I heart CVS.

I really do love some CVS. This is "the shelf" where I keep our stockpile of toiletry stuff. All of it was free or really cheap & about 99% of it is from CVS. I always was closer to Walgreens because we didn't have CVS in Memphis & when I first went into a CVS it kind of creeped me out. I think it was because it had carpet. Anyway, since then we have totally moved past our first date jitters and are pretty much weekly (bi-weekly, daily...) friends. Because CVS is arriving in Memphis now, I wanted to share the how tos/reasons why I LOVE CVS:

1. As annoying as it is to keep up with another little card, I love that thing. I love that it knows me & send me coupons that are targeted to me. I love that they have a machine in the store where I can scan my card & it automatically prints coupons for me! Sometimes they are not good ones, in which case I throw them in the garbage can provided for me right by the machine. Convenience, efficiency and frugality. I love the sounds. Step 1 is to get the CVS card. So easy.

2. They love the environment & saving me money! When you get your CVS card, buy a Green tag. It's the little leaf looking card hanging by the register. They are only 99 cents. And, a lot of weeks they are actually free after extra bucks! You can use this card once a day & after every 4 uses, you get $1 in extra bucks. This basically equals 25 cents off each order & it does add up pretty quickly. The only catch is you can't use a bag when you use the green tag. But, this doesn't matter because you can do more than one transaction and just get a bag on the next transaction. Use the green tag every time you check out!

3. Go to www.southernsavers.com & read her CVS info. Each week she posts the CVS deals & matches them up with coupons to show you the best deals. I don't actually use this that often because I have just figured out what I want/need and can mostly match it up myself. But, she is really awesome if you want to be hard core.

4. Get the CVS ad & your coupons & start matching things up & planning your transactions! **The MOST awesome thing about CVS is that you can do multiple transactions. So, you can buy the toothpaste & get $1 extrabuck & then turn around & use that $1 to get the gum that also gives you $1, etc...Or, you can just buy the stuff that week and save the extra bucks for the next week & get a big chunk off. Once you become familiar with CVS, you will realize what they usually put with extra bucks so you can start saving those coupons. The pretty normal things are toothpaste , body wash, shampoo/conditioner, shave gel & diapers. NEVER pay for toothpaste. Every week they have either Colgate or Crest on sale for $1 after extra bucks & there are always toothpaste coupons in the paper & that set of coupons that comes in the mail with the pizza ad on the front. Today, I got toothpaste & made money because it was 79 cents after extra bucks & I had a $1 off coupon, so 21 cents was just mine. I say, "made money" even though I had to put the initial investment in because I use extra bucks to get more extra bucks so I am not spending more, if that makes sense. Anyway, plan your transactions out so you can use the $2 from diapers to buy the mouthwash which gives you $2 also, etc...

5. Another awesome thing is you can use a store coupon & a manufacturer coupon on the same item! This is what is really awesome. Once you buy any kind of baby product, they will start sending you baby coupons that you can match up. And, I discovered that you can use Kroger coupons at CVS, too! You might be able to use other store coupons but I'm not sure.

7. Sign up for their emails because they often send coupons for $4 off a $20 purchase. They do some pretty good coupons randomly, you just need to hang on to them. For example, a week ago I got $5 off 1 Almay cosmetic items. Then, today I got $3 off a $10 cosmetic purchase. I found 2 Almay coupons online that I am going to pair with those and I am going to get 2 things for pretty cheap. Once you start matching things up, you will start recognizing future deals.

8. Ignore all of this and go to www.southernsavers.com and read her stuff. It is really much more concise and helpful.

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