Making Store Reward Programs Work For You

I refer to the rewards programs from CVS and Walgreens quite a bit in my posts, and I just want to make sure everyone understands how they work and how you can use them to your best advantage. Drugstores are the best places to find extremely free or cheap items, as you can pair coupons, sales, and rewards all together for a fabulous bargain. Trust me when I say, you will almost always get something for free each and every week. Feel free to comment with any questions or confusion you may have.

At CVS, the rewards program is linked with your Extra Care Card. You can get an Extra Care Card at
any CVS register and use it immediately. Your Extra Care Card allows you to get sale prices, as well as receive Extra Care Bucks.

Extra Care Bucks are essentially a money-back program that is linked with the purchase of certain products. For example, there is a deal where, when you buy 5 bottles of Vitamin Water, you get 2 Extra Care Bucks. You pay for all the bottles out of pocket, and then your Extra Care Bucks will print. You can use them immediately on your next transaction. Extra Care Bucks expire one month from when you receive them.

Another way to use your card is by scanning it at the red coupon machine found near the front of CVS stores. Many times you will get coupons for items, free items, and even Extra Care Bucks at the end of each quarter. You will want to scan your card once a week, as the coupons will change each sale cycle. For example, last week the coupon was for a free candy bar and this week it is for $3 off a $10 purchase of pain relievers. You never know what will print out! Expiration dates will vary, so make sure you check them.

Walgreens' rewards program is not linked with a card, so this makes it a little bit for flexible, as their limits are easily surpassed. The program is Register Rewards and these are very much like Extra Care Bucks in the fact that they are a money-back program that prints at the register after a transaction.

Walgreens will advertise limits on the number of products you buy, but there is a way around it. Since your purchases are not linked to a card, all you have to do is not use the Register Rewards when purchasing an identical item, and the computer will print them. For example, if toothbrushes are $3 and you get $2 Register Rewards, DO NOT use the Register Rewards to buy more toothbrushes, because the computer will recognize that they are from the same deal and will not print any more. Instead, try to stagger Register Reward deals, so you can spend little out of pocket, but still receiving all the Register Rewards. Here's an example that I did today, that shows how staggering works:

Transaction 1
W Razor $3.99, $3.99 Register Rewards (RR)
Pay $3.99 out of pocket (OOP) , Receive $3.99 RR

Transaction 2
GUM Floss $2, $2 RR
Clorox Cleaner $2.79, $1 RR
$4.79-3.99 RR = Pay $.80 OOP, Receive $3 RR

Transaction 3
W Razor $3.99, $3.99 RR
Filler* - Candy $.49
$4.48-$3 RR = Pay $1.48 OOP, Receive $3.99 RR

Transaction 4
GUM Floss, $2, $2 RR
Fillers* totaling $1.99
$3.99-$3.99 RR= Pay nothing, Receive $2 RR

*Fillers are necessary for two reasons.
One, each Register Rewards counts as a coupon, and there must be the same number of items as coupons. So looking at transaction 3, you are using two different Register Rewards, the $2 floss RR and the $1 Clorox RR, so you must have 2 items.
Two, the before tax total MUST be equal to or more than the Register Rewards.

A last tip for Walgreens: you can stack coupons! You can use one manufacturer coupons along with Walgreens' coupons together on a single item. Just remember, you have to use fillers to make sure you have the same amount of items as coupons. Here's an example of stacking:

Tylenol Precise $7.99
Use $5/1 manufacturer coupon and $3/1 Walgreens coupon to make the item free!