I did a quick shop today to pick up some the cheap and free items.
Here’s Walgreens:
The Gillette and Old Spice men’s body wash are on sale this week for $4.49, plus get a $4.50 Register Reward at checkout – essentially making it free. I had “buy one, get one free” coupons from the 5/2 P&G. I asked my cashier if she’d do two transactions for me so I’d get both Register Rewards. She was happy to do so! She then proceeded to ask where I got my coupons. I love when that happens! If you have more than one Walgreens in your general vicinity, I highly recommend you try them all out. In my area, a couple stores are more coupon friendly than others.
Bottom line: all were free after coupons and Register Rewards! That’s a $17.96 value, but seriously, if you use coupons, that’d be a crazy amount to spend on body wash, wouldn’t it? Inconceivable!
I did two transactions. I did ask my cashier first on their interpretation of the “3 doubler per shopping trip.” She told me the store treated that as “3 per transaction.” Good news for me since my nearest Albertsons is a good 15 minutes away!
First transaction – the cereal, and one of the Lysol cleaners. I paid $3.83 out of pocket, and saved $18.61.
Second transaction – the yogurt, and the second Lysol cleaners. I paid $0.87 out of pocket, and saved $9.43.
Total Albertsons haul – $4.70 spent, $28.04 saved (83% saved!).
Tomorrow is the last day to take advantage of the doublers at Albertsons. The body wash deal runs through Saturday at Walgreens.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
Great trip! I will have to do a trip again for the Post cereal. I went yesterday and I got 4 boxes of 3-pk treetop juice and 4 activias all for free! 2 transactions. It was my first time that my receipt actually read “zero” balance owed. It was pretty neat.
I still have a receipt of my first $0.00 transaction – come to think of it, I think I’ve only ever had a couple transactions work out to exactly $0.00!! Pretty darn satisfying, isn’t it? Why do people think they have to shoplift? They should learn to coupon! LOL!
Last night I printed out a coupon for the $2 off Post Cereal to try at Walgreen. The cereal was on sale for $1.75, and I tried to do the filler items so it wouldn’t come out negative, but he said I could not use a coupon that was for more money off the amount of the product. So I ended up getting 2 boxes of post Shredded Wheat for $1.50. I think this is a good deal, but I was bummed I didn’t get it for cheaper.
I had an issue with the “3 doublers per shopping trip” at the Federal Way store. The cashier told me they had just changed their policy to “3 doublers per customer per day”. So after only doing one transaction, I went to the Milton store and asked the cashiers there. They said their policy is 3 shopping trips per day, for a total of 9 doublers in the 3 transactions. But they said there has been some confusion about that lately and that some cashiers confuse the 3 shopping trips with 3 doublers.
I’m lucky to live within a 2-mile radius of 3 Albertson stores, so yesterday was pretty busy!
BTW, some Pantene shampoo, conditioners and stylers are clearanced at $2.14(making it almost free w/doubler + coupon) and Infusium shampoo & conditioners are clearanced at $3.00, and I had several $3.00 coupons for those so it was a good day!
I can’t tell you how frustrating these changes in policy are! I have had managers ask me to leave because I was doing more than one transaction and I have gone through with 6 orders and no says a thing! I have a friend who is a Supervising manager and she told me that they had to sign an agreement that the limit is 3 orders (9doublers) per day. That doesn’t mean a thing if you are shopping for others (I shop for some blue haired girls), so I would say it’s really up to the checker. BUT, the new policy is 3 orders (9 doublers).
Here’s my haul:
#1 6 Toaster streudel $2 (2-$1/2 booklet) 2 doublers
2 BC Supreme Brownies $2 ($1/2 from SFW Shrek coupon booklet)
2 Chex mix $2 ($1/2) Doubler
Final $12.00 + $5 Catalina
15 Michelina Wheels n cheese dinners $5/10 (3-$1/5 SS5/2) 3 doublers
1 Dreyers Blueberry fruit bars (GOOOOOOOD) 2.99 ($1/1 booklet)
Bananas
Total : used $5 catalina= ZERO!
12 bucks for everything! WOOHOO
I almost never shop at Albertsons because I can get better deals at the military commissary. But this week I didn’t feel like driving up there and wanted to take advantage of the b1g1 free in the meat department at the Milton Albertsons. I was concentrating so hard on picking just the right things and getting the deal I wanted that I forgot to use the doubler on my coupons I did use. Ugggh!
What was your total out of pocket at Walgreens? Were you able to use your Register Rewards from transaction #1 on your 2nd transaction?
Morgan, so I didn’t have prior RR to use for the body wash, so it was all out of pocket. I paid $4.49 for transaction 1, and $4.49 for transaction 2, and then got (2) $4.50 Register Rewards.
I could’ve taken the $4.50 Register Reward from transaction 1, applied it to transaction #2, BUT a second $4.50 Register Reward would not have print. I did consider taking this route because it would’ve meant only spending $4.50 out of pocket for everything. In the end, I went for both Register Rewards. Please note that if I would’ve applied the Register Reward, I would’ve needed to add a filler item to make it work since my total would’ve been $4.49, and tried to use a $4.50 Register Reward…does that make sense?
Abby I meant to mention – I ONLY shop Albertsons for their promotions, sales, and loss leaders. That is it! Otherwise I consider them to be a pretty pricey store. But when I can buy $200 worth of Quaker for $0.88 or 50 packs of tuna for $0.05 each, yes, I’ll make the trip…
Got it- I am new at shopping at Walgreens! I’m trying to move away from getting most of our sundries at Walmart and trying to get good deals at other places. I’m finding that I need to be much more fexible with what brands I will buy and where to find them.
Where do you shop for most of your groceries? We have Safeway,Albertsons, Freddies and QFC. I never shop at QFC and only sometimes at Freedies. Is there a way to know which products are loss leaders?
Morgan-If you are open to all stores and look at their sales, you can score great deals at a lot of different places. I’m partial to QFC (I work there), so I always look for their loss leaders and I am able to score some pretty great deals (They have some great, quality meat sales–BOGO chicken this week, BOGO certified angus pot roast last week and 99 cents/lb grapes last week, these are GREAT deals). I’ve also gotten Halls there for free, gum for free, yogurt for free, great cereal deals and great produce deals etc, etc. As long as you are open to all stores, you will get the best deals. But, I really had to limit my stores to about 4-5. I was running all around town getting stuff here and there and not spending as much time with family. Overall, Freddies has pretty good prices on things even if its not on sale and Albertson’s non-sale items are very high. Hope that helps.
Morgan, Marci has given EXCELLENT advice!! Keep an open mind – loss leaders are found at virtually all grocery stores! To keep from running around, each week I try to keep it to no more than 2 grocery stores: one for loss leaders (maybe Albertsons or Fred Meyer) and one to buy the rest of my grocery list that may or may not be on sale. In my area, I prefer shopping at Winco for these items. I buy in bulk bins, look for generic, etc.
If you start following my blog, you’ll see I talk a LOT about Fred Meyer. It really is a great store!!
I personally get annoyed with Safeway…I don’t like their coupon policy on a whole. But from time to time, yes, I will shop there too for a great deal!!
Thanks for the advice guys! Marci- I’m not really sure why I don’t shop at QFC, I guess its just out of habit. We have one fairly close- I will have to give them a try! Right now I trying to find the balance of running around and getting great deals. My husband works full time (and then some!) and I stay home with our 2 children; a special needs 2 1/2 year old and a 9 month old. I also take a night class at the local college, so I have to plan each trip around a very tight schedule.
I try and stick to Albertsons for sales only, and now I’m trying to decide what store(s) have the best deals non-sale items. We don’t eat much processed foods ( i.e poptarts, bagel-bites, ect) so I’m more interested who has the best balance of price and quailty on produce,meats, deli items and staples.
I’m also trying my hand at Walgreens, now tha I have switched my daughters medication there. Today I did the Gillette/Old Spice deal you mentioned. I paid $5.26 for each transaction inc. taxes, so it worked out to .38 cents per bottle of body wash! Now I just don’t know what the best use of my RR would be! Any thoughts? I can’t use them on P&G products( too bad,I wanted to buy Pampers!) and I think I might just hang on to them to see what deals come up next week!