CVS, ExtraCare Rewards, and Store Brand (Reprint)

My parents do most of the grocery shopping in my household. Although I do buy occasionally, I never bothered to sign up for one of those discount cards offered by supermarkets and convenience drug stores.

Discount Cards Are Great

Ever since my wife gave birth, I found myself running to CVS more often. So I figured I would give their ExtraCare Rewards program a try. Well, I was pleasantly surprised. For the very first purchase of some diapers and baby wipes, I saved $5 on a $22 purchase — I will take a 23% discount any day!

Moreover, this is on top of the 2% savings points I am accumulating with CVS, and the 5% cashback reward from my Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card. All in all, I am looking at almost 30% discount on that purchase.

I have since planned my purchased better and have been buying stuff online through Ebates for extra discount. However, the card is still helpful when I need an emergency item or two, or when I fill prescriptions.

Mixed Results With Generic

Just like my friend at Gather Little By Little said, buying generic can save a considerable amount of money, but it could be a hit or miss thing. In general, I found generic store items to be a good way to save some money. So far, the results have been great with generic medicines, mouthwash, and baby wipes. Unfortunately, the CVS diapers I bought weren’t anywhere near as nice as the ones made by Pampers. So my wife made me return the extra package, and I am on a strict order to buy Pampers instead.

Finally…

I am a believer and will be replacing my lost Pathmark card, and starting to use my Duane Reade card more regularly. I am also going to stick with the generic store brand when I can. As I am writing this, I also noticed a lot of deals on CVS web site that I am going to investigate. If you have look into these saving techniques before, I encourage you to take a look. It’s not much, but little things do add up over time.

This was a guest post I wrote for I’ve Paid For This Twice Already… on January 3, 2008.

This post was featured in:

• The Festival of Frugality #121 hosted by Rather-Be-Shopping.com Blog. For more information please visit the Festival of Frugality.