In case you haven’t gathered this already, I have become quite fond of couponing! I am by no means “extreme” like you see on the cable show, but I have enjoyed learning how to be a better steward of our money. I also view it as a challenge to try and stretch our income as far as it will go! And in case you haven’t given couponing a try, it’s actually kind of addicting!
One of the most fun parts of couponing has been playing the “drug store game” at the national drugstore chains. CVS is by far my favorite store for this due to their simpler rewards system and coupon kiosk, but I do visit Walgreens when it seems like they have some good deals. This week, my main goal was to get some diapers. I opted for Walgreens this week because I could get diapers with less money out of my pocket.
(For the record, CVS has a good deal this week where I could have bought 4 packs of diapers for a good price, but I would have to fork out too much money up front. As I’m learning, it’s not a good bargain if it means I go over my weekly grocery budget to get it.)
So, this week I planned out my trip to Walgreens. Since I don’t go there as often as CVS, I always have to refresh my memory on their coupon policies. It can be a little cumbersome in my opinion. Here’s how I did, followed by a breakdown of each transaction.
For the first time ever, I did this in 4 transactions! I usually hate doing multiple transactions in one trip, but it was necessary. I did it this evening when the stores were slow, so they didn’t mind a bit.
Transaction #1
St. Joseph’s Aspirin, 36 ct, 81 mg dose – $2
Out of Pocket = $2
GET = $2 RR (Register Rewards, which is a coupon to use on any future purchase)
Transaction #2
Blink Tears Eye Drops – $8
Russell Stover chocolate heart (filler item) – $.29 with in ad coupon
Used $1 off coupon for eye drops
Used $2 RR from transaction #1
Out of Pocket = $5.30
GET = $8 RR
The first Walgreens I visited was out of the iron supplements that I needed, so I went to another one that was close to my house. If it hadn’t been so close, I would have waited until later in the week and tried to find the items once they re-stocked. Here’s where it gets even better than I expected!
Transaction #3
Walgreens Ferrous Sulfate, 260 ct. – $10
**This weeks deal was for Pur Absorb Iron Supplements but they had been recalled so Walgreens offered this item in it’s place with the same pricing and RR attached. They scored points on this one since I ended up with more iron pills this way! Since I take a daily iron supplement for my low platelets, this was AWESOME!**
Used $8 RR from transaction #2
Out of Pocket = $2.50
GET = $10 RR
Transaction #4 (last, but not least)
(2) Pampers Cruisers Size 4- $9.99
Russell Stover chocolate heart (filler item) – $.29 with in ad coupon
Used (2) $1.50 Pampers coupons
Used $10 RR from transaction #3
Out of Pocket = $8.28
—–
Grand Total Out of Pocket = $18.08
Regular Retail = 38.65 (it is actually higher than that b/c I couldn’t find the reg. retail on the aspirin)
Amount Saved = $20.57 or 53%
While I came in $5.08 over my overall weekly grocery budget, that still isn’t too shabby! And I use all of these products!
