artofthecoupon.com

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Extrabucks, the free “cash” you get for buying certain products at CVS, have a 1 month expiration date.  So, there are a few different ways people handle these.  Some people (no one reading frugal websites I hope!) forget about them and let them go to waste.  Others turn around and spend them on the first thing they need from the drugstore.  Still others will refuse to spend extracare bucks on anything that doesn’t net them more than they spend, so they end up with a glut of expiring extracare bucks and managing cards begins to feel more like a job than a fun and frugal activity.  I fall somewhere in the middle of those who like to collect Extrabucks and those who refuse to spend them on anything that doesn’t net more than the outlay.  I try to achieve a comfortable level of extracare bucks on each card (around $20-$40) and I like to have a wide variety of small denominations (i.e. I don’t want to have 2 $20 Extracare bucks on one card, I’d rather have a bunch of $1 and $5 and $10 ones).  So, I do this by breaking up my orders so that I don’t buy 4 of the same things which each give back $5 at once (which would need me a $20 Extacare buck if I bought it on the same receipt).  

Once I have amassed a comfortable amount of extracare bucks, I try not to allow it to get above or below that level.  The way I do this is pretty simple.  I plan my orders so that I get back exactly what I paid out (within the range of a few dollars).  So, if I am going to be buying 3 things which will cost me $15 in extrabucks and give me back $20 (after I use my money off coupons & manufacturer coupons) then I try to buy $5 in stuff that I need that doesn’t pay back anything at all.  For example, this week I bought Physicians Formula Mascara that cost $7.99 and was giving back $7.99.  I also bought a Accucheck Diabetes Monitor that cost $9.99 and was giving back $9.99.  I had a $4/20 coupon that CVS had mailed to me.  So, I was going to be spending $17.98 in Extrabucks and getting back $17.98 in extrabucks, but I wanted to get up to $20 to use my coupon.  I could have bought something that would cost around $2 and give me back more extrabucks (like crest toothpaste for example) but instead, I bought a gallon of milk for $3.99.  So, I planned to spend $21.97 - $4/20 - $1 (Physicians Formula Manufacturer Coupon) around $16.97 + tax and get back $17.98.  After tax kicked in, I basically broke even and got the milk that we needed, without having to spend any of my own money to do it.

This works the other way too. If we need milk and eggs, then I will plan my order to account for the fact that I need to spend $6.48.  So, I will either buy things that will net me more extrabucks then I spend to get them, or figure out an order which will allow me to use at least $6.48 in money off coupons (ex: buy $35 worth of stuff to use a $3/15 and a $4/20 coupon).  This way, I get back almost exactly what I spent, and get things that I need.

This system works for me, because I never end up with too many extrabucks to handle, and our house is always stocked with milk and eggs and orange juice and other necessities, that I don’t have to buy at a grocery store.

Anyone else have any tips or suggestions on how they handle their Extracare bucks?