This Simple Trick Can Help You Get Free Items at CVS

Free items can be yours if you're strategic about how you shop.

Shopping for essentials like toothpaste and shampoo isn't always a fun prospect -- especially if there are other things you'd rather be putting on your credit cards than these boring personal care items.

The good news is, there are often deals to be had on this type of purchase if you know how to shop strategically. CVS is one place where you can find bargains and, in some cases, it may even be possible to get totally free items at the pharmacy. Here's how.

Free stuff from CVS could potentially be yours

It's possible to get totally free items at CVS because of the way the store operates its sales.

See, CVS allows you to use store coupons that it provides. If you join the company's ExtraCare program, there are coupon centers in store that you can use to print deals you're eligible for immediately. You just scan your ExtraCare card at the little in-store kiosk or enter your telephone number to get coupons printed out for you.

CVS also accepts manufacturers coupons on top of these in-store coupons. That means you can stack your coupons, using both the ones that the pharmacy provided as well as the ones the manufacturer offers.

In some cases, especially if items go on sale, stacking these coupons together can make products free or allow you to buy them for pennies on the dollar. For example, if a tube of toothpaste costs $2 and you get a $1 coupon from CVS and a $1 coupon for the toothpaste from the manufacturer, you end up paying absolutely nothing to buy it.

As if that wasn't good enough, CVS also enables you to earn ExtraBucks for certain purchases. These are essentially "CVS currency" that you can spend on almost anything in the store. If you can buy an item that earns you ExtraBucks with a manufacturer coupon and a store coupon, you can sometimes end up actually getting paid to purchase it.

How to find the best CVS deals

Figuring out how to get the best bargains at CVS can sometimes be a challenge since you may not be aware of what coupons you can combine. The best option is to look carefully at the store flyer, look for sales, and then check to see what coupons are available from manufacturers. You can check the manufacturer website or there are sites online that sell coupons from the Sunday paper (which are often the best ones to combine with store deals).

There are also online websites, such as SlickDeals, which have forums dedicated to identifying the best drugstore deals each week. You can check out these forums to see what coupons and ExtraCare promotions you can combine to score free items.

If you can save money on purchases from CVS for personal care items ranging from toothpaste to toilet paper to razors, this can help you cut your grocery budget so you can use your cash for other goals. It's well worth a little bit of effort in order to make that happen, so give this technique a try.