June 7, 2011

Shopping At Walgreens

Today I thought I would try another shopping trip to Walgreens using coupons. I did a little more "ahead prepping", but still it wasn't enough! I was not aware that RR (register rewards) are treated like coupons, therefore the rules for coupons apply for them as well. This means that if you are only buying 1 item but have 2 different RR's you can't use them both--well sometimes it means this--I had a couple of transactions that let me use more coupons than I had items!  That messed up my whole shopping trip!! That and the fact that 3 of my children were crying about being hungry and asking me a million questions while I was checking out! I thought I was only going to do 3 separate transactions, but that turned into 6, and I ended up spending more OOP (out of pocket) than I originally thought I would. I am sure there are probably 100 people who could have done this better than me, but here is what I did!
1st Transaction:
2 Nivea body soaps which were on sale 2/$7.00 with $2.00 RR (I also had a $1.00 coupon for this)
1 Bic Soleil Disposable Razors--$5.99 with $2.00 RR (I had a $3.00 coupon for this)  Of course I could be wrong and my $1.00 coupon could have been for the razors and my $3.00 coupon could have been for the Nivea---either way, I had $4.00 in coupons! 
Total: $9.73 with $4.00 RR (total savings $9.98)

2nd Transaction:
3 Super Stack cans of Pringles --the kids were screaming for food!--3/$4.00 (I had a $1.00 coupon)
Ban deodorant--$1.99 (I had a $1.49 coupon AND a $0.40 coupon for this but she only took the $0.40 coupon and I didn't realize it until it was too late.  She kept telling me that she used the other one but I just knew she didn't. The kids talking didn't help me either! So I didn't get as good of a deal on this as I should have)
I used $2.00 in RR from 1st transaction and paid $2.59 for this transaction. (total savings $7.40)

3rd Transaction: This was my favorite transaction!
Omega Smart Super Critical Ultimate Fish Oils--$10.00 with $10.00 RR (I also had a $2.00 coupon)
Total: $8.00 and received $10.00 in RR  (total savings $16.99)

4th Transaction:
Pantene--2/$7.00 with $1.00 RR (I also had a $1.00 coupon)
Coppertone Sunblock--$9.99 with $4.00 RR (I had a $2.00 coupon which the computer didn't want to take for some reason, but after calling a manager they took it)
I used my $10.00 RR from transaction 3 & $2.00 RR from transaction 1 & paid $2.15 for this transaction. (total savings $18.28) I received $5.00 in RR. I used 4 coupons and only got 3 items in this transaction. Weird.

5th Transaction:
Colgate toothpaste--2/$5.00 with $2.00 RR (I had a $0.75 coupon)
Colgate toothbrushes--2/$5.00 with $2.00 RR (I had a $0.75 coupon)
Total $8.50 and received $4.00 RR (total savings $7.46) I don't think I did this transaction very well. But, oh well!

6th Transaction:
Pullups--$10.99 (I had a $2.00 coupon) I wanted to get the Pampers Easy-Ups because they were on sale for $8.99 with $1.00 RR and I had a $1.50 coupon, but they did not have size 2T in boys! :(
Orajel kids--$4.99 (I had a $1.00 coupon)
Caress body soap--$2.99 (I had a coupon but was unable to use it because the number of coupons exceeded the number of items I was buying when I used my RR. I had wanted to get a SoBe Lifewater for $0.99 and receive $0.99 in RR, but I couldn't find a SoBe (or a place for one) anywhere in our Walgreens!)
I used $4.00 RR from transaction 4 and $2.00 RR from transaction 5--and paid $10.46 for this transaction. (total savings $11.00) This transaction allowed me to use 4 coupons and I only had 3 items. I don't fully understand the "you have to have as many items as you have coupons" rule.

I left with $1.00 in RR, but now that I think about it I should have another $2.00 in RR from transaction 5 that I never used, but she was taking coupons left and right and not scanning them. I think she took my last $2.00 RR and never gave it back....or maybe I fed it to one of my kids!

All in all I spent $41.72 and saved $71.11.  I don't think that is too bad, but I can't wait until I get better!