Gift Cards and Prescriptions

If you have a prescription to fill, then you'll want to take advantage of the gift cards available at certain stores. Several stores will give you a gift card for the store if you transfer your prescription to that store. Most stores will only give you a gift card if a new prescription is being filled, or an existing prescription is being transferred. Stores usually have an ad either at the store or in their weekly ad you receive in the mail, or they may send you an ad in the mail.

So, first watch for ads about getting a gift card with a new or transferred prescription. You can also call stores to see if they give gift cards with prescriptions, and see what is required, and how long they will be giving out the gift cards. (Ex. Ask if you need to bring a coupon in [which probably expires sometime], or if you just need to mention it at the prescription counter.) Once you've filled a prescription at one store, then transfer to another store that gives gift cards for transferred prescriptions. Then transfer back to the original store or to another one. This way you always get a gift card whenever you need to fill a prescription (as long as there is a gift card deal happening when you need the prescription refilled).

*Note--if you can get the smallest dose possible, then you'll make more money. For example, when we were living in Utah it is recommended that children have a prescription multivitamin with fluoride added. There were different sizes of prescriptions to choose from. There was a larger bottle that was $20 to fill, and smaller bottle that was $5 to fill. Yes you have to fill the smaller dose more often, but if you get the larger prescription, then you'll only get one gift card for every $20 you spend on refills (in my example). If you fill the smaller one, then you get a gift card for every $5 you spend.

Most stores give out $10 gift cards, but I've seen some give out $25 gift cards. 

Other Stores in Washington

QFC

QFC is a Kroger grocery store. They have some great sales and catalina deals here and there. If you shop at QFC, then you'll definitely want to get their Rewards card. When you use this card in-store you can earn points to go towards up to 15 cents off their gas prices and toward other things. (You'll have about a month to use the points before they expire, I think.) If you want to take advantage of some of the sales, then you'll need this card.

K-Mart

I don't care for K-Mart much. Their prices seem way overpriced, and they don't have very good promotions. They do have a double coupon promotion from time to time, but you can only double  up to five coupons in one transaction (sometimes they'll double coupons up to $0.99---why it couldn't be $1 I have no idea, and they'll double up to $2 coupons sometimes). In most cases you need to spend at least $25 before coupons, so it's rarely worth it for me to go to K-Mart. Sometimes I go to see if they have anything on clearance, but usually they won't let me use a coupon on clearance items. Honestly, I thought they'd be out of business years ago...

WinCo

WinCo seems pretty similar to Walmart. Some of their prices are lower than Walmart's prices, and some of Walmart's prices are lower than WinCo's. WinCo accepts coupons, but doesn't have a coupon policy that I know of. They periodically put out coupons in the mail for free items, so always look through your mail and price match at Walmart if you don't live close enough to a WinCo. WinCo doesn't price match.

*Note: You have to bag everything you buy.

Cash and Carry

Cash and Carry is like a mini Costco of bulk foods. Their prices for produce, frozen veggies, and other foods are worth it to me to make a trip over there every week or two.


Costco


I haven't had a Costco membership since 2007. I finally renewed it this year and am wondering if it was worth it. I can usually get everything I need cheaper with coupons, and I can get my produce (there aren't a whole lot of coupons for produce) at stores like Cash and Carry or Fred Meyer for around the same price or less than what I could get them for at Costco.

Fred Meyer

Fred Meyer is another Kroger store. They have some of the same sales as QFC (and all other Kroger stores). Some weeks their sales are pretty good, and other weeks they really seem to be lacking in good sales.

Walmart

One can generally find some pretty good deals at Walmart. Walmart price matches other store's prices, so if you live close to a Walmart, then in many cases you can just go to Walmart instead of a bunch of other stores. 

One can score some pretty sweat deals at Walmart--with regular prices and with Rollback prices.

There's a part of the coupon policy that many cashiers don't know about. If a couponer uses more than 40 coupons, then a manager has to come and put their key in the register and say that it is okay. Sometimes the manager comes over and puts their key in and leaves--they don't even tell the cashiers what they're doing sometimes! So, I try to fill the cashiers in on the scoop...

Walmart's coupon policy (also found on the right side of my blog):
Walmart's Coupon Policy

*Note: I find that I can spend a lot of money at Walmart--even with coupons. I have to exercise much self control and say no to many deals that seem awesome, cause otherwise I don't keep to my budget. Like I said before, if you spend $0.50 ten times, then you've spent $5, and when you're in a huge store with lots of deals that are under a dollar, then it's easy to get a little carried away!!

Target

Here is a great post about Target over at Hip2Save:
Target Store Guide

Here is the Target corporate phone number for guest relations (also located on the right side of my blog)

1-800-440-0680

Here's the website where you can print off Target coupons: Target Coupons I guess they used to all be Target store coupons, but now there are manufacturer coupons as well. Some of the manufacturer coupons have the Target logo on them, though, so other stores don't accept them sometimes.

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.)

Rite Aid

Before I began couponing I can't remember the last time I shopped at Rite Aid. I always thought they were way over priced. Now I actually score lots of great deals at Rite Aid with coupons and sales. 

Rite Aid has weekly sales (running from Sunday through the following Saturday). In addition to their weekly sales they have a "Single Check Rebate" program. Usually every month they have different rebate offers. Some rebate offers run into other months. They usually have a rebate booklet you can pick up in the store, or you can view the rebates online at https://riteaid.rebateplus.com/. Watch for rebate items to go on sale, cause then you save even more money, and can often get items for free after the rebate.

Submit your receipts online at the above mentioned website. You'll need to sign up for an account. Once you're signed in you should see a link toward the top of the page that says "Enter Your Receipts." Follow the instructions to enter your receipt.

Once you enter the receipts you'll be taken to a page that shows what rebates you've qualified for (note: it takes up to 2-5 days for the information you enter to show up on the site.). You'll also see a box that says "Request My Rebate - Click Here." Do not push this button until you are done submitting your receipts for the entire month!!! You can only push it once, so if you push it at the beginning of the month, then you won't be able to get anymore rebates that month. Rite Aid will then send you a check (it looks like a post card) that you can either cash in the bank, or bring to Rite Aid to use as cash. Or, sometimes the rebate is for a gift card and the gift card will be mailed to you. (Ex. Buy $50 worth of certain products and you'll receive a $25 Rite Aid gift card)

In addition to sales and single check rebates Rite Aid also has an online program called "Video Values." (VV) For this program you can go here and register to watch videos (commercials for products ranging from about 30 seconds to 2 minutes). For watching each video you will be able to print a Rite Aid coupon for the product in the video. These Rite Aid coupons can be paired with manufacturer coupons and can only be used at Rite Aid.

Click on the 'my rewards' tab at the top of the page (after you've watched some videos) to see what coupons are available for you to print. 

When you go to print the coupons first select the coupon, hit the 'print coupons' button, and then hit the 'print' coupon in the pop-up window. You'll then be able to print the coupon. You can select how many you want to print, but don't select more than one, because the store will now only accept one of each VV coupon per VV account. (You used to be able to use as many as you wanted.)

Some people have multiple VV accounts for themselves, but if you actually read the terms that you are agreeing to when you set up your account, then you'll read that there is only one VV account allowed per person. Also, when you agree to the terms, you agree that you won't use another person's VV account. So if you want to be honest, then no setting up accounts under other family members, unless they are willing to watch the videos and come to the store with you.

So, watch for sales--especially for the rebate items--pair the sale with a Rite Aid Video Values coupon and a manufacturer's coupon, and you'll find that you can save a lot of money at Rite Aid!!!

*Note: Pretty much all Rite Aid coupons say "Manufacturer's Coupon" on them, but as long as the letters RC are before the numbers of the bar code you can combine the coupons with manufacturer's coupons.

I don't shop on Sundays, so often by Monday morning many of the great deals have been snagged. I used to be so bummed, but I don't mind when they get out of stock anymore because they are usually very good at giving out rain checks. Also, if the store isn't restocked before the single check rebate period ends for the month, then you can still get the rebate when the item comes back in stock. Just tell an employee that you are purchasing items with a rain check for a previous month's rebate and they will fax in a special form with a copy of your receipt and you'll be able to get the rebate! (It should show up on your account 2-5 business days after the fax is received.)

Lastly, Rite Aid has one more program. It's called their "Wellness Program." You need to register to become a member at http://www.riteaidwellness.com/ or in any Rite Aid drugstore. With this program you will receive a wellness card. It's a free program, and if you would like to get the sale prices at Rite Aid then you need to have a card.

Along with this program comes 'Up Rewards.' These are pretty much the same thing as Register Rewards at Walgreens. When you buy a qualifying item you'll receive an up reward coupon for a certain dollar amount that you can use only at Rite Aid. These Up Reward coupons used to print out at the bottom of your receipt, but now they are automatically added to your card, and you can't use them at least until the following day at 6am. Something should print out on your receipt stating that an up was loaded to your card, and when the up will expire. Up rewards have restrictions and cannot be used to pay for tax. Read the fine print on your receipt.

As a wellness member you receive points for how much you spend in the store (before coupons). Once you reach 1000 points you become a gold member and receive 20% off almost everything in the store. You need to reach 1000 points every year to be a gold member the following year. You can read about the amount of points that give you a certain discount at the wellness site I mention above. A gold member is the highest level.

When I receive my rebate checks I like to take them to Rite Aid, and use them as gift cards, or I ask them to put the rebate checks on a gift card. Just ask a cashier to do this for you. I posted in another post about an awesome Rite Aid deal I got where I spent $40.42 on $150 worth of products and got back $40 in rebates. That was a wonderful day. Since then I've been using the rebate money and gift cards to buy more products at Rite Aid and then I receive more rebates and gift cards. If I'm real careful, then I often only pay tax at Rite Aid.

Does Rite Aid seem a bit overwhelming? Don't worry. Just follow the blogs I mentioned. They actually tell you what to buy and what coupons to use and stuff. I'm so grateful for those blogs!! They saved me a ton of work in the beginning!! (It was still work, but without those blogs I would not have been scoring the deals that I scored!!) I still follow them as I said, but now I'm also able to work out my own deals according to my family's needs and wants.

Here is a link to Rite Aid's coupon policy here. Sometimes cashiers don't even know the coupon policy, so showing them what the policy states can clear up issues sometimes.

Rain Checks

I used to wake up really early so I could get to a store when it opened so I could get the deals before everyone else bought all the items on sale!! I don't shop on Sundays, so even just by Monday morning the deals I was most excited about were sometimes gone. I hated that!!! Then I learned more about rain checks, and I now rarely wake up early.

Most stores offer rain checks. A rain check is a piece of paper the store gives you that you can bring back to the store at a later date when the items are back in stock and then get the items for the sale price.

Not all stores do rain checks the same way. Some rain checks have expiration dates. Some stores limit how many items you can buy with a rain check.

Some stores will actually call you and let you know when the items are back in stock. 

Here's a couple of tips when using rain checks:

If you are pairing the sale with a coupon, then make sure that the coupon won't expire before the store is restocked. 

When you go to redeem the rain check, tell the cashier BEFORE he/she starts ringing up the items because the rain check price needs to be entered in manually. If the cashier scans the product and then you show the rain check the cashier will have to go back and delete the item price that was scanned, which is a bit annoying, if you can understand...

What To Do If A Catalina Doesn't Print

Sometimes there's no way to tell when a catalina will print. Other times you will know in advance when a catalina is supposed to print. Sometimes when a catalina should print it doesn't. It's possible that the wrong item was purchased, or the wrong quantity or wrong dollar amount was purchased. It's possible that the machine isn't working properly and needs more paper or something. Let the cashier know that you were expecting a catalina, and see if he/she and or the managers can help you.

Also, if you're pretty sure that you should have gotten a catalina, then you can call the following number to request your catalina from the Catalina Marketing Corporation:

1-888-8COUPON (1-888-826-8766)

What Coupons Do I Toss?

When I first started couponing I threw out a lot of the coupons cause I thought the item would be too expensive even with the coupon, or I thought the coupon was low value, or whatever. Then I started learning about the sales and couldn't believe that I had thrown the coupons away!!

Here are some examples:

A few weeks ago a local store had a sort of doubling coupon deal for a couple of days. Any coupon for less than a dollar was adjusted up to a dollar. So, even coupons that were for $0.25 were adjusted up to a dollar. This made for some free items!!!

Another time there was a coupon for $1 off any Dentex floss valued at $2 or more. I thought, "I only buy floss if I can get it for free, or at least less than $0.50." I almost tossed it out but decided not to just in case. Soon after, Walgreens had a sale on Dentek floss for $2, and you'd get back a $2 coupon (Register Reward [RR] to use on anything in the store). So, I bought a Dentek floss, used a $1 coupon, payed $1 plus tax, and received a $2 RR. Pretty cool! 

You never know when a coupon will make a great deal! Some coupons that I've come really close to tossing scored me a great deal! (I've gotten many items for free with coupons I had almost tossed!)

So, when you're deciding what coupons to keep and what coupons to toss you gotta ask yourself, "If I could get this product for free would I still want it?" Most of the time the answer is yes. (That doesn't necessarily mean that you will get it for free, but it's a possibility.) However, even if you don't want whatever the coupon is for, there may be a good sale, and you may be able to get overage with the coupon (see my coupon lingo post). You can then donate the item to someone who needs it.

Fraudulent Coupons

There are actually people who make fraudulent coupons. Sometimes it's kind of hard to tell if a coupon is actually fraudulent. If you are following the blogs that I mentioned, then you're pretty safe to use the coupons they mention. The bloggers are pretty good at checking to make sure the coupons they are recommending aren't fake. If you are e-mailed a coupon and you don't know where exactly it came from, then it may be fraudulent. Leave a comment on one of those blog websites or e-mail the blogger directly and see if they can help you figure out if the coupon is legitimate or not. You can also contact the manufacturer directly.

Here's a few ways to recognize fraudulent coupons:

1. If a coupon is for a free item and the maximum value is unusually high, then it may be fraudulent. Again, you can ask the bloggers, or you can call the manufacturer to be sure (especially if you can't figure out where the coupon came from).

3. If the coupon is in PDF form (you can print as many coupons as you want when they are in PDF form), and especially if there is more than one of the same coupon on one page, then it may be fraudulent. (There are many legit PDF coupons out there, so again you can always call the manufacturer or ask the coupon bloggers.)

4. The following website may help you discover whether or not your coupon is fraudulent: http://www.snopes.com/ Type in the item the coupon is for (in the search box). For example, search for 'Doritos' and you should see a link about a fraudulent Doritos coupon that has been going around recently.