2/8/10

Walgreens: Cash vs. Register Rewards

My husband and I are having a "lively" conversation regarding Register Rewards from Walgreens. I came home with this stuff, and $14.50 in RRs and tried to tell him that, considering the RRs, it was like spending $2.50 for all this stuff. He doesn't agree, he says NO, you still spent $16.48 (ok, I am still learning how to roll the RRs to get the stuff for free, but hey, I got $14.50 in RRs!)

Here is what I got:

2 Kotex Ladies @ $3.00 each = $6.00
1 Gillette Fusion Power Razor = $8.99
1 Gillette Deodorant = $3.99
1 Gillette Body Wash = $3.34
1 Dove for men Body Wash = $5.99
1 Valentine Card w/candy box = $3.99 (not pictured, needed for school manana, and I didn't have time to go anywhere else)
2 Candy Bars @ .69 cents each
1 Candy Bar @ .62 cents
1 Candy Bar@ .67 cents
Tax @ 8.7% = $2.81

Subtotal = $37.78

Minus MFRs:
$Buy 1 Gillette Deodorant, get 1 Gillette body wash 4 free MFR ( 2/7 PG, exp. 3/31) = $3.34
Dove Men's Body Wash MFR ( 1/31 RP, exp. 4/25) = $1.25
Kotex $2.00/$2.00 MFR(1/10 SS, exp. 3/7) = $2.00
Gillette Fusion Razor MFR (2/7 PG, exp.3/31) = $4.00
Total MFRs = $10.59
Subtotal =$27.20
Minus Store coupons/savings:
RRs from last week = $10.00
Wags saving coupon = .71
Total Store coupons = $10.71

Total OOP = $16.49 (the receipt says $16.48 and since we all know that I can't add even with a calculator its going to be considered a wash)
BUT, I got these RR's back:
Dove Men's Body Wash = $6.00
Gillette Fusion Razor = $4.00
Gillette Deodorant = $1.50
Kotex = $2.00
Mars Candy Bars (must be monthly deal as I don't recall seeing it in ad) $1.50
Total RRs =$16.00

At this point, I turned around and purchased 4 more candy bars (bad...very bad gonna burn in hell Leah) at the Wags coupon price of .49 cents each and used one of my $1.50 RRs to pay for it. All I can say is, I was hungry, they looked good, and I fell for the "Get 8 candy bars for $1.00 bit the cashier gave me - she realized I was working the RRs and cashed in on it (she gonna burn in hell with me.)

I walked out with $14.50 in RRs, but spent $16.95 in real cashola. The way I like to look at this is, hey, I got all this stuff for $2.45! My husband has a different perspective, he says I got all this stuff for $16.95.

I don't know who is right about this, but I am ok with spending $2.45 for all that stuff in the photo :)~

14 comments:

Michele said...

I think you did great! I kind of have to agree with your hubby though. Until you actually roll the RR you still spent $16.48 LOL. Sometimes I get so tired of rolling them that I just want to spend them.

Leah said...

Thank you my friend :)

It was those freakin candy bars that messed up my business. I swear!! I did turn a $10 RR into $14.50 in RRs. Im getting better...And,

There is always next week :)

Michele said...

LOL I'm laughing so hard right now. I was just teasing. After my crummy morning I needed that. :-) There are too many good deals out this week. I feel like I could shop all day. But I guess it wouldn't be very frugal to call Merry Maids to get my house work done.

Anonymous said...

Rolling register rewards is kinda tricky. I am new to it. But today I scored a really good deal on Childrens Motrin. $4.00 of manuf. coupon and a $3.00 RR. I paid 3.41 after tax and all and got back another $3.00 for buying 2 Motrins. That's like paying .41 cents for 2 boxes. I feel like I scored!

Anonymous said...

I really like the Dove deal..except my husband hates when I change any type of product and he is an irish springs type of man.

Anonymous said...

I just pretend like the RR is cash, so I say you spent 2.45. Now if you don't spend those, then ya you pay more. =) I think you did pretty darn good!

Unknown said...

Hate to say it buy I sort of agree with your hubby also. I used to say "its like spending" but then realize that I really spent whatever my oop is. This is a hard one!
I am so bad that I will actually separate all my stuff into several transactions so I will use the RR I just got to pay for the next. Its a lot of work this couponing! BUT ILOVE IT!! However the candy is a great deal and I will getting in on that you can never have enough candy :) and I still think you did great!

Leah said...

Oh JoDee, not you too!

If I had more time, probably would have broken up the transactions but I didn't and the $10 RR I was rolling was just 1 $10 RR (from the Tostitos Deal last week)

I like the way Anon #3 put it, I'm going with that :)~

Greg Rouse said...

I have to agree with your hubby too. You still have to take that $16.48 out of your pocket. But hey $16.48 is still a good deal for what you got. Next time you'll have all those RR to use and your oop will be less.
Thanks for the great post.

Julie T. said...

I have always struggled with this myself. I think you can only count the RRs toward one transaction. So, you can say you only spent $2.45 this time, but you can't then apply your RRs to your next transaction too. Make sense? I sometimes can't quite wrap my mind around the math though.
Love your blog, thanks for all your help in saving money!

janetcoupon said...

Leah, I agree with your dh. This has always been a pet peeve of mine when reading the blogs. They say "final cost" or something like that and the fact is, you still spent $16.48 in real money. You have $10 to spend in fake money on your next purchase, so the next receipt will be really good!

I had the same problem last Sat - I waited till the last minute to cash in my expiring $10 RR at Walgreens - there was, of course, very little left! And I didn't want to spend it on the soda I was going to buy anyway, because another RR wouldn't come out then. I ended up going to a different Walgreens and getting trash bags and blink tears, just to get it over with. I didn't do as well as you did, but I did roll the Blink $8 RR into the soda order and got another $10. You did great though!

Leah said...

I hear what your saying Janetcoupon, when it is stated in ways of "that's LIKE" spending $2.50 but in reality your spending $17.00 it is really misleading and on top of that, you now have it stuck in your head that your only spending $2.50 because you got the RRs back. This rolling RR's business is much more complicated that I ever really considered before.

My husband is going to be so happy that he was right (for once)

mom2priceboys said...

OMGosh Leah, Don't tell him that!!! In fact why did you even put that in print?? Right now go and get rid of your last comment never let him know he was right particularly about money!!!!!ROFL, I struggle with this coupon thing and have not even begun any of the CVS, Walgreens stuff yet cuz I simple do not get the RR etc... and I figure until I do I will just spend $$$

Leah said...

OHMGsh Mom2! Now I'm ROTFLMAO!!

A tactical error on my part, but you should have seen his big grin.

Oh geez...the little things that make men happy.