Drugstores 101

Honestly, I am not one to shop at the drugstores (Walgreens, Rite Aid, CVS) very much. Sometimes they have great deals but I don't always feel like going all over town. However, Rite Aid has a wonderful website where you can get great competitor's coupons to use at Publix! Just go to Rite Aid's website and scroll down to video values. Set you up an account and start watching these short videos. The videos are like 30 seconds or less or sometimes a minute. No big deal. For whatever item you watch the video on, it will give you a coupon. After you get 20 video credits, you get to print out a $5/$25 coupon or a $4/$20 coupon that can also be used at Publix! I find a lot of my deals using this. I have a few different accounts for the video values because you can only print 1 $5/$25 per account and I like to have one for each week for when I go shopping. The videos change each month but don't expire for 30 days or more. You'll want to watch most of the videos because trust me, as soon you decide not to watch it and it disappears, a sweet deal will come up and you'll wish you had!



Rite aid does have good deals sometimes. You'll want to sign up to get a wellness card (kind of like Winn Dixie's card and CVS) to get the deals. However, now they have changed the rules. The items that give you 'UP' rewards are limited to 1 or 2 per household. UP rewards are printed on your receipt. Say this week you can get crest toothpaste for $3 and get back $1 UP reward. Well, that's like paying $2. Plus, you can use a coupon as well such as a Rite Aid coupon from their website and a manufacturer coupon and still get the UP reward. The UP rewards are good towards your next purchase at Rite Aid. I have found that Walgreens and CVS's reward deals are usually in bigger amounts than Rite Aid. However, Rite Aid does have a coupon policy HERE that states when your using a $5/$25 or $4/$20, the total is calculated before coupons! So make sure you have this policy with you in case the cashier says something different.




I always make sure I check the Walgreens ad. They can really throw out some great deals! Walgreens has 'Register Rewards'. These are just like Rite Aid's UP rewards except they print out from a different machine than your receipt. And since Walgreens doesn't have a card, there is no limit. Well, there may be a limit to do in one transaction but they don't have a way to track it if you do different transactions. There are a few things you need to know when dealing with Walgreens. Each week, Walgreens ad has different items that will produce different Register Rewards. Obviously, these are what you are after. So if they have something you planned on buying and you can get a Register Reward, why not buy it there? And you can also use Manufacturer coupons as well as Walgreens coupons as well as Register Rewards in one transaction. Just remember that if you have several Register Rewards that only equal up to say $10, you cannot use them on one item. Your number of items has to exceed or equal your number of Register Rewards and you also cannot buy one item that you have a Manufacturer coupon for with one Register Reward. You'll have to put a filler item in.  I am in no way a Walgreens expert. I have done it a few times but I don't go there often. Check out WildforWags for more details on how to master Walgreens.  Just be sure to check the front of the store for their monthly booklets because these are store coupons that can be used at Publix and stacked with a manufacturer coupon! Walgreens official coupon policy is HERE.


                                                       

CVS is slowly becoming my favorite! I love their red card scanner in the middle of their stores because you never know what coupon you are going to get from it. I do suggest setting up your account online. If you don't have your CVS Extra Care Card, get one. You can attach it your online account and when you use it in store, your online account will keep up with what ECB (Extra Care Bucks) you have gotten. So, if you've forgotten what deal you have already done, all you have to do is go to your account! CVS.com also has store coupons. I have not come across many that I would use but it is something to check every once in a while. CVS is really just the same as Walgreens, except you are limited as to how many deals you can do. When their weekly ads come out, it will tell you how many deals you can do per household. CVS also has different items each week that produce ECBs that print out on your receipt. Be sure to check the expiration date on these as well as Walgreens. They can expire anywhere from a week to a month. The catch is to buy items first that produce ECBs and then buy more items that give you even more ECBs and use your previous ECBs to pay for that transaction.

Example: I bought a Glade lasting impression plug in for $5 and one Glade Sense & Spray for $5. I had 2 $3/1 coupons. My transaction looked like this:

2 Glade $5 each
1 pack bubble gum $1.19
Total: 11.19
- 2 $3/1 coupons
Total: $6.30 (with tax)
- $5 ECB from previous week
Paid $1.30! The Glade also had ECB so I received $3 back to use for the next week!

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