The Drugstore Game

There are huge benefits in shopping the drugstores (CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens).

At the beginning of 2011 I put myself on a budget for grocery and drugstore shopping. My goal was to spend no more than $250 a month. I found an excel spreadsheet which keeps track of my trips calculating the amount saved and allows me to see which stores are actually saving me the most.

CVS is my long time favorite, but lately Rite Aid has been having awesome deals. Walgreens, well, every once in a while they have a deal I take advantage of but for the most part I stay away. As for grocery stores there is no question, Publix is definitely the way to go.

So I thought I would show some of the benefits of drug store shopping. I decided to go to Walgreens this week because they had a great deal on liquid acetaminophen, and we our on our last little bit. Kelsey is the only one in our house who still takes liquid, but since she takes 10 ml a dose, a bottle doesn’t last that long.

All the drugstores have “store money” that is basically like cash that you can use on your items at that store. Walgreens calls their money Register Rewards (RR) and they print on a Catalina machine after your purchase. I had a $3 RR I wanted to use at Walgreens, so this was my plan.

Buy:
4 Pediacare acetaminophen liquid (6.99 each) = $27.96
1 Nice and Easy hair foam (7.99 each) = $7.99 (generates a $1 RR)
3 cans of mandarin orances (1.29 each) = $3.87
TOTAL: $39.82

Use:
Walgreens Pediacare in ad coupon ($5 off each one) = -$20
Facebook coupon for a free nice and easy foam = -$7.99
Walgreens mandarin oranges in ad coupon (0.79 each) = -$2.37
Manufactures Pediacare printable coupon ($3 off 2) x 2 = -$6.00
And my $3 RR from last week = -$3.00

So my total was 0.46 plus $1.17 tax (so $1.63) and I had a $1 RR print that I can use on my next Walgreens trip. So basically I bought the oranges just so I could use my $3 RR from last week.

Rite Aid has two money-back programs. They have UP rewards (which are Rite Aid play money) and SCR (which are rebates). You enter your receipt online and if your qualify for a rebate (these are advertised) you get that amount entered into your account. At the end of the month you can request your check and you get a check in the mail for all your SCRs that you can cash at the bank. Rite Aid also has an online advertising program where if you watch these 30 second or so videos you get ride aid coupons for that product (or some are just $1 off any product). These are called video values (VV).

I went to Rite Aid with a $10 and $20 UP rewards (their form or Rite Aid money) that I wanted to spend. So basically my goal is to have my pretax total be slightly over $30 after coupons.

So I bought:
3 packs of dixie paper plates (3.59 each): 10.77
1 themacare: 3.59
2 Lysol disinfectant sprays (3.99 each) = 7.98
1 Keri lotion = 6.99
1 Tavist allergy tablets = 6.99
1 comtrex cold and sinus med = 4.99
1 bufferin 130 ct aspirin = 6.99
1 snickers bar = 0.88
1 cottenelle 12 pk toilet paper = 6.99
2 sambucol (herbal flu relief tabs) = 2.00
2 reese king size peanut butter cups = 1.59

TOTAL = $59.76

And then I used:
A $3/$15 coupon for completing a survey (printed on my receipt) = -$3.00
2 x $1 printable sambucol coupons = -$2.00
A video values reese printable coupon = -0.50
The in ad $5 off 3 dixie plates coupon = -$5.00
The video value $5 off 3 dixie plates coupon = -$5.00
2 mfr coupons ($1.50 each) for the Lysol disinfectant = -$3.00
A video values coupon for cottenelle = -$1.00
A mfr coupon for cottenelle = -$0.50
An in ad thermacare coupon = -$3.99
A printable keri lotion coupon = -$3.00
A mfr coupon for Comtrex = -$1.50
2 printable $1 Video values coupons (off anything) = -$2.00

Then my $10 and $20 rite aid UP bucks

It ended up being -0.82 before tax…normally you can’t go negative because UP rewards can’t be used to pay for tax…not sure why it worked but fine by me! After tax I paid $1.55 real cash.

But it gets even better. I had $1.88 print in new UP rewards print (from buying the snickers and the cottenelle). Then when I go online and enter my receipt I will get the SCR rebates for the Lysol, Keri lotion, Tavist, Comtrex, and Bufferin. These rebates will total $23 that I will receive as a check in the mail.

I don’t match up the coupons with the sales myself. Websites such as www.southernsavers.com and www.hip2save.com do most of the work for you. You just have to figure out which coupons you have and make up a scenario that works for you.

The way to make the drugstores really pay is to “roll” the play money these drugstores give you into the next week’s deals. You buy the items next week with your rewards that will generate new rewards. Most of the time you are not buying items that are on your shopping list for that week but eventually you will end up with a drugstore in your bathroom and when you need something you will never have to pay full price. Or you can just think Rite Aid paid me $23 to shop at their store today and go and give away all your items and make your friends or shelters happy!