How I Plan a Trip to CVS

Before I go to CVS, I like to have a plan in mind regarding what I intend to purchase. Personally, my strategy for shopping at CVS is to keep my out of pocket expenses (OOP) as low as possible. Most of the time, I'm able to keep my total below $1. I do this by only shopping primarily for items that are either free after Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) or money makers after ECBs (preferably money makers!). I also keep my OOP low by planning my purchases around how many ECBs I currently have. If there are a number of items that I want to purchase and I know that I'll need to do more than one transaction, I like to plan my trip in Excel. The 12/21 - 12/22 deals are a perfect example. Since I have $23.99 in ECBs currently, here's what I'm planning for my first transaction during the 12/21 - 12/22 deals (click on the spreadsheet for a clearer view).So, inshaAllah (God willing), for that transaction, my total before coupons is $31.25. After coupons, it's $24.25 (only $.26 higher than what I have in ECBs!) and I'll get back $31.25 in ECBs.

Of course, I know going in that there is no way to guarantee that my purchases will work out as I plan them!