Many people do not know about the programs that are offered at drugstores like CVS, Walgreen’s and Rite-Aid that can save you a lot of money and allow you to get free stuff. First, like some other retail stores drug stores, they offer gift cards to you if you transfer a prescription to them. There are many stores that do this now–not only drug stores like CVS, Walgreen’s and Rite-Aid, but Target, Wal-Mart and Kroger do this as well. You can get free money to spend at the store when you have a prescription that you can transfer, or if you have a brand-new prescription to be filled. Each drugstore has its own money-back or rewards type of system. Once you learn about this, you will most likely be thrilled and wonder how you could’ve ever overlooked such a great way to save money and get free stuff.
CVS: CVS has a rewards program for customers that have a shopper’s card with them where you can earn what they call "Extra Care Bucks" or ECB’s. Every week they have products featured in their sales ad that state if you buy this item this week you will get a certain amount of extra care bucks with the purchase. This doesn’t mean you have to pay full price for the item though! You can use coupons to make the product cheaper and still get the extra care bucks. When you purchase an item that gives you extra care bucks, the extra care bucks will print below your receipt. Don’t throw away the receipt without remembering to tear off the extra care buck’s, which are just as good as dollars. After you make a purchase earning the extra care bucks, and you have the printed receipt showing how many ECB’s you have, now you can use the ECB’s to buy anything at CVS. You could even buy the same item again and get it free this time (you may have to pay tax on it). Sometimes you can only get the ECB’s once, when you first purchase the product, so you will not get the ECB’s if you purchase the product again and hence you won’t have any more ECB’s left over, but this is where you can really start to get stuff for free or really cheap if you learn how to roll over your ECB’s by continuing to purchase items that will give you more ECB’s. Not to mention that you can use coupons on the products that will give you ECB’s too! There are many coupons in the Sunday paper every week that correspond with items that are in the sales ad at all the drug stores. I know this may be a little confusing to many people at first, so if you are confused you should check out I Heart CVS, which has tons more information for newbies on how to work ECB’s and always has the ads listed and which products are offering ECB deals every week. Another good blog to check for coupon matchups is Southern Savers.
Walgreen’s: Walgreen’s has a very similiar program to that of CVS, only they call their money-back program "Register Rewards" instead of "Extra Care Bucks"; also, instead of printing directly on your cash register receipt, they print out seperately on a catalina coupon, which is a separate machine that prints the coupon for you. Again, you check the weekly ad to see which items are being offered that you can earn register rewards on by purchasing. Match up the coupons you have to the items being offered, or go to a website or blog that matches them up for you, like I Heart Wags or Southern Savers. Use coupons to make the items cheaper on the initial purchase and once you have earned register rewards, continue to use coupons and roll over your register rewards by continuing to purchase items that will give you more register rewards. I Heart Wags has a lot of good information for beginners.
Rite-Aid: Rite-Aid’s money-saving program is a little different. They do their money-saving program kind of like rebates, they call it the "Single Check Rebates Program". With this program you purchase any of the products that are offered to give you a rebate and then you save your receipts and input them into a website throughout the month; once all your receipts for that month are in, you request a check and a check is mailed to you. Again, you look through their weekly sales flyer or online to see which products offer rebates, match up any coupons you have and remember to always save your receipts. Go to Rite-Aid’s website and input the information and then request a check. Once the check is mailed to you and you receive it you can use it to purchase anything at Rite-Aid, including more items that offer rebates again. Do you see how you can continue to roll the money over to continue to earn more money and get stuff free continuously now? You can also go to I Heart Rite-Aid for coupon matchups and listings of the weekly sales ads.
You will be amazed at how much stuff you can get for free or cheap when using these methods of saving money at drug stores. You may never pay for health products like shampoo or toothpaste again! If you find that you’re purchasing too much, you can always donate items to shelters or those in need. You can build a stock pile for tough times when you may not be able to afford bare necessities, this way you will be stocked up and can use your money for other needs you and your family have.
