Carepass

Using CVS Offers to Your Advantage! How I Paid $5.47 for Over $50 in products!

Abby H.

I have posted about it before, and I am a huge fan of CVS. They have their CarePass, which is pretty inexpensive ($5-ish a month or $48/year if you pay for it all at once).  One of the perks is you get a $10 ExtraCare Bucks each month, for a total of $120 per year. I posted about it before but I got more information here, and overall I think it’s a pretty great deal.

You probably also remember one of the reasons that I love CVS is they have Pharmacy and Health Rewards. When you fill 10 prescriptions at their pharmacy you receive a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks that you can spend any place in the store.

With the number of prescriptions my family has, we earn a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks every two months. Which is pretty decent. Between the CarePass, and Pharmacy and Health Rewards, we usually have between 10 and $15 in “free“ money to spend at CVS at any given time.

I went in this morning to go pick up a prescription and noticed that they had a lot of snacks on sale/marked down, and with ExtraCare Bucks rewards. I quickly scrolled through my CVS app and noticed I had six dollars off any purchase of $30 or more and my $10 CarePass ExtraCare Bucks, and a $5.00 Pharmacy ExtraCare Bucks Reward.

Knowing that we needed both cereal and snacks and I walked up and down the snack/cereal aisle and quickly set upon a plan.

  • Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies are 2/$7 or 2/$8 (depending on the product) this week. When you buy two select, you’ll receive a $2 ExtraCare Bucks (limit one per person/account). My kids loved both Oreos and Chips Ahoy, so I picked two of each.
  • We were also out of Motts fruit snacks, and they are buy one get one free so I snagged two boxes as well.
  • Rice crispy treats are buy one get one free, so I grabbed two of those.
  • Cereal was on sale buy one box get one free with select Kellogg’s varieties, so I grabbed two boxes as well.

Now, this may look like a lot of junk food, but this is about three weeks’ worth of stuff to go in lunches (and about 2 weeks worth of cereal for me). The cereal is for me, but the rest is going to go in kid’s lunches or be available for snacks- I portion out the snacks and put them into the snack box in the cupboard. I will be hiding about half of it so that they don’t know we have tons of it and just mow through it.

As you can see by looking at the video about and all the stuff I got, it’s a pretty substantial amount. I ended up paying $9.47 out of pocket, and I received $4.00 back in ExtraCare Bucks.

$2.00 for purchasing to select Nabisco Oreo cookies, and a second $2 ExtraCare Bucks for purchasing two chocolate bars, cookies, select chips ahoy, or premium crackers.

Making my grand total after ExtraCare Bucks $5.47. That is one heck of a deal. I’ve also submitted my receipt to Fetch Rewards for points, and to Receipt Hog for points!

And I was in and out of the store in less than 20 minutes (including time to wait in line to pay). Doing drug store deals doesn’t have to be long and tedious. And sometimes it’s a small deal.

It’s worth the time to download the CVS app, join the ExtraCare club to save money, and join CarePass. You’ll find deals weekly (or monthly in my case when I go in). You’ll be saving money in no time!

Frugal Tips for Quality Skin Care

Abby H.
My skincare routine

I love good skincare products. Quality ingredients, no fillers, and botanicals and natural ingredients that are clinically proven to heal and nourish the skin.

These types of products can be really expensive. Here are a few tips for saving big bucks on quality skincare:

CVS sells Dermalogica, Vichy, La Roche Posay, Murad, and other Spa/luxury brands. If you are a CarePass member, you’ll score a $10 ExtraCare Bucks each month. Learn more about the CarePass program here. 

Also, CVS sends out 30% off coupons once a quarter. You can combine these coupons with any ExtraCare Bucks you might have.

I have been saving up my Fetch Rewards for CVS Gift Cards, which I combine with coupons and ExtraCare bucks to lower any out-of-pocket I may have.

CVS also has a Beauty Club, where you earn gifts and discounts when you shop.

FYI- CVS’s online selection varies from their in-store product availability.

Looking for some free stuff? I sample and review skincare products through several review programs:

  • Bzzagent- I’ve been a member for about 15-ish years. You can sign up here, and they’ll email you when they have products that might fit your needs.
  • Influenster- They partner with brands and expect you to share your samples (called voxboxes) on your socials and report back. It can be a lot of work, but they frequently send full-size luxury brand products (Charlotte Tillbury and Laura Mercier for example).
  • And to a lesser extend Smiley360, they mostly have cleaning supplies and house-type stuff, but sometimes they have skincare or cosmetics available. It’s like Infuenster.

You can find out more about these social sharing/Word of Mouth marketing companies where I get a lot of my free skincare products here.

If you are looking for a list of my favorite skincare products and tools, I’ve compiled an Amazon List here.

 

CarePass from CVS- Earn $10 Extra Care Bucks each month!

Abby H.

We’ve been members of CarePass from CVS for about 6 months. It’s awesome!

Try CarePass for FREE for one month then enjoy your member benefits for only $5 a month or $48 a year – a $12 savings.

CarePass is perfect for us frugal peeps. Here are just a few of the perks of CarePass:

 

  • Enjoy a $10 monthly promo reward as a thank you.
  • 20% off CVS Health Brand and Live Better Products every day with your CarePass Membership.
  • Receive a monthly promo reward to spend on something just for you.

I love that I get $10 in free Extra Care Bucks each month. I combine them with other in-app coupons (the CVS app is amazing) and deals where you earn Extra Care Bucks to keep saving. And the 20% off CVS Health Brand and Live Better Products comes in handy when I need OTC health stuff- Like the topical heat patches, those have been a lifesaver for my tendonitis pain.

And you can combine savings from paper coupons, the CVS app, and CarePass Extra Care Bucks to save tons of money. I used our CarePass Extra Care Bucks from November and December of 2021 to help buy stocking stuffers. I also took advantage of store coupons (in the CVS app) and deals and ended up only spending $30 out of pocket to fill 3 stockings.

I’m not a die-hard CVS shopper, but, I do take advantage of deals when they pop up. I follow couponers on TikTok and Instagram to keep up with the deals.

To get started, Create a CVS account and try CarePass for FREE for one month here.