CVS - Shopping 101

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I personally love CVS so much that I just had to do a post dedicated solely to them. There are so many great things about shopping at CVS that I wanted to compile a list of things you need to know to make the most out of your shopping here and I promise you, you will be rewarded.

As we've discussed, the very first thing you must do before you dare purchase anything from CVS is obtain an ExtraCare rewards card - this is the only way to get their sale prices and rewards. Once you have your card, be sure to register it online where you can view your account easily. You will also want to enroll in their email program here. By doing this, you will be registered to receive their emails and, most importantly, you will begin to receive exclusive savings immediately. For instance, as soon as you complete registration, you will receive a coupon for $4 off your purchase of $20 or more. You will also want to enroll your card in their Beauty Club, this program rewards you with $5 ExtraCare bucks every time you spend $50 in that department which includes cosmetics, hair care, perfume, etc. Once you've signed up for these programs, you will definitely want to get at least one Green-bag tag. This tag only costs $0.99 and quickly pays for itself. You simply attach the tag to any reusable bag and present it each and every time you make a purchase. The system automatically rewards you with $1.00 in ExtraCare Bucks every 4 times you scan your tag, which breaks down to a quarter each time which is way more than most stores who typically only reward you with $0.05 - $0.10. TIP: You can scan your card once a day per store! So depending on your shopping habits, you can rack up rewards very, very quickly. 

Once you've completed these steps, head over to the store with your coupon bag/binder that we assembled previously (after you finish reading this of course :)) and once you get there the very first thing you want to do is locate the Coupon Center kiosk and scan your card. TIP: Keep scanning your card until it tells you 'There are no more coupons available, check again tomorrow' After scanning your card, you will receive a print out of CVS coupons which you can stack with your manufacture coupons for even better savings. TIP: CVS also offers printable coupons via their website which provides both CVS store coupons and manufacture coupons, so be sure to check them out when you are making your printable coupon rounds. In addition to store coupons, please remember that your ExtraCare buck rewards for the Beauty Club and at the end of every quarter will also print here at the kiosk.

Now you're ready to do some shopping, so grab the weekly ad and see what's on sale....