Great day at Walgreens!

Walgreens used to be hit or miss as far as deals, and those they did have were sometimes clunky and difficult to understand, but they've been fine-tuning their system and it's become increasingly lucrative. Combining their store coupons with manufacturer coupons and their Register Rewards deals is a great way to get things for very cheap, if not free. Their monthly rebates are also a great way to save money - I get mine on a gift card so that I can use that to pay for OOP expenses and not have to use cash.

The important Walgreens points:

• Instant Value coupons (IVCs) are found in the weekly ad - they're only good for that week.
• EasySaver coupons (ESQs) are from the smaller books found in front of the ad display - these are good monthly.
• Rebates are also listed in the EasySaver book - often there's at least two items that are free after rebate (FAR).
• Register Rewards (RRs) are coupons to use on your next order that are generated when you buy certain items according to each week's ad. They print from the machine next to where the receipt prints. You can only use one per transaction, however.
• You can't have more coupons than items you're buying - sometimes you end up with 2 q's for one item because you're using an ESQ and a manufacturer q, or you use a RR and wind up not having an item to match that q with. So count your q's before you go to the register - if you have 8 q's and 7 items, grab a small filler. I usually buy the individual Crystal Light mix-ins for .59 - certainly not a bargain, but I drink them and since I save so much with q's it's not that big a deal.

I've hit Walgreens four times since Sunday (three of those times were today!). I had a bunch of RRs from a deal a couple weeks ago, so Sunday I went and bought 8 boxes of gallon-size Hefty bags, which are B1G1F with the IVC in this week's ad. After 4 0.55/1 coupons, my total was 10.96 plus tax, and I used a $10 RR. You can do the math from there :)

Today I decided to get serious about burning up some more of those RRs. I did three transactions and came home with the following items (plus the 6-pack of Ensure I got for my mom) for only $2.10 OOP, and that's only because I forgot to use my gift card to pay for the first transaction - it should have been $0 OOP.

Transaction #1:

Hefty bags 4x3.29 = 13.16
Ensure 1x6.99 = 6.99
Total before q's = 20.15

Hefty IVC B1G1 2x3.29 = 6.58
Hefty man q 2x0.55 = 1.10
Ensure 1x3.00 = 3.00 (I also have a mail-in-rebate for the full price, so I'll make 3.00 on this deal!)
RR 1x10.00 = 10.00

Total after q's = 2.10 (includes tax)

Transaction #2 (done twice):

Almay makeup is B1G1F, so there is no price for the second Almay product. I bought the Almay one coat mascara, which is FAR this month so I'll get back 6.49 twice for that.

Celestial seasonings tea 2x1.50 = 3.00
Schick Quattro disposables 2X5.99 = 11.98
Almay eye makeup 1x7.99 = 7.99
Almay mascara B1G1F
Filler 1x0.59 = 0.59
Total before q's = 23.56

Celestial seasonings ESQ ($2/2) 1x2.00 = 2.00
Celestial seasonings man q 2x1.00= 2.00
Schick ESQ 2x3.00 = 6.00
Schick B1G1F man q 1x5.99 = 5.99
Almay 1x2.00 = 2.00
RR 1x5.00 = 5.00

Total after q's = $2.72 with tax, put on a gift card. Notice that the tea and razors were free after q's!

Coming tomorrow - Hilander Mega Saver preview!