Walgreens Madness

I don't want this blog to be entirely about saving money, and so I don't post on here all the time about what I do and great shopping trips I have. But I am still doing the Walgreens Game, and I regularly get GREAT deals there. I just can't resist posting today's shopping trip. I got all this:
...and made money doing it!

First of all, our Walgreens is AWESOME because they give a 15% discount to students and faculty of the local university. Off your entire purchase! So since my husband works there, we rack up on savings that way.

Secondly, I use coupons, and I check the money-saving blogs. The main two that I check for Walgreens deals are Money Saving Mom and Mommy Snacks. Then I also page through the ad to see if there's anything else I want, and I use Hot Coupon World's coupon database to see if I can find any coupons to use on top of what's already on sale.

Third, I take advantage of their Register Reward deals. Most weeks they have at least one item that will be free after Register Rewards. (Register Rewards are coupons for so many dollars off your next purchase at Walgreens.) When I combine this with my faculty discount and coupons, I often make money on these. For example, last week they had the new Dove Men's Body Wash on sale for $5.99, and when you buy one, you get a $6 RR. However, I only paid $5.09 for it with my 15% discount, and then I used a $1.25 coupon. So I only paid $3.84 for it, but I still got the $6 RR. So I'll often buy the free-after-RR stuff even if it's not something we need... (Justin wasn't really excited about me buying him Dove Body Wash!) But I can donate it to a local shelter or ministry. That way someone else benefits and so do we!

So anyhoo, with sales, discount, coupons, and then using $21 worth of RR's from last week, I only paid $4.14 out of pocket for everything you see in the picture above.

THEN I got a $4 RR back for the razor.

THEN I'll submit the 3 Olay products for this $15 rebate.

So I'll end up MAKING $14.86 for purchasing all these things at Walgreens today. Oh yeah.