how to "shop" at Walgreens...

Due to popular demand, here is the post on making the most of your shopping at Walgreens.

This works pretty much the same at any of the drug stores (CVS and Rite Aid) as near as I can tell. I've only shopped once at CVS, but did well using hte same strategy. I know very little about Rite aid, but it seems to be the same.

Okay.. I've said it before, but it demands being said again, especially for anyone that hasn't read any of hte previous coupon posts. You need to stockpile coupons!! Subscribe to a sunday paper...you will save enough in coupons that I promise you will cover the cost of your subscription. Some papers demand more than one copy. Usually the first of the month has a proctor and gamble insert.. these are like gold.. and multiple copies should be grabbed. My first P and G insert, I bought a total of 4 papers. I've covered the cost of those 4 (at $2 each, plus my subscription $26 plus $5 in tip for 6 months already! ...actually in my last trip to Walgreens alone!).
I cut out every single coupon, even if I don't think I'll be using it. You never know, and you can always trade it for a coupon you DO want/ need.

It took me several weeks of papers before I started getting really good deals, so don't give up right away. Like I said.. stockpiling is the name of the game! The last 2 weeks have been especially good for me, which would put me at about a month worth of saving coupons before it got really productive.

Ok... so, say you already have the coupons, you were able to scam them out of a relative, you begged the recycling center for their coupon inserts (yes.. people do this), you bought some (yep, you can do this too), a friend gave you a bunch, you won them in a contest (look around.. it happens). or.. maybe you've actually had the coupons, you just didn't know how to use them to the max.. this is where I get to help ya.
Walgreens lets you stack coupons. Meaning you can use one walgreen coupon and one manufacturers coupon (in most coupon blogs, this is known as a Q). This is how you score your BEST deals. Say an item is on sale for 3.00, and walgreens has a coupon in one of their books scattered throughout the store, their coupon book, or their ad for say... $1 off. well, that item is now $2, which isn't all that bad, but if you have a Manufactures coupon as well, for say $1, now that product is only $1...and if they happen to be offering a register rewards, you will either be getting this for the equivelent of free, or making money.
..you are wondering what a register rebate (RR) is, right? It basically functions as a manufactures coupon for your next shopping trip. They expire in a week. Make sure you use them before they expire, or you aren't doing yourself any favors. Let me share a few things about them before I explain exactly how they work. First, They are rung up like a manufacture coupon, so, you have to make sure you have enough items in your order to cover them. 1 "Q" per item in your shopping order. You may need to get some cheap "filler" items to be able to use them. Another thing to note. You cannot use a Proctor and Gamble (P and G) RR on another P and G item. (you will learn they have a HUGE amount of stuff they manufacture).. so fillers tend to be your best friend for P and G RR's. Another thing.. much like coupons, don't expect to walk away with lots of merchandise for pennies right away. A LOT of my savings come from rolled over RR's.
ok.. let me give you an example this week of a RR.

If you have a Walgreen ad at your disposal, peek at it.. see the products that give a price then say -RRs = "like getting it for free".. this is a RR ad. For those of you that don't.. WE'll use the Blistex fruit smoothie chapstick. They are regularly 3.99. This week they are on sale for 2.99 (+ tax). Plus, you get a RR for 3 dollars when you purchase it. So, you can look at it like you are getting it for free..even though you are actually paying for it. ..however.. say you bought something last week that got you a 3.00 RR. You can use that RR from last week to pay for your blixtex, and you now only have to cover the cost of your tax.
You cannot get money back on RR's, or coupons...so if you had a $4 RR from last week, you'd have to find something else to bring your total up to 4 dollars.

I will give you some scenarios you can do to get you started this week to give you max benefits.

If you drink Pepsi products.. an easy one is buy 4 pepsi 12 packs, for 13 dollars (prices do vary, so you may have a different price) then you get a 5 dollar RR, so it is sorta like getting them 4 for $8, or 2 dollars a piece.. not a bad deal.
you can then do a seperate transaction, and buy either the blistex for 2.99 or the airplus mosturizing socks for 3 dollars. and get a 3 pack of dentyne, and use the coupon out of the walgreens July coupon book, located next to the store flyers. you now have 4 dollars worth of stuff. grab 2 cans of Bumble bee tuna, and rip out the coupon from the sales flyer for tuna for 55 cents each. you now have 5.10+ tax worth of product. Use your $5 RR, you will pay 10 cents plus whatever your tax is for all of this. Now, in yet another transaction, you can by whichever on eyou didn't get last time.. the socks or the blistex. Use your RR, and you will only be paying tax. So for under 15 dollars you have: 4 12 packs of soda, 2 cans of bumble bee tuna, a 3 pack of blistex chapstick, 3 packs of dentyne gum and a pair of moisturizing socks.. plus, 3 dollars for your next purchase. See how easy this is?

The first few times I didn't do it like that, I just paid the 40 dollars or whatever my bill came to, and racked up all those RR's for my next order for the following week. So, I basically did the same thing, I just had more out of pocket the first week or so. Some weeks you do really well, some weeks you don't. The scenario I gave you didn't require any coupons from teh newspaper, but you will actually do much better when combining coupons from the paper with coupons from the store.
Hoep this helps!!