I hadn't been to Walgreens in over a month. I used all my Register Rewards last month on laundry detergent and the rest of what I had earned was sitting in my Walgreens cash account with no danger of expiration. However, I got lured back in today.
Today it was birthday cards. Fancy pop-up birthday cards.
Cards I would never in a million years pay full price for... but for a dollar? Well...
So here's the deal. The cards are really $12.99 but if you order them online they are $1.00. The only issue with ordering online is that you have to place a minimum $10 order for store pick up. The deal was intriguing enough though to send me digging around my Walgreens account.
A couple things stood out.
First, I had two "spend boosters" - these are coupons for extra Walgreens Cash (WC) when you spend (WYS) a certain amount of money.
The first was $3 WYS $12, expiring this Saturday 1/15/22.
The second was $7 WYS $15 on 3 different transactions, good until 1/31/22.
If I spent $15 in one transaction that meant I would earn $3 automatically plus knock out one of the three transactions for the $7 bonus.
I found multiple deals this week - not necessarily for things I needed but definitely for things that would net me some free money for the stuff I wanted.
So here was the plan...
Transaction #1 - done online
3 Birthday cards @ 1.00 each = 3.00
4 Gillette shave products, buy 1 get 1 50% off
- found some for $2.99, so 8.97 for 4
Aveeno moisture bar for 2.89
Total would be 14.86 before tax, so not $15 but over $12 so I would get the $3 WC.
The Gillette shave products have an offer for $4 WC when you buy 2, meaning I would get back $8 in WC for 4.
There is a digital manufacturer's coupon for $3.50 for the Aveeno. This would adjust down to $2.89 making the Aveeno bar free.
This is what my order originally looked like...
Well, then I got another email. The Aveeno was out of stock. Ugh. That made my pre-tax total $11.96. I was 4 cents short of getting my $3 WC bonus so I ended up earning a total of $8.11 WC for this order rather than $11.11. Total out of pocket (OOP) cost was $12.80.
So... I started today with $11.82 WC in my account from last month.
Now I had $19.93 WC and paid $12.80 OOP.
I had the 3 cards I wanted plus 3 shave gels and a can of shaving cream.
AND, when I picked up my order I got another spend booster coupon for $7 WYS $30, expiring 1/18/22. This was a physical coupon meaning I could double dip it with my digital spend boosters.
More plotting...
Proposed Transaction #2
(2) packages of Zantac 25-count
- $12.49, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off
- get $5 Register Reward (RR) WYB 2
- I have (2) manufacturer's coupons for $3 off
- there is an Ibotta rebate for $3 for each package
Pre-tax total would be $18.74 which should get me the $3 WC plus count as one of my three $15+ transactions.
I would end up paying $12.74 + tax OOP but get $6 back from Ibotta, $3 WC, and a $5 RR.
Proposed Transaction #3
(2) Oral B toothbrushes @ 3.00 each
(2) Colgate toothpastes @ 3.99 each
(2) Suave body wash or shampoo @ 2.00 each
- pre-tax total would be $17.98 so that would count for my second $15+ transaction
- use $1 oral B digital coupon
- use (2) $2 Colgate digital coupons
- use $5 RR from Zantac purchase
- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Oral B
- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Colgate
- get back $4 RR WYB 2 Suave
- there is an Ibotta rebate for $1 for each Oral B toothbrush
I would end up paying $7.98 OOP but get back $2 from Ibotta and have another $12 in RR
Proposed Transaction #4
(2) Charmin 9 mega packs or Bounty 6 packs @ 9.99 each
(2) Bic Soliel 4 packs
- $6.29, Buy 1 Get 1 50% off
(1) Palmolive 8 oz dish soap @ $0.99
- pre-tax total would be $30.41 so I would get $7 WC for the WYS $30 booster plus another $7 WC as this would be my third $15+ transaction
- use $8 off 2 Bic Soleil manufacturer's coupon
- use $0.50 off Palmolive manufacturer's coupon
- use $4 RR from Oral B
- use $4 RR from Suave
- get back $5 RR for Charmin/Bounty
- get back $5 RR for Bic Soleil
I would end up paying $13.91 OOP but get back $14 WC and $10 in RR.
Total after all 4 transactions would be $47.43 OOP - $8 back from Ibotta = 39.43 spent,
but I added $25+ WC into my account and have $14 in RR remaining, so really I'd be even on my spend with all my products being "free."
NOW WHAT REALLY HAPPENED... 😂😂😂
Transaction #2
Purchased the (2) Zantac and my RR did not print.
The cashier told me, "Oh, our machine isn't working."
Arghhh!!! Like she KNEW it didn't work but didn't think it was a big deal.
I have made it a habit of photographing the shelf tag because this has happened to me so often.
The manager credited me $5 in WC.
Normally that would be great since the WC doesn't expire in 2 weeks like the RR, however, I was planning to do the "when you spend" deals and if you use WC to pay for your order it decreases your spend amount. The RR counts as a coupon and will not decrease what counts as spend.
At least I got a $15+ transaction out of this.
After tax and coupons, I spent $14.04 OOP. Got back $8.18 in WC ($3.18 for spending $12+ and $5 for my RR) and $6 from Ibotta.
Transaction #3
Total cluster is all I can say.
I went to the other Walgreens down the street so there would be a functional catalina machine.
I picked up my 2 Oral B toothbrushes and my 2 Colgates then noticed something disturbing on the shelf tag.
What bothered me was that the Oral B, Colgate and Suave were listed all on the same offer. The way this tag was reading, it would mean that I would only get one $4 RR if I bought all 6 items on one receipt.
As an aside here, the Walgreens ad has gone digital and I HATE it. I find it really hard to follow the deals because you have to keep clicking to open things to read the details. Online each deal is listed separately but I know that often times there are multiple items that will qualify for the same deal.
I decided not to take any chances and have my items rung up separately. This would mean that I wasn't going to get a $15+ transaction but I figured I didn't have to do all of them this week. I also felt funny asking to do three separate transactions so I decided to just do two and picked up the Oral B and the Colgate.
Oral B went as expected.
Total after tax and coupon was $5.42.
Since I was no longer doing a "spend" transaction I paid with $5 WC and $0.42 in real money.
Got back a $4 RR and $2 from Ibotta.
Colgate was totally NOT what I expected.
This was the deal I planned on doing...
I thought that since I had (2) $2 Colgate coupons my total at the register should be $1.98 + tax and I'd get a $4 RR. My pre-tax total after coupon was actually $3.98 and I didn't get a RR. When I pointed this out to the cashier and showed her the shelf tag she noted that the tag said "$4 Walgreens Cash rewards" and I DID receive $4 WC.
Ugh. This was a totally different offer. My second $2 Colgate coupon was for the Colgate Optic White which was included in the other offer but not in this one so that is why only one of the Colgate coupons came off.
Total after tax and coupon was $4.40.
I paid with $4 WC and $0.40 real money.
Got back $4 WC.
I decided to stop after that. I didn't feel like chasing more transactions today and, among other things, I noticed at both stores that they were out of the Bic Soleils and low on both Charmin and Bounty.
Maybe it's still too early to get back into actively couponing.
Really, what I primarily stockpile from drugstores is paper products, trash bags, laundry detergent and dish detergent; all the rest is fun and extra, with most of it getting donated.
Todays spoils...
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| Depending on how you price the cards ($1 vs $12.99), this is either $42.69 or $78.66 worth of product |
Total OOP spend $27.66 - $8 Ibotta = $19.66.
Earned $11.29 net in WC and a $4 RR.
Total WC balance is now $23.13.
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