Sep
17
Although it doesn’t have its own catchphrase like “CVSing,” Walgreens is a good alternative for those of you who need to buy a lot of personal care products and don’t live in a CVS region. The Walgreens system sounds more complicated than CVS, but you can still get good deals via their coupons, rebates, and Register Rewards.
Finding Walgreens Coupons
The first thing you need to do is assemble your coupons. Walgreens offers three coupon sources: manufacturer coupons from the regular newspaper inserts/online sources, Register Rewards, and store and manufacturer coupons in their monthly EasySaver Catalog. Pick one up on your next visit to see the deal possibilities. The EasySaver Catalog is also lists several rebates, which you can send in to receive money back once a month.
Preparing Your Deals
Now watch the weekly newspaper circular and sites like Money Saving Mom to determine when to use your Walgreens coupons. Often an item that has a coupon or rebate will go on sale one week during the coupon period.
Stack Store/Manufacturer Coupons
You can combine a store coupon and a manufacturer coupon for each item, if available, however you can’t have more coupons than items, so make sure you count your items before you head to the register. Register Rewards count as coupons. If you have more coupons than items, add a cheap thing to fill out your order so you can use all of your coupons.
Use Register Rewards
Similar to the CVS with their Extra Care Bucks, Walgreens offers their own coupons called Register Rewards. These print from a separate machine like at the grocery store. You can then use them like cash on your next purchase, although there may be restrictions. Make sure you don’t repeat a deal and pay for it with the last set of rewards you earned from the same deal. Instead, use the Register Rewards you received from a deal on an unrelated product. For example, use Pantene-generated Register Rewards to buy Garnier and vice-versa.
Send In Your Rebates
Note the due dates on your rebates, then send in the form per their instructions once a month. You can request a check or a gift card. Get the gift card - you’ll get an extra 10% and can then use the card to avoid spending additional cash at the store.
Issues with Walgreens Coupons
Some users have reported problems with using the Walgreens system. Money Saving Mom suggested handing the cashier your coupons in batches. First, the RR, then the manufacturer coupons, then the store coupons.
Apparently some Walgreens employees are less willing to deal with coupons, so try to find helpful people and check out at their registers.
Some stores run out of items quickly, so shop early and often if there’s a deal you really want to do.
There may also be delays in receiving your rebates. Some people report that the gift cards take longer, while others report that checks take longer. Just make sure you have room in your budget to cover the initial outlay. Once you start rolling your deals, you may never have to pay cash again.
I haven’t used Walgreens because there aren’t any in my area, but my uncle, the master of frugality, has scored numerous great deals there. If you shop at Walgreens, let me know how it worked for you in the comments.
Jun
23
How to Save Money with Email Filters
Filed Under Coupons, Saving Money | 2 Comments
I have two main problems with online coupons: they fill up my in-box and they tempt me to buy. I solved both problems with one quick fix - email filters. Here’s how to set-up email filters to reduce your spending.
How to Set Up Email Filters
I use Thunderbird, so these instructions apply to that. Go to Tools > Rules and Alerts to set up filters for Outlook. It’s not quite as simple, but it can be done. I highly recommend switching to Thunderbird. It’s a much smaller, cleaner program. Here are the instructions for filtering your email there:
- Create a Coupons folder in your in-box
- On the top toolbar, click Tools > Message Filters
- Click New
- Name it “Coupons” or something similar
- In the “Perform these actions” field, select “Move Messages to” and then select “Coupons on [inbox name]
- In the top fields, select “Match any of the following”
- In the middle box select, “From” and “Contains” in the first two fields. Now enter the first store name. Something like “Amazon” or “CVS”
- Continue filling in the first four boxes, then click the plus button to add more.
- Go through your inbox and enter a portion of the company name as it appears in the email address.
- Click OK.
- Click Run Now.
- All your current messages will move to the folder. As future messages come in, they’ll automatically move to that folder.
How Email Filters Save Money
You’re less tempted to buy. The key is to not look in the folder until I realize you need to make a purchase soon, then check the folder regularly for offers from that company. I complete the purchase when a great offer comes in. This way the offers don’t tempt me to buy when they come in unless I’ve already decided to make a purchase.
You Don’t Miss Valuable Coupons When It’s Time. I could just unsubscribe from the offers and use Retail Me Not, but then I’d get back on the mailing list every time I placed an order. Also, CVS and a few other stores send offers for in-store purchases that can only be used if you print the email.
You Can Learn the Offer Cycle. I keep old offers for a few months to track the offer cycle. That way I can see how often certain coupons are offered and when I’m likely to receive them.
As an added bonus, email filters keep my inbox tidier and I don’t manually sort messages. I wasn’t much of a shopper to begin with, but I’ve been less tempted to even look at an online store since I started filtering my emails. Try it and see how much you save.
