Walgreens 11/28 thru 12/4

There's only a couple goodies at Wags this week worth stopping for. 

First, the M&M deal has returned this week.  Purchase 4 bags priced at 4/$10 and use TWO $1.00 off 2 coupons from the 11/14 RP.  This brings your price down to 4/$8 and then you get back a $5 Jingle Ca$h RR making them $3.00 or .75 for each bag.  All varieties of holiday M & M's are included.  If you were lucky enough to print the $1.00 off 1 pretzel M & M's coupon from Facebook you have yourself a better deal. 

Next, 2 pack trial size Breath Right Advanced are .49 with the in-ad coupon.  There's a $1.50 off Breath Right (12 ct. or smaller) coupon in the 10/17 RP.  Stacking these two coupons will get you FREE Breath Right strips and possibly some overage.  The regular price of these trial size packs are .99 so the coupon beeps at the register.  If you have a cashier that is paying attention they will reduce the coupon to .99.  When you stack the in-ad coupon you should get .50 overage for each one you "buy".  Remember to hand over manny Q's first.  I located these trial sized packs by the front register. 

Salonpas pain relief patches are on sale for $5.99 with a $6 Jingle Ca$h RR in return.  No coupons available, but a good way to roll some RR's so you can extend the expiration date.

Scotch packing tape is on sale 2/$3.  Use two of  the .50 off coupons I mentioned here to lower the price on these to 2/$2.  Not a bad price if you need it right now.

If you are looking for a good "filler" item to roll some Jingle Ca$h from the Black Friday sale, the Butterball Chicken Broth is on sale 2/$1 with the in-ad coupon.  Not a spectacular price but if you need something useful for filler it's a good way to go. 

Remember there's a one day only Friends and Family event on Wednesday and you can get the coupon here.  There's also a 4 day sale starting Wednesday that you can read more about here.

Lastly, I located this WT at my local Wags store on Yellow Tail wine:

You might want to keep your eyes open for this one!

FREE Scotch Packing Tape @ Wags

In my 4/25/10 Shopping Trip post I mention a $1.00 off coupon for Scotch Packing Tape.  This coupon was on the 3M website but is no longer available.  The coupon was in .pdf format and luckily I saved it to my computer before it was gone from the 3M site.  If you need this coupon send me an e-mail, text or call me and I will be happy to e-mail it to you.  If you stack this coupon with the Walgreens in-ad store coupon for Scotch Packing Tape (.99) you will get FREE packing tape with .01 in overage.  :)  FREE is good!

.99 John Freida products @ Walgreens

There's a really great deal running right now at Wags on John Freida products.  Some John Freida salon products (shampoo & conditioners) are on sale for $5.99 each.  There was a $3.00 off coupon in the 3/7 SS that you can stack with the $2.00 Wags coupon in the March coupon booklet.  The two coupons stacked makes the price come down to .99 a bottle.  That's a great price for salon quality products.  I use this line of products and I really like them.  The Root Awakening products smell really great and the Luxurious Volume products really help add lift and volume to fine hair.  For that price, why not give it a try? 

If you go to get these, keep an eye out for the bottles that have a bundled free sample bottle attached.  These don't cost any more than the $5.99 sale price and work with the coupons.  Today I scored a shampoo with a free sample bottle of conditioner attached.

Cheap Crest Toothpaste @ Walgreens

If you have the .75 Crest toothpaste coupons from the 1/17 PG insert or the 2/7 PG insert, clip them and head on over to Walgreens for some cheap toothpaste.  The regular, cavity protection toothpaste (6.4 oz) is priced at $2.59 and there's a Wags store coupon in the February coupon booklet for $1.50 off Crest toothpaste.  Stack both of these coupons for a total of $2.25 off each tube.  That brings the price of each tube down to .34! 

Free light bulbs @ Target (possible small MM)

If you are heading over to Target anytime soon you can score some free light bulbs.  Over at Coupons.com there's a $1.00 printable for any GE Energy Smart Compact Flourescent lighting product and in the 1/10 SS there's a Target coupon for $2.00 off any GE Energy Smart Compact Flourescent light bulb package. 

Some of these light bulbs were on clearance for $2.78 at the store I stopped at (looks like the packaging may have changed a little bit and that's why they are clearanced).  There were also packages for $2.99.  These are boxes of individually packaged light bulbs, 1 bulb to a box.  Stack the two coupons together for some free light bulbs with the possibility of a little overage.  Just make sure you remember to hand over the manufacturer coupons first and then the Target coupons and have some other items in your cart to use up the overage.

Also, don't forget to bring along your re-useable shopping bags because Target gives a .05 credit for each re-useable shopping bag that you use.

Getting Started: Walgreens

Shopping at Walgreens is very rewarding, once you get the hang of all the little quirks that go along with coupon shopping there.  I started out with Walgreens, and did get frustrated at times when things wouldn't work out like I had planned, but I am glad I stuck with it and learned the ropes.  Trial and error is sometimes the best learning tool.  I find that once I make a mistake, I usually don't make that same mistake again there. 

You can find a wealth of information at the Walgreens blog http://www.iheartwags.com/ (also linked on my sidebar under money saving blogs). This blog usually has upcoming ads posted so you can look ahead at future sales to purchase or trade for coupons.   It also lists some great coupon match-ups and links to printables for the sale as well. 

Register Rewards:

* Walgreens prints out catalina coupons called "Register Rewards"(RR's). Usually these catalinas are tied to purchasing a particular product.
* RR's are usually manufacturer coupons and do not state that you can only redeem them at Walgreens.
* You can use coupons on the items you are purchasing to get the Register Rewards.
* You will only get one Register Reward per item per transaction. You can get multiple RR's in the same transaction as long as they are all on different items. If you want to get more than one of the same RR, split it out into seperate transactions.  
* If you purchased the right items and didn't get the RR, you can return the items before you leave the store, or call the catalina company at 888-322-3814. Have your receipt handy because they need some information from it.  They will be able to see if the machine was working properly and if you bought the correct items to generate the RR.  If everything looks like you should have gotten the RR, then they will mail one to you. 
* If you use a RR to pay for a transaction that you are expecting to get a RR from, then you will want to be sure not to use one that is from the same parent comapny as the product you are expecting the RR on.  If you pay with a RR from a company that is issuing a RR, it won't print.  (RR's usually don't "roll" at Wags.)
* In the fine print on the RR's there is a list of things that they can't be used on such as tobacco, liquor, lottery tickets, gift cards, etc.
* RR's are just like cash - only with an expiration date.  Don't let them expire!  Use it or loose it!

Store Coupons:

* Walgreens puts out some great store coupons, there are always several coupon books with Walgreens specific coupons at any given time. 
* Walgreens weekly sale flyer usually has store coupons in it.
* You can also find printable store coupons on their website. 
* The pharmacy area is a great place to find a lot of their coupon books. 
* There is also a monthly coupon book that is usually located up in the front of the store by the sale flyers. 
* Walgreens also puts out a children's coloring/activity book that has great coupons in it. 
* Remember, store coupons can be "stacked" with manufacturer coupons on the same item.  You can even use TWO different Walgreens store coupons and a manufacturer coupon on one item as long as both Walgreens store coupons have different numbers (on the bar code). 
* ALWAYS hand over the manufacturer coupons first and then the store coupons.  (This is the only way that you will get overage, if the store coupons are scanned first, you will never get the overage.)
* You only need one store coupon per transaction, not per item.  If you have a store coupon on a particular item and you are purchasing two of that item, you only have the cashier scan the coupon once and the register will deduct the amount of the coupon times two (the number of that particular item you are buying).
* You DO NOT need to give the cashier the store coupon, you can just have them scan it and then you keep it.  You always want to hang onto those store coupons, they could be very valuable in the future too.   You don't even need to cut the coupon from the flyer or coupon book, just have them scan it right out of the book and then put the book in your bag or purse.

Some other things to remember when shopping at Wags:

* You must have the same number of items as manufacturer coupons.  If you are paying with a RR, these count as a manufacturer coupon.  If you need to you may have to find some cheap "filler" items to boost your item number so you can use all your coupons.  Some great fillers are cheap candy, gum, etc. or other things that are generating a RR that you don't already have manufacturer coupons for.  Sometimes they have holiday pencils that make great fillers, or grab a can of pop or bottle of water.  Anything works!  Walgreens store coupons do not count toward your number of items when figuring in how many coupons you can use.

* Many Walgreens stores keep manufacturer coupons behind the counter, all clipped out and ready to go.  If there's a coupon that you are looking for, ask - they just may have it there for you to use. 

I LOVE shopping at Wags, but I am not really fond of playing their game when it comes to rolling the RR's into other transactions.  I usually get all the deals with RR's and then go do my grocery shopping at Jewel and "spend" the RR's there....it's just so much easier and less hassle.

Getting Started: Overage and Making Money with coupons

When couponing, overage can happen - and it's a wonderful thing!  Overage is when your coupons total more than the item's price.  Overage is a gift, not a right - shoppers are not entitled to overage.  Some stores allow overage, some don't.  Some stores/cashiers don't even realize its happening when completing your transaction.  The most important thing to remember when shopping and expecting overage is to make sure you have items in your cart to use up your overage in your transaction because a cashier will never give you money out of the register when your balance is negative!  You don't want to be scrambling at the register to throw in packs of gum and candy bars to get you out of the negative.  Use up the overage on things that you need or don't have coupons for.

The best way to get overage when using store and manufactuer coupons is to hand over the manufacturer coupons first.  Store coupons take the amount off each individual item resulting in the value being lowered.  Manufacturer coupons come off the total value of the complete sale and therefore won't effect the price of individual items. 

Another way to make money with transactions is when you get Catalina coupons (also called Register Rewards @ Walgreens) at the register.  These are usually coupons for a certain value off your next shopping trip.  I will go into more detail on Catalinas and Register Rewards later.

Getting Started: Stacking Coupons

There are two types of coupons: manufacturer coupons and store coupons.
Most stores let you combine a manufacturer coupon with a store coupon on the same item -  this is referred to as "stacking". 

Store coupons can be found as IP's, in store flyers, in Sunday inserts and in coupon books in the store.  As you are shopping keep your eyes open for store coupons. 

Go directly to the store's website for IP's of store coupons.

When stacking, ALWAYS hand over the manufacturer coupons first, and then the store coupons.  This will allow for overage when the coupon values are greater than the item's value.  If the store coupons are scanned first and the manufacturer coupon is greater than the amount left for the item, the coupons will beep and the register and cashier will not allow the overage.  Yes, you can get paid to take free things home from the store!!