I Made My First Walgreens RR Attempt!
Posted on: May 21, 2009
So, I’ve read countless blogs and forums about how people were making big scores at Walgreens with the Register Rewards, (and now defunct Rebates program). I would try to follow what they were doing, and it was just waaayyy over my head. But this week, as I scanned the Walgreens ads, I kept thinking, “this can’t be that hard!” So I sat down, made a list of the items that had RR’s and if I had a coupon for them. I decided to try my first purchase on Monday and it went like this…..
The plan was to buy the following items in this order….
1st transaction Buy Colgate Visible White for $4.49, and Bayer Quick Release for $2.49. Use a $1Q for Colgate spending $5.98 (plus tax) and getting $6.98 in RR’s.
2nd T. Buy 2 Off Clip ons for $8.99 using a 2Q and a BOGO and paying with my $6.98 in RR’s. I figured my oop to be $.01 and possible tax. I would get $3 RR’s.
3rd Buy Edge shaving cream for $1.99 and Bic lighter for $2.99 using $.75 Q on Edge and $1 Q on Bic. Cost $3.23 use my $3 RR’s and pay $.23 plus tax. Getting $2 RR’s.
4th Buy Glade Lasting Impressions for $8.99 use $4Q and $2 RR’s leaving $2.99 + tax. Getting $1.50 in RR’s.
When I got there, I got cold feet since I had never done this before. I decided to start smaller so this is what I actually did….
I bought Dry Idea for $5.99 and 2 Neosporin for 2/$10. Used a $2Q on Dry Idea and did not on the Neosporin for fear I wouldn’t get the $4 RR’s on it. Total was $13.99 and tax was $1.01 for total oop of $15.00. I had $9 in RR’s. So then I had the cashier ring up my Off clip on’s. I got 2 at $8.99 each. I had a $2Q and a BOGO. Those both worked fine, however, the RRs would not work. So I paid $8.12 for the two Off clip ons with tax. I got $3 RRs. Now I’ve spent $23.12 and haven’t figured out how to use my RRs.
So Tuesday morning I sent my buddy Kansas Saver an email to find out what I did wrong. Duh, the RRs are like coupons, so you have to have a filler item to make them work!
So, today I had to buy baby wipes, and decided to go to Walgreens to see if I could get the RRs to work for me, here is how it went down….
I found Walgreens brand wipes, 2/$5 and also BOGO, and then bought another Dry Idea for $5.99. I used a $2Q for the dry idea and $4 RR’s. Retail cost was $11.97 I paid $2.98 + tax. (tot $3.55) $8.99 savings. I also got $5 RRs
Then I bought 2 Off Clip on’s at $8.99 each and a bag of M&M’s for $.59. Used my $2q from this weeks paper, plus BOGO printable coupon and my $5 RRs from above. Retail cost was $18.57 I paid $2.58 + tax ($3.75) $15.99 savings and I got another $3 RRs.
Then I bought 1 Glade Lasting Impression for $8.99 and 1 bag of M&M’s for $.50. I used a $4Q from the paper, and my $5 RR’s from Monday for a total of $.49 + tax. ($1.09) Retail cost was $9.49 I saved $9.00! I also got $3 RRs for my next trip!
If you are wondering about the difference in cost for the M&M’s (they were identical) one bag was package as 2/$1 and the other wasn’t. They had different bar codes! I should have paid better attention! And as I have read on several blogs, you will pay tax on some of the discounted items, as I did in transaction #3.
So for my first attempt at Walgreens savings, I got $74 worth of items and actually paid $27.03 before tax. A savings of $46.97.
I think I might just get the hang of this. Kansas Saver also advises you should save some of your RRs for the next week, to keep your oop expense in check.
The key here is to remember, you need a small priced non coupon item if you are using coupons with your RRs, or just another item you were going to purchase anyway, (like wipes) and not use an additional clipped or printed coupon. At least that’s how it worked for me.
If anyone else out there has a different story to tell, please leave a comment. We can all learn to save money in new ways!
Wichita Coupon Mom 
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