walgreens and my venture into coupons Good deal? Depends on how you look at it.

**imagine** · 06-21-2010, 11:43 AM

So yesterday my mom brings over her extra coupons ( my only source of coupons)

I find some and they match up with the Walgreens ad at just came out so I thought I'll give it a go, see if I get good deals or not.

Here is how the first trip went:

1#
Old Spice wash (Buddy's scent)
Coupon buy one get one free
Walgreens price $4.49 cents

I buy two of them coupon for second free
total 4.49 plus tax and it give me a registrar reward of $4.50

That is "like"get the two body washes and a penny for Free!

2#
Shampoo Herbal Essence (Little Miss wanted to try this kind)
Coupon for $1 off
Shampoo on sale for $2.99- $1.00 off coupon =$1.99
And it gives me a $2 registrar reward coupon so it was "like" getting the shampoo and a penny for free.
I also bought a 2 liter of soda for a $1. I was afraid it might not give me the registrar rewards if my total was under the amount of the registrar rewards or because I used a manufacture's coupon on the same thing it was giving me a registrar reward for.

So all I paid for was the soda.

Or you can look at it this way

Two body washes
one Herbal shampoo
One 2 little of soda
7.48 plus tax out of pocket with a a registrar reward $6.50 on registrar rewards to use later

Why does one feel like more of a deal?

I also have some other coupon I think I might try and match up

I have a $1 of hair color Walgreens has it on sale for $5.99. Could I use the 4.50 rr coupon I have to buy the hair dye? Would it let me use the rr and a manufactures coupon?

I have a different body wash buy one get one coupon and it gives rr. If the still have that kind when I'm back at Walgreens I might try using the coupon and see if I get rr rewards. Two more for free maybe?

How did I do?

Also trying to figure out how to input this into my "keep track of spending on all categories on a daily basis" spread sheet. Not sure how to do that.

**mauimagic** · 06-21-2010, 11:49 AM

Congratulations on the great deals!! I''ll let you figure out how to record all this - I'll just enjoy your savings while you do the accounting

- let us know how your other deals work out too!

**imagine** · 06-21-2010, 12:16 PM

I forgot to mention that I also had to pay sales tax of 1.01 for all the stuff. That would have increased my out of pocket to $8.49 with $6.50 to use later.

**druthb00** · 06-21-2010, 01:08 PM

You did great

I've been doing the body wash deals a lot lately at both CVS and Walgreens. My bathrooms cupboard is starting to LOOK like a drugstore shelf....LOL.

You most certainly can use your $1 manufacturer's Q along with the RR's. I've had a couple of cashiers give me grief when the RR says "manufacturer's coupon" at the top, but they WILL both ring through if the cashier will do it. This is one reason I like CVS better, but on the other hand CVS will put a number limit on their ECB deals. Although it does keep people from clearing the shelves like what happens at Walgreens. Anyway, you can use both of your Q's to get the dye for .50, the only way it wouldn't work is if your MQ was for, say, $2. Then you would need a .51 "filler" item (like those caramels they put at the registers), because Walgreens won't accept $6.50 worth of Q's on a product that is only $5.99.

**imagine** · 06-21-2010, 02:06 PM

So I was able to head back to walgreens today ( it is close by)

This is what I got this time

#1 Gillete body wash price $4.49
coupon from buy one get one free
so two for $4.49 and I received a $4.50 registrar rewards

So that is "like" two body washes free

#2
Hair dye on sale for $5.99
Dollar off coupon so that makes it $4.99
I buy a 2 liter of soda for $1 ( needed a filler to make two things so I could use two coupons)
Used my $4.50 registrar rewards
So that was "like" getting the the hair dye for 50 cents

They are"like" free and "like 50 cents", unless you are married to a man with a accounting/business administration degree and works with numbers all day long.
He greeted us at he door ( he was home for lunch) . He crunched the numbers quickly and was quick to point out that the $4.50 registrar reward would be/were counted twice and nothing was really Free unless you didn't need to give them any money.

So it accounting terms we, at this house are going to count things based on what actually left your pocket that day

The day and all four trips to the registrar look like this

Total out of pocket 13.95 plus tax 2.26 = $16.21
For 16.21 we bought

4 body washes
1 shampoo
1 hair dye
2 bottles of soda ( 2 liters)
which averages out to $2.32 cents each item
we do still have $6.50 in registar rewards to use in the week or so.

$16.21 is a lot of money for what feels/felt like you were getting stuff for free or near free. I'm betting it is on the psychological effect of "free" or "like free" that Walgreens in counting on the shopper having.

What would of happened if I had shopped at walmart and bought our normal stuff
bar soap 8 pack $4.50
bottle of shampoo $1.50
hair dye $7.99 with $1 off coupon $6.99
2 two liters of soda $3
that is $17.24

So I guess I saved about a dollar but have the fun factor of body wash and fun of factor of trying a new shampoo. We also have $6.50 in registrar reward to use to buy something else later in which the discount will be counted then.

so yes it was a good deal. Maybe not free as Hubby is quick to point out but still a good deal.

So that was a venture in to the "Pharmacy game" or couponing and my thoughts on the adventure.

Hope you enjoyed the adventure to the pharmacy with me as well as the adventure into Hubby's and my heads.