When we post our CVS Weekly Deals, we often get questions about how the CVS Rewards program works and how you can get amazing CVS deals every week. It may seem complicated when you’re first starting out, but don’t worry—you’ll get the hang of it in no time, and this CVS Getting Started Guide will help!
Get started with CVS offers:
First, in order to take advantage of any CVS offers, you There needs to be a CVS store nearby. Check here to see if this is the case.
If so, you will need Apply for a CVS card. You can do this online, in the CVS Health app or in-store. CVS ExtraCare is free to join, all you need is your name, phone number and a valid email address.
Once you create an account and get your membership number, you can use the CVS app to learn about the week’s deals and track your offers and rewards.
Note: You can also call 1-800-SHOP-CVS to request a physical card and scan it at an in-store Coupon Care Center kiosk to get printed coupons each week. I find the app easier because it tracks the transactions for you and doesn’t require you to keep printed coupons/ECBs, but all of these transactions work with a physical card and printed coupons too!
To set up your CVS account:
Download the CVS app In the App Store or by texting “App” to CVS-APP (287-277).
Open the app and log in, entering the details you shared when creating your account.
Once you’re in your account, you can view your sales for the week, add coupons to your account, and track your transactions and rewards.
Use your CVS ExtraCare account (CVS Rewards Program)
At checkout, always Ask the cashier to scan your card or in-app barcodeor enter your associated phone number and they will begin notifying you of your transactions. If you place a pickup order in the app, please make sure you are logged in. All offers are tied to your card account, so if your purchase is not associated with your card, you will not receive any offers.
CVS Savings Basics:
At its most basic, CVS savings are like shopping for groceries—you save money when you match your purchases to the week’s sales, and you save even more when you can add coupons on top of those savings.
This alone can save you tons of money on medications, toiletries, household items, and even groceries, but I’m going to teach you how to take it a step further and really maximize these deals!
CVS Savings Hacks: Best Deals, Coupon Matches, and Rewards Explained:
Shopping at CVS is like the Olympics of deal hunting because CVS offers so many ways to save. Take your time and take advantage of the various ways to save money and you’ll soon feel like a gold saver, but for now let’s discuss all the ways you can save money when shopping at CVS:
CVS Weekly Deals
CVS releases ads of the week every week. Some deals are just discounted prices on products, you’ll often find deals where you can buy 2 products at a discount or even buy 1 get 1 free.
For example, instead of paying $4.69 for a pack of Crest toothpaste, you can buy a 2-pack for $7.98, saving $1.40.
CVS in-app coupons
In the CVS Health app, you’ll find coupons that can further save you money from weekly ads. Just click “Buy and Save” in the lower right corner to see all the coupons you can click on.
Each coupon will tell you whether the offer is available in store or online (usually both). These coupons simply save approximately $1-7 on the purchase price of a specific item (i.e., save $3.00 on Tide PODS Laundry Detergent 32 or 42-pack), or allow you to save $1-7 on any brand product (i.e., save $5.00 on any L’Oréal facial care product).
To add these coupons to your account, click “Send to Card” on the + sign in the lower right corner.
So, let’s review the Crest Toothpaste Weekly Deals – With the 2-pack adult Crest Toothpaste coupon for $4, I can now pay just $3.98 for a 2-pack, bringing my savings to $5.40.
CVS Care Center Coupons
I highly recommend checking in at the Red CVS Care Center every time you shop at CVS. Scanning your card at a care center will provide you with additional coupons in addition to those in the app, often paired with weekly offers. When you are a member for more than 7 days, you will start getting better coupons. And, you can even scan your ExtraCare card multiple times during a visit, as new coupons are sometimes printed after the first round!
Manufacturer Coupon
Manufacturer’s coupons include those you find in newspapers, print from websites such as Coupons.com, or get from manufacturers’ emails or websites such as PepsiCo or Kellogg’s.
CVS allows you to use manufacturer coupons and CVS store coupons on the same product. This is called “stacking” and results in even better savings!
The CVS Coupon Policy outlines more details about when stacking is allowed, which you can refer to if you have stacking issues at checkout.
European Central Bank
This is where CVS savings become extra special. Each week, CVS’s Weekly Ad features deals where you can earn “ExtraBucks Rewards” with your purchase.
You may find this type of reward called “ExtraBucks Reward” or “Extra Care Buck” (or ECB, as we refer to them online). you can You can use this coupon like cash on your next purchase, There are only a few exceptions (for example, you can’t use them to buy stamps or gift cards – the ECB’s fine print explains this in more detail).
This means you will purchase the item (out of pocket) and then you will receive a “coupon” at the end of your receipt (or sent to your app) for the amount of the item purchased. This coupon is an ECB or ExtraBucks bonus.
How about an example? Earlier, I mentioned the Crest toothpaste sale, and combined with the in-app coupon, I saved $5.40 and only paid $3.98 for a 2-pack. If CVS also offers a “buy 2 packs and get $3 extra” offer, then you pay $3.98 now and essentially spend $3 on your next purchase, bringing the total cost of 2 packs of toothpaste to $0.98.
It’s worth noting that these ECBs expire (usually after 30 days), and you’ll need to pay out of pocket to obtain them initially. but Once you pay for the item out of your own pocket and get the ECB, you can use the ECB you got to pay for your next transaction. You want to roll your ECB over and over again, so your goal should always be to use the ECB you earned from the previous trade to buy something on the next trade that will earn you the same amount or more The ECB has more money than you spend.
My goal is to spend as little as possible out of pocket and roll over my ECB to the same or more as I spent on the ECB. By doing this, I usually get $20-$50 worth of groceries and household items, only pay about $5 out of pocket, and earn enough ECB to go back and do it all over again next week.
We’ll be updating this article every week to include the best weekly deals at CVS so you can keep rolling your ECBs with maximum savings and minimum effort.
Bonus tip: While shopping, you can scan an item in the app to verify it qualifies for ExtraBucks offers.
ExtraBucks bonus income
CVS offers a few other ways to earn extra ExtraBucks rewards, including quarterly bonuses, pharmacy rewards and birthday rewards.
CVS regularly incentivizes shopping with additional quarterly bonuses, and every year on January 1, April 1, July 1, and October 1, you’ll earn 2% of ExtraBucks on qualifying purchases from the previous quarter.
If you share your birthday with them, you’ll also receive a $3 birthday bonus.
You can also choose to join Pharmacy Rewards. You can earn up to $50 per year in incentives for getting certain vaccines filled at CVS. You can read more details about opting in to the drug benefit here.
You can use all of these ExtraBucks rewards in-store or online.
Save in CVS using other applications
As if all that wasn’t good enough, you can save even more on CVS when you pair weekly CVS deals, coupons, and ECBs with cash back apps. Rakuten, Ibotta, Fetch and Shopkick all offer rebates, link your Shopkick account to your ExtraCare app to automatically earn rewards on qualifying purchases, submit your receipts to Fetch or Ibotta to get cash back, and shop online at CVS with Rakuten to get a percentage of your purchases cash back.
We regularly post deals that pair CVS purchases with cash back sites, so be sure to visit this CVS Deals Under $1 post to find the best deals!
CVS Money Making Deals: How to Get Paid for Your Shopping
In some cases, the value of the coupons and rewards you receive exceeds the cost of the item, which is known as a “money machine.”
(Please note: You won’t actually “make money” because the store will pay you cash to shop there, but you will “make money” because you will spend less out of pocket than you get back at the ECB, which you can then spend the next time you shop.)
For example, this past week, a $5.99 bottle of AX body wash was on a buy-one-get-one-free 50% off sale, with two bottles selling for $8.98. I clipped the $5/2 AX coupon in the app, which meant I paid $3.98. I then got a $4 ECB, which means I “made” $0.02 after the coupon and ECB, and I walked away with $11.98 worth of shower gel!
So I “made money” buying these because I got more back from the ECB than I spent out of pocket in the first place! Since you can combine manufacturer coupons with store coupons and ECBs, you can sometimes “make” more money.
Most of the time, there is a limit to how many items each card can purchase to generate ECB. Usually between 1 and 5, and will be noted in small font below the deal in the ad.
Take advantage of CVS weekly deals
Now that you know all about CVS’s weekly discounts, coupons, ECB, and cash back matching, you’re ready to start shopping! Visit this post for this week’s best CVS deals under $1.
Have you tried combining CVS coupons with weekly sales and ExtraCare rewards? Tell us how much you saved!
