The Walgreen's Game

I'm trying to figure my way around the Walgreen's Register Rewards game. My non-math-inclined brain has trouble with this one, because it doesn't exactly work by reducing your bill with coupons, but by giving you credit towards your next purchase. So... I think I'm doing ok, but the fact that I really don't have a firm grasp of the whole system might be a bad thing :P Here's what I've done so far:

Transaction 1:
Colgate Toothbrush: 2.99 (on sale)
M Coupon - 0.75
Tax + 0.20
Total = 2.44
*Received $2.00 Register Rewards*

Transaction 2:
Schick Razor Refills: 8.99 (on sale)
M Coupon -2.00
R Rewards -2.00
Apricots +1.00
Tax +0.59
Total = 6.58
*Received $4.00 Register Rewards*

Transaction 3:
2 Lysol Wipes: 2.99x2: 5.98 (on sale)
M Coupon -1.00
R Rewards -4.00
MMs +0.69
Tax+0.37
Total = 2.04
*Received $1.00 Register Rewards*


So... here's how I understand this whole thing. For $21.81 worth of merchandise I paid $11.06. So I pretty much doubled my money. That's pretty good, right??

I have definitely figured some stuff out by trial and error though. Here's what I've learned so far about couponing at Walgreen's:

-At Walgreen's you can't have more coupons than you have items. So if you have 3 coupons (including Register Rewards) you have to have at least three items. So sometimes you have to grab an extra item with no coupons to pad your bill. These items are italicized in my lists above. I knew this the first time I went (and grabbed apricots for me and O to snack on), but I did NOT know...
-...Coupons for a dollar amount off of TWO items counts as two coupons... so my $1 off 2 Lysol wipes coupon counted as two coupons, which is the reason for the random MMs on my bill. So next time I need to have an item in mind that I can quickly grab if something doesn't work out as I expect.
-You can only get one Register Rewards coupon per item per transaction... so if I buy 2 Lysol wipes and use a $1 off 2 coupon I will only get one RR coupon, but if I don't use my $1/2 coupon and purchase the wipes in two separate transactions I will get two RR coupons.


There is a lot to learn and a lot of opportunities to mess up!! I'm glad to be learning though... I'm going to keep trying.


Other recent deals:
-I used two more Ivory coupons to get 6 more bars of soap for free (and made 6 cents).
-I used a $1 off of any Shout product coupon to get a trial sized package of Shout to Go wipes for free.

Car Wash, Battle Scars, and Couponing

Yep, putting this child to work. He learned to wash the car last week.


Helping Grandpa scrub the car. That spot got very very clean.


You see this face? This is what trouble looks like.




Tonight Orion got a manly wound. Lots of blood and everything. He's going for the Harrison Ford look. Nathan told me to say O did it with a bull whip...

He's a tough little guy and only cried for a couple minutes... Boz and a drink make everything better.


Today, in Adventures in Couponing:

Kroger:

Oral B: 1.99 (I discovered I looove floss picks! So much better than the regular stuff. So I bought more while I had the coupons.)
S coupon (didn't work for some reason!! Not happy to discover this!)
M coupon (.75 doubled to limit) -1.00
=0.99

Kikkoman Soy Sauce: 1.99
S coupon -0.55
M coupon (.55 doubled to limit) -1.00
=0.44

Always: 2.99
S coupon -0.50
M coupon (.75 doubled to limit) -1.00
=1.49

Tax: 0.28

Grand Total = $3.20 (Saved $4.45. 60%)


Target:

Nexcare Kids' Bandages: 1.68 (on sale)
S coupon -1.00
M coupon -0.55
= $0.13

Pretty excited about that one :)


I'm glad I'm blogging about this stuff just because it makes me do the math and see the mistakes I/the store/whoever made! I had no idea my Kroger coupon for the floss picks didn't work til now. No idea why it didn't work either unless you can only use it once...? But I'd think it would disappear from my coupons online if that was so. It's a mystery...

Makin' Money

Oh yes, today I made money with a coupon! 3 whole cents. I am super excited.

I had a $1 off coupon for Ivory soap, and the cheapest package they had was a 3-pack for 97 cents. I didn't know if the coupon would work since it was worth more than the purchase, but it went through! -$1 off the end of my bill. So... free soap!

...ok, so I know that with tax and everything I didn't really make money, but hey, I'll take it!

___

I was thinking about just posting stuff like this on my long...very long-neglected Wallet Moth blog, but I was thinking it might be nice for you to read about something other than babies once in a while. Thoughts??

My first adventure in couponing

Earlier this week I went to a two hour class my friend Lori taught about saving money on your grocery bill, in part by using coupons. I've used a few coupons in my lifetime, but didn't really understand the ins and outs of using them or how to really get a good deal with coupons. Combined with watching Extreme Couponing on TV a couple times (ok, those people are just crazy), I felt inspired to try my hand at the art of couponing.

I had some trouble getting started because we don't get the Sunday paper, and thus don't get the coupon inserts. A Facebook friend gave me the tip to check the library- jackpot! They had a huge basket of pre-clipped coupons ready to dig through. I snagged a whole bunch and then started scouring store ads/coupons to find things to stack my manufacturers' coupons with. I was able to find a few products that we'd use and that I had stackable coupons for and gave it a try.

I went to a couple stores today, but the first and most successful was Kroger. This was my haul:

This is $15.80 worth of products... I got it for $5.97! That's $9.83 in savings!

Here's the breakdown:

Old Spice: 2.29 x 2 = 4.58
S coupon -1.00
M coupon -1.00
=2.58

Secret: 1.67 x 2 = 3.34 (on sale)
M coupon -1.50
=1.84
(I messed up here and got the wrong kind to use my 1.50 S coupon... didn't realize it til now. Oops.)

Crest: 3.49 (on sale)
S coupon -1.50
M coupon -1.50
=0.49

Oral B: 1.99
S coupon -0.75
M coupon (.75 doubled to limit) -1.00
=0.24

Tax: 0.82

Grand Total = $5.97 (saved $9.83)


Even though I screwed up one of my deals, I still feel good about saving so much money (and spending so little!). I think I'll keep learning as I go... and it will take less time for me to figure it out ;) Next week I'm going to try my hand at Walgreen's Register Rewards game... I was going to this week but the product I was going to buy was sold out.


I did go to Target today also, and although my deals weren't as spectacular I'll share anyway:

Old Spice 3 pack: 4.24 (clearance)
M coupon -1.00
=3.24

Charmin: 13.99
Sale -2.00
S coupon -1.00
=10.99

2 Cover Girl cosmetics: 4.99 + 4. 24 = 9.23
S coupon -2.00
M coupon -2.50
=4.73

Tax: 1.39

Grand Total: $20.35 (saved $8.50)


At least all my coupons worked correctly! We weren't actually planning on buying the Charmin or the Old Spice, but we got good deals and we need those things anyway, so it's all good. Nathan is set on deodorant for a looong time...

I hope you enjoyed my extreme couponing adventure... I did :D