Can someone explain CVSing - I dont get it!

[jessica52877]

I have been CVS'ing for a while but I only buy what I need. Tide is a GREAT deal this week but right now I have about 6 bottles of tide in the laundry room/garage, that will last us a while, so I skipped it. If it were a money maker then I might have purchased it.

The wrinkle cream mentioned I would not buy, I just don't use it so just because you get an ECB by buying doesn't make it a good deal for your family. You have to watch really and not get sucked into the buy it because it has a ECB.

I am not brand specific and love not paying for most toiletry items (and my neighbors love me too) but I do take breaks from CVS. I started back doing it around February or March of this year, the first week in May we went on vacation and I haven't been back since. I used the last ECB's I had for 3 cans of sunscreen which I would have bought anyways. In a month or two I'll go back again, my first investment will be around $10 OOP (out of pocket) but I would have spent more then that $10 on sunscreen.

It really does all work out. I do not throw anything extra in my cart though when at CVS, DS5 knows not to ask.

 

[global_mom]

IThe wrinkle cream mentioned I would not buy, I just don't use it so just because you get an ECB by buying doesn't make it a good deal for your family. You have to watch really and not get sucked into the buy it because it has a ECB.

This seems to be the crucial step - dont just buy it b/c of the ECBs.

I got the new flyer and figured out the stuff that I want to get this coming week. Pretty good deals with Bounty, Febreeze and Gatorade. Those are things that I need to buy anyway and I will come out with about $15 ECBs.

Does CVS take competitors coupons (walgreen, etc)?

 

[disneysteve]

Ok. I took another look at the CVS deal. One thing jumped out at me. There is a glucose meter for $30 with a $30 mail-in rebate. But there is also a $30 off coupon in the paper. Does that mean I can go there, buy the meter for $30 and use the $30 coupon, thus getting it for free, and then mail in the rebate to get back $30? If so, that would be a pretty sweet deal.

 

[bluesaturn]

Ok. I took another look at the CVS deal. One thing jumped out at me. There is a glucose meter for $30 with a $30 mail-in rebate. But there is also a $30 off coupon in the paper. Does that mean I can go there, buy the meter for $30 and use the $30 coupon, thus getting it for free, and then mail in the rebate to get back $30? If so, that would be a pretty sweet deal.

I've been CVSing for a little while now, but I actually have the same question. I've never done any of the glucose meter things. If I can get the $30 for this I will, and I'll just donate the meter somewhere. Anyone know if this is possible?

 

[MrsPete]

I've never been into the CVS thing, but I decided to give it a try. Experienced people, please critique my first attempt:

I wanted to try this on a small scale for my first purchase, and I needed a bottle of Advil, Tylenol, or similar. I went into the store, but no pain meds were in the circular (that would've been extremely lucky). I decided to buy two deodorants for DH, which were $4.99 with a $4.99 ECB. I thought that was a high price for deodorant, but they were very large deodorants. With no coupons and no reason to choose one pain med over the other, I chose a large bottle of store-brand "Advil" that cost about $7.

I noticed that everything with an ECB isn't a good deal. For example, in our house with three long-haired girls, I always need shampoo -- but NONE of the shampoo options with ECBs were even remotely good deals. They were in the range of $5-7 per bottle with a $1-2 ECB.

At the register, I told the cashier that I wished to pay for these items separately -- no problem, in fact, she was very pleasant. I paid for the deodorants first, and my receipt said $9.98 ECB at the bottom. You don't get ECB for your tax; only your product cost. So far so good.

I handed over the store-brand Advil and said I wanted to pay for it with the ECB. Something I didn't see coming: She pointed out that when I use the ECB, it would ALL be gone -- I couldn't use $7 and "save" the other $2.98 for a future purchase. She asked if I'd like to add something else to my order, and since people were waiting behind me, my daughter was thrilled to pick out three packs of gum (a luxury item which she loves, but I make her buy out of her own allowance); if I'd seen that coming, I would've bought gallon of milk, two loaves of bread, or something a little more practical. I ended up paying a few coins for my Advil/3 packs of gum purchase.

So for less than $11, I have two deodorants, a large bottle of store-brand Advil, and three packs of gum. Not bad, but truthfully what I NEEDED was just the Advil. The gum was a spontaneous purchase, and I now see that I could've done better there. My husband didn't need the deodorant right now, but it isn't going to go bad, and he certainly will use it later.

Here are the lessons I think I learned -- please let me know if I'm on the right track:

Since you need to "use up" all the ECB at one time, small purchases are better than large ones.
You need to get the ECB book at the first of the month (I was there on the very last day of May) and "map out" the things you'd use. You should buy the most expensive items first and work your way downward in price -- that way you'll have the ECB from the larger items, and you can use it to purchase the smaller items.
To really "get ahead" and get your bread, peanut butter, whatever you want that doens't have an ECB for free, you're going to also need coupons.
This is complicated, but it could be worthwhile.

And a comment on buying unnecessary things: In this situation, I don't have a problem with accumulating excessive toothbrushes. My daughters' scout troops have a couple canned food drives every year, and I'd just as soon donate toothbrushes as buy canned goods and rice. I know that the charities in this area are really hurting; people are donating fewer items, and I think they need everything.

 

[global_mom]

OMGosh, thank you for the tip about using the WHOLE ECB. I did not know that part of it but it makes sense. I know what you are saying about not really needing the extra deod but you have to start somewhere in order to get the CVSing ball rolling.

In the new cicular I found things that I do need, although I may not need them all at once:

Febreeze/Swiffer products
Bounty - must buy $20 worth of certain products so will stock up on papertowels, those never go to waste
Claritin - DH uses this every day
Dish detergent
Gatorade for sports camp

Question: What is the ECB BOOK that you mention? Are there items that are not advertised but that do carry the ECBs?

Example - yesterday I found toothpaste on sale for $2.99 (A fair deal, about 10 cents higher than the Target price) and it said that you get $2.99 in ECB. This item was not in the sale flyer. Are there items each week that are unlisted in the ads?

Thanks!

 

[JoanneNC]

OK - I am determined to "get this"

Here is what I am thinking - please let me know if I am correct

The $20 Pampers/wipes deal for $5 ECB
The $9.99 Fusion Gilette Razor for $4 ECB deal

Buy:
2 Pampers @ 7.99
2 wipes @ 2.99
Total Spent $23.96
Apply two $2.00 Pamper/wipes coupons when I buy 2
So that would net my OOP to be $19.96 and I would get back $5.00


Buy the Fusion Razor for $9.99
Apply a manufacturer coupon for $4.00
Apply previous ECB of $5.00
OOP would be $.99

I also was emailed a $4.00 off when I spend $20 coupon from CVS - can I apply this $4.00 to the above diaper deal making my OOP actually $15.96 or is that double dipping?

Is this a good deal?

Thanks in advance

 

[global_mom]

I also had the $4 coupon and was able to apply it to items that I were already on sale and earning ECBs. It brought my cost way down.

This can get really addictive

 

[Jakesmom504]

 

[maggiew]

I've never been into the CVS thing, but I decided to give it a try. Experienced people, please critique my first attempt:

I wanted to try this on a small scale for my first purchase, and I needed a bottle of Advil, Tylenol, or similar. I went into the store, but no pain meds were in the circular (that would've been extremely lucky). I decided to buy two deodorants for DH, which were $4.99 with a $4.99 ECB. I thought that was a high price for deodorant, but they were very large deodorants. With no coupons and no reason to choose one pain med over the other, I chose a large bottle of store-brand "Advil" that cost about $7.

I noticed that everything with an ECB isn't a good deal. For example, in our house with three long-haired girls, I always need shampoo -- but NONE of the shampoo options with ECBs were even remotely good deals. They were in the range of $5-7 per bottle with a $1-2 ECB.

At the register, I told the cashier that I wished to pay for these items separately -- no problem, in fact, she was very pleasant. I paid for the deodorants first, and my receipt said $9.98 ECB at the bottom. You don't get ECB for your tax; only your product cost. So far so good.

I handed over the store-brand Advil and said I wanted to pay for it with the ECB. Something I didn't see coming: She pointed out that when I use the ECB, it would ALL be gone -- I couldn't use $7 and "save" the other $2.98 for a future purchase. She asked if I'd like to add something else to my order, and since people were waiting behind me, my daughter was thrilled to pick out three packs of gum (a luxury item which she loves, but I make her buy out of her own allowance); if I'd seen that coming, I would've bought gallon of milk, two loaves of bread, or something a little more practical. I ended up paying a few coins for my Advil/3 packs of gum purchase.

So for less than $11, I have two deodorants, a large bottle of store-brand Advil, and three packs of gum. Not bad, but truthfully what I NEEDED was just the Advil. The gum was a spontaneous purchase, and I now see that I could've done better there. My husband didn't need the deodorant right now, but it isn't going to go bad, and he certainly will use it later.

Here are the lessons I think I learned -- please let me know if I'm on the right track:

Since you need to "use up" all the ECB at one time, small purchases are better than large ones.
You need to get the ECB book at the first of the month (I was there on the very last day of May) and "map out" the things you'd use. You should buy the most expensive items first and work your way downward in price -- that way you'll have the ECB from the larger items, and you can use it to purchase the smaller items.
To really "get ahead" and get your bread, peanut butter, whatever you want that doens't have an ECB for free, you're going to also need coupons.
This is complicated, but it could be worthwhile.

And a comment on buying unnecessary things: In this situation, I don't have a problem with accumulating excessive toothbrushes. My daughters' scout troops have a couple canned food drives every year, and I'd just as soon donate toothbrushes as buy canned goods and rice. I know that the charities in this area are really hurting; people are donating fewer items, and I think they need everything.

You brought up another good point about the CVS "game". You need to stock up a little when there is a good ECB deal because when you need an item (like you run out of deoderant), you will have it in your stash. So, right now, you are stocked up on deoderant and you got it free. So now when your DH runs out of deoderant, you won't have to hope for an ECB deal.

Another example is that pain med is one item that you can almost always get free AT SOME POINT at CVS. So if you stock up when its free, you won't have to buy a $7 bottle. The same is true for cold med, so keep an eye out for that. Last week Excedrin was on sale for $1.99 and there were $2 printable coupons out there. So that would have been free.

The same is true for the shampoo. There are enough shampoo deals that you can usually get it free or very close to free. Almost every other week there is a Garnier deal!!! So hopefully that would work for shampoo. Also, pantene and Tressemme has had good ECB deals.

So, another lesson is to stock up a little when there are really good eCB deals, so that when you run out you won't have to hope and pray there is an ECB deal going on for what you need. Not every category (shampoo, deoderant, toothpaste, etc.) will have good ECB deals every week.

Maggie

 

[vald1977]

Just wanted say thanks to the op for posting this thread and thanks to the fellow disers who have shared their knowledge . I've always wondered how this all worked and now I know.

 

[maggiew]

Here are the lessons I think I learned -- please let me know if I'm on the right track:

Since you need to "use up" all the ECB at one time, small purchases are better than large ones.
You need to get the ECB book at the first of the month (I was there on the very last day of May) and "map out" the things you'd use. You should buy the most expensive items first and work your way downward in price -- that way you'll have the ECB from the larger items, and you can use it to purchase the smaller items.
To really "get ahead" and get your bread, peanut butter, whatever you want that doens't have an ECB for free, you're going to also need coupons.
This is complicated, but it could be worthwhile.

And a comment on buying unnecessary things: In this situation, I don't have a problem with accumulating excessive toothbrushes. My daughters' scout troops have a couple canned food drives every year, and I'd just as soon donate toothbrushes as buy canned goods and rice. I know that the charities in this area are really hurting; people are donating fewer items, and I think they need everything.

I'm not sure I agree about buying the most expensive item first. If you want to get the lowest OOP, I usually try to work my way "up". That way you have the least amount OOP in the beginning. If you buy the most expensive item first, you will have to pay the most up front. But, you do want to watch the size of the ECB you will get at the end. For example, if there is a limit 5 on 4.99 deoderant that are free after ECB, you might not want to buy all 5 at once. Otherwise you will have a nearly $25 ECB to use. You could do something like this to keep the ECB low, buy one of the deoderants and one of the free toothpastes and one of the free toothbrushes. Then you will have 3 smaller ECB to use. The only problem with this method is that sometimes stores will run out of the free after ECB items, so you run the risk of them being out of the deoderants the next time. If you have a couple stores nearby, this may not be a big issue.

The idea is that you spend as many ECB as you get back in the transaction and spend as little OOP as possible. So if you use $9 ECB, you should get around $9 ECB back. That way its sustainable. If you end up using all your ECB in one transaction, you will have to spend money OOP to get started again.

Maggie

 

[maggiew]

Ok. I took another look at the CVS deal. One thing jumped out at me. There is a glucose meter for $30 with a $30 mail-in rebate. But there is also a $30 off coupon in the paper. Does that mean I can go there, buy the meter for $30 and use the $30 coupon, thus getting it for free, and then mail in the rebate to get back $30? If so, that would be a pretty sweet deal.

You won't be able to get the rebate if you spent $0 on the monitor. For some reason, the glucose monitor people are the only ones who actually look at how much you spent AFTER coupons. They will deny the rebate.

However, almost every other type of rebate you can get a "double dip". For example, I think there was a double dip on the Tums quick melt packs that were on sale with eCB last month. They were free after ECB at CVS, plus there was a mailin rebate in the Sunday paper.

There are sometimes good monitor deals at CVS. These work when they are free after ECB AND there is a coupon out there. So, maybe the monitor is $30 and you will get back $30 in ECB. If you have a coupon for the monitor, you will pay $0 OOP but get back the $30 ECB. So now you just made $30!! These sell out FAST so you have to do this early in the sale week!!!

Maggie

 

[disneysteve]

You won't be able to get the rebate if you spent $0 on the monitor. For some reason, the glucose monitor people are the only ones who actually look at how much you spent AFTER coupons. They will deny the rebate.

However, almost every other type of rebate you can get a "double dip". For example, I think there was a double dip on the Tums quick melt packs that were on sale with eCB last month. They were free after ECB at CVS, plus there was a mailin rebate in the Sunday paper.

There are sometimes good monitor deals at CVS. These work when they are free after ECB AND there is a coupon out there. So, maybe the monitor is $30 and you will get back $30 in ECB. If you have a coupon for the monitor, you will pay $0 OOP but get back the $30 ECB. So now you just made $30!! These sell out FAST so you have to do this early in the sale week!!!

Maggie

Figured that was too good to be true. I'll have to watch for the other offers though.

 

[MrsPete]

Question: What is the ECB BOOK that you mention?

When you go into the store there are TWO sales promos by the door: one is a monthly ECB booklet, the other is the weekly store ads.

Are there items that are not advertised but that do carry the ECBs?

I don't think so.

 

[MrsPete]

I'm not sure I agree about buying the most expensive item first.

Yeah, I think I got that backwards.

 

[bluesaturn]

You won't be able to get the rebate if you spent $0 on the monitor. For some reason, the glucose monitor people are the only ones who actually look at how much you spent AFTER coupons. They will deny the rebate.

However, almost every other type of rebate you can get a "double dip". For example, I think there was a double dip on the Tums quick melt packs that were on sale with eCB last month. They were free after ECB at CVS, plus there was a mailin rebate in the Sunday paper.

There are sometimes good monitor deals at CVS. These work when they are free after ECB AND there is a coupon out there. So, maybe the monitor is $30 and you will get back $30 in ECB. If you have a coupon for the monitor, you will pay $0 OOP but get back the $30 ECB. So now you just made $30!! These sell out FAST so you have to do this early in the sale week!!!

Maggie

Thanks I was wondering too!

 

[Kycha]

I am really interested in starting this as well. How much time do you have before the ECB's expire?

 

[SnowWhite607]

OK - I am determined to "get this"

Here is what I am thinking - please let me know if I am correct

The $20 Pampers/wipes deal for $5 ECB
The $9.99 Fusion Gilette Razor for $4 ECB deal

Buy:
2 Pampers @ 7.99
2 wipes @ 2.99
Total Spent $23.96
Apply two $2.00 Pamper/wipes coupons when I buy 2
So that would net my OOP to be $19.96 and I would get back $5.00


Buy the Fusion Razor for $9.99
Apply a manufacturer coupon for $4.00
Apply previous ECB of $5.00
OOP would be $.99

I also was emailed a $4.00 off when I spend $20 coupon from CVS - can I apply this $4.00 to the above diaper deal making my OOP actually $15.96 or is that double dipping?

Is this a good deal?

Thanks in advance

YES! Use the 4off 20 coupon FIRST (before your manufacturers coupons) so your total will be over $20 (if you use the diaper coupons first, it lowers the total to under $20). There is an order in which you give your stuff to the cashier....
first, any xx off a XXX purchase ($3 off $15, $4 off $20, etc)
next, any manufacturers coupons
last any ECB that you have built up

If you use your 4/off 20 Q, it would be 23.96 - $4 - 19.96 minus your $4 in Q = 15.96 with $5 ECB.

 

[SnowWhite607]

I am really interested in starting this as well. How much time do you have before the ECB's expire?

They expire one month from the day they are issued. I went yesterday (6/1) and got some that expire 7/1