this is the type of week at Walgreens that I can get a little obsessed with.... FREE stuff!!!!
Register Rewards (RR) are a really addictive thing for me. ESPECIALLY when it's one where you buy an item and the register kicks out a coupon for the same amount that you just bought the item for... making it FREE!!!!!!! Of course, it's in the form of a coupon which you would use at Walgreens to buy something else... BUT there is always something else I NEED... like milk, or a newspaper OR, as is the case with my Publix... regular groceries! Publix will take my Walgreens register rewards since they are actually a form of a manufacturer coupon and Publix gets reimbursed for that. YAY Publix and YAY Walgreens!!!!! (and YAY that they are right across the street from each other!!)
SO... here are the freebies this week (items that you get RR equal to the cost of the item).
There are 4-5 of those this week. And 3 of them are even MONEY MAKERS!!!!! (A money maker is when you actually end up making money in the transaction.)
The first 2, I'm not doing. I don't have the coupons and don't need the items, so I'm skipping them.... but someone else might want this info, so I'm listing it anyways.
$5 RR wyb Bayer Breeze 2 or Contour Meter at $14.99
-$30 off Bayer Breeze2 or Contour Meter, SS 3/22 or RP 10/26/08, 2/01 (make $5 profit)
This would be a SWEET money-maker (info on this below) if I had the coupon. An example of why keeping every coupon is important! I didn't think I'd have any reason to keep this OR to use the item... but it's something that could be donated to people who need it, so I really should have kept the coupon (and might still get and donate, even if it's not a money-maker... I'll see how the time-schedule goes this week)
Money Maker - So... how do you make money buying something??? (some of you who are non-coupon-y folks might not know, so I'm explaining it. Skip this if you know). You're paying $0 in this transaction because you have a coupon for the item making it free AND you're getting back a coupon for $5 off your next purchase. Voila! $5 profit.
$2 RR wyb Ecotrin 45 ct tablets at $2
-$2.25 off Ecotrin product, printable (make $2 profit)
$5.99 RR when you buy (wyb) Rembrandt toothpaste 2.6 -3.2 oz or mouthwash 16 oz at $5.99
I don't have a coupon for this one... but it's FREE after the RR and I love good whitening toothpaste. I've used Rembrandt before and it's great stuff. I haven't been able to afford the whitening toothpaste from Brite Smile that I was using in the past... so this is going to be my substitute.
$2.49 RR wyb Bayer quick release crystals 4pk at $2.49
-$1 off Bayer Aspirin Product, 24ct+ SS 3/22 (make $1 profit)
I only have one of these coupons... I TOSSED the others thinking "oh, I never use Bayer!" THIS is why I should always save coupons for everything... even if I don't use them!!!
UPDATE!!! They had a little stack of $1 off Bayer Quick Release Crystals RIGHT ON TOP of the product at my Walgreens yesterday! WOO HOO!!!! They were made of card-stock... not on a tear-pad... just laying there. Weird! (but good!)
$2.00 RR wyb Ecotrin Aspirin at $2.00
There is a printable coupon out there for Ecotrin, but it's for 2.25. It doesn't specify a certain size, so you MIGHT be able to use it on this.... or it might make your cashier get flustered. Your call.
$4.99 RR wyb Nivea body wash 16.9 oz at $4.99
-$1 off Nivea Body Wash, RP 4/19 OR pick up $1 off coupon in display at CVS - a little booklet that has 2 coupons... one for $1 off one and another for $3 off of 2. It's a booklet and kind of hidden in a slot in the display... took me a minute to figure it out, BUT it's a money-maker coupon and maybe a $3/2 coupon to use another week too. Worth the hunt. Some people have a "tear-pad" in front of their Nivea with the coupons... a little more straight-forward. Hopefully yours is easy to find!
The $1 is the only one that will work for this deal. With a $1 off coupon, you make $1 profit!!!! (thank you Honey at SouthernSavers!)
The other great deal I'm taking advantage of, even though it's not a freebie is
$4 RR wyb $10 of Bandaid ($3)/Benadryl ($3) or Neosporin ($4) products.
At first I didn't even look at this deal, but another reader, Cristina at SouthernSavers.com left a comment telling about a GREAT coupon that's available at Publix. It takes making a stop at Publix (no biggie for me), but there is a $3 off any 2 Johnson and Johnson products. That includes Bandaids!! Which makes this deal SWEET in that you get 4 boxes of bandaids for $12 then subtract the $6 in coupons and $4 RR... that makes it $2 for 4 boxes of bandaids!!! It's almost summer and we tend to go through a lot of bandaids during those months.
So now it's just a matter of figuring out what order to do these deals in, so as to not pay much out of pocket intially (even though I'll have the money back at the end of the transaction... the less I have to put out initially, the better)
So far I have done this...
Transaction 1
Bought Rembrandt $5.99
$5.99 OOP (used $3 RR from a prior week and Gift Card from March rebates to pay this) and got $6 RR back.
Transaction 2
Bought 4 boxes of bandaids at $3 each = $12.00
Bought 1 clearance easter candy (peeps) 12 cents. Total $12.12
Used 2 - $3 off J&J coupons (see above) and $6 RR from Transaction 1 = 12 cents plus tax OOP
(used GC from March) got $4 RR back
Transaction 3
Bought Nivea Body Wash at $4.99
Bought 1 clearance easter candy (peeps) 12 cents. Total $5.11
Used 1 - $1 off Nivea coupon (see above) and $4 from Transaction 2 = 11 cents plus tax OOP
(used GC) got $5 RR back
I actually did all 3 transactions one after another. I am a little more comfortable doing this now... especially since I'm getting to know the cashiers at my store. I just tell them in advance that I have 3 different transactions. I have everything organized ahead of time and separate my coupons so that it goes quick and easily (see below for some tips on this)
If you are new to Walgreens RR, there are a few hurdles you have to jump through to get the deals. Jenny explains this in great detail at her site SouthernSavers.com Guide to Walgreens
but the quickie info is this...
1. You can't use RR from a manufacturer on the same manufacturer's products. This is what would prohibit you from taking the Nivea reward and going back and buying another Nivea Body wash immediately. The coupon that prints has "Retailer" Beiersdorf" in fine print under the word Walgreens above the bar-code is for Nivea. SO... you can't use this on ANY products that they make (for instance Nivea lotion would be a no-go... or using a Listerine RR on any Listerine product. Make sense?)... the register won't take the coupon....AND if you bought another Nivea body-wash with it... it wouldn't print out another RR.... so that would be a waste!!! Use a RR from one manufacturer on ANOTHER manufacturer's product that has a RR and you're being a smart shopper!!
2. You can't have more coupons than you have items. This includes RRs. This is why I had to buy the peeps in the above scenarios. Even if my total had been more than $4 in the Nivea transaction... if I only had one item... I could only use 1 coupon and would lose out on the money-making deal. SO... buy something tiny like a piece of candy and the register will be happy and you'll have smooth sailing! (In the band-aid deal above, I didn't have to buy an extra item because I only used 3 coupons/RRs and had 4 items).
3. Every Walgreens seems to be a bit different in how many RRs they will let you use per transaction. The ones here in Atlanta that I have gone to will let me use 2 RRs to pay for something (for instance... I might do the Bayer asprin deal ($2.50) and the Ecotrin deal ($2.00) and use them both towards the Rembrandt purchase. I just learned that you CAN'T use 2 of the same RRs on the same transaction... so I couldn't have used 2 of the $2.50 RRs from Bayer. Does this make sense?)
4. There is a certain order of giving coupons that works best. It doesn't really apply to my transactions above because there are no "store coupons" from a sale ad included. You can use both a store coupon AND a manufacturer's coupon together BUT it's a bit trickier. Again, you have to have at least the same # of items as coupons AND you should present them in the following order: RRs, Manufacturers coupons and THEN walgreens in-ad/store coupons. Do it this way and the register won't beep and reject any of them. When I have a deal like this, I hand them the RR and the manufacturers coupons and let them enter them THEN hand them the store coupon. Because all my coupons are valid and I'm playing by the rules, everything is hunky dory. woo hoo!!!!!
5. Be nice to your cashier. Be patient with your cashier. And try to go when things aren't busy so that other customers aren't ticked off (because they take it out on the cashier NOT you). I am getting to know the girls that work at the Walgreens I go to and always make sure to ask how their weekend went... This goes a LONG way. My transactions take a little more time, so I want to make sure they're happy to see me rather than rolling their eyes at the crazy coupon lady who comes in 3 times a week!
SO... how to best "rinse and repeat" my deals above this week...that is my next challenge. I'd like to pay as little out of pocket as possible, so I'm trying to figure out how to do this in the best order. I'm not really sure if I'm going to do the Bayer deal more than once. I really don't use that (but I am thinking about the fact that I could donate it). I also don't need a lot of bandaids, and that one isn't free or a money-maker, so I won't be repeating it more than twice. It's a good deal only if you NEED the items (or they're free)!
But free body-wash... free toothpaste... those I'll be repeating as many times as I can find a way to this week. If I have left over RRs at the end of the week... I'll take them to Publix and use for my groceries. Lucky for me, my Publix takes them. I've heard of others that don't.
SO... I'll let you know the results on Sunday or Monday. I just wanted to share ahead of time what I'm planning in case it helps someone else!
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