There are many, many posts on the blogosphere about CVS and how you can save money. I truly believe that you can, but…..
My CVS shopping experience did not go as planned.
- My husband went with me and I was not as prepared as I probably should have been.
- I slightly overspent to the tune of over $45.00.
- I’m still confused about how the ECB work.
- Have I mentioned that I slightly overspent? Oh yeah, that was #3. Guess I’m still in a little shock over that one. On to what is really number 4, I didn’t study the sales paper as much as I should have.
- I waited until late in the sale and the things that I really wanted were gone.
I think I’ve pretty much got it pegged what happened. You don’t take your hubby with you when you go. You have a list made and stick pretty much to it (which I did have a list made, just not a lot of coupons), and you don’t wait until near the end of the sale. Oh and you really, really need to study the sales paper.
So, now I’m in desperate need of some CVS shopping tutoring. I need help with the ECB. So I’m appealing to anyone out there that is CVS shopping experienced to please HELP!!!!!
Till later,
JT Locke
The Frugal Housewife
About The Frugal Housewife
I have been doing some CVS stuff so I will offer my advice here.
ALWAYS carry your ECBs with you. I bought a little album for $1 from Walmart and this holds all coupons and ECBs.
NEVER do just one transaction..unless you are only buying one thing. You need the ECBs from one transaction to roll onto the next one so that you do not pay a lot of money out of pocket.
When paying, use the coupons first to reduce the price and then use your ECBs last.
Look at the paper and list all the FREE items first. These are the ones you want to buy on your first transaction. Then use those ECBs to pay for other things at CVS that are not free.
Feel free to check out my blog for more CVS stuff.
Hope this helps.
Lulugal has a lot of good tips. The other tip that I would recommend is getting rainchecks for the items that are out of stock. If you would have received ECB’s for that item, they should put the item, it’s price and the ECB’s you would have received. Then, when you purchase the item after it goes back in stock, you’ll just pay the price after ECB’s are subtracted (since the ECB’s won’t print). You can still use your coupon (except for items that are free after ECB’s).
I do a CVS $5 challenge each Sat/Sun which assumes you have no ECB’s to begin with. Check it out to work on your next trip (and most of the coupons this week are from tomorrow’s paper)
http://www.centsablemomma.com/2009/01/cvs-5-challenge-14-110.html
CVS’ing can be a bit daunting at times. I always do better when I’m alone, bringing the man puts more pressure on me and I don’t need his following me around the store to mess me up. I try to hit the stores at the beginning of the week when more items are in stock. I make my list writing down the item, sale price, coupon amount and how much ECBs the item will earn. The amount of ECBs I have to spend is written at the top of my list. If there are a lot of items on my list I will break it up into more than one “trip”… the key is to roll the ECBs and spend as little as possible out of pocket. And don’t stress… we all make mistakes here! Even the most skilled CVS’ers make them from time to time!
@ CentsAble Momma….I did not know about the rain checks. I asked for a rain check one time and they would not give it to me because it was an item that had ECBs. The manager was ‘busy’ and could not come out and the clerk insisted that if an item was out of stock that carries ECBs they were not allowed to give rain checks.
Thanks for all the great posts. I’m going to give this another try and NOT take the hubby along!!! Another question — can you use the CVS card on prescription medicines?
These are great tips. Yes have them scan your card even when picking up scripts. I know I used to get an ECB after paying for 2 scripts. I usually get my scripts filled at Walgreens so not really sure if it is still like that or not.
An ECB is actually used just like cash. You can also use a CVS coupon along with a manufacturer coupon on a product. I love this, but I have noticed I can’t find as many store coupons like I used to in the past. It does take a few trips to really get the hang of it all so don’t get too discouraged at first. I also go over the flyer at home and get all coupons organized before hitting the store. This saves me time and I don’t miss using a coupon. If you ever get any CRT (cash register tape) coupon or in an email like $4/20 or $2/10 then you can really maximize your savings. Just make the sure the wording isn’t only on CVS brand products. Good luck!
That’s too bad, lulugal that you couldn’t get a raincheck. I just starting asking for them myself, but I have 2 right now. They list the item and the ECB’s you would have gotten., so you should get it for the price minus ECB’s. Of course, it all depends on how knowledgeable the cashier is on CVS policies, too.
I haven’t actually redeemed either of the rainchecks that I have, yet (since I ended up purchasing 1 item at another CVS with my coupon, and the other one is still out of stock), so I don’t know if I’ll have any problems.
If you’re running into products being out of stock, ask when they restock the shelves. A lot of stores restock towards the end of the week in preparation for the weekend. I never go in the beginning of the week because items are almost always gone. However, if I go on Thursday or Friday, I can usually find what I want or the manager is very willing to look in the back for me. At one store, if it’s no longer in stock, the manager is usually willing to offer a different item at regular/sale price minus the ECB from the other one. Sometimes it’s a good deal, sometimes it’s not. I’ve never tried rainchecks. Also, some stores allow you to purchase the next week’s sales items on Saturday evening. It might be advantageous for you to ask your store – that way most items would be in stock.