Use Loyalty Cards to Save at the Store!

Frugal Shopper Tip #3: Use Store Loyalty Cards

Everyone knows this because the cashier will typically ask for it during checkout. But until recently, even the stores I frequent had lots more to offer that I didn't know about just with using these cards.

At CVS: Register your ExtraCare card online, and wonderful savings will follow:

• get $4 off $20 coupon upon registration
• Print store coupons at home like ones from the "magic" coupon machine
• Sign-up for Beauty Club, get $5 ExtraBucks for every $50 spent (before coupons)- I signed-up at the register and got $20 ECBs so far
• Load coupons or ExtraBucks Rewards straight to your card
• Get 25% off coupons or $4 off $20 or similar coupons e-mailed to you
• At the store, scan the card at the coupon machine for store coupons (I visit IHeartCVS to find out what coupons to look out for from the machine)
• Get the Green Tag card and get $1 every 4 visits at CVS (Rumors are this may get phased out, so I'm making the most of it now!)

At Food Lion: Scan the MVP card at their "magic" coupon machine for a variety of coupons. Some are store coupons that can only be used that day, like $2 off $10 in produce. Others are manufacturer's coupons similar to those from coupons.com that have a longer expiration date. I like these because when I don't need all the coupons, I can leave some on the machine for others.

• Coupon sources for Food Lion include, Redplum from their website, Saving Star coupons, and from the newsletter emailed weekly. Sometimes they have Blue Moon mail-in-rebates with the Redplum coupons too. One time, I got $5 off $5 emailed to me. These do not require using the MVP card but I thought it worth mentioning.

At Kroger: Register the card online to load e-coupons. Recently, I got meat, produce, and bakery coupons. Also, many coupons are similar to the ones from the newspaper.

At Martin's: They have their own coupon machine that rarely gives great coupons. They do have an old standby like $.50 off $5 worth of produce. But sometimes, I get nice catalina coupons during checkout.

At Winn-Dixie: Fill out the registration form for a new card, if you haven't done so with your current card. Once I got weekly coupons mailed to me, each with $10 off $50. I got full support for my couponing when my husband redeemed a $5 off steak coupon from Winn-Dixie. I think he only spent $0.25 for the steak!

Walgreens has a new loyalty card but so far is not producing promising savings.

That's all I can think of for right now. It just started snowing here for the first time this winter so we're going out to enjoy. Keep warm and dry, everyone!