Since the time of this post, Walgreen has also introduced the Balance Rewards points system. You may want to brush up on those details as well.
One of my favorite stores for shopping deals is Walgreens. Yes their regular prices are higher than Walmart’s prices, but Walgreens has two wonderful things : sales and Register Rewards. The sales prices often beat Walmart’s prices on toiletries, cleaners, healthcare products as well as food. Yes, FOOD! Register Rewards are the reward system that allows me to shop at Walgreens week after week and spend pennies for a bag full of products. Here’s how:
Manufacturers will offer Register Rewards (RRs) for buying specific products each week. RRs are manufacturer coupons that are good for 2 weeks and can be spent on almost anything in the store. Sometimes they are small and sometimes they are for the entire amount of your purchase! If I have a coupon for an item that
is offering a RR of the full purchase price then I gain extra RRs back. The key to saving is that I use these RRs to pay for my purchases each
week that will produce more RRs for me to spend the following week.
There are several rules about couponing at Walgreens that I need to stop and tell you about:
- You can only use 1 manufacturer coupon per item that you are purchasing. (this is actually couponing law)
- You may only get 1 RR per specific deal per transaction.
- If you pay for a RR deal with a RR from the same deal, a new RR will not print.
- A RR cannot pay tax, and it’s value will not be reduced.
October 30 – Nov 5 the Ricola Dual Action Cough Drops were on sale for $2 and offering a $2 RR. There was also a $.75 coupon in the 10/16 SS insert. (the ad conveniently didn’t tell you this)
After paying the $1.25 for the drops, a $2 RR printed from the catalina machine. That means that I made $.75 in Walgreens money.
The next week I want to buy The Blistex Revive and Restore Lip Care for $1.99 that is producing a $2 RR. I want to pay with my $2 RR from the Ricola, but it is more than the price of the Blistex so I need to buy something small to push my subtotal over $2. I’ll buy a Christmas gift sack that is on sale for $.10 using an in ad coupon (store coupon). That makes my subtotal $2.09 so I’ll pay just $.09 and get a $2 RR back!
Then I could use that $2 RR to buy the Crest toothpaste that is on sale for $2.99 and offering a $1 RR. I have a $.50 manufacturer
coupon for the Crest, making the price $2.49. But since I’ve already used a coupon on the crest the register won’t let me use the RR which is also a manufacturer coupon. So again I’ll buy a Christmas gift sack for $.10 using an in ad coupon (store coupon). That brings my subtotal to $2.59 before the RR and $.59 after the RR, and I’ll get a $1 RR back to spend on something else.
Over 3 weeks I’d have bought $8.08 worth of items but spent just $1.93. Plus I’d still have $1 in Walgreens money to spend!
Clear as mud I know, and I personally wouldn’t go to the store each week to spend just $2, so let me show you some scenarios. I typically
keep between $5 and $10 in RRs from week to week. This usually allows me to buy everything I want in 2 or 3 transactions each week.
This scenario is from back in October of 2011:
Transaction 1
2 Optic White @ 7.98
1 Balance bar @ 1.59
2 Halloween Gift Sacks @ .58
subtotal: $10.15
use (2) $1.50/1 Optic White from 9/11 SS
use $.55/1 balance from 9/11 SS
use in ad Q for sacks (takes off $.33)
use both $3 RRs from last week
new total: $.27, get $6 RR and $1.60 RR (save the $1.60 RR for T3)
Transaction 2
1 Zarbees @ 5.99
1 Balance bar @ 1.59
1 gift sack @ .29
subtotal: $7.87
use $1/1 Zarbee’s printable (no longer available)
use $.55/1 balance from 9/11 SS
use in ad Q for gift sack (takes off $.16)
use $6 RR from T1
new total: $.12, get $6 RR and $1.60 RR
Transaction 3
1 Schick Razor @ 8.99
1 Remington @ 4.99
2 Halloween gift sacks @ .58
subtotal: $14.56
use $5/1 Schick printable (no longer available)
use in ad Q for sacks (takes off $.33)
use $6 RR and $1.59 RR from T2
use $1.59 RR from T1
new total: $.05, get $5 RR and $5 RR
So you can see that in 3 transactions I was able to buy $32.58 in merchandise at sale prices for only $0.44 out of pocket (OOP). Plus I have $4 more in RRs than when I started! Now that makes it much more worthwhile to stop in Walgreens each week right? Any products that my family won’t use go into my donation box so that I don’t have to go buy anything the next time there is a donation drive. So for me, shopping at Walgreens provides my family with many products for pennies, but it provides us with donations and items that we can share with others in need.
If you need some help getting started with your RR purchases, I offer a free service on my site to write personalized scenarios. You can fill out a form here and tell me which products you want to buy and the coupons you have available, then I’ll put it all into a scenario for you.
Happy shopping at Walgreens!