Walgreens

Walgreens is a drugstore similar to Rite Aid. Some are open 24 hours, and some aren't. Walgreens has weekly sales from Sunday to Saturday. They have store coupons, which are called Register Rewards. Register Rewards (RR) are catalinas that print from a machine by the register. Register rewards can be used like money, but you can only use them in Walgreens (unless you have a store that will accept RR as competitor coupons). They also expire a week or two after they print out.

Many of their weekly deals involve RR. (Some weeks are better than others.) Here are some examples of RR deals from previous weeks:

Buy $25 of Vicks products and get $10 in RR

Buy one Ecotrin Asprin at $1.99 and get $2 in RR

Walgreens also puts out monthly booklets with Walgreens coupons that can be combined with manufacturer coupons. Walgreens also sometimes puts out a sheet or two of additional coupons. Sometimes you can print out Walgreens coupons online at walgreens.com. Combine all three (Manufacturer coupons, Walgreens Coupons, and RR) and you can score some great deals!

Fairly often Walgreens has RR deals that when combined with the other coupons will get you a 'freebie.' Sometimes no additional coupons are required to score a RR freebie. For example, the Ecotrin deal up above is considered a freebie because you get as much money back as the amount that you paid (not factoring in tax).

However, in my opinion, if you spend any money, it's not a freebie. Some people buy all the RR deals and then use the RR for the RR deals the following week and keep doing that week to week. That's another example of 'Rolling the deals' (see my misc. tips post). Sometimes some weeks aren't very good by way of RR, though, so that doesn't always work. The Ecotrin actually was a freebie deal because there was a $2 coupon for the Ecotrin, so you paid tax and got $2 in RR. I try to not spend more than $5 per week at Walgreens. The way I do this is by doing several transactions so I can roll the RR deals. (See my examples further on down this post.)

Here's the part that had me going in circles until I finally grasped it. At Walgreens there's this sort of rule that you need at least one item per coupon. So, lets say that you want to buy some shampoo and you have a coupon for it, but you also want to a RR coupon. You are trying to buy one item, but you are trying to use two coupons, so you will need to buy another item to make the amount of items that you are buying equal with the amount of coupons that you are using. Whew!! Hope that makes sense!! This extra item is often called a 'filler' item. It can be anything, so usually I go for the cheapest thing I can find.

One more tid bit about RR that can also get confusing. In most cases RR do not roll on the same item. Meaning if you buy some shampoo and get a RR for it you can use the RR on another bottle of the same shampoo, but another RR will not print out. Sometimes the machine goofs and allows the RR to roll, but that's usually fixed by the Tuesday of the week or sooner. You can buy the bottle of shampoo, get the RR, use the RR on another RR deal and then use the RR from the other deal to pay for another bottle of shampoo so you can get another RR. Whew!! It was so crazy trying to wrap my brain around that when I first started familiarizing myself with Walgreens. Hope that makes sense!! Let me know if I need to explain it better!! :) *See my examples below and it might make more sense.

*Note: RR cannot be used to pay for tax. Meaning, if you want to use RR then your total (after other coupons have been taken off the total) has to equal the amount of the RR before tax is factored in. For example, if I bought some shampoo for $3.95 and wanted to use a $4 RR, then I would need to buy something to get my total over $4.

Here's an example of a week at Walgreens (this was when I think my goal was to not spend more than $10 per week at Walgreens):

Transaction #1:
I bought:
Dentek Floss $2
Dove Shampoo $4
2 Hershey's PB Cups 2/$1.59 (filler items)
Total: $7.59

Coupons:
$1 Dentek Floss MC
in-ad coupon to make Hershey's $0.39 ea. (took $0.81 off total)
$1 RR (From the previous week)
$2 RR (From the previous week)
$2 Dove Shampoo MC
Total Coupon Amount: $6.81

Total after Tax and coupons: $1.21
Received $2 RR for buying the Dentek Floss, and Received $4 RR for buying the Dove Shampoo

Transaction #2:
Bought:
6-pack of water $2.49
Dulcolax Laxative Powder $10
2 Hershey's PB Cups $2/1.59 (filler items)
Total: $14.08

Coupons:
in-ad coupon to make Hershey's $0.39 ea. (took $0.81 off total)
$2 RR (from buying the Dentek in the previous transaction)
$4RR (from buying the Dove in the previous transaction)
$4 Dulcolax MC
Get free water with purchase of Dulcolax up to $1.99 MC
Total amount of coupons: $12.80

Total after tax and coupons: $2.05
Received $10 RR for buying the Dulcolax

Transaction #3:
Bought:
Tylenol Cough/Nose $4.99
Tylenol Cough/Nose $4.99
Dove Conditioner $4
Dentek Floss $2
Reeces PB Cup $0.89 (filler item)
Total: $16.87

Coupons:
in-ad coupon to make Hershey's $0.39 ea. (took $0.50 off total)
$1 Dentek MC
$2 Dove MC
$3 for buying two Tylenol Cold MC
$10 RR from buying Dulcolax
Total amount of coupons: $16

Total after tax and coupons: $1.47
Received $2 RR for buying Dentek, $4 RR for buying Dove, and $5 RR for buying two Tylenol Cold

It was a really great week to be at Walgreens, so I went back a couple of days later and did this transaction:

Transaction #4:
Bought:
Simply Saline Nasal Spray $7
Planner on clearance for $0.25 (filler item)
Total: 7.25

Coupons:
$1 Saline MC
$5 RR from buying the Tylenol
Total amount of coupons: $6

Total after tax and coupons: $1.75
Received $7 in RR for buying the saline spray

Then Saturday came around and I decided to see if they had any more RR deals in stock, so I did the following two transactions.

Transaction #5
Bought:
4 big jars of yummy planter dry roasted peanuts $0.87 each (found them on clearance)
Dulcolax $10
Arrowhead water $1.79
Total: $15.27

Coupons:
$4 Dulcolax MC
$1/2 Planters Peanuts MC
$1/2 Planters Peanuts MC
Free water for buying Dulcolax up to $1.99 (took $1.79 off total)
$7 RR for buying Saline Spray
Total amount of coupons: $14.79
Total after coupons and tax: $1.32
Received $10 RR for buying the Dulcolax

Transaction #6 (last transaction of the week--whew!!)
Bought:
Simply Saline Nose Spray $7
Dentek Floss $2
Dove Shampoo $4
Total: $13

Coupons:
$1 Dentek MC
$1.50 Dove MC
$10 RR for buying the Dulcolax
Total amount of coupons: $12.50

Total after tax and coupons: $1.39
Received $2 RR for the Dentek, $4 RR for the Dove, and $7 for the Simply Saline AND I still had a $2 RR (from the Dentek) and $4 RR (from the Dove) from transcation #3!!

The Grand Totals:

This is all that I bought:
2 Simply Saline Nasal Sprays
2 Dove Shampoos
1 Dove Conditioner
3 Dentek Floss
4 Big Jars of Planter Dry Roasted Peanuts
2 Dulcolax Laxative Powders
1 6-pack of water
1 large jug of water
2 Tylenol Cold medicines
1 Small Yearly Planner
5 Reeces Peanut Butter Cup Candy Bars

What I would have paid for all of those items had I not used any coupons: $74.06 (These items were also on sale, so the original prices are even higher. I just don't feel like digging to find the original prices!! :)

What I did pay for the week: $9.19 AND I still had $19 in RR to spend!!!!! Wowzers!!

Also, Dove Shampoo and Condioner is my favorite, I love the Dentek floss, I had been wanting to put some water in the car for times when we might need it, I LOVE planters dry roasted peanuts, I'm prepared if my husband or I get a cold, etc. Anyway, I've been asked before, "Do you even use the stuff you get with coupons?" The answer is "Yes!!" Or, I give it away to someone else who needs it.

*Note: Not all weeks are this great! And not all weeks am I motivated enough to work that hard to score the deals!

Another thing. Sometimes I buy things I don't use so I can take advantage of the RR. Then I find someone to give the item away to or keep it for a desparate situation. (Ex. the Dulcolax--I prefer to just use prune juice if ever we need a laxative, not that you wanted to know...)

Walgreens now has a coupon policy. Here's a link to it here. Also, if you have an issue, and the coupon policy doesn't clear it up with the cashier/manager, then call their corporate office and see what their view is of the situation. The phone number for Walgreen's corporate office is 1-800-WALGREENS (You can also find this number on the right side of my blog.)