Can someone explain CVSing - I dont get it!

[global_mom]

I read alot on these boards about not needing to pay for many items since a person started "CVSing". How the heck to do you do that? I have a CVS card thingy but seldom go b/c their prices seem so high. I am obviously missing the big picture.

Can someone explain the concept and the ECB stuff? I think that I need step by step instructions.

Thanks!!

 

[PoohHappens]

I could use CVS for Dummies too. I sort of get it, but when I asked the young man working at the store he could not really answer the questions for me.

 

[puffkin]

I too am interested in a CVS 101 course.

 

[aunt lissa]

I'm up for a little CVS 101 as well. I'd love to learn how ya'll save money with them.

 

[snowman1035]

Me too! I just went there the other day and it told me the amount I had, but I'll be darn it I know how to use them. So I would like to know as well.

 

[wdwfanatic80]

count me in for someone that is confused about the whole CVS thing!!!

 

[J&J'sMOM]

Joining in!

 

[InstImpres]

I am new to CVSing but here is a tutorial just on ECBs

Think of ECBs as a check CVS gives you with a purchase

The check has an expiration (It appears about 3 weeks out)

Certain items on sale qualify for ECBs and it is very clearly stated on the shelf and in flyers

You may use manufacturers coupons on items you are buying to receive ECBs or pay with ECBS

The ECBs print on the bottom of the receipt.

SAVE YOUR ECBs carefully.

Pay with them next trip instead of cash or credit card

I'll give you my first purchase as a simple example (as it was all I could handle).

I purchased 3 CVS brand allergy tablet boxes. They were $3.97 each with $3.97 in ECBS.

My order total was $11.91 but I also had a $3 off coupon I received from the minute clinic. So I paid $8.91, left the store with 3 boxes of medicine and $11.91 in ECBs. The following week I went back and bought a few items I needed (tissues, makeup, toothpaste, etc.) My order totaled $21.00 I gave them a $3 off your order coupon, $4.00 in manufacturers coupons and my $11.91 in ECBs along with a big $3.00 in cash!!! Therefore my $21.00 purchase only cost my $3. I also received new ECBs on a few of the items.

There is definetly an art to doing this right, sadly I haven't perfected but think I do ok, as a newbie. To do it well, you will need to spend a little time and make the effort to do some internet coupon printing too.

HTH

 

[PatsMom]

Some items you can not only get free, you can actually come out ahead. Two recent examples were Colgate toothbrushes and Aquafresh toothpaste. The were both free after the ECB's but there were $1.00 manufacturer's coupons for each that you could use as well.

 

[global_mom]

OK - I am still confused My brain just does not seem to get all of this.

Is there an online sale flyer that you access each week?

Where do you get these additional coupons?

Wont it take alot of trips back and forth to CVS thus costing more in gas?

Does this have anything to do with the CVS care card or are the ECBs seperate from that?

Thank you for putting all this into 1st grader language for me!

 

[InstImpres]

OK - I am still confused My brain just does not seem to get all of this.

Is there an online sale flyer that you access each week?

Where do you get these additional coupons?

Wont it take alot of trips back and forth to CVS thus costing more in gas?

Does this have anything to do with the CVS care card or are the ECBs seperate from that?

Thank you for putting all this into 1st grader language for me!

You can get the flyer on line at CVS.com, check out thread each week on the budget board or go to iheartcvs.com

Iheartcvs.com usually has links to printable coupons (both the CVS $3-$5 off an order and some online coupons), some of the coupons I use are just regular Sunday newspaper inserts

Maybe on the gas, if you are obsessive. I go once a week and that is it, unless I end up there for something else (unexpected meds, etc.), I am not willing to make multiple trips and extra trips but that is me. My CVS is also only about 2 miles away, so if the deals were amazing (and not limited), I could swing by on the way home. Some stores will also let you pay with more than one order in a trip, so you can use the ECBs from receipt one to pay for order 2.

Yes, you must have an extra care card to get ECBs. They print on the bottom of the receipt.

 

[gilby]

Joining

 

[ohiominnie]

Here's an interesting video done by a blogger about CVS'ing:

http://momminitup.com/?p=660

 

[bondgurl]

Go to moneysavingmom dot com
She has a CVS 101 article if I remember correctly, and posts the weekly deals.

 

[global_mom]

Here's an interesting video done by a blogger about CVS'ing:

http://momminitup.com/?p=660

That was really interesting! Seems that CVS will let you use multiple coupons for the same item which is not typically allowed at other places.

I guess that I will give this a try but it seems like it could be a ton of work.

I am heading to CVS today (going to a movie which is next door to the CVS so I wont be making an out of the way trip to CVS) and will try to figure more of this out by looking around and getting the flyer.

Thank you for the responses thus far!

 

[aunt lissa]

I'm still a little confused w/ the ECB. I don't recall mine ever printing on the bottom. I was under the impression that they were saved on the card somehow and you could only use them every three months.

 

[maggiew]

There are 2 kinds of ECB. One kind you get from buying certain items from the weekly ad. For example, the ad might say, Buy 2 Garnier Nutritioniste items, get $5 ECB back. The second type of eCB is a quarterly ECB. You get a percentage of your quarterly spending back as a "rebate" sort of. You get, I believe, 1% back on your quarterly spending. If you do the CVS game right, you really shouldn't get much back in the quarterly ECB because you aren't spending any (real) money.

What you do is go to CVS and get the ECB deals that are going on that week in the ad. The first week, you will have to spend money OOP to get you going, but after that the OOP amount should be low because you use the ECB you got the previous week to buy things this week.

So, here is a hypothetical example:

There is a deal for buy $10 in Garnier Nutritioniste, get $5 ECB back.
You go in and buy 2 Garnier face scrubs:
$5.99
$5.99
use 2 of the $2 off Garnier Nutritioniste coupons
Total OOP is $5.99 + $5.99 - $2 - $2 = $7.98

On the bottom of your receipt will be a $5 ECB.

Next week you go in and get the Covergirl lipstick that is on sale with ECB:
1 Covergirl lipstick $6.49
-$1 Covergirl coupon
= $5.49
-$5 ECB from last week
OOP .49 plus tax
Get $6.49 ECB back.

(These are made up examples!!)

So you "roll" your ECB each week. You use them to buy whatever ECB items are available that week.

Sometimes there are moneymakers. For example, this month you can buy the CVS allergy medicine for $3.97 (I think thats about the price) limit 3 and you get 3.97 back in ECB. But, if you buy all 3 at once, you can use a $3 off $10 CVS item purchase. So you come out ahead by $3 because you will get the full 3.97 x 3 back in ECB. Then you can use that $3 to buy things you need, that may not have ECB attached to them, like milk.

Maggie

 

[Anjelica]

This is really good information. But I have a question - I get their weekly ads in the Sunday paper and I notice that on the front page it states xx price if you use the card - is that as straight forward as it seems or is that playing into the whole rebate/ecb's?

 

[johde]

It depends on the ad whether the price is with or without ECB. For Example, if you look at This ad pageFrom next weeks ad. The $1.77 for Crest is without any ECB. The 3 for $7 Pantene is after factoring in earning $3 of ECB (You pay $10 today and get $3 to spend later).

I've only been CVSing for a couple of weeks and I've found it to be good for stocking up on their sale items.

 

[CherylA]

You earn something like 2% back on purchases you make that are saved up and every three months they print out as your Quarterly ECB (Extra Care Bucks) rewards at the bottom of your receipt. People who 'CVS' don't usually earn many ECS this way. We earn ours on the ECB sale items. Each week there are items that are 'on special', even though the price might not be great they earn ECBs so Aquafresh toothpaste might be on sale for 2.99 and earn $2 in ECS when you buy it. What that means is you pay 2.99 for your item and at the bottom of your receipt a "coupon" prints out for $2. It has an expiration date and can't be used on perscriptions, gift cards or cigarettes. Other than that it's like cash. Here's how I taught my mom to ease into "CVSing"

Lets say you need cold medicine so you go to CVS. Instead of just buying it first take the flier and look through to see if there are any items in there that are "free after ECBs" which means you will pay 3.99 for it when you buy it but 3.99 will print at the bottom of the receipt. (Check for a monthly deals flier too) And lets pretend that this week they have Colgate as a "free after ECBs" item. So it costs 2.99 and you get 2.99 in ECS. So what you do then is buy the Colgate but not the cold medicine. You will pay 2.99 in cash for your toothpast but get a coupon(actually ECBs) at the bottom of your receipt with a value of 2.99. Now go back and get the cold medicine. Lets say the cold medicine is 4.99. The cashier will ring it up and you will give her the 2.99 ECB coupon you just got and $2 in cash. You leave the store with toothpaste and your cold medicine and you paid the same 4.99 you would have if you just left the toothpaste there. If you had looked at your flier at home instead of waiting until you got in the store you might have been able to go through your coupons and find a coupon not only for the cold medicine but for the toothpaste too. If you found $1 coupons for each of those things you could have saved $2 so it would have cost you 2.99 for your cold medicine and a tube of toothpaste!

This all escalates from here, eventually as long as there are a couple of "free after ECB" deals that week you can leave not only with those items for free but with your milk and paper towels too! Best of all you'll have enough ECB's that you don't even use that trip so you can use them next week or next trip. This is called rolling over your ECS. Try the "beginner lesson" first it gives you an idea of how the basics work.

I personally love slickdeals.net for CVS ECB info they have a whole forum just for drugstore deals! If you go to the current weeks thread people even link printable coupons to the list of deals and post which coupons they have found that match up to that weeks deals at CVS.

Good Luck!