How to Save at CVS in October 2025

How to Save at CVS: A Comprehensive Guide to ExtraCare, Coupons and Deals

Navigating the savings opportunities at CVS can transform your routine shopping trips into a rewarding financial strategy. While it might seem complex at first, understanding the system reveals a clear path to significant discounts on everyday essentials. This comprehensive guide will walk you through every layer of the CVS savings ecosystem , from the foundational ExtraCare program to the advanced couponing tactics used by savvy shoppers, ensuring you have the knowledge to never pay full price again.

The Core of CVS Savings: Mastering the ExtraCare Program

At the heart of every deal and discount at CVS lies the ExtraCare program. This is the free loyalty program that serves as the non-negotiable first step to saving money. Consider it the key that unlocks the entire system; without it, nearly all major promotions and rewards will be inaccessible. Signing up is simple and can be done for free in any store, online at CVS.com, or by downloading the user-friendly CVS app. Once you're a member, every purchase you make begins to work for you.

Earning 2% Back in ExtraBucks Rewards

One of the most consistent benefits of the ExtraCare program is the ability to earn 2% back on nearly all qualifying purchases. This reward accumulates automatically as you shop throughout a three-month period. At the end of each quarter (specifically, at the end of March, June, September, and December), your total 2% earnings are paid out to you in the form of ExtraBucks Rewards. For members who use the CVS app or website, these rewards are available digitally and can be redeemed at any time. For those who prefer a non-digital experience, the accumulated rewards are printed on your receipt after the quarter concludes. It's important to note that some items are excluded from earning 2% back, such as alcohol, gift cards, lottery tickets, prescriptions, and postage stamps.

Weekly Ad Deals: The Key to Big Savings

While the 2% reward is a nice perk, the primary engine for earning ExtraBucks is through the weekly ad promotions. These are the eye-catching deals prominently featured each week, often structured as "Buy X, Get Y in ExtraBucks" or "Spend $X, Get $Y in ExtraBucks." A typical example might be "Buy 2 Pantene shampoos, Get $4 ExtraBucks." When you purchase the specified items, the advertised reward is instantly generated. It will either print as a coupon-like voucher at the bottom of your physical receipt or be loaded directly into the "Deals and Rewards" section of your digital ExtraCare account. You should think of these ExtraBucks as CVS cash; they can be spent on almost anything in the store during a future transaction, directly reducing your out-of-pocket cost.

Personalized Coupons (CRTs)

CRTs, an acronym for "Cash Register Tapes," are perhaps the most powerful tool in a CVS shopper's arsenal. These are personalized coupons that CVS generates specifically for you based on your unique shopping history. The more frequently you shop and use your ExtraCare card, the more tailored and valuable these coupons become. These valuable offers can be found in three main places: printed at the bottom of your shopping receipt, loaded digitally into your CVS app, or printed by scanning your card at the in-store Coupon Center, often called the "Red Box." Common examples of CRTs include purchase-based coupons like "$4 off a $20 shampoo purchase,"brand-specific discounts like $3 off any CoverGirl cosmetics," or even broad percentage-off deals. These CRTs are a cornerstone of advanced savings because they are designed to be combined with manufacturer coupons and weekly sales.

CarePass: The Paid Membership for Super-Savers

For shoppers who visit CVS frequently, the CarePass program offers a significant upgrade to the standard ExtraCare benefits. It is a paid membership, available for either $5 per month or a discounted annual rate of $48, that provides a suite of premium perks. For many, the value of the benefits quickly surpasses the cost of the membership, making it an essential tool for maximizing savings.

The program’s most compelling feature is the $10 monthly ExtraBucks Reward. Every month, as a CarePass member, you receive a $10 ExtraBucks reward to spend on nearly anything in the store. This benefit alone covers the monthly fee and essentially provides you with a $5 profit to use on your purchases. Beyond this incredible value, CarePass members also enjoy free 1-2 day shipping on eligible online orders from CVS.com with no minimum purchase, a huge convenience for online shoppers. The program extends to the pharmacy, offering free same-day prescription delivery on qualifying orders. Furthermore, you receive an automatic 20% discount on thousands of CVS Health brand products every time you shop, from vitamins and pain relievers to snacks and cleaning supplies. Finally, members gain exclusive access to a 24/7 Pharmacist Helpline for medication questions, adding a layer of professional support.

Types of Coupons and How to Stack Them at CVS

CVS has earned a legendary reputation in the couponing community for its generous policy that allows shoppers to "stack" multiple discounts within a single transaction. Mastering this technique is the secret to unlocking the deepest possible savings and is how savvy shoppers often get products for pennies on the dollar, or even for free.

Coupon Types Explained

To stack effectively, you first need to understand the two main types of coupons. The first are Manufacturer Coupons, which are issued and funded by the brands themselves (e.g., Procter and Gamble, Colgate, L'Oréal). These can be found in Sunday newspaper inserts like Save and SmartSource, printed from online coupon sites, or loaded digitally to your ExtraCare account in the CVS app. Their key feature is that they are universal and can be used at any retailer that accepts them. The second type are CVS Store Coupons. These are issued directly by CVS and can only be redeemed at CVS stores. This category includes the personalized CRTs (like "$2 off any toothpaste") as well as general store coupons that might appear in the weekly ad or the app.

The Stacking Formula: The Secret to "Free" Items

The golden rule of stacking at CVS is both simple and powerful: You can use one Manufacturer Coupon AND one CVS Store Coupon on a single item. Imagine this scenario: a Colgate toothpaste is on sale for $3.99. You have a $1 off Colgate Manufacturer Coupon from the newspaper and a separate $1 off Colgate CVS Store Coupon that you printed from the Red Box. Because one is a manufacturer coupon and the other is a store coupon, you can apply both to that one tube of toothpaste. Your final price would be just $1.99. If this purchase was also part of a promotion like "Buy 2, Get $4 ExtraBucks," you could repeat the process, pay $3.98 out-of-pocket for two tubes, and receive $4 in ExtraBucks back, making the entire transaction a small moneymaker. For a detailed comparison, you can check out our guide to Walgreen’s coupons to see how similar savings methods can apply at both stores.

Paying with ExtraBucks

ExtraBucks serve as the final step in your savings journey. After all sale prices have been applied and all your manufacturer and store coupons have been scanned, your accumulated ExtraBucks are applied to the remaining subtotal. They function just like cash, reducing your final out-of-pocket expense and completing a successful, deeply discounted transaction.

Other Key Savings Programs at CVS

Beyond the primary savings mechanics, CVS offers additional programs that target specific shopping needs, allowing you to earn even more rewards.

ExtraCare Pharmacy and Health Rewards

This is a distinct, free program focused entirely on your pharmacy and health activities. To participate, you must opt-in separately through your ExtraCare account. Once enrolled, you earn credits for filling prescriptions and completing health-related tasks. For every 10 credits you accumulate, you are rewarded with a $5 Pharmacy ExtraBucks Reward. Credits can be earned in several ways, including filling a 30-day prescription (1 credit), filling a 90-day supply (3 credits), getting a flu shot or another vaccination at CVS (4 credits), or enrolling a family member in the program (1 credit).

CVS Photo Promo Codes

CVS Photo functions almost like a separate storefront within the CVS ecosystem and is known for its frequent and high-value promotional codes. It is exceedingly rare that you should ever have to pay full price for photo prints, gifts, or decor. Before placing any order, it is essential to check the CVS Photo website or app for the latest deals. Common promotions include compelling offers like 40% off your entire order, 70% off posters, canvas prints, and other wall décor, or buy-one-get-one-free deals on photo books and enlargements.

A Smart Shopper's Guide to CVS: Pro Tips

Always Scan Your Card or Use the App

No savings strategy can begin without linking your purchase to your ExtraCare account. Whether you use the app, enter your phone number at the keypad, or have the cashier scan your physical card, this step is mandatory to access sale prices, earn rewards, and redeem coupons.

Plan Your Shopping Trip Around the Weekly Ad

The weekly ad, released every Sunday, is your strategic roadmap. Before heading to the store, review the best ExtraBucks promotions and cross-reference them with the manufacturer and store coupons you have. This proactive planning is the difference between casual savings and maximized earnings.

The "98% Rule"

This is a well-known, though unofficial, policy at CVS that benefits shoppers. If you are using a purchase-based coupon, such as "$4 off a $20 purchase," the register will often accept the coupon even if your subtotal is slightly below the threshold, as long as it meets 98% of the required amount. In this example, the coupon would likely work on a subtotal of just $19.60.

"Roll" Your ExtraBucks.

This is the ultimate strategy for the dedicated CVS saver. It involves using the ExtraBucks you earned from one transaction to help pay for your next transaction, which is itself structured to earn you more ExtraBucks. This creates a self-sustaining cycle of savings where your rewards fund future purchases, dramatically minimizing how much actual cash you spend over time.

Always Check the In-Store Coupon Center (Red Box)

Make it a consistent habit to visit the red kiosk every time you enter a CVS. By scanning your ExtraCare card or entering your phone number, you can print all of your available CRTs. You might even find surprise coupons that weren't visible in your app, making it a crucial stop for any deal hunter.

A Shopper’s Guide to Saving in Every Aisle at CVS

Understanding the core savings strategies at CVS is the first step; knowing where to apply them is what turns knowledge into real money back in your pocket. Each aisle in a CVS store presents unique opportunities for deals. This guide breaks down the major shopping categories, revealing the best products to watch for and the specific tactics to use to find incredible value on every trip.

Deals of the Week

Before you even step into an aisle, your savings journey should begin with the Deals of the Week. This is not a physical location in the store but rather a curated collection of the absolute best ExtraBucks promotions and sale prices featured in the current weekly ad. You can find these top-tier offers on the front page of the printed ad, highlighted within the CVS app, and often showcased on prominent end-cap displays. While the specific brands vary weekly, this section almost always features major household names like PandG (Tide, Crest), Unilever (Dove), L'Oréal, and Colgate. The most effective savings strategy is to always start here. By planning your shopping list around these featured promotions, you can maximize the amount of ExtraBucks you earn, which you can then use to pay for the rest of your items.

Beauty

The Beauty aisle is a true powerhouse category for CVS couponers, offering an extensive range of products that are frequently part of lucrative promotions. This section covers everything from cosmetics, facial cleansers, and moisturizers to high-end shampoo, conditioner, and styling products. You'll find popular brands like L'Oréal, Maybelline, CoverGirl, Neutrogena, and Pantene regularly featured. This category is the prime territory for coupon stacking. The most effective strategy is to look for weekly ExtraBucks deals to dramatically lower your out-of-pocket cost. By layering these discounts, it's very common to get premium beauty and skincare products for a fraction of their retail price.

Health and Medicine

Stocking your medicine cabinet becomes far more affordable when you apply CVS savings strategies in the Health and Medicine aisle. This section is your destination for over-the-counter pain relievers, cold and flu remedies, allergy medication, first-aid supplies, and digestive health products. While you'll find leading brands like Tylenol, Advil, Zyrtec, and Band-Aid, the CVS Health store brand is a standout for value. The 20% CarePass discount on CVS Health products provides an immediate and significant savings here. To save even more, look for BOGO (Buy One, Get One) sales on vitamins and stack that offer with your CarePass discount, or use your accumulated ExtraBucks to lower the out-of-pocket cost of more expensive seasonal items like allergy medicine.

Household

The Household category covers all of your daily home essentials, making it a reliable and frequent source of excellent deals. In this aisle, you can find savings on laundry detergent, paper towels, toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and trash bags. The promotions often feature top brands such as Tide, Scott, Bounty, and Clorox, alongside CVS's own value-driven Total Home brand. The best savings opportunities usually come from larger, tiered promotions like "Spend $30 on select PandG products, Get $10 ExtraBucks." Since manufacturer coupons for these products are abundant in newspaper inserts and on printable websites, they are perfect for stacking on top of store sales to achieve a very low final price.

Home Health Care

For more specialized medical equipment, the Home Health Care aisle offers a variety of products to support wellness at home. This section features items like blood pressure monitors, mobility aids such as canes and walkers, joint braces, and other diagnostic tools. The CVS Health brand is a dominant player here, offering high-quality products that are often more affordable than national brand equivalents like Omron. Because these items typically have a higher price point, this is the perfect category to redeem a large amount of accumulated ExtraBucks to bring the cost down significantly. For CarePass members, the automatic 20% discount on CVS Health brand monitors and devices provides substantial and immediate savings.

Baby and Kids

Parents can find incredible value in the Baby and Kids section by combining weekly deals with coupons. This aisle is filled with essentials, including diapers, baby wipes, formula, and a range of baby-specific toiletries like lotions and gentle washes. You’ll see promotions on the most trusted brands, such as Pampers, Huggies, and Johnson's. Diaper and formula deals are consistently some of the most popular ExtraBucks promotions offered at CVS. The key to unlocking the deepest savings is to wait for a "Spend $25, Get $7 ExtraBucks" deal and stack it with a high-value manufacturer coupon and a store CRT for baby products.

Personal Care

The Personal Care aisle is legendary among CVS deal hunters, as it is the most common place to find items that are frequently free after factoring in rewards. This section is packed with daily necessities like deodorant, body wash, bar soap, toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, and shaving supplies from leading brands including Crest, Colgate, Gillette, and Dove. This category is the best place to practice "rolling" your ExtraBucks. You will constantly see small but powerful promotions like "Buy 2 Colgate Toothpastes for $7.98, Get $5 ExtraBucks." By using two manufacturer coupons, you can often pay less than $5 out-of-pocket and get the $5 back in rewards, creating a "freebie" that helps fund your next transaction.

Vitamins

CVS offers an extensive selection of vitamins and supplements, providing many opportunities for savings. Whether you're looking for daily multivitamins, specific supplements like Vitamin D or fish oil, or sleep aids like melatonin, you'll find them here. The aisle features popular national brands like Nature Made and Nature's Bounty alongside the high-quality CVS Health and Radiance PLATINUM lines. The most common promotion in this category is the BOGO Free sale. This deal becomes even more powerful for CarePass members, who can stack the 20% discount on CVS brands on top of the BOGO sale, getting two bottles for an exceptionally low price.

Grocery

While not a full supermarket, the Grocery aisle at CVS provides a reliable selection of convenience foods, drinks, and snacks. This is where you can quickly grab candy, sodas, energy drinks, cereal, and other pantry staples. In addition to national brands like Hershey's, Coke, and General Mills, CVS offers its own quality lines, Gold Emblem and the health-conscious Gold Emblem Abound. This category is an excellent place to use up any ExtraBucks that are nearing their expiration date. Look for simple promotions, especially around holidays, like "Buy 2 candy bars, Get $1 ExtraBucks" for an easy and rewarding treat.

Diet and Nutrition

For those focused on fitness and specific health goals, the Diet and Nutrition section offers a curated selection of products. Here you will find protein bars and powders, meal replacement shakes, and other weight management products from popular brands like Quest, Atkins, SlimFast, and Premier Protein. These items are often featured in the weekly ad with a straightforward sale price. An effective strategy is to combine these sales with manufacturer coupons, which are often available on the brand websites, or to use a general CRT like "25% off one regular price item" to create your own discount.

Sexual Wellness

The Sexual Wellness aisle is a discreet and important category that contains condoms, lubricants, and other personal health and wellness products from trusted brands like Trojan and Durex. Using your ExtraBucks is an excellent way to purchase these items, as it significantly reduces your out-of-pocket cost and adds a layer of privacy to the transaction. Keep an eye out for any store-wide, purchase-based CRTs that can be applied to your total purchase to add extra savings.

Photo

It's important to recognize that the CVS Photo center operates with its own unique savings system, largely separate from the in-store ExtraCare program. Here, you can order high-quality photo prints, canvas prints, photo books, calendars, and a wide variety of personalized gifts. Savings in this category are almost exclusively driven by online promotional codes found on the CVS Photo website. It is crucial to never pay full price for photo items; before placing any order, check the website for readily available codes that can offer 40%, 50%, or even 70% off your purchase.

CVS Shipping, Returns and Policies

Knowing the store's policies can save you time, money, and headaches. We've distilled the key takeaways from CVS' official site to help you shop with confidence.

Shipping Policy

For online orders through CVS.com, standard shipping options are available. However, the most significant shipping benefit is tied to the CarePass membership. Subscribers receive free and fast 1-2 day shipping on the majority of online items with no minimum purchase, making it an incredibly valuable perk for those who prefer to shop from home.

Return Policy with Coupons

Understanding the 60-day return policy is crucial if you purchase items as part of a larger deal. If you need to return an item that was purchased using coupons or paid for with ExtraBucks, the value of those discounts will be subtracted from your refund. You will not receive the cash value of the coupons back, and any ExtraBucks redeemed for that item will be forfeited. Essentially, the reward or coupon used on the returned product is considered spent and is not refunded.

How We Find and Publish Deals

Our dedicated team of deal curators is on a constant mission to find the very best CVS deals for you, our readers. We scour every corner of the internet, monitor their site for new promotions, and verify each offer to ensure it provides real value. This tireless effort means you can trust that the deals you see on DealNews are current, accurate, and the best available.

Why Trust DealNews?

DealNews has been helping our readers save money on everything under the sun for years, and when it comes to getting the best bang for your buck at stores like CVS, this year is no exception. We deliver hundreds of deals to savvy shoppers every single day, covering a massive range of products—from clothes and home goods to tech gadgets and vacations. All those years of experience go into making absolutely sure that every deal we publish is the best price you're likely to find, period. Our commitment is to you, the reader, regardless of any relationship we might have with a store.

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