How to Become an Extreme Couponer in 10 Days: Day 5

Did you miss Day One ,Two, Three, or Four? Be sure to go back and review so you are following along. With each lesson all of you are on your way to becoming an Extreme Couponer! Be sure to join me right here on EasternShoreMom.com while we learn How to become an Extreme Couponer in 10 Days! Have a question? Be sure to “LIKE” EasternShoreMom.com on Facebook and ask away!

Congratulations! If you have read through days 1-4, you are past the “beginner” stage of couponing & graduating to a higher level- experienced couponer. You know know where to find coupons, how to organize them, plus when to use them. Now what you have to learn is how to shop each store. We are going to start in the places where you can snag your FREE deodorant, FREE toothpaste, FREE shampoo, FREE toothbrushes, etc. which is at your local drugstores!

How to Shop Drugstores

CVS

Coupons they accept: Manufacturer Coupons & CVS coupons

Incentive to shop: Extra Care Bucks (CVS store value card needed)

When you first start shopping CVS you will want to go here or in the store to sign up for your CVS card. This card is what will let you shop CVS & earn Extra Care Bucks as you shop. What products give you ECB’s (Extra Care Bucks)? Outlined in the weekly ad found online or in the store are the items that will give you ECB’s when you purchase them. ECB’s are good on YOUR NEXT shopping trip, but you can also ask the cashier if you can do “multiple transactions” and use them after you check out with the items that you are purchasing that give you ECB’s. They will appear at the bottom of your receipt after you pay.

Tips to Shopping:

• Be sure to look at the “limits” in the weekly ad on how many of an item you can buy at the sale price
• Scan your CVS card at the “Coupon Center” found in each store to score CVS coupons. You can do this once per day.
• Watch the expiration dates on your ECB’s, they expire quickly so be sure to use them. They are like CASH!

Walgreens

Coupons they accept: Manufacturer Coupons & Walgreens coupons

Incentive to shop: Register Rewards (no store value card needed)

Walgreens store coupons can be found online and also in the store. In the store you can find them in the monthly coupon booklet (by the ads) and special coupon booklets found around the store like in the pharmacy section. The monthly coupon book coupons are good ALL MONTH LONG, meaning you DO NOT have to clip these coupons to use them. You can simply show the coupon to the cashier and they will deduct the coupon from your total, applying it to ALL THE ITEMS IN YOUR CART that qualify for the coupon.

For example:

Buy 2 Huggies Wipes $3
- $2/1 Walgreens Coupon Book Coupon (will deduct $4 since you are buying two)
= $2/2

Shopping Walgreens is the trickiest of all. When you go in to shop Walgreens, GRAB AN AD at the front of the store because most likely the prices will not be labeled in the store. Walgreens wants to make it a little difficult for you to save big, like you can at Walgreens. There are “coupons” scattered through the Walgreens weekly ad, however these are NOT COUPONS they are just the prices of the item that week. You will need to show these “coupons” at checkout to get the sale price. Fancy, huh? While it does make Walgreens difficult to shop, it is by far some of the best deals & the most fun!

Also in the weekly ad will be the items that are spitting out Register Rewards that week. Register Rewards are MANUFACTURERS COUPONS, meaning the barcode begins with a “5″ and they come directly from the manufacturer. They are good “on your next purchase” but if you ask the cashier if you can do multiple transactions you can use them to pay for items after you checkout with the item that gives RR’s. Since a Register Rewards is a MANUFACTURER COUPON, here is where you can run into trouble at Walgreens:

INCORRECT TRANSACTION:

Visine $3.50
- $2 PRINTABLE
- $1 Register Rewards (I have these left over from last week)
= CANNOT DO THIS because the Walgreens register will not allow you to use two MANUFACTURER coupons on ONE ITEM even if one of them is at Register Reward. In this case you will need to add a “filler item” in other words an item that does not have a coupon to use with it.

CORRECT TRANSACTION:

Visine $3.50
- $2 PRINTABLE

Goody Ouchless Bands $3
- $1 Register Rewards (I have these left over from last week)

= $3.50
+ Earn $3 in Register Rewards (These came from the Goody ouchless bands, this week they are priced $3 but you get $3 back in Register Rewards so they are FREE!)

Tips to Shopping:

• There is a limit of one Register Rewards^TM (RR) printed per offer per customer per transaction.
• Customers redeeming a Register Rewards^TM against the same offer may not receive another RR.
• The number of manufacturer coupons, including Register Rewards^TM manufacturer coupons, may not exceed the number of items in the transaction. The total value of the coupons may not exceed the value of the transaction
• Print the Walgreens Coupon Policy

Have you followed me through the whole post? I hope so, and if you are a little confused re-read through it. If you would like more help there is a Couponing 101 class coming up on May 7th, registration is open but spots are limited. If you want some one on one help, a coupon class with ESM just might be the ticket! Stay tuned as we continue our series of How to Become a Couponer in 10 Days.

If you would like to try your hand at a few of these drug stores check out this week’s deals here.

Do you coupon already? Give our newbies some advice in the comments below!

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