CVS - A How to

If you love a good deal, and you know I do, then you might be interested in learning how to take full advantage of the sales at CVS. I do it, every Sunday morning Iam out my door and first in the door at CVS to make sure I get my deals. Several times I have been asked if they, CVS, realize they are giving things away. The truth is, I don't know if they realize or not, and I don't care as long as I can keep rolling my Extra Care Bucks! How do I get started, you ask? Well sit back and let me explain.

The first thing you will need to do is sign up for the Extra Care Card. If you want to get started right away I would suggested signing up in the store, you'll get the card right away. If you don't mind waiting go to http://www.cvs.com and they will send you the card via snail mail. This little card comes with you every time you go to CVS, otherwise you do not get sale prices or earn your Extra Care Bucks.

So, what are Extra Care Bucks(ECB)? Fantastic is what they are! Extra Care Bucks are earned through both weekly and monthly promotions. The ECB print at the bottom of your receipt, clip and save these, they are like money.

Things you need to know about ECBs:

• They can be used to purchase pretty much anything in the store excluding prescriptions alcohol , tobacco and gift cards.
• 
  You do not have to buy all the products for a particular promotion in the same transaction or at the same branch.
• 
  You cannot get cash back from your Extra Care Bucks, so you need to calculate your trip to make sure you have enough to use the ECB. (for instance if you buy 2.00 worth of merchandise you cannot use a 5.00 ECB to pay, you must purchase 5.00 worth of merchandise)
• 
  ECB's expire 4 weeks after the day they are printed.
  

So let's look at what a transaction might look like, a bottle of Aveeno Shampoo is on sale for 5.00 earning you 3.00 in Extra Care Bucks. So it is like paying 2.00 for the shampoo. Pretty sweet deal, right?! Well, what if you had a coupon for that shampoo for a dollar off? Well then you would buy the shampoo for 5.00, minus your 1.00 coupon means you pay 4.00 and still get your 3.00 in ECBs. So you pay just 1.00 for the shampoo! Excellent deal.

Could you make it better? Yes! What if you had ECB's to pay with? So let's just say you had a 4.00 ECB and a 1.00 coupon, you buy the shampoo for 5.00, minus the 1.00 coupon it will be 4.00 and you pay with your 4.00 ECB and you get 3.00 back in ECB. FREE! That is called rolling your ECB's to get the most out of them.

It is a good idea to sign up at http://www.cvs.com and link your email with your Extra Care card as they periodically send coupons via email. Some stores have a kiosk which acts as a price checker where you can also scan your Card and it will spit out coupons for you to use. So many ways to save so little time!!