Saturday, October 25, 2008

Walgreens on Saturday


If you've looked around any other couponing blogs, you have probably seen this coupon. It's even available in my sidebar. It's a Friday-Saturday $5 off a purchase of $20 or more at Walgreens. My initial thought was, "Well that means I have to SPEND $15 to save $5."

Think again.

It's true that $15 must leave my hands, but if all goes as I now have planned, I will get every cent of it back.

Let me explain.

The October EasySaver Catalog (3" x 7" pamphlet you'll find by the ads at the front of the store, take as many as you like) is good through the 25th of the month. The November one is also out and also in effect. Things purchased Saturday (and Friday) can qualify for rebates for both months.

The way Walgreens does store rebates is pretty cool. You register on walgreens.com, put in some details from your receipt(s), and request your rebate. No stamp required! They will either send you a check or you can opt for a Walgreens gift card. If you choose a gift card, they will give you an additional 10% (a $10 rebate will be $11 on a gift card). You can reuse the same gift card each month. They will "reload" it with the next month's rebates, so you don't have to wait for a new one to come in the mail. Pretty cool system.

So, they key is to spend money that you will get right back in a rebate (or Register Rewards, which are printed coupons for a given amount off your next transaction, but I didn't have any of those in my planned transaction).


If something doesn't work out, I can always grab one of the "free after rebate" items so my total is over $20 after coupons and before tax. There are 3 for October and 2 for November. If's it's really close (I imagine I'll be $.02 off) I'll just grab a candy bar.

My total will be just barely over $20, then $5 will be taken off with the coupon up above. I will pay $15 OOP (out of pocket). I will receive $15.40 ($14 + 10% for choosing gift card). We can consider all these goodies FREE!
That's my plan. The only thing I'm a little unsure of is if the M&Ms are really on sale 2/$5. Hopefully everything is stocked. I'll post an update on how it goes!
FYI- You can get the manufacturer coupons I refer to in the spreadsheet here:
Arm & Hammer click on "get coupons"
Air Wick Freshmatic tons of other coupons, too
The M&M coupon for $1 off 2 is found in the October EasySaver catalog.

4 comments:

Julie said...

Hey- Liz Ruggieri sent out a link to your blog and I just want to let you know that I love it! I already submitted my October rebates online so I think that I'm going to buy the L'Oreal Age Perfect stuff for the Nov. rebate. Do you read refundcents.com? It sounds like you might, but if you don't-you should. Julie (I met you at the Noonans')

darbie said...

ummm, I wonder why my fabulous sister didn't call me Saturday to tell me about this! It must be that she wants me to lose the baby weight and eating free m&ms wouldn't do that.

You're amazing! Keep up the good work saving us all money!

MoreTimeThanMoney said...

Julie, of course I remember you. I heard you are great at finding deals too. We'll have to collaborate. I haven't checked out that sire, but I will!

Darbie, ummm the reason why I put all this is a blog was so I wouldn't have to call and email everyone whenever there is a deal! If it makes you feel any better, I didn't even get M&Ms. We lasted longer in our softball tournament than I expected and I only had time to run out and get some essentials (which normally would include M&Ms except now when the tub won't drain... drano was higher on the list).

MoreTimeThanMoney said...

errr "site"