I made my first couple of forays into the world of Walgreens shopping, inspired by my friend and old college roommate Tiffany and her CVS trips, and also by Money Saving Mom, a couponing, frugal, homeschooling, stay-at-home mama. We don’t have CVS here in San Francisco, though I hear they’re turning Longs Drugs into CVS, so maybe we will soon. Which would be awesome, since I understand that CVS has a great program for rewards shopping.
Apparently, if you work the system right, you can get all kinds of stuff for free, especially when you use the store’s Register Rewards, which are coupons that print upon checkout if you buy certain items. Last week, I wrote that I went to Walgreens and got a couple packages of dental floss for free, which were on sale for $.99 each by using two $1/1 coupons. This turned out to be my gateway drug, cause now I’m hooked. So I looked over some blog sites with Walgreens deals and pored over their ad.
Here’s what I did:
First, I needed some swim diapers for Killian. I was THIS CLOSE to not buying any, since he’s been such a big boy in the pool, but last week, our swim time was cut short by some kid pooping in the pool, and when we were supposed to go back the next day, got a call saying the pool was closed AGAIN, because some kid pooped in the pool. Safeway doesn’t have them, so a trip to Walgreens was going to be in the cards anyway.
Swim diapers: $9.99
Coupon: $1/1
Final price: $8.99
Cottonelle fresh wipes (42 ct.) were also on sale for $1.99 if you used the Walgreens store coupon in the ad. I also had a coupon for $.50/2 (for the 42 ct.). I usually buy these at Costco, in the giant box with the refills, but I wondered if I could actually get them cheaper by combining the coupons together, so I thought I’d give it a shot.
Cottonelle fresh wipes: $3.99
Walgreens coupon: on sale for $1.99
Coupon: $.50/2
Final price: $1.74
Kleenex: $1.29
Walgreens coupon: on sale for $.89
Final price: $.89
Right Guard deodorant: $3.49
Walgreens coupon: on sale for $.99
Coupon: $1/1
Final price: FREE
(A note about this: most of the sites recommend that when you hand the cashier your coupons, to hand them in this order: any Register Rewards you have, manufacturer coupons, store coupons. This is supposed to help prevent the computer from beeping and not allowing your coupons. If I had done that, I think this might have rung up at a final price of $.99, since that would have been the last coupon used, but I’m not sure. Instead, I handed her the store coupon first, to ensure the $.99 price, and then the mfr. coupon, getting it for FREE. Everything worked fine - no beeping!)
Reach dental floss: $.99 on sale
Coupon: $1/1
Final price: FREE
Now here’s where I get into confusing territory. The last few items I bought produced Register Rewards, and were some deals I found out about from different blogs. The first was a St. Ives body wash, on sale for $2.99. This produced a Register Reward for $3. I also had a $1.50/1 coupon for this item. The logic goes, that with the RR, it’s like getting this for free, and then by using the coupon, you are actually making money.
St. Ives body wash: $2.99 on sale
$3 RR: FREE
Coupon: $1.50/1
Final price: FREE, plus $1.50 in “overage”
The next set of items were John Frieda Root Awakenings shampoos/conditioners. These are new items, and are up in the $6-$7 range! I saw them at Safeway, and considered using my coupon then, but I am sure glad I didn’t! I had two $3/1 coupons and a $1/1 coupon for these, and they were on sale at Walgreens at $5 each. If you bought 3 for $15, you would get a $5 Register Reward. So if I got three, I would save $7 by using my coupons and then another $5 due to the RR, for a total of $12 off, making them $1 apiece. Now this is a good deal on shampoo no matter what brand! If I’d only had one more $3/1 coupon, it would have been even better. I’ve got to find people who will give me their paper’s coupons!
John Frieda Root Awakening: 3/$15
$5 RR: $10
Coupons: two $3/1 and $1/1
Final price: 3/$3 or $1 each
So I bought all that. I used all my coupons and both my $5 and $3 RRs printed. I spent a total of $26.14, and according to my receipt, saved $28.17 using store sales, store coupons and manufacturer coupons. That’s 52 percent! Not bad for a newbie.
But here’s my big question:
Even though I got RRs for some of the stuff I bought, I don’t understand how applying them to the items I’ve already bought makes them the free or discounted ones. I mean, they’d be applied to stuff I bought on a future visit, right? I can’t consider the discount of the RR to BOTH transactions! I actually have to go back in and use the RRs again. And they expire in two weeks! They’re also considered manufacturer coupons, so I can’t combine them with another mfr. coupon on the same item.
I *really* got the dental floss and the deodorant for free, but I paid $1.49 for the body wash, and really $8 for the three hair products (about $2.67 each). So I find that a little confusing.
Good to see you getting into Walgreens!
They went a few weeks there with kind of ho-hum deals, so I haven’t been in about a month. I SO wish I’d made it in last week for the John Frieda deal, but it was VBS week and I just didn’t have the energy.
I’m actually working on a post to answer your question about the RRs. You are exactly right–you either count it as “free” up front, or on the NEXT transaction when you use the RRs.
Another tip–the RRs have an expiration date on them, but the stores I’ve been to have given me no grief for using expired ones. I still have a couple that expired 6/5 that I’ll use next week!