Many of you are wondering about how I do it. This is going to be a longer post explaining how it's done, or at least how I did it this time. First of all, I LOVE WALGREENS!! If you haven't become a Walgreens shopper, maybe this post will change your ways.
We are in the middle of tropical storm Hanna as I write. We are having 20-40mph sustained winds and gusts MUCH higher. We are snuggled safely in our home. Yesterday we had to buy some last minute things as we have never lived in a hurricane prone area. Craig headed out to Walmart, which was a zoo (think ice storm in Tennessee) and many of the supplies were gone. When he got home, I made my list and headed to trusty ol' Walgreens. Here is how it came down.
Sidenote: I have my rebate gift card from Walgreens that I like to use because it's like recycling my money. I spent the money last month, so I don't have to count when I spend it this month, because I already spent it. For my trip last night, my card had not been recharged, so I used our monthly money. It recharged sometime over night, so I had it for my trip this morning. 
Transaction #1 (included hurricane supplies)
Bottled Water 4.99 (Sale) (not in the picture)
20lb bag of ice 2.39 (not in the picture)
3 cans of Gillette Shaving Cream 1.99x3= 5.97
Pack of 3 flashlights 9.99
Crank Lantern 8.99
2 packs of life savers 1.99
Crest Pro Health Mouth wash 500ml 4.49
Paprika .24
Pantene Shampoo 4.50
Pantene Conditioner 4.50
Pantene style produect 4.99
Excedrin PM 24ct 1.99
I used these coupons
Free Pantene Style product when you buy shampoo and conditioner -4.99
Pantene -2.00
Pantene -2.00
Excedrin -2.00
Lifesavers -1.99
Gillette .55x3= -1.65
Walgreens Register Reward (earned previously) -9.00
So I spent 33.64 (including tax)
Walgreens Advertised savings 11.12
Coupon Savings 24.36
Total Saved 35.75
AND IT PRINTED $11.50 in Register Rewards (which are coupons that print after you pay that are like cash toward your next purchase at Walgreens)
Transaction #2
Crest Pro Health mouthwash 4.49
3 Gillette shaving Creams 5.97
coupons used:
3 Gillette .55x3: 1.65
I paid 9.11 (including tax)
Walgreens adv. savings 1.80
Coupon savings 1.65
Total saved 3.45
AND IT PRINTED 7.50 IN Register Rewards toward my next purchase
So on Friday I spent $42.75, but I earned $19.00 in Register Rewards.
Friday night, I checked my FAVORITE site, Hot Coupon World
and found out that Walgreens had put the Magic Bullet Express on clearance for only $15.49. CAN YOU BELIEVE IT???
This morning before the storm hit, I headed to Walgreens again, this time with my gift card recharged, which means NO OUT OF POCKET EXPENSE FOR ME!!!
Transaction #1
3 Gillette Shaving Cream 5.97
1 Crest Pro Health Mouth Wash 4.49
Pantene Shampoo 4.50
pantene conditioner 4.50
Pantene Style product 4.99
Coupons used:
3 Gillette .55x3= -1.65
2 Pantene $2x2= -4.00
One Pantene free when you buy Sham. & Con. -4.99
Total: 14.81 (paid with Gift Card)
Walgreens Adv. savings 4.78
Coupon savings: 10.64
Total saved: 15.42
AND IT PRINTED $10.50 in RR
Transaction #2
2 Magic Bullets $15.49x2=29.98
7 pencils on clearance 9 cents = .56
Coupons used
-$29.50 in RR
Total paid: $3.69 (with gift card)
Walgreens adv. savings: 90.12
Coupon Savings: 29.50
Total saved 119.62
So, on Friday, I paid $42.75 of our monthly money (incl. $23 in hurricane supplies) for 81.95 worth of stuff, and got $19 in Register Rewards. On Saturday, I spent NOTHING out of pocket (29.50 in Register Rewards and 18.50 on the Gift Card) for 153.54 of stuff! I love coupons and rebates!
Now, a couple of things that I want to share.
1. Why do I keep buying Crest Pro Health Mouthwash? Well, we have bad breath. Seriously, because it's free all month long. How is it free? Well, it costs $4.49. You pay that and then it prints a $4.50 register reward (which is like cash toward your next purchase). So, you can spend $4.50 and in turn, get $9 worth of stuff (4.50 mouthwash and $4.50 worth of something else). So every time I am in Walgreens, I will buy a bottle. OH...and if you want more than one bottle, YOU MUST BUY THEM IN SEPARATE TRANSACTIONS! More than one register reward will not print at a time. So, just buy them in separate transactions.
2. Why did I buy 7 pencils in the transaction with the 2 Magic Bullets? Well, I used 9 Register Rewards totaling $29.50. It is a Walgreens policy that you cannot use more coupons than you have items in your order. So, I looked and found the cheapest thing that I thought we could use. They had pencils on clearance for 9 cents each. So, two Magic Bullets and 7 pencils were a total of 9 items, so I could use my 9 Register Rewards. This is just a tip to keep in mind for the future.
SO...call Walgreens and ask if they have Magic Bullets in stock and ask them to see if it's marked down to 15.49. But, do at least one transaction of Crest Pro Health Mouth Wash 500ml (must be this size) and double the value of your $4.50 spent. Then use your Register Reward earned toward the Magic Bullet!
If you have questions, please post them. It means that others probably do as well.
Happy Savings!
The Coupon Consultant
I have now started my own business, The Coupon Consultant. I will be sharing with people how to save money by using smart shopping strategies. This will include using coupons, rebates, and some planning to save people hundreds of dollars on their monthly budgets. At times, I have hijacked our family blog to share my coupon stories. Well now, the coupon stories have their own blog! And my Circus and have its blog back, too! Check out The Coupon Consultant!
So how do I do it? AND READ FOR A GREAT DEAL!!!
Saturday, September 6, 2008 | Posted by Lori at 1:15 PM
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5 comments:
gift card recharged question: Hey there... I am so in awe of your skill in wielding coupons like a dragon slayer slashing your out of pocket expense at every turn!
You said you have your gift card recharged? Do you just put money on a card or is this a Walgreen's card benefit? The purchases from the day before gives you reward points that you can then collect the next day?
If that is the case- do I sign up for that card at the store or on line and how long does it take to activate it?
You are amazing!!! I am so glad we met at Farm Fresh. Thanks to your guidance, my family has saved $47 dollars using our coupons with purpose in the past two days and are expecting our $25 from Miller in a few weeks.
Hope to see you tomorrow at church,
Sharon Mellott
Sharon,
Thanks for your comments! Let me explain a little more about the Walgreens rebate gift card and register rewards.
Each month, Walgreens puts out an Easy Saver Rebate book. You can find it at the front of the store with the Walgreens Ads. It has rebates for different products each month. There are a lot of products you can actually get for free. There are also coupons in the book for other items. When you buy products that qualify for rebates, you sign up online for a Walgreens account. Then you enter your receipts online. At the end of the month, when you request your rebate, I suggest you request it in the form of a gift card. Walgreens will give you 10% of your rebate in free cash. If your rebate is 10.00, you will get 11.00.
Register Rewards are totally different. If you look through the Walgreens ad, you will see different products that say, buy 3 of these, and qualify for X.XX in Register Rewards. They are coupons that print that you can use like cash on your next purchase.
Hope this helps!
I forgot one thing. If you have a gift card, keep it from month to month. After you turn in future rebates, they will add the money directly to the gift card you already have. This speeds up the process as well. That's what I meant by the fact that they "recharged" my gift card.
Alright little missy! We know what you do for fun, what do you do for your down time, after the kids are in bed ofcourse! :)
I love walgreens! Why didn't somebody tell me I could use coupons there before!
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