Walgreens Coupon Find

During my weekly trip to Walgreens, I found these Johnson & Johnson First Aid Kits on an end cap. Regularly priced at $4.99, they were on sale for 2 for $1.

The best part is that each kit has $15 worth of manufacturer's coupons. Each coupon expires 12/31/10, so I hope I can find some good sales to match up with these.

$1/1 Neosporin

$1/1 Band-Aid product

$4/2 Cortaid products

$2/1 Bengay product

$3/2 Johnson & Johnson Red Cross products

$2/1 Neosporin Lip Health

$2/1 Benadryl Cream, Gel or Spray

Rockin' Walgreens Trip

Hubs and I did a Walgreen's run tonight.

Hub's Transaction:
Suave Body Wash = $2.00
Crest Toothpaste $3.00 - $1.00 coupon = $2.00
Sure Solid Deodorant $1.99 - $1.50 coupon = $.49
Minus $4.00 Register Reward (from two weeks ago)
$.47 tax
$.96 Total

Received Register Rewards:
$3.00 for Suave
$3.00 for Crest
$1.00 for Sure

My Transaction:
Crest Toothpaste $3.00 - $.75 coupon = $2.25
Sure Solid Deodorant $1.00 - $1.50 coupon = $.49
Celsis 4-pk Green Tea $3.99 - $2.00 coupon = $1.99
Jurgens hand lotion (filler item) = $.49
Minus $5.00 Register Reward (from two weeks ago)
$.41 tax
$.63 total

Received Register Rewards:
$3.00 for Celsis
$3.00 for Crest
$1.00 for Sure

Not bad for $1.59 out of pocket and earning $5 more in Register Rewards than I spent. I love all these Wags deals!

Great Walgreens Trip!

This past Sunday, I made a quick stop at Walgreens. I didn't have my lists or coupons pulled together yet, but I wanted to pick up a Complete Contact solution ($7.99 with $7.99 Register Reward).

As I was walking in, the manager who I have dealt with in the past (on many of my not-so-pleasant trips to Walgreens) was walking out. He stopped and greeted me, saying he hadn't seen me in a while. He was worried I had another bad experience (possibly with the "not-coupon-friendly" cashier) and that the store had lost me as a customer. I reassured him that I had just been traveling for work over the past few months.

Then he gave me the best news - the aforementioned "not-coupon-friendly" cashier is no longer employed by Walgreens. YEAH!!!!

I came home with a huge smile on my face - not so much for the free bottle of contact solution - but for the knowledge that I no longer need to shop around an employee's work schedule. What a great way to start couponing again!

Full Circle Once Again...

After a few good trips to Walgreens, I had another bad one today.

The healthy savings Walgreens coupons that came out earlier this year - for whatever reason - are programmed in the Walgreens computer system as manufacturer coupons, rather than Walgreens coupons. This threw off my item to coupon ratio, which in turn caused the line behind me to get impatient.

How can they call something a manufacturer coupon and not have that clearly labeled on the coupon? If anyone has an answer, I'm all ears.

Black Friday Shopping

Last Friday, Hubs and I did the 4am shopping thing. Neither of us had ever done this, and did we have fun!

First of all, let me say that I don't think I'll ever be one of those that camps out for hours waiting to get in. There were people literally camping in front of Best Buy starting Wednesday. The line had started in front of Target by 5pm on Thursday. No way. While my patience is usually pretty good, I don't think I could handle hours waiting in line.

We arrived at Kohl's at 3:50am. There were probably 150-200 people in line ahead of us, but everyone was very nice. When the doors opened at 4am, there wasn't any pushing - most people followed along in line. We were able to score everything on our list in about 25 minutes. However, by then, the checkout line was all the way down the depth of the store, and about a quarter way the length. From the time we got in line to the time we walked out to the car was 45 minutes.

After Kohl's, we grabbed some breakfast through a drive-thru, and headed to Staples. There was waited in line about 20 minutes, and there were maybe 75 people ahead of us. Doors opened at 6am, and once inside, we hit the jackpot. We were able to get everything that was on our list. Having learned a lesson at Kohl's, we got in the checkout line within 15 minutes, and then took turns waiting while the other continued to shop. That system worked really well and will be used again! The one bad thing about Staples was that there were line jumpers. People who weren't in line just walked in. I wish the store would have done a better job letting the line in first.

After Staples, our final stop was going to be Menards. They also opened at 6am, so we knew our chances were slim to find the things on our list. We drove by at 6:45am, and there wasn't a single parking spot available. Cars were waiting in line to park! We decided to call it a day there and just skip Menards all together, as we were very happy with all our purchases.

After being home for a few hours, I headed back out - this time to Walgreens and CVS. I had Lubriderm coupons and wanted to use them up before the monthly Register Reward ended on Saturday. I think I shopped at five different Walgreens, doing fairly well. Still had a little of the cashier attitude (had my most unfavorite cashier at one location - you know the type, the one to avoid like the plague, but NO one else was around so I had to go to her lane) but overall it was good. I was able to score lots of things for the mom & dad stash box. In fact, box number 2 was started! I can't wait to deliver the goodies to them.

What a Nice Surprise

So, I vent about Walgreens. And what happens? I have a great trip tonight. No beeps. No cashier attitude. No coupon problems. It was wonderful!!

The best part? My pre-tax subtotal was 3 cents.

2 Welch's Sparkling Grape Juice @ 2/$5 minus $4 (2 x $2/1 coupons) = $1.00
2 Skippy Peanut Butters @ 2/$3 minus $1 coupon = $2.00
1 Ricola Mixed Berry Drops @ $1 = $1.00
1 Snuggle Liquid Softener @$3.50 minus $3 coupon = $.50
1 Aussie Hair Conditioner @ $2.99 minus $1 coupon = $1.99
2 Theraflu Liquids @ 2/$10 minus $4 (2x$2/1 coupons) minus $4 (Walgreens coupon) = $2.00
1 Votive Candle @17 cents (filler item) = $.17
2 cans tuna (needed dog food) @ $1.19 = $2.38
1 Tums Dual Action @ $7.99 minus $3 coupon = $4.99

I paid with $16 register rewards, and had a remaining balance of $.03 (plus tax = $.77). I received $9 register rewards back. Overall - I'm a happy Walgreens customer tonight.

Walgreens...UGH!

I wish I could walk away. I wish I could let the deals go right on by. But I can't.

So I continue to shop at Walgreens, hating every moment of it. I always walk into the store hoping that my favorite cosmetics cashiers are working, but they rarely are. A majority of the cashiers are just rude and don't like couponers (or, at least, me). They make mistakes, but blame me. I try to be nice, but yet stand my ground. Last night however, I lost it.

After filling my cart, I found an empty aisle, broke out my calculator, and made sure that my order would not produce a pre-tax total of zero or less. I triple checked my items to coupons ratio and everything was in line. During checkout, the register wouldn't take my $4 register reward coupon. Standing my ground, the manager finally just "cashed out" my receipt, and my subtotal was $3.97 which is why the register reward wouldn't go through.

Rolling my eyes, I went and grabbed one more 12-cent item to bring my total up. During the re-check out process, now my subtotal was more than this one additional item. I asked the clerk if I could compare to the first receipt to see the difference. She told me she didn't know where it was. The manager stopped back and told her where it was and to let me see if. The cashier still wouldn't give it to me. I was in a time crunch, so I left.

After I got home, I refigured everything and discovered what happened. The cashier failed to charge me for one of my items the first time around. I was right and she was wrong. But yet, I'm the one standing there trying to hold my ground, as other customers are getting mad at me. In the end, I'm the bad customer and I have to fix the problem - even though the problem was never mine to begin with.

Man, I hate Walgreens.

Stash Box Overflowing

I guess all it took was for me to "complain" about Walgreens a few weeks back. Since then, the sales have been amazing. After last week, the mom & dad stash box is overflowing.

First, my disclaimer: I shopped on multiple days at multiple stores. At no time did I do "shelf clearing" shopping or multiple transactions back to back buying the same product.

For $12.42 oop and $64 in Register Rewards (and obviously a lot of coupons), I was able to get:
6 Triaminic medicines
4 Zantac
6 ThermaFlu
1 Airwick i-motion
1 Quilted Northern Toilet Paper (9 rolls)
2 Glade Soy Candles (2oz)
9 Bumble Bee Tuna
2 Reese Peanut Butter Cups
10 Pencils (filler items)
2 Pert Plus shampoos
8 packages Trident Layers Gum
2 Sure Deodorant
4 Almay Eye Shadows
4 Ester C - 90 count
3 Vaseline Lotion
4 Frappucinos
1 Powerade

And, I have $67 Register Rewards remaining.

I could kick myself - on one transaction, I forgot to give the cashier the Walgreen's ThermFlu coupon. That move cost me $6. But, I couldn't bring myself to go back to the store to resolve the problem.

I haven't looked at this week's sales yet, but I'm hoping I can find some more good - no, great - deals.

Walgreens Round-up

Yes, I'm nuts. I know that. Tonight proves it.

I didn't hit just one Walgreens. Or two. Or even three. I went to six different Walgreens this evening. Why? Because of the Band-aid coupon.

Between the six different store fronts, I purchased:
14 boxes of Band-aids
5 bags of Halls Refresh
4 Emergen-C Booster shots
3 Chap-Sticks
1 Sweetest Day card for my honey! =)

The only coupons I used were the $2 coloring book coupon and the $1.99 coupon in this week's flyer. I used $13 previously earned Register Rewards, spent a little over $15 oop (including tax) and received $25 Register Rewards back. Basically, everything was free except for the card (and hubs is definitely worth it!).

All of the Band-aids, and most of the other things are going into the stash box for mom & dad. Even though I have been couponing now for almost a year, it is still amazing how much you can get for free.

Walgreens Again

I did another Walgreens run tonight...and plan to do a couple more tomorrow.

Making use of the $1.99 Bandaid coupon in the weekly Walgreens flyer, partnered with the $2 off coupon found in the children's activity book, I am able to get Barbie & Sponge Bob Bandaids for free. I picked up three boxes night, and plan to hit another store or two tomorrow.

All these Bandaids are going into Mom's stash box. I know her free medical clinic will make good use of these!

Had To Do It

I went back to Walgreens tonight. I found two Bengay Catalina coupons for $2.50 off each. With the current Register Rewards deal going on, I couldn't pass it up.

Two 4oz Bengay @ $5 each = $10
Eight Halloween Pencils @ 4/$1 = $2
Two $2.50/1 Bengay coupons = minus $5
Wags coupon 8 pencils/$1 = minus $1
Old Register Rewards = minus $6
Subtotal = $0

All I paid was $.17 tax. And, I got a $5 Register Reward.

The Bengay will go into the mom & dad stash box. I'm not sure whose workplace will get these, but I'm sure it will get used.

The Love-Hate Relationship with Walgreens

Last night I did my weekly trek between Walgreens, CVS, and the grocery store(s). While there weren't many great deals at the grocery store and CVS this week, my Walgreens list was once again fairly long.

After reading many other couponing blogs, in my opinion, the general consensus is that Walgreens is tough when it comes to couponing. The confusing rules are the main concern, but the fact there isn't a corporate coupon policy, and that every cashier chooses his/her own policy sure doesn't help.

But, you know what? I've gotten past the couponing rules. My current disappointment is that they cannot keep their sale items in stock. A week ago, I shopped early in the week, and three of the Register Reward items were gone. This week, same thing. What is so hard about having back stock on sale items? Maybe if Walgreens could figure out how to issue Register Rewards with rain checks, I wouldn't be so discouraged.

My other gripe are the cashiers. Most are just not friendly. They hate couponers. The deep sighs I receive when I hand over coupons are really starting to bother me. I have found a couple of cosmetics cashiers who are great to work with, but it seems lately that they haven't been working when I shop.

In all honesty, if I could get Walgreens deals somewhere else, I would avoid that store like the plague. But, I can't turn my back on the high number of free and low cost items. I do coupon for a cause (actually, multiple causes) and Walgreens provides great items for my "donate" stash.

Maybe its time I try a different store front.

Success!

This week's shopping has been outstanding! With matching up coupons to sales, I have done extremely well this week.

Yesterday, I shopped at Walgreens, CVS, and Kmart. By combining all three receipts, this is what I paid:
Regular Price: $269.75
Sale Price: $164.27
Coupons Used: $97.64
Store Money: $48.50 (Register Rewards at Wags & ECB at CVS)
Subtotal: $18.13
Tax: $7.24
Grand Total Out of Pocket: $25.37

Using the regular price as my starting point, that's savings of over 90%!

But, the best part...I got $30 worth of Register Rewards, $17 worth of ECB, and a $5 off coupon for any purchase at Kmart of at least $5. In other words, I got $52 back for next time I shop! Not bad.

Today I made another Kmart trip. I didn't do quite as well, but for $20 out of pocket, I purchased:
5 boxes of Special K cereal
6 boxes of Ziploc bags
6 medium-sized Twist-n-Lock Ziploc containers
6 small Twist-n-Lock Ziploc containers
2 Healthy Choice microwave meals
2 Tylenol Arthritis (20 count)
3 Starbuck Frappacinos
2 cans Pringles
1 Glade candle tin
1 Glade candle refill
1 Cottonelle Bathroom Tissue (12 rolls)

For as much as I have hated shopping my entire life, I'm really enjoying shopping as long as there are coupons involved!

First Trip a Success

Last night was my first time shopping with the binder. It worked great! It's a tad on the large side, so it hangs off the edges of the shopping cart when open, but that was the only negative. It was great being able to flip through pages and see coupons, rather than having to pull them out of the box and finger through the entire stack. I need to spend some time this weekend refining a few things - section dividers, finishing filing, etc - but I hope to have the box fully retired by Monday.

Speaking of shopping - hubs and I did a Super Target run. Before coupons was $64, after was $29. I was expecting it to be a little lower than that, but we did pick up a few extras. On the way home, we stopped at Walgreens. Total oop was $3.02. We now have a three-wick Glade candle, another shower cleaner (being donated to church's garage sale), and some items for the Mom & Dad stash donation box.

Success all around last night!