Couponing: Drug Store Style

Couponing "drug store style" has proved to be one of the most lucrative hobbies imaginable.  I still haven't quite figured out why but drugs stores literally GIVE away free products every week.  And if you know me, you know I don't turn down anything free.


Here's an example of a deal that I did that landed our family a stockpile of (better than free) Dove shampoo and conditioner.  Last spring Walgreens was running one of their Register Rewards deals.  The deal was this: 


Buy Dove shampoo/or conditioner for $4.99 get 4.99 Register Rewards back.  Yes, you are reading this correctly.  That means you pay for the name brand shampoo or conditioner and are handed a Register Reward coupon for a cash value of $4.99 to use on your next purchase at Walgreens thereby equaling free shampoo and/or conditioner.


But wait, it gets better!  I found through following coupon blogs like Mashupmom and Bargain Briana that there was an online coupon floating around for $2.00 off Dove shampoo or conditioner.  I was able to print this coupon multiple times from different online sites.  This allowed me to do this deal and actually make money to use towards my next drugstore purchase.


For example:


Dove Shampoo or Conditioner  - $4.99 get $4.99 rewards rewards
$2.00/1 manufacturer's coupon 
Final Price: $2.99 get $4.99 reward rewards 
So basically, free Dove Shampoo and a coupon that not only paid for my purchase but gave me an extra $2.00.  


AND.... to really take full advantage of this deal (as I did), you will shamelessly make several trips through the checkout line and stock up on this product (while also gaining the extra $2.00 in Register Rewards each time thereby racking up the extra money to use on future purchases). 


Here are some tips to keep in mind when Register Rewards (RR) are involved:
You can't do multiple register reward deals of the same item in the same transaction.  So for example: had I tried to buy two Dove shampoos in the same transaction I would have only gotten one register reward coupon back for the shampoos.  So, if you want to do the deal multiple times you have to make multiple transactions.  


You can't roll your register reward coupon and use it towards the same product on your next purchase and expect that you will get another register reward.  For example:  I could not have taken my RR from my Dove purchase for $4.99 to use to buy another Dove shampoo expecting to get another register reward. You can use it to pay for another Dove shampoo but you won't get the register reward a second time.  


What you CAN do is: Use your register reward to pay for other items that you would normally spend money on.  You can also spend your register reward on OTHER items that are producing register rewards (just not the same product).  


I'll leave you with a few easy current deals going on: 


Walgreens deals week of 6/5/2011
- Gillette Fusion ProGlide, $9.99, get $5.00 RR. Use $4.00/1 from the 6/5 PG and it’s $.89 after coupon+RR. 
(So this is usually a $10.00 razor that you can get easily for $.89.  We did this deal a few weeks ago and my husband was thrilled!)
- Sobe Lifewater, $.99, get $.99 RR.
(free flavored water anyone?)


That's all I've got for tonight.  If you have followed this post in it's entirety then it will be helpful to you when I post on the CURRENT register reward deals that are going on this week.  I will try my best to do this tomorrow.  Stay tuned for ways to get free or almost free drugstore items!


As always, post if I need to correct anything or if you have comments/questions!

Let's Talk Coupons

Let's talk coupons.  As I've stated in my "Living For Less" link, I am in no way an expert on coupons.  I'm still learning with the best of you.  If make a statement regarding coupons and policies that are wrong please comment and correct me under this post.  

With that said...one of the best ways I have found to save money using coupons is to know the tricks to stacking coupons. What I didn't realize when I first began couponing was that you increase your savings by combining manufacturer's coupons with store coupons.  

Here is a deal currently going on in which you could use this method and get cheap ice cream at Target:

Breyer’s Ice Cream 1.5 Quart  - $2.99 (Sale thru 5/28)
$1.50/2 Breyer’s Ice Cream 1.5-qt. Target Web Coupon STACK with
$1.50/2 Breyer’s Blasts Ice Cream
Final Price: $1.49/each

Find more Target Weekly Deals here.

Thank you to one of my favorite thrifty bloggers Bargain Briana for this particular deal scenario.

Make sense?  This one wasn't too difficult.  However, this deal doesn't give you a free item which is what everyone really wants.

Here's an example of a scenario that my husband and I recently did to get free toothpaste:

Colgate Toothpaste-  on sale for $2.99 at King Soopers (aka Kroger)

Colgate Toothpaste  - $2.99
$1.50/1 manufacturer's coupon STACK with
$1.50/1 Store Coupon
Final Price: free

*I should mention that the key to getting this coupon FREE was buying a kind that was already on sale.  We had our choice of several different kinds of Colgate but we knew that if we wanted to walk out with a free item we had to choose the particular kind that was on sale for $2.99 and not regularly priced at $3.50.
So, we walked out of the grocery store with free toothpaste...which was great because we were just about out.

There are many more variations of stacking that will save you money.  Wait until you hear about stacking "buy one get one" items.  Now that's when it becomes fun ;)

For now, that's all I've got for tonight.  Hope this made some sense and that it was helpful to those of you who are just starting out on your coupon adventures!  Please comment with any questions or remarks! 

More to come as I find the energy and time :)  

Living For Less

Two years ago, one of my closest friends Amy introduced me to a life of frugality and couponing.  Don't get me wrong-- I've always been cheap.  My family has teased me for years about my penny pinching tendencies.  And, no matter how much money I have saved our family, my husband still rolls his eyes and laughs when I become giddy over finding lost change in a store parking lot.  The way I see it money is money-- even if it's just a lucky penny.  I have good ol' Ben Franklin to thank for that. 

While I still consider myself somewhat of an amateur compared to some couponers-- I smile a little bit when I remember days that my husband and I have walked out of our local grocery store with cart loads full of free (name brand) groceries.  Can anyone really argue the coolness of that?  It takes some work, and some education but in my experience even as a very busy, working mom-- saving the money has been worth it when you are working to put your husband through grad school while also saving for your first home.  Absolutely worth it.



Recently Amy posted a blog with a list of items that you should NEVER ever have to buy once you become a couponer.  I can attest to the truth of this list.  So here it is.  If you want to save a ton of money on staple household necessities here are some freebies you can stock up and eliminate out of your budget.  
What We Don't Spend $ On

1. Shampoo, Body wash, Conditioner, toothpaste, floss, and deodorant (thank you CVS!)
2. Bottled Water or drinks at a restaurant  (thank you tap water and reusable water bottles)
3. Car Payments (all of our cars have been given to us and we plan to buy all future cars in cash)
4. Cable or Netflix (thank you hulu and redbox)
5. Texting Joel's employer pays for his texting & I use the texting app (it saves us $240/year!)
6. Starbucks (Joel packs his own coffee when he has work meetings there)
7. Green Beans and Tomatoes (my grandparents and my mom graciously cans these for us every year from their garden)
8. Gym memberships (we both like running which is practically free)
9. Interest we have zero debt
10. Magazine Subscriptions who needs to pay for them when companies offer them for free!
11. Lunch Out We are brown baggers...or reusable lunch container packers--we try to be green.

For now, here are some blogs that have helped me out tremendously since becoming a bargain shopper.

Mashup Mom- For my Chicagoland friends

Denver Bargains for my Denver area friends
Savvy Spending for my Michigan Friends

Bargain Briana

Money Saving Mom

So here's to living frugal, to saving money and to putting those extra pennies somewhere worthwhile.  I hope that the tips and ideas from me (and my blogger friends) in the coming days can be as helpful to you as they have been for me.