Tuesday, October 7, 2008

CVS, Extra Care Bucks

CVS (a national drugstore chain) has this amazing rewards program called Extra Care Bucks (ECB). Every week they advertise an item for sale and if you buy it the register prints you ECB that can be used on your next purchase. The trick is to use ECBs to buy items that produce ECBs, and then use those ECBs to buy items that produce more ECBs, repeat, repeat. You end up getting alot of stuff for free. Take yesterday's trip of mine for example...



So yesterday, I used $10.50 in ECBs and paid $1.84 in cash and I received $12.25 BACK in ECBs. This means I paid $.09 for all those items!

To sum it all up, I rarely pay for personal hygiene products anymore!

Anyone with a CVS that wants to get started on ECB deals, I highly recommend you go before Sunday! Here is what you should do.

1. Make sure you have a CVS card that has your current address/phone number associated with it.

2. Do 3 transactions in the following order.

- 1 Vitamin Water 32 oz $2.29. Pay $2.29 + tax out of pocket. Then $2.29 will print in ECBs.

- 1 Always Maxi Pads $4.98. Use $2.29 ECBs and pay $2.69 + tax out of pocket. Then $4.98 will print in ECBs.

- 1 Always Maxi Pads $4.98. Use $4.98 ECBs and pay only tax out of pocket. Then $4.98 will print in ECBs.

This deal will leave you paying $0 for everything because you will walk out with $4.98 to use on your next transaction!

Be sure to check your local sale paper to be sure you get the right sizes to receive ECBs!

9 comments:

IndieBride said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
IndieBride said...

Hey Courtney,
Can you tell me more about your spreadsheets?
Thanks!

Unknown said...

WE DON'T HAVE A CVS!

Now I'm mad. Stupid Washington! There aren't even any in Seattle!!!!!!

What is it a conspiracy?????

IndieBride said...

Well just kinda what you're doing with them. I was thinking it was something you had been doing for a while. I really want to keep good track on what we spend money on and how to get the most for it.

Courtney said...

Well this month I am just tracking what I spend on groceries, personal hygiene products, and cleaning supplies. All of our other expenses I log in Quicken through my checking account. I'm pretty OCD about money and where it goes. You can google "budget templates" or something similar and come up with TONS of ideas!

A Friend said...

OK, I totally NEVER knew what that extra care card did! To me it seemed like a way to track what I purchased but give me nothing back. Thanks!

A Friend said...

For Lala, Walgreens has online coupons and they are starting a rewards program..."soming soon".

Courtney said...

Yes, Walgreens does something similar. If you go to www.hotcouponworld.com and click on the Walgreens link you will see the deals people are getting there. CVS still beats them, but I think Walgreens is beginning to get their act together in order to complete with CVS deals.

Anonymous said...

Hey Court! Sharon Keen tells me that at CVS (maybe Rite Aid too) if you have a BOGO coupon AND the item is on sale for a BOGO price then you get both items for free! Haven't tried it yet, but pretty cool...