Business & Tech

Go "Freeing" at CVS

You can get a cartful for a few bucks if you know the system

I have a friend who's big into bargain shopping. She knows all the tricks of the trade -- like how at , you can use a store coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon on an item.

But her most impressive feat is beating the system at CVS. Every week or two, she tells her husband to watch the kids because she's going "freeing" at the neighborhood .

The secret is Extra Bucks. Buy certain items and CVS gives you points on your receipt, each worth $1 on a future purchase. My friend has it worked out so that she can buy a bunch of stuff, use Extra Bucks to pay for it, and go home with more Extra Bucks for next time.

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Here's how it works: First, sign up for an Extra Care card -- it's like a card and gives you the sale prices when you scan it. 

Then go through the weekly CVS ad; they're available in the store or online. Look for the items that reward you with Extra Bucks. This week, for example, If you buy Colgate toothpaste for $2.99, you get $2 in Extra Bucks, so it's like getting it for 99 cents.

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But suppose you have a coupon for $1 off Colgate? Then it's free. Have a 50-cent coupon? It's 49 cents.

But you're not paying cash for it. You're using the Extra Bucks you got last week to pay most or all of the bill.

Yes, it takes an initial investment to pile up some Extra Bucks when you start. But say you spend $20 and get $8 in Extra Bucks. Next week, you go in and buy only products that have and Extra Bucks reward on them. And pay most of the bill with your Extra Bucks.

Of course, you're never going to wheel out a cartful of free stuff unless you also make a commitment to coupons. And a commitment to buying only things you have coupons for. You can't be brand loyal, and you can't cater to the kids' whims. They drink Sunny Delight when you bring it home -- not when they see a commercial for it.

Once, my friend had two buy-one-get-one-free coupons for candy bars. She held onto them until CVS ran a buy-one-get-one-free sale on the candy. She went in and got four candy bars free. If the store had been offering Extra Bucks on it, she'd have made money on the deal.

But the registers at CVS spit out coupons once you swipe your card, and you often get deals like "$5 off a $30 purchase"  on your receipt. 

CVS does seem to have caught on to the hard-core "freers." Lately, the offers tend to be "Spend $15 on these products and receive $5 in Extra Bucks." Still, with coupons you can hand over very little cash out of pocket. There are websites devoted to CVS shopping and plenty more on coupons. 

Other stores have gotten in on the act, too. Rite Aid now has +Up Rewards on some items, which seems to work in a similar fashion. 

One warning: Plan your strategy in advance. Map out exactly what you plan to buy and gather your coupons, with back-ups in place. Often, CVS sells out of its Extra Bucks products quickly and you'll need something else to replace it with if you're trying to get $5 off your total.

 


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