Free Coupon Class:
Week 1
Welcome to week one of the Free Coupon Class at Saving Money Plan! If you stick with this Monday course for 10 weeks, I can promise you that you will be able to bring the joys of free toiletries, household goods, and non-perishable items into your house on a regular basis. Just a couple years ago I had no idea about any of this, and now I almost never pay for any toiletries or household items. And I am hardly alone. Thousands of Americans are doing this every day, and I want to teach you how. Turns out – it’s not so hard at all!
Haven’t joined the free course yet? Go here.
To start, I want to review some of the things I talked about in the Introduction last week.
Why should you do the Free Coupon Class?
Couponing is one of the best budgeting secrets out there, and the stuff you can get regularly for free or for pennies on the dollar will amaze you. The premise of a coupon is simple = a coupon lets you save a bit of money off the purchase price of an item you buy. However, many people believe you can’t really save much money with coupons. I say they are dead wrong – and that if you don’t think you can save much it’s because you aren’t using coupons effectively! This free coupon class will teach you to start reaping the rewards that thousands of Americans are enjoying – hundreds of dollars in free toiletries and household items on a regular basis.
What you need if you want to participate:
1. You need to want to do this.
To me, this is fun. It’s also one of the best kept secrets about saving tons of money every month to free up your budget. I love getting tons of toiletries, face washes, make-up, razors, toilet paper, candy, non-perishable food and regular household products free. Now that I hardly ever pay more than pennies for things at Rite Aid, CVS, or Walgreens, it’s painful to see how many thousands of dollars people waste each year by not learning a simple system. However, if this sounds boring to you – this is not the class for you!
2. You need these items:
- A box or drawer you will devote to this project
- A notebook and pen
- Sunday newspaper each week that has coupon inserts inside (there are other options, and you can do it without this – but I highly recommend this)
- Somewhere to print Printable Coupons (optional)
3. You need to commit to doing these things every week if you want to see success:
Come to www.savingmoneyplan.com at least once a week to read what your directions are for what you need to do this week to get your free items. Or, if you’re signed up for the class it will come automatically to your email address.
So, are we ready to dive in?
Week 1 Assignment:
Free or Nearly Free CVS Items
We are starting simple, of course, with the goal that after this week’s fun you’ll be so excited about all your free goodies that you’ll be looking forward to making things a bit more complicated in moving forward.
This Week’s Assignment:
If you learn nothing else from this couponing course, let it be that every single month you can pick up multiple free or very low cost items at Rite Aid and CVS and Walgreens without clipping any coupons at all. Although I am here to teach you why clipping coupons is so worth it (in later steps in the course), for now you should be amazed that weeks 1 and 2 don’t require any actual clipping!
However, just because I’m not yet asking you to start clipping coupons doesn’t mean that I don’t want you to start saving them! As of today, please start saving the Sunday papers you receive every week and put them in a box or drawer you have devoted to the project. Over time, those many coupons will prove to be a gold mine for you – and we’ll start using them next week;)
The CVS Extra Care Bucks (“ECB”) Program
The CVS system is based on the idea of the “extra care buck” or “ecb”. One ECB is worth one dollar, but ECBs are only good at CVS. So the key to CVS freebies are that you only get money back in the form of ECBs (coupons which are printed at the bottom of your receipt). If you buy something advertised as a product that will give you back ECBs those ECBs will print at the bottom of your receipt. These printed receipts are your money for you to use on the future at items at CVS. Thus, it is critical that you don’t throw out your receipts with ECBs printed on them!
If you buy something advertised as “free after ECBs”, then you will have the money in the form of an ECB coupon as soon as you leave the register. Many couponers *love* this because it means that then you can immediately use those free ECBs in a second “transaction” (purchase).
We’ll talk a bit more about that in later assignments, but here’s an example:
For instance, I walk into the store to pick up a $4.99 tube of lipstick that is advertised as “free after ECBs”. I purchase the lipstick (making sure they scan my ECB card) and immediately the $4.99 is printed out. So I can go back in the aisle, pick up some milk, come back to the cash register, and use the ECB coupons I received in the last transaction to pay, instead of paying with cash.
(Had I bought the milk and the lipstick all at one time, I would have paid out money for both, and had more ECB coupons to spend next time I come to CVS.) However, if you have an ECB for $4.99 and you only purchase $4 of stuff with it – you WON’T get a refund! So you want to always buy something worth a little more than the value of the ECBs you have.
Every month, a number of items at CVS are completely free after ECBs. The key to getting your feet wet in the ECB system is to pick up these items first. They are easy as pie and no coupons needed.
First, you need to know how to hear about the CVS deals for the month and the week. You can sign up to get your CVS weekly store circular delivered to your email here. They also come in your Sunday newspaper, and you can also find the circular at the front of the store. Finally, many couponers these days don’t even both to look at the circulars and simply make sure to log into a blog like this one to see the list of deals for that week. Then you can print that blog post and just take it with you to CVS.
Simple!
This week, the first thing you will need to do is sign up for the CVS Extra Care Buck program. Although you can do this online, I recommend going into your store to do so, because you will get your card immediately, and won’t have to wait a few weeks for it to get sent to you. Ask for an application at the register if you don’t see one out.
Make sure your card is registered with your email address. You can do this on the original form, at CVS.com, or call 1-800-SHOP CVS. Eventually they will send you a $4/20 purchase coupon.
Now that you have your ECB card, you can start making your purchases. This week, I want you to go into your store and buy the following three items.
Soy Joy bars $6
Get $6 extra care bucks
Final price FREE
2.
Get $3 extra care bucks
Final price = $1
3.
Glade Fabric Spray $3.99 Limit 6
Get $3 extra care bucks
Submit for $5 SC Johnson rebate when you buy 3 products
To save even more, you can also hand the cashier this $.75 printable coupon HERE
Final Price = Better than FREE (after the rebate you will make a few dollars!)
So let’s review the steps this week:
- Go to your local CVS to sign up for your ECB card.
- Pick up 1 box of Soy Joy Bars, up to 3 Oust Air Sanitizers, and 3 Glade Fabric Sprays
- Make sure the cashier scans your ECB card before ringing you up.
- Your total will be $29.94 + tax Out Of Pocket (“OOP”). In return, you will get $24 in Extra Care Bucks printed and a $5 rebate that you have to mail in. So you will have spent $.94 plus tax for all 7 products. Nice!
- Alternately, you could do this deal in 3 different transactions in order to reduce the amount spent Out of Pocket (OOP). That would look like this:
So – that was week 1;) I hope you had fun testing a very easy example of how the coupon game can work at drugstores. If you have any questions at all about anything, make sure to email me at choystercash (at) gmail (dot) com or leave a comment on the blog and I’ll be sure to get back to you. I’m so looking forward to hearing your stories – the good stuff and the challenges – about how this worked for you this week!
Tell Everyone About Your Experiences Couponing
If you did your couponing this week, tell us about it in the comments section so that others can read about your experiences learning and mastering the art of couponing!
I subscribe! I enjoy all the great deals!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Bummer, I don’t have CVS near me! (Portland, OR)
They always seem to have great deals. Oh well.
They are finally building a CVS in our area so I do look forward to taking advantage of all these deals soon but it is nice to be prepared once it opens
There are no CVS Pharmacies in the state of Utah.
What kind of coupon organizer do you use?
There’s no CVS here in the greater Seattle either so I won’t be able to do this assignment.
Too bad no CVS here inEl Paso Texas, but still excited for next assignment.
No CVS’ in Portland, Or. But the value of the lesson is not lost!
Wait for next week Tina! We’ll be heading onto Walgreens and Rite Aid;)
This is great and all and Im glad your helping families save money but these products and most of the products I find coupons for are so toxic! The soyjoy bars contain of course soy but its processed soy and its dangerous to womens health – their health claims are bogus. (the studies you see about soy being good for you are taken from soy sources such as thempeh, tofu, and edamame – fermented soy) research it! Also their not organic so it means the soybeans were genetically modified! See: http://www.mercola.com/article/soy/index.htm) . And the air sanitizer has phthalates which are dangerous to your health – (see http://drbenkim.com/dangers-air-fresheners.html) Women need to take charge of their health and not buy products simply because they are on sale. news flash: 67% of Americans are overweight or obese!!! I challenge this site to find a way to save money on good wholesome organic products. Help women keep their families healthy.
You bring up great points Kristine – healthy alternatives are critical!
There are no CVS stores close by…but Rite Aid is just around the corner!! Gotta love that store
I dont have a blog, so I hope it is okay to post what I did here. I have just started couponing about 3 months ago. I dont use the soy joy but I did buy 2 cans of oust and used the B1G1 coupon and I did the 2 Big Game deals with Pepsi and Tostitos. (We are having Super Bowl party) Cvs had coupons online for the Tostitos and I had a $1 coupon off of 1 bag and 1 salsa. I did 2 transactions
1st
6 – pepsi 20.00
5 off 20 coupon
-15 ecb from last week
= 1.35 tax
+ 10 ecbs
2nd
4 tostitos chip 14.00
2 salsa 6.00
2 cheese sause 7.38
2 stacy chips 6.00
6 dawn 5.76
2 ROC cleanser 8.00
= 55.10
- 5 off 30 coupon
- 4 cvs coupons
- 2 tostito + salsa
-3 dawn
-3.99 oust
- 6.00 roc
- 2.00 stacy
- 15.00 ecbs
- 2.00 unexplained dont know where it came from .
=12.11
+ 4.51 tax
= 16.62
+ 16 ECBs
+ 7.5 Pepsi /Tostito rebate
profit of 8.12
I have enought pepsi / tostitos to send for another 7.5 rebate , which I will do in my dads name but it will be his so I dont count as mine.
I think I did good and the manager at the cvs I shop if so helpful. She goes out of her way to make sure I am getting the best deal.
I suscribed. I did it yeah. Bring on next week.
I subscribed to your site!
I am very excited about your online class. I’m bummed I don’t have a CVS in Camas,WA. Can’t wait to learn about Rite Aid and Walgreens. I have been saving my coupons and actually have them organized somewhat
.
Angela – Rite Aid and Walgreens really do deliver, so don’t worry;)
I like this, but do not use any of the items that are on sale this week. So though I could save money on them, I will not buy something I do not use. Am allergic to the fabric softeners and am trying to keep chemicals out of my house as much as possible, so agree with Kristine on these products. But bring next week on.
Yeah this week wasn’t the BEST – hopefully next week the deals are better!
How can I get the manufacturers coupons that are supposed to be in the Sunday papers? Our paper doesn’t carry them anymore.
Another question: Does anyone feel like me doing these deals?
I read how you are supposed to be getting these things for free, so I go to the store and “do the deals” and I end up paying like $30 out of pocket. I get a bunch of store coupons (never as many as I was supposed to get–my local Walgreens printer is always messing up) that say they expire in 10 days. If I don’t turn around and buy something with the store coupons at least by the next weekend they expire. Then in essence I’ve spent $30 for stuff at Walgreens I could have bought a little cheaper at Wal-Mart.
How can you get it to work out so that you don’t have to just buy something at the store to keep from loosing your money entirely?
Hey Mrs Sunshine – So in the bonus class for this week see how you can split up your deal into multiple transactions to make the out of pocket cost as minimal as possible with each transaction.
But the other HUGE thing to remember is that you should use these stores for your NECESSITIES – milk, bread, etc. Thus you cut your regular old food budget down drastically.
The key is to be using as little as possible – always – to build a stockpile of very cheap items.
I saved about $50 this week by couponing. My children and others hate it when the line was held up but I came out on top and proud of it! “yea me!”
I had a really good day today. I bought different things from CVS then was on your list and I walk out with 12 ECB’s and $5 cash back! SCORE!!
The catalina did not work at Kmart.
The fruit by the foot worked at Safeway but it freaked out the cashier that I was getting it for so cheap. She called the manager. Everything worked out fine and I did not get upset so we left on friendly terms.
I got the packets of tuna for free at Wal-mart! Sweet!
I can’t wait for next week! Thanks for your help!
GREAT JOB terri-ann!
It sounds like you did really well!!
i love the freaking out the cashiers bit…that never gets old;)
There are no CVS’s in Colorado. Does that mean participating in this class does not work?
Hey Kristin – I’ve got tons of deals for Walgreens and Rite Aid too. Don’t worry!
Hello Claire. I want to start off by saying Hello. I’am all signed up to receive the free couponing class, And I’am looking forward to learning a lot from your classes. I usually do pretty well with coupons I’am up to saving about 40% on my groceries and about 65% on Toilitries. But I’am looking forward to learning how to get more stuff for really cheap or free. Didn’t need any of the CVS deals this week already stocked up on these items.. So really looking forward to next weeks instructions and deals……Rite-Aid deals are the best and I love receiving the rebate checks in month. Walgreens is such a hassle here in Western Pa. And the workers well not the friendlist people in the world. They always try to make you feel like your stealing cause you use a lot of coupons and know how to work the deals…….. Thanks for reading my email…….
Shirley
I’m so glad you’re participating Shirley!
With a CVS within walking distance of my workplace, why did I wait so long to use my Extra Care Card? On my first visit I received 15 ECB’s. Today I went back purchased 8 cans of Campbells’ soup for .50 each, gallon of milk for 3.79, Maxwell House coffee for 6.99 and 2 Dove Bars B1G1 for 16.04. Used my bucks and paid 1.04!
Great job Valerie!
Let me know if you ever take pictures of your deals – I love to post them!
Still learning how to do this systen
We have CVS stores here, but, they’re not conveniently located for me. I do look forward to each new lesson, though. You do bring up some very important points and I know I will learn a lot of great tips from you! Thank you so much for offering these free classes!
Purrs,
Catwoman=^..^= & Mija