Money Saving Mom®

When we post CVS weekly deals, we often get questions about how the CVS rewards program works and how to get amazing CVS deals each week. It can seem complex when you’re starting out, but don’t worry — you’ll get the hang of it quickly and this CVS primer will help!

Getting started with CVS deals:

First off, in order to take advantage of any of the deals at CVS, you need to have a CVS store nearby. Check here to see if that’s the case.

If so, you will need to apply for a CVS card. You can do this online, in the CVS Health app, or in-store. CVS ExtraCare is free to join and all you’ll need to provide is your name, phone number, and a valid email address. 

Once you’ve created an account and have your membership number, you can use the CVS app to find out about the week’s deals and to track your deals and rewards. 

Note: You can also call 1-800-SHOP-CVS to request a physical card and then scan it at the in-store Coupon Care Center kiosk to get printed coupons each week. I find the app easier since it tracks the deals for you and doesn’t require you to hold onto the printed coupons/ECBs, but all these deals will 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 an account. 

Once you’re in your account, you can see this week’s sales, add coupons to your account, and track your deals and rewards.

Using your CVS ExtraCare account (CVS Rewards Program)

At checkout, always have the cashier scan your card or your in-app barcode, or enter your linked phone number, before they start ringing up your transaction. If you’re placing your pickup order in the app, make sure you’re logged in. All of the deals are tied to your card account number, so if your purchase isn’t connected to your card, you won’t be able to get any of the deals.

The Basics of Saving at CVS:

At its most basic, saving at CVS is just like saving on groceries – when you match your purchases to the week’s sales, you’ll save money, and when you can add a coupon on top of those savings, you’ll save even more. 

This on its own will save you lots of money on medicines, toiletries, household goods, and even groceries, but I’m going to teach you how to take it a step further and really maximize those deals!

CVS Savings Hacks: Best Deals, Coupon Match-ups, and Rewards Explained:

Because of all the ways you can save at CVS, shopping at CVS is like the Olympics of finding deals. Slowly building to take advantage of each way to save will make you feel like a Gold Medal money-saver in no time, but for now let’s discuss all the ways you can save when shopping at CVS: 

CVS Weekly Deals

Each week, CVS releases a weekly ad. Some deals are simply a discounted price for a product and frequently you’ll find deals where you can buy 2 of a product at a discount or even Buy 1 Get 1 Free. 

For example, instead of buying one package of Crest Toothpaste for $4.69, you can buy 2 for $7.98, saving $1.40. 

CVS in-app coupons

In the CVS Health App, you can find coupons that will take your savings from the weekly ad even further. Simply click “Shop & Save” in the bottom right corner to see all the coupons you can click. 

Each coupon will tell you if the deal is available in store or online (usually it’s both). These coupons simply take about $1-7 off the purchase price of a specific item (i.e., Save $3.00 on Tide PODS Laundry Detergent 32 count or 42 count) or allow you to save on any of a brand’s product (i.e., Save $5.00 off any L’Oreal facial care). 

To add these coupons to your account, hit the + sign in the bottom right corner to “Send to Card.” 

So, let’s revisit that Crest Toothpaste weekly deal — with a $4 off 2 Adult Crest toothpastes coupon, I’ll now pay $3.98 for 2 packages, bringing my savings to $5.40.

CVS Care Center Coupons

I highly recommend that you check in at the red CVS Care Center each time you shop at CVS. Scanning your card at the Care Center will get you extra coupons beyond those in your app, often paired with the weekly deals. Once you’ve been a member for more than 7 days, you’ll start to get even better coupons. And, you can even scan your ExtraCare card multiple times in one visit because sometimes new coupons print after the first round!

Manufacturer’s Coupons

Manufacturer’s coupons include those you find in the newspaper, print from a website (like Coupons.com), or get from a manufacturer’s emails or website (like PepsiCo or Kellogg’s). 

CVS allows you to use manufacturer’s coupons and CVS store coupons for the same product. This is called “stacking” and can lead to even better savings! 

The CVS coupon policy outlines more details about when you can stack and can be helpful to refer to if you’re having trouble stacking at checkout. 

ECBs

This is where CVS savings get extra special. Every week, CVS’s weekly ad includes deals where you can receive “ExtraBucks Rewards” for your purchase. 

You might find this reward called “ExtraBucks Reward” or “Extra Care Buck” (or ECB, as we refer to them online). You can use this coupon on your next purchase just like cash, with only a few exceptions (for example, you can’t buy stamps or gift cards with them — the fine print on the ECB explains a little more in detail).

This means that you will buy the item –paying out of pocket for it — and then you will receive a “coupon” at the end of your receipt (or sent to your app) which will be for the amount of the item purchased. This coupon is an ECB or ExtraBucks Reward.

How about an example? Earlier, I mentioned the deal on Crest Toothpaste and with the sale plus the in-app coupon, I saved $5.40 to pay only $3.98 for 2 packages. If CVS also has a deal where you can “Buy 2 Get $3 ExtraBucks Rewards,” you’ll pay $3.98 now and essentially get $3 you can spend on your next purchase, bringing the total cost for these 2 packages of toothpaste to $0.98. 

It’s important to note that these ECBs expire (usually in 30 days) and initially you are paying out of pocket to get those ECBs. But once you have paid for the item out of pocket and earned an ECB, you can then use that earned ECB to pay for the next transaction. You want to keep rolling your ECBs over and over and over, so your goal should always be to use the ECBs you earned from your last transaction in order to buy something in the next transaction that will earn you the same amount or more ECBs than you spent.

My goal is to spend as little money out of pocket as possible and to roll over my ECBs to be the same amount or more as the ECBs I spent. By doing this, I usually will get $20-$50 worth of groceries and household items, only paying around $5 out of pocket and earning enough ECBs to go back and do it again the next week.

Each week, we update this post to include the best weekly deals at CVS so you can keep rolling your ECBs with maximum savings and minimum effort. 

Bonus tip: As you’re shopping, you can scan items in the app to verify that an item qualifies for ExtraBucks offers.

ExtraBucks Bonus Earnings

CVS offers a few other ways to earn additional ExtraBucks Rewards, including a quarterly bonus, pharmacy rewards, and a birthday reward.

CVS incentivizes shopping regularly with their additional quarterly bonus, which gives you 2% of the past quarter’s qualifying purchases in ExtraBucks Rewards every January 1st, April 1st, July 1st, and October 1st. 

If you share your birthday with them, you’ll also receive a bonus $3 birthday reward. 

You can also opt-in to pharmacy rewards. This enables you to receive up to $50 in rewards each year by filling your prescriptions at CVS and getting certain vaccinations there. You can read more details about opting into pharmacy benefits here.

You can use all these ExtraBucks Rewards in-store or online. 

Using Other Apps to Save at CVS

As if all this wasn’t good enough, you can take your CVS savings even further when you pair your weekly CVS deals, coupons, and ECBs with cashback apps. Rakuten, Ibotta, and Fetch all offer rebates: submit your receipts to Fetch or Ibotta to earn cashback and use Rakuten when shopping at CVS online to get a percent of your purchase back in cash.

We regularly post deals that pair CVS shopping with cashback sites so make sure to visit this CVS Deals Under $1 post to find the best deals!

CVS Money-maker Deals: How to Get Paid to Shop

In some instances, the value of coupons and rewards you earn exceeds the cost of the item, which is called a “money-maker.” 

(Please note: You will not actually be “making money” in that the store will be paying you cash for shopping there, but you will be “making money” in that you will be spending less out of pocket than you get back in ECBs that you can then spend next time you shop.)

For instance, one week recently, $5.99 bottles of AXE body wash were on a Buy One Get One 50% Off sale, making 2 bottles $8.98. I clipped a $5/2 AXE coupon in the app, which meant I paid $3.98. Then, I got $4 in ECBs, which meant I “made” $.02 after coupon and ECBs, and I walked away with $11.98 worth of body wash! 

So I “made money” buying these, since I got more back in ECBs than I spent out of pocket in the first place! Since you can combine manufacturer’s coupons with store coupons and ECBs, you can occasionally “make” even more money. 

Most of the time, there is a limit on how many of an item you can buy per card to generate ECBs. Usually it is somewhere between 1-5 and will be stated in small lettering underneath the deal in your ad.

Take Advantage of CVS Weekly Deals

Now that you know all about CVS weekly discounts, coupons, ECBs, and cashback pairings, you are ready to shop! 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!