Frugal Shopping at CVS Drug Store

I have not mentioned this point yet on my blog, but I am a HUGE fan of shopping at CVS. I recently came across a post on How I Save Money.net where LuLuGal discusses her new found experience shopping at CVS. If you have not shopped there yet, I suggest you check out the Extra Bucks they offer and decide for yourself if it is for you. Anyways, I wanted to start posting tips and tricks on how my wife and I make our purchases at CVS, which will hopefully spawn others to comment on what works for them.

This past weekend, we headed out to CVS to pick up some of my favorite Diet Coke, which was on sale - four 12-packs for $11. Not a bad deal, but when you throw in the additional $3 in Extra Bucks they were offering when purchasing the four 12-packs, it came out to be four 12-packs for $8 - Even Better!

In an effort to find the best deal possible, I took with me a recent $4 off coupon I received from CVS via email for spending $20. Since, I was already spending $11 on Diet Coke, I needed to spend $9 more dollars. I found that they had two more Extra Bucks offers for the month of June that I was interested in which would push my total bill over the $20 needed to use the coupon. The details of my transaction are below -

• Diet Coke - Purchased four 12-packs for $11.
• Oral B 2-pack toothbrush - Purchased one 2-pack for $6.99.
• Listerine Mouthwash - Purchased one bottle for $3.49.
• TOTAL COSTS (without tax) - $21.48

Now, I must admit that I would never have purchased either the 2-pack of Oral B toothbrushes or the small bottle of Listerine Mouthwash for the listed price. However, the Extra Bucks they were offering on both products made it well worth the purchase. The details of the Extra Bucks earned during my transaction are below -

• Diet Coke - Earned $3 in Extra Bucks
• Oral B 2-pack toothbrush - Earned $6.99 in Extra Bucks which basically made the item FREE.
• Listerine Mouthwash - Earned $3.49 in Extra Bucks which also made this item FREE.
• TOTAL EXTRA BUCKS EARNED - $13.48

If you factor in the Extra Bucks earned during the transaction and the coupon used, we basically spent $4 on our purchases which put a big smile on my face. The details of the net result are below -

• Total Cost (without tax) - $21.48
• Coupon Used - ($4.00)
• Extra Bucks Earned - ($13.48)
• NET RESULT - $4

I have read some comments and posts on other blogs about how these Extra Bucks don’t actually make the products you purchase FREE - as in the case of the Oral B toothbrushes or Listerine Mouthwash. I understand the point that you still need to go and buy something else at CVS with the Extra Bucks you have earned within a certain time period. I also understand that you have to spend the money up front and don’t see the true savings until you spend these Extra Bucks, in addition to purchasing products that you may not necessarily need. I agree with these points, but also feel that if you are a frequent shopper at CVS, you shouldn’t have a problem using your Extra Bucks on items you would normally purchase. For example, my wife and I shop there at least once every two weeks and usually buy most of our toiletries there, so we will have no problem spending the Extra Bucks in the next month before they expire.

Unfortunately I did not have any available coupons for the Oral B Toothbrush and Listerine Mouthwash purchases, but CVS would have accepted those as well, which would have basically given me money back in my pocket for buying the items. As a new goal, I plan on cutting out all coupons now that we come across, even if it is for items we typically don’t buy. Then if another deal like this comes along and I have coupons available, we can drive down the costs of our purchases even more.

Do you shop at CVS? What types of deals do you find there? Do you like the Extra Bucks reward program?

Tagged as: Frugal, Frugal Shopping