you plan on using around 1 week before the sale. Do not wait until Saturday night before the sale week as they may have shut down the print of the coupon because the amount they intended on printing has already been reached.
Usually on Friday night or the Saturday before the sale I will see on facebook that many of the blogs I watch will post what good deals they see for the Sunday sale and where to find the coupons in the weekly inserts and if there are any available on websites to print for that week.
Some of those I watch are Coupon Pro, Coupon Mom, Deal Seeking Mom and Coupon Cravings.
I check out all of these because each deal is not caught by each blogger and then I am prepared for most of the deals without having to search out all of this information by myself.
Be sure to check out two weeks before if any coupons are on any of the coupons websites that match up with the sales also. These websites are www.coupons.com, Smartsource and Redplum.
Also, check the CVS coupon area for any you might be able to use. There is one more place you may want to go to look for coupons and that is Facebook. Check the products on sale at CVS on Facebook and like them if you can, as there may be a good coupon to print off there.
One last thing I can think of at this point is to look at your shopping list and see how much money you will be getting back in extra bucks. If it is, say over $20.00, you may want to divide your shopping list into more than one trip to CVS and use your extra bucks that print on the first trip, on your second trip, to help pay for some of the products and the next trip also, if needed. This way you will not tie so much money up in extra bucks. Often I make two or more trips to CVS weekly in order to keep my extra bucks amount low.
Well, there is a lot of things to know and learn about CVS. I sure hope this makes sense to you and that it will help you to get lots of free stuff. That you will be able to make your money stretch further and possibly even to help others with all your goodies you accumulate.
Happy CVS shopping, with those EXTRA BUCKS, you will be saving!
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