September 1st, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

It’s been a long time coming, folks – I never thought I’d have a “real” blog makeover, as my blog budget hovers around $1.00. :) Remember how God answered my prayer for a new blog design? Sara from Subjective Beauty has been very patient with me as I tweaked and added and changed… and here we are! What do you think? (I know I love it!)

Now, on to the Walgreens scoop.

I had my first BAD Walgreens experience today. First I will tell you what my master plan was – there were a lot of good deals in the flyer this week!

Transaction #1:
Colgate 360 Actiflex toothbrush – $2.99 (get $3.00 in RR)
Carefree Ultra Protection Pantiliners – $1.99 (get $2.00 in RR)
Total = $5.00; Use $3.00 in RRs from last week
OOP = $2.00
RRs received = $5.00

Transaction #2:
Rembrandt Toothpaste – $5.00 (get $5.00 in RR)
Use $5.00 in RR from Trans #1
OOP = $.25 (because you have to spend something; I usually throw in a caramel or something.) ;)
RRs received = $5.00

Transaction #3:
Breathe Right 10 pack – $4.99 (get $4.00 in RR)
Men’s Zone Razor System – $3.99 (get $4.00 in RR)
Total = $9.00; use $5.00 in RRs from Trans #2
OOP = $4.00
RRs received = $8.00

Transaction #4:
Huggies Jumbo pack diapers – $8.99 with in-ad coupon, use $2.00 coupon from Huggies mailer = $6.99
Carefree Ultra Protection Pantiliners – $1.99 (get $2.00 in RR)
Total = $9.00; Use $8.00 from Trans #3
OOP = $1.00
RRs received = $2.00

Pretty good, right? I was very excited to get there.

But then, our walgreens didn’t have the Breathe Right strips or the razors in stock; surprising since it’s only Monday.

I took my remaining items to the register – did Transaction #1, and the register rewards for the toothbrush didn’t print! Wait a second…

My non-helpful cashier called the manager and I told them I’d just return it. Somehow she took my receipt, gave me my 3 RRs back… and gave me some excuse about the RRs not printing because I used a register reward to pay. It’s never mattered before!

I was flustered but pressed on with the rest of my items. Got the RRs for the rembrandt and used them for the diapers and remaining items, but the register rewards for the toothbrush and second pack of carefree didn’t print, either!

Has Walgreens changed their policy on the register rewards? I’ve NEVER had a problem with them printing if I paid with other register rewards. I’m going to have to take several things back to the store tomorrow and return them – I didn’t trust my cashier to handle it! And… somehow I think I paid for the first pack of carefree twice. The manager gave me back the rewards I used (enough to cover the toothbrush but NOT the carefree), and the cashier then re-scanned the carefree on my second transaction. I think I was too flustered to notice at the time.

Arg. Anyone else have this issue with Walgreens this week?

Frustrating. But, I am choosing to be thankful. I got a jumbo pack of Huggies for $1.99 after coupons and the RRs from the Rembrandt, and my free blog design is so pretty. :) What an answer to prayer it is – what an awesome God we serve! – a God who answers a little prayer for a redesign of my little blog, and provides cheap diapers for my little boy. He is good. :)

August 10th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

Dear Walgreens – quickly becoming one of my favorite places…

Today I decided to run over to Walgreens during the Sunday afternoon napping lull – I thought I was going to buy two papers (with THREE coupon inserts this week! Yahoo!) for a total of $3.00. But, after arriving, I thought, “why not spend $.45 more and come home with a big bag of stuff in addition to the two papers?” Well, actually I didn’t think those exact thoughts, but that is how it worked out.

Here is my weekly $5.00 Walgreens challenge post. I am quite elated to say that I am starting to get the hang of using multiple transactions to keep out of pocket cost down. Let me explain.

Transaction #1:

Jergens naturals lotion $5.99
4 Reach toothbrushes on clearance for $1.09 each (yay! Needed these for the backpacks!)
Sub Total= $7.35
Minus 2 $1.50 off 2 reach toothbrushes coupons (ordered from The Coupon Master)
Minus $7.00 in rebate rewards I had on hand

Total out of pocket (with tax) = $1.02
Received $6.00 in register rewards (from the Jergens) back!

Transaction #2:

2 Stayfree maxi, on sale for $1.99
Colgate total enamel care @ $2.99
2 Sunday papers @ $1.50
Sub Total= $9.97
Minus 1 Stayfree BOGO coupon (ordered from The Coupon Master)
Minus $6.00 register rewards from Transaction #1

Total out of pocket (with tax) = $2.43
Received $8.00 in register rewards back ($3 for the toothpaste, and the extra $5 was a surprise – I guess it was from the stayfree??)!

Total value = $17.32 (plus a TON of coupons from the papers!)
Register rewards in pocket = $8.00 ($1 more than I started with!)
Grand total out of pocket cost = $3.45

As always, I hope that you are taking advantage of these things… and if you happen to not need 2 packs of stayfree, 4 toothbrushes, and extra toothpaste this week – give them away!! :)

July 14th, 2009 by Kristi Stephens

I have always loved school supply shopping. My mom always says that the moment we saw ads for school supply sales start popping up mid-summer, I was quite anxious to get outfitted for school. … and there is something about buying a new pack of pencils that still makes me smile!

Combine that filler paper love-affair with some great deals and coupons… what could be better?

Today I decided to post my walgreens finds as part of Keeping the Kingdom First’s $5 Walgreens challenge. I technically spent $5.23 and went over budget by 23 cents. If this offends you, just put your finger over one pack of envelopes in this picture and call it $4.64. ;)

Today’s $5 haul:

4 10ct packs of sheet protectors, on sale for $.39 each
2 5ct packs of dividers, on sale for $.39 each
2 40ct boxes of security envelopes, $.59 each with in-ad coupon
10 papermate mechanical pencils, on sale for $.39 each
2 Sharpies, 2 for $1.00 with in-ad coupon

Total value – $20.21, for a savings for $14.98!

I didn’t find any good register rewards deals this week… hopefully next week. But, this isn’t bad!

Now, on to the service challenge…

As I mentioned a couple of weeks ago, one of my favorite parts about learning to be a couponer/ rebate hunter is that we can afford to give more stuff away! There are some great school supply deals going, with many more to come. A $.30 sale box of crayolas probably doesn’t phase your budget too much, but this isn’t the case in many homes. There are so many children and families who would be blessed by our generosity to give away our hard sought-out deals!

Probably wherever you live, you can find a ministry that is collecting backpacks to hand out to needy children in your area. My challenge to my local friends is to consider participating in the backpack collection project being sponsored by Moody Radio, Joni and friends, and Teams to the Nations- you can read more details here. Why not take advantage of the great back-to-school sales in order to bless someone else in the name of Christ? If you shop the sales and do your homework, you should be able to pack one for around $12 or less! Let me show you my plan – if you know of better prices for these items anywhere, please let us know!

[These requested items are specific to this backpack project.] Walgreens has a buy one, get one free deal going on this week for their $10 backpacks, making them $5.00 a piece if you do this with a friend – or use the other one for your kid! I also saw online on another blog that walmart has backpacks for $5 and $10 each.

Each backpack also needs:

• Pencils $.50 – (10 ct) Walmart
• Pencil sharpener $.29 – Walgreens
• Eraser $.29 – Walgreens
• 16-32 crayon set $.30 – (24 ct crayola) Walmart
• Ruler $1.00 –dollar tree (on sale at Walgreens, unsure of price)
• Liquid body soap $1.00 – dollar tree
• Hand sanitizer $1.00 – dollar tree
• Toothpaste Crest 4.2oz pro-health FREE at Rite Aid this week w/ rebate
• Toothbrush $1.00 – dollar tree
• White washcloth $1.00 – dollar tree

Voila! Total = $11.38 each, possibly cheaper depending on the sale prices at walgreens, and I wasn’t sure of hand sanitizer/ body soap prices at walmart.

To make this even cheaper, for the week of July 19-25th, you can get a FREE backpack at Staples! Get more info here!

Ladies, let’s go out and shop for a cause! What could be better than the thrill of a great deal combined with making our God famous?