Over the next three lessons, we are going to start breaking down the best way to save at the individual stores and will uncover the top three Penny Pincher’s Rules.
Our first stop is CVS. Now, if you are not familiar with CVS, their coupon policy, or the Extra Care Bucks, please read the CVS portion of the Online Coupon Workshop first.
Ready? Set? Let’s save!
Typically, there are three ways to save at CVS in any given week. 1) Items will be on sale at rock bottom prices. 2) Items will be on a BOGO (Buy One, Get One) sale. 3) Items will be sold with an ECB (Extra Care Bucks) incentive.
If you spot items at rock bottom prices, that is a no-brainer. You buy them, coupons or not. If you have coupons to match, that just makes it even better.
When items are on BOGO, purchase them only if you have coupons or are desperate need of those products. Why? Because BOGOs always roll around and most of the time there are coupons to match. If you do not have the coupons and can wait, wait for the next rotation to extend your savings.
ECBs can be great but only when they are stacked with a great price and coupons. Watch your price book and be careful not to get lured in by the ECBs if the bottom-line price after discounts is still too high.
Okay, here is where it gets tricky. How can you maximize your savings by using different transactions? CVS is actually one of the easiest places to figure this out… if you are working the equation at home and not in the check-out lane!
Penny Pincher’s RULE #1: Do your homework at home! Sit down with your shopping list and split it into transactions before you leave your house. Add up the cost and try to balance the transactions so that the number of ECBs you will receive in the first transaction will equal your total (before tax) on your second transaction. Since CVS will allow you to use multiple ECBs in each transaction, this works well for you and for anyone standing in line behind you. Two transactions and you are done!
Of course, if you are using two different CVS Extra Care Cards to max out your deals on ECBs, you will be doing three or four transactions, depending on if you are repeating everything on your shopping list or just a few items. Just remember that you cannot use ECBs from one CVS Extra Care Card to pay for a transaction purchased under your second CVS Extra Care Card. The computer will kick it out if you mix it up. This is where paper clips in your binder come in handy. Just clip the ECBs to the card that you used to trigger them.
Other people prefer to just go in the first time and pay out of pocket. Then, you would roll your ECBs from week to week. Just be careful since you never know what will be on sale and you do not want your ECBs to expire. (Most CVS stores will still allow you to use your ECBs within one week of expiration.)
Penny Pincher’s RULE #2: Always hand the cashier the $5/$25 or other $x/$xx coupon before any other coupons. (These coupons may not always be available.)
Do you have any special tricks that you use at CVS? Please share them with us in the comments. If you have any questions, feel free to CONTACT ME.
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