Walgreens 101

I have had several people ask for more information about how to shop at Walgreens. I've been meaning to write a post about it for several weeks, but I keep putting it off. Let me start out by saying that Walgreens is definitely the most difficult store to understand, and I don't think you will truly understand how to effectively use coupons and Register Rewards until you go in and try deals yourself. Once you learn how to work your coupons at Walgreens you will be AMAZED at how much you can save!!

Some Basics at Walgreens:

Weekly Ads
You'll find a Walgreens ad in your newspaper each Sunday. Walgreens ads run from Sunday until the following Saturday. If you happen to not get an ad in your newspaper they are available by the front door at most Walgreens. (You can also browse the weekly ad at www.walgreens.com). In order to effectively shop at Walgreens you need to look through the ad and see what the deals are for the week. You will NOT get good deals at Walgreens unless you learn how to effectively shop the weekly sales! Every week I try to post the Register Reward deals for the weeks and tell you what coupons to use to maximize your savings with these deals.

Register Rewards (RRs)
Each week Walgreens will run several special promotions where if you buy a certain product you will receive a Register Reward. When you purchase an item that will generate a Register Reward, a catalina coupon will print by the cash register. The cashier will hand this to you along with your receipt once you have made your purchase. The Register Reward is a manufacturer's coupon that can be used to purchase other items at Walgreens. (With a few exceptions...prescriptions, tobacco, alcohol, stamps, lottery) When you receive a Register Reward be sure to keep it in a place where you won't lose it...it is like cash and cannot be replaced if you lose it!!

Register Reward Restrictions
-A Register Reward is a manufacturer coupon. It is not a coupon for a specific product, but can be used to lower your total purchase price. If you have a $4.00 Register Reward that you want to use, you must purchase at least $4.00 of merchandise...can't use a $4.00 Register Reward to pay for $3.50 of merchandise.
-If you buy two of the exact same products that will generate a Register Reward in one transaction, only one Register Reward will print out at the register.
Example...if Herbal Essence Shampoo will generate a $2.00 Register Reward this week, and you decide to buy 2 Herbal Essence Shampoos at one time, only one $2.00 Register Reward will print, BUT if you break your trip up into two different transactions...Transaction 1: You will receive a $2.00 Register Reward, and Transaction 2: You will receive a $2.00 Register Reward. Note, this is only the case if you are buying multiples of the exact same deal. If you were to buy 3 different products that will generate 3 different Register Rewards in one transaction, all three will print Register Rewards.
-You can not "ROLL" your Register Rewards into the same deal.
Example: Buy Herbal Essence Shampoo and receive a $2.00 Register Reward. If you buy it the first time a $2.00 Register Reward will print, but if you then try to go back through the store and buy Herbal Essence Shampoo again and use the $2.00 Register Reward you just earned to pay for it, you will be able to use the Register Reward, but a new Register Reward will NOT print.
-Register Rewards cannot be "rolled" into a deal by the same manufacturer.
Example: You have a Register Reward that you earned from buying a Proctor and Gamble product. If you use this Register Reward to try to buy another product from Proctor and Gamble that is supposed to issue an additional Register Reward, a new Register Reward will not print.

Make Money From Register Rewards
-Anytime you earn a higher value Register Reward than your out of pocket expense it is considered a money maker.
Example: Gillette Body Wash is priced at $4.50, and you will earn a $4.50 Register Reward when you buy one. You have a coupon for $2.00 off Gillette Body Wash from the newspaper. You will then pay $2.50 and receive a $4.50 Register Reward. You have earned more than you spent.
Note...a lot of coupon sites will say that you received the product FREE and made a profit of $2.00. I believe that is a little misleading...You will still have the initial cost of $2.50, but you will make a profit of $2.00 (not in actual cash, but in "store cash" in the form of a Register Reward).

How to Save the Most at Walgreens
-Roll your Register Rewards from one Transaction to another.
Remember you can't "roll" your Register Reward from one deal and do the exact same deal, but you can roll them on different deals.
Example: Buy Herbal Essence, and receive a $2.00 Register Reward. Then buy Gillette Body Wash. Use the $2.00 Register Reward that you just earned, and receive an additional $4.50 Register Reward. You can continue to roll these Register Rewards in a number of ways!
Once you earn your first Register Reward you will be able to take this Register Reward and purchase other items that will earn you even more Register Rewards. You can roll Register Rewards from deal to deal. By rolling your Register Rewards you will be AMAZED at how much you will reduce your out of pocket expense week after week. Some people only buy products that will generate more Register Rewards, and some people take Register Rewards that they've earned and use them to lower the price of grocery/cleaning/toiletry staples that they have a hard time finding a good deal on.

Walgreens Coupons:
-Walgreens has a monthly coupon book filled with Walgreens coupons. These are considered store coupons and can be combined with manufacturer's coupons to double up on savings. These are found at the front of the store next to their weekly ads. If you have a hard time finding them, ask a cashier and they should be able to help you.
-You'll also be able to find coupons in the actual weekly ad. These are again store coupons and can be combined with manufacturer's coupon.
NOTE...with Walgreens store coupons, if you are buying 3 of one particular item that you have a Walgreens store coupon for...you will not need 3 different Walgreens store coupons. If you hand the cashier 1 Walgreens store coupon, it will deduct the amount from each item that you have purchased. THIS IS NOT THE CASE FOR MANUFACTURER'S COUPONS!
-You will also find Walgreens store coupons online at walgreens.com
-Combine Walgreens store coupons with manufacturer's coupons to maximize your savings! (This is called "stacking").

Coupon to Item Ratio:
-When you are checking out at Walgreens you MUST have an equal number of products to manufacturer's coupons. (Walgreens store coupons do NOT count in this equation...ONLY manufacturer's coupons!!) If you buy 3 products, you will only be able to use 3 coupons. If you try to use a fourth coupon, the register will beep and you will not be able to use it. Why is this important? The Register Reward is considered a manufacturer's coupon. If you have more coupons than products, you should look through the store and find a small, inexpensive "filler" item so that you will be able to use an additional coupon.
Example: You are buying 3 Gillette Body Washes, and you want to use 3 $2.00 off Gillette body wash coupons. You also have an additional $4.00 Register Reward to use. Now you have 3 products and 4 coupons...pick up a pencil, small pack of gum, or clearance item...now you will have four items and four coupons and you will be able to use all of your coupons!!

Order to Hand Coupons to Cashier:
When you are checking out at Walgreens, you should hand your coupons to the cashier in this order: Register Rewards, manufacturer's coupons, and finally Walgreens store coupons.

I know all of this seems very confusing and overwhelming, but I promise that once you get the hang of it, you will be saving so much money and be having so much fun doing it!! If you are just beginning, I would suggest going through the Walgreens ad and finding just one deal that will generate a Register Reward. Go to Walgreens and just do this deal...buy one product and receive one Register Reward. The next week look through the ad again and use your Register Reward that you received from your first trip to lower the cost of your second trip. Once you see how easy it is, you'll be rolling Register Rewards left and right and barely breaking a dollar bill! :)

All of the examples that I've used are just examples. Look through the ad and find some real Register Reward deals, or go to my latest Walgreens Ad/Coupon Match Up to find some deals!!

Stockpiling

If you have been reading my blog for any amount of time, you've probably noticed that my weekly grocery shopping trips might seem a little different than what you would normally buy on any given week. 20 boxes of cereal one week, 10 bags of rice another week, 15 bottles of shampoo, etc.

Before I started getting serious about couponing I shopped in a completely different way. I'd sit down and make out a meal plan for the week, then I'd go through my recipes and make my shopping list based on what meals I would make and what I would need for that week. I'd then go through my coupons to see if I had any coupons that would work with the shopping list that I'd already made. I'd buy just enough to get my family through the week, and then the next week I'd go through the exact same process. Of course while I would be at the grocery store I'd buy more items than were on my list...gotta love those impulse buys. My boys already eat like grown men, and our grocery bill was going through the roof.

When I decided to get serious about coupon shopping and really trying to make coupons work FOR me, I realized that I had been going about my shopping trips COMPLETELY backwards. Now I go through the weekly ads, find the deals that are on sale AND that match up with my coupons, and make my grocery list from that. Instead of only buying one or two items, I will buy as many items as I have coupons for. (Note, as a coupon shopper I NEVER want to clear the shelves so other people can't get in on the deals as well, so sometimes I'll cut back what I was originally intending to buy if the store doesn't have a lot of the product in stock...this usually isn't a problem at grocery stores, but you will run into this at Walgreens and CVS sometimes.) If rice is on sale and I have a good coupon for it, I will buy 5 to 10 bags. No we won't use that much rice in a one to two week period, but my goal is to buy enough so that I won't have to buy it again at full price. I want to have enough in my pantry to last until the next sale comes along. If I can buy a bag of rice that is normally priced at $1.50 and get it for $0.30, I want to snag as many as I can! I've noticed that most stores run similar sale cycles every 6 to 12 weeks, so my goal is to try to have at least a 6 week stockpile of pantry staples so I'll have enough to last my family until the next sale comes along.

Okay, this sounds good right...buy things at rock bottom prices so you don't have to pay full price for anything. When I first started out I thought, "Yeah that sounds great, but we are barely able to buy what our family absolutely NEEDS each week. Where am I going to get extra money to start stockpiling?" Some of you might not be at that place, but I am being honest...at the end of the month we were STRUGGLING trying to stretch our food. I thought there was NO WAY that I could even start stockpiling groceries. I decided to pull out $10.00 of our grocery budget every week to put towards stockpiling foods. I would scrimp on our normal grocery purchases, and then I'd take the $10 that was left and ONLY use it to buy items that were WAY on sale and that I had coupons for. One week I used it to buy only cereal, the next week only deodorant, etc. I will say that it was slow going for me...I was trying to figure out couponing and matching sales with coupons all on my own. At first I couldn't see it making a HUGE difference, but I decided to give myself 8 weeks to see if it would really make a difference. As the weeks went on I noticed that my grocery list of NEEDS was actually getting smaller. I was started to accumulate a stockpile of grocery staples, so I could "shop" from my pantry before I made my grocery list for the week. After about 8 weeks my husband and I sat down to reevaluate our grocery budget. We had so much extra food bought up that we really only NEEDED to buy produce, dairy, breads, etc. every week. We decided to try cutting our grocery budget significantly. Now I only (okay, I say only but of course there are a few exceptions) buy pantry items when they are at rock bottom prices, and the majority of our grocery budget now goes to perishable food items.

I have heard from several people that say no matter how many coupons they use they can't seem to get their grocery budget down...they are buying MORE with coupons, but are still having to spend the same amount. Just wanted to give you a personal story of how I was able to reduce our grocery budget. I will be honest, if you are on a strict budget, you won't be able to cut your grocery budget all at once. Give it a couple of months...take out a few dollars every week to put towards stockpiling items. Over the course of several weeks you should notice that your pantry stockpile is growing and your grocery list of NEEDS is getting shorter. Soon you should be at a point where you are only buying items at rock bottom prices, with the exclusion of perishable food items.

Hope this helps some of you!! I would love to hear how you guys are doing with your coupon shopping!! Have any of you noticed a big difference in your grocery budget since you started? If you have any other advice or ideas on how you were able to shrink your grocery budget let me know!! I would love some different ideas!

Bigger is Not Always Better

Before I started using coupons, I always thought it was cheapest to buy in bulk. If you buy a 24 pack of toilet paper, you'll be paying less per roll than if you buy a 4 pack. If you buy a 25 oz. box of cereal, you'll be paying less per ounce than if you buy a 10 oz. box of cereal. Many times this is true, but I encourage you to always check, because even without coupons, you just never know.

When I first started using coupons, I still thought this was the case. I'd see a large bottle of Tide for $11.99, and use my $1.00 coupon and spend $10.99. I thought I was getting a good deal because a)I'd bought the bigger size, so of course it was cheaper, and b) I'd used a coupon, so I was getting even bigger savings.

After couponing for a while, I noticed that a lot of times buying in bulk is not cheaper. A coupon for $1.00 off a $10.00 product will not give you near the savings as a coupon off a $3.00 product. Many coupons will have a size exclusion on them, but you will find numerous coupons that will have no size exclusion at all. For those coupons with no size exclusions, I encourage you to start thinking outside the box. My goal as a coupon shopper is to get a stockpile of items at a fraction of the cost...how can I do this if I am buying the smallest product size that the coupon allows? Let me give you an example...These prices are from previous sales:

Contadina Tomato Sauce:
15 oz. $0.70
8 oz. $0.37
Coupon for $0.75 off 3...If you buy the 15 oz. can you will end up paying $1.35 (or $0.45 a can...$0.03 an ounce). If you buy the 8 oz. can you will end up paying $0.36 (or $0.13 a can...or less than $0.02 an ounce).
Yes you are buying smaller cans, but if you have multiple coupons you will be able to buy this deal several times, so you will still be stocking up.

Dove Ultimate Deodorant:
2.6 oz. $3.99
0.5 oz. $0.97
Coupon for $1.00 off 1...If you buy the 2.6 oz. you will end up paying $2.99 (or $1.15 an ounce). If you buy the 0.5 oz. you will end up paying NOTHING (or $0.00 an ounce)
Let me make a quick note about this...when I have coupons that I KNOW will get me travel size products FREE, I try to hold onto them until the day they expire, because sometimes Walgreens or CVS will run deals where you can make money on the full size product if you have a coupon.
Again, if you are buying multiple newspapers, or printing coupons from the internet (usually have a print limit of 2), you will have multiple coupons, so you will still be stocking up...only now for FREE.

Cottonelle Toilet Paper:
12 pack: on sale $4.99
4 pack: on sale for $1.99
Coupon for $1.00 off 1...If you buy the 12 pack you will end up paying $3.99 (or $0.33 a roll). If you buy the 4 pack you will end up paying $0.99 (or $0.25 a roll).

All of these prices and coupons are from previous weeks, so I'm not sure what they are priced at right now. I just wanted to give you guys examples.

Do you price match to see what size products will give you a better price? I encourage you to think outside the box...start price matching...take a calculator with you into the store and do some number crunching. I think you'll be surprised to find that bigger isn't always a better value.

Should you print off every coupon that I mention?

Several people have mentioned to me that they are printing off a ton of coupons almost daily. With the cost of ink and paper, this could get expensive VERY fast. I know that I post about different printable coupons every day, but I want you to know that I do NOT print all of these coupons off. Many times you will find these same coupons in your newspaper, and many times the coupons that I post about are for items that I will not be using for several weeks.

I DO print the coupons that are high value...I do this because I know that in a matter of hours these coupons will reach their print limits and will no longer be available (ie. the $1.50 Tony's pizza coupon...this coupon reached it's print limit in a matter of hours, so I made sure to snag it while it was still available). I also print coupons that I KNOW are for products that are on sale, or that I will be using in the next couple of weeks.

When you first start couponing, it is so tempting to try to chase every deal and print every coupon. There will always be more sales and more coupons. If you miss out on a few you can be sure that another GREAT deal is just around the corner. Do what works best for your family and your budget, but don't feel like you need to print off every coupon that comes around.

Coupon Policy for Commissary

In April I was invited to speak about coupons to the MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group that I attend. Today was our last meeting of the year. For some reason it hit me today that a lot of the ladies in my MOPS group have husbands in the military, and they must do a lot of grocery shopping at the commissary on base. I never even thought to research the commissary coupon policy since I never shop there, but thought it might be helpful for those of you who do. Please keep in mind that since I have never shopped there or talked to anyone who works there I have no first hand knowledge of how they are towards coupon shoppers. I will provide you with the information that I have found and will leave it up to those of you who shop at the commissary to take it from there.

Go here to read the coupon policy taken directly from their website.

Also, as I was researching this, I came upon the Commissary Facebook Page. This was taken directly from a status update that was posted on their page:

Defense Commissary Agency: Did you know we accept manufacturer coupons that have a Walgreens Register Rewards, Kroger, Target and other retailer’s logo on them? Yes – as long as the coupon verbiage does not limit redemption solely to those stores. Each coupon must be individually evaluated to ensure it states it is a manufacturer coupon and doesn’t limit its use solely to the retailer advertised, the commissary can accept it.

If you want to read it for yourself, go here. It was a status update several hours ago, so you might have to scroll down the page a bit depending on when you are reading this.

Based on that statement, it sounds like they should accept your Register Rewards from Walgreens. Like I said before, I have no first hand knowledge of if this works or not. If you shop at the commissary and want to use your Register Rewards, I would print off the commissary's coupon policy and go to their Facebook page and print off the Status update from above. Take both of those to customer service and see what they say. There is the possibility that they might tell you they don't accept them, but if it were me, I would question them a bit (nicely of course) and ask why it says they do on their Facebook page.

I would LOVE to hear feedback on this. Since I can't go and check it out myself, I would love to hear from some of you if it actually worked!! How exciting to be able to use your Register Rewards at the commissary to lower your grocery bill!!

Thanks Hip 2 Save for the information about the Commissary Facebook Page!!

Coupon Organization

I have had several people ask me how I organize my coupons, so I thought I would sit down and write a post about it. Let me start off by saying that there are numerous ways to organize your coupons, and what works for me might not work for you. Some people use small accordion style coupon organizers; some people simply save and file their coupon inserts and only clip coupons out when they need them for specific sales. I use a coupon binder that holds all my coupons. Let me say that this method does take more time to organize, but I've found that it makes my shopping trip so much more enjoyable. I am not sorting through coupons at the stores...everything is right in front of me.

This is my coupon binder:



It's a basic 3 ring binder (I have a 3" binder). Those of you just starting out probably won't need one so big, but you will really be amazed at how quickly your stash of coupons will grow!! I use baseball card inserts to store all of my coupons. (These can be found at Wal-Mart, Target, Craft Stores, etc.) I organize my coupons into different categories so I can find them quickly at the store. Some people choose to do this alphabetically, but I try to organize my coupons following the simple lay out of the store.
My basic categories are:
-Frozen Foods
-Dairy (this includes yogurt, cheeses, eggs, pillsbury bread tubes...anything you would find in the dairy aisle of the grocery store)
-Meats
-Pasta/Rice/Canned Chilis (Again, think of products that are on that aisle in your grocery store)
-Snack Foods (this includes Chips, Cookies, Candies, Crackers)
-Baking Goods (this includes spices, sugars, flour, cake mixes, frosting, etc.)
-Breads
-Condiments (Salad Dressing, Ketchup, Salsa, Mustard, etc)
-Canned Vegetables/Fruits
-Cereal/Breakfast Foods
-Beverages
-Oral Care
-Shaving Needs
-Deodorants
-Shampoos/Body Wash
-Make-up/Moisturizer/Face Cleansers
-Feminine Products
-Paper Goods
-Cleaning Supplies
-Medicines
-Store Coupons (I have this section to organize store coupons../Target, Albertsons, Walgreens, CVS that can be combined with additional manufacturer's coupons.

As I am walking through the store I simply flip my binder open to the category that corresponds with what aisle I am on. All of my coupons are laid out right in front of me, so I don't spend time having to flip through numerous coupons to find the one I need. This also helps because I can compare prices and see if there are any GREAT deals that I might have otherwise missed.



As I am walking through the store and finding coupons that I will be using, I simply take the coupon out of the insert and place it in a holder that is in the front of my binder. I use a pencil case that I found in the school supplies section. This helps so much because when I am checking out I don't have to continue sorting through my coupons, trying to make sure that I have all the coupons I want to use. I simply open up my coupon holder and hand them all to the cashier.



At the back of my binder I store all of the different Coupon Policies from different stores. This way if I run into an issue with a cashier who doesn't want to accept my coupons, I simply pull out the coupon policy and show the cashier what the store policy actually says. You will be surprised at the number of cashiers (and managers) who have no idea what their coupon policy states.



As I said before, there are numerous ways to organize your coupons. You'll need to figure out what works best for you and your family. The coupon binder is just one method that I've found works GREAT for me. How do all of you organize your coupons? I'd love feedback on this...you might have ideas that I've never thought of!!

Also, let me know if you think posts like this are useful for you? Thinking that it might be good to do posts every now and then about Couponing 101...let me know!!