So here is how you score the deals...first, I rarely buy something from a drug store that is NOT on sale and that I don't have a coupon for it. AND, I need to earn "play" money from it in most cases. I say rarely because there is an occassion where I need a filler to make the numbers work. My fillers last week have been discounted halloween candy for 25 to 50 cents.
Each drug store has what I call "play" money. You know, that monopoly money that you use over and over again. Rite Aid calls theirs UP Rewards, CVS has Extra Care Bucks (ECB) and WAlgreens has Register Rewards (RR). Both CVS and Rite Aid have their cards that you sign up for and scan every time you shop. They track what and how much you buy. Walgreens does not.
You need to go to CVS and RA and get the shoppers cards if you don't have them. Also, register online with them and you sometimes get coupons emailed to you. I get $4/$20 almost weekly from CVS.
Also, stores stack manufacture coupons with their own store coupon. So if I have $1 one item and it is a Rite Aid coupon AND I have $1 off the same item but it is a manufacture coupon, I can use it on the same 1 item.
The "play" money NEVER covers tax...so even if you get your purchase down to pennies, they charge tax on the original amount of purchase with no coupons (except food and medicine). Hey, its the least I can do when I am not paying the stores for stuff!
So here is a look at today...just to get an idea. I walked into RA and probably had 12-14 UPs to spend.
I bought (6) Garnier Hair Color and the total came to about $36.
I used the following coupons:
$5 off $25 purchase...$5/$25
(6) $3 off coupons (5 from an Oct newspaper and 1 from today) totaling $18
(5) $2 off Rite Aid Flu Booklet coupons totaling $10
So now my purchase is around $3, I use $2 of "play" money and with tax, my total out of pocket is under $4. Now why did I buy 6 hair color? Not because I NEED them...we all know I don't have a single gray hair on my headbut because on TOP of my almost free merchandise, Rite Aid was offering $5 in Up rewards for every $15 Garnier purchase. I spent over $30 so I earned $10 in play money. Not bad for only spending $2 of my previous play money.
My next purchase at the SAME store...I don't walk out to my car, I simply tell them I am doing two separate purchases and they are cool with it. They expect it. We need shampoo. This wasn't such a great deal EXCEPT that I now have over $20 of RA play money so I will make it a good deal. (O:
My goal here is to get to $25 so I can use another $5/$25 RA coupon
(6) Garnier Shampoo on sale $6/2 so $18 total (just earned another $5 of play money)
(2) Wethers Originals Candy $3/2
(1) Nivea Body Wash $3.99 (just earned $1 play money)
(1) Crest for $2.99 (earned $3 of play money)
My coupons
$5/$25
(6) $1/1 Garnier shampoo MC
(2) $1/1 RA video value coupons for Garnier
(1) $1/2 Wethers
(1) $1/1 Crest
(1) $3/1 Nivea BW coupon
My total is under $10 so I used $9 in play money and ended up paying a little over $3 OOP for this purchase. And I earned $9 back in play money.
Do you see how the play money keeps rolling over and over and over?? That is why I ONLY buy what is on sale, earns up rewards AND I have coupons for it. I am not brand specific. I will use any kind of laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo etc...
I did stop at one more Rite Aid for 2 more purchases. And two WAlgreens for a total of 4 trips. It isn't easy, but it is worth the 4 or 5 hours I spend organizing, planning and shopping each week. And for those that know me, I LOVE to shop! Did I mention I love to shop? And I am doing it for cheap! Still exciting but without the credit card bill at the end of the month!
Each drug store has their own set of rules as far as coupons. So you need to get educated on that. You will learn by experience. You try stuff, it doesn't work, and you learn why. Kinda like life. haha I will post some of the things I have learned about each of them over the next week or so.
So the pic below shows my purchases this morning. I was gone for about 2 hours...spent a few hours planning my attack, and I was off!
I spent $15.21 out of pocket (OOP), got back $28 in CASH from Rite Aid, and received 9 Up and 12 RR to spend next week. For some reason one trip to RA didn't print up my UP so they paid me in cash! My total after coupons was $2.50 and they handed me back $28!!! That RARELY happens, but they wanted to honor the UPs that I should have gotten. Although I thought it should have only been $24. But, ok, I'll take it.
From Rite Aid
(6) Hair Color
(6) Garnier Shampoo
(2) Nivea body Mens BodyWash
(2) Werthers
(6) Crest
(5) Oral B TBrushes
(2) Cheesits
(4) Keebler Cookies
(1) Velveeta Mac and Cheese
(2) Bounty Paper Towels
WAlgreens
(4) Xtreme 3 Razors 4 pack disposables
(2)Saline Solutions
(3) Reach TB
(3) Dental Floss
(4) Arizona Tea
(2) Marshmallows
(4) Brownie mixes
(1) Corn Bread Mix
(1) Crisco 3 pk
(3) Blue Bonnet Margarine
Each drug store has what I call "play" money. You know, that monopoly money that you use over and over again. Rite Aid calls theirs UP Rewards, CVS has Extra Care Bucks (ECB) and WAlgreens has Register Rewards (RR). Both CVS and Rite Aid have their cards that you sign up for and scan every time you shop. They track what and how much you buy. Walgreens does not.
You need to go to CVS and RA and get the shoppers cards if you don't have them. Also, register online with them and you sometimes get coupons emailed to you. I get $4/$20 almost weekly from CVS.
Also, stores stack manufacture coupons with their own store coupon. So if I have $1 one item and it is a Rite Aid coupon AND I have $1 off the same item but it is a manufacture coupon, I can use it on the same 1 item.
The "play" money NEVER covers tax...so even if you get your purchase down to pennies, they charge tax on the original amount of purchase with no coupons (except food and medicine). Hey, its the least I can do when I am not paying the stores for stuff!
So here is a look at today...just to get an idea. I walked into RA and probably had 12-14 UPs to spend.
I bought (6) Garnier Hair Color and the total came to about $36.
I used the following coupons:
$5 off $25 purchase...$5/$25
(6) $3 off coupons (5 from an Oct newspaper and 1 from today) totaling $18
(5) $2 off Rite Aid Flu Booklet coupons totaling $10
So now my purchase is around $3, I use $2 of "play" money and with tax, my total out of pocket is under $4. Now why did I buy 6 hair color? Not because I NEED them...we all know I don't have a single gray hair on my head
My next purchase at the SAME store...I don't walk out to my car, I simply tell them I am doing two separate purchases and they are cool with it. They expect it. We need shampoo. This wasn't such a great deal EXCEPT that I now have over $20 of RA play money so I will make it a good deal. (O:
My goal here is to get to $25 so I can use another $5/$25 RA coupon
(6) Garnier Shampoo on sale $6/2 so $18 total (just earned another $5 of play money)
(2) Wethers Originals Candy $3/2
(1) Nivea Body Wash $3.99 (just earned $1 play money)
(1) Crest for $2.99 (earned $3 of play money)
My coupons
$5/$25
(6) $1/1 Garnier shampoo MC
(2) $1/1 RA video value coupons for Garnier
(1) $1/2 Wethers
(1) $1/1 Crest
(1) $3/1 Nivea BW coupon
My total is under $10 so I used $9 in play money and ended up paying a little over $3 OOP for this purchase. And I earned $9 back in play money.
Do you see how the play money keeps rolling over and over and over?? That is why I ONLY buy what is on sale, earns up rewards AND I have coupons for it. I am not brand specific. I will use any kind of laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo etc...
I did stop at one more Rite Aid for 2 more purchases. And two WAlgreens for a total of 4 trips. It isn't easy, but it is worth the 4 or 5 hours I spend organizing, planning and shopping each week. And for those that know me, I LOVE to shop! Did I mention I love to shop? And I am doing it for cheap! Still exciting but without the credit card bill at the end of the month!
Each drug store has their own set of rules as far as coupons. So you need to get educated on that. You will learn by experience. You try stuff, it doesn't work, and you learn why. Kinda like life. haha I will post some of the things I have learned about each of them over the next week or so.
So the pic below shows my purchases this morning. I was gone for about 2 hours...spent a few hours planning my attack, and I was off!
I spent $15.21 out of pocket (OOP), got back $28 in CASH from Rite Aid, and received 9 Up and 12 RR to spend next week. For some reason one trip to RA didn't print up my UP so they paid me in cash! My total after coupons was $2.50 and they handed me back $28!!! That RARELY happens, but they wanted to honor the UPs that I should have gotten. Although I thought it should have only been $24. But, ok, I'll take it.
From Rite Aid
(6) Hair Color
(6) Garnier Shampoo
(2) Nivea body Mens BodyWash
(2) Werthers
(6) Crest
(5) Oral B TBrushes
(2) Cheesits
(4) Keebler Cookies
(1) Velveeta Mac and Cheese
(2) Bounty Paper Towels
WAlgreens
(4) Xtreme 3 Razors 4 pack disposables
(2)Saline Solutions
(3) Reach TB
(3) Dental Floss
(4) Arizona Tea
(2) Marshmallows
(4) Brownie mixes
(1) Corn Bread Mix
(1) Crisco 3 pk
(3) Blue Bonnet Margarine
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