Thursday, May 29, 2008

I've Started the Drugstore Game

I had just about given up on this blog --- but now I've started playing the drugstore game and I'm back in the game.
My sister and I went shopping together a few weeks ago and my jaw nearly dropped as I watched her redeem coupons, ends of receipts etc and pay on 37 cents for three bags FULL of stuff. Right then and there, I announced "You've gotta teach me how to do this!!"
Well, she's a woman of her word. She began emailing me and walking me through the beginner steps of the Drugstore Game. She even gave me one receipt to redeem when she was over the limit already (what a terrific sister!!)
I cannot believe how easy this is to do. And I really cannot believe how much stuff (useful, ordinary, household stuff) can be bought for next to nothing just by paying attention and taking advantage of coupons, ends of receipts, and rebates.
I'm only working the Drugstore Game at CVS and Walgreens. Although we have RiteAid all over the place, I just can't juggle three stores as a beginner in the game. I might make just one rebate-able purchase at Rite Aid because they've got a $5 incentive for starting and using a new rebate account with them. Seems like a small task for $5.
Anyway --- my first trip to CVS (directed by my sister, of course) yielded two lip balms for $3.98 and print outs on my receipt that totaled $13.50 to spend sometime before 6/12/08 and two coupons good for $4 off of any $20 purchase. Not bad.
But I got better. My next foray included two large deodorants (different brand than we usually use -- but if we end up not liking it all that well, it can go in the donation bag for the church collection for the food pantry), 6 bottles of dishsoap (I think it was Sunlight or Ajax or one of those) and a bag of M&Ms for the jar in the office here. I used a coupon for $5 off of any $15 purchase (thank you sister!!), a coupon from a magazine for the deodorant, and the sales flyer that comes out weekly. I paid $.16 (yep!! that's 16 CENTS!!) and got back a recepit with $9.98 to spend another time at CVS (those would be Extra Care Bucks or ECBs).
I'm still learning the Walgreens game. I really want to get Walgreens down. During the summer, Walgreens carries some back to school stuff that comes in some funky colors. I started using them a few years ago to color code and organize the whole school (each grade level has its own color --- I do teaching resource binders for all of the classroom teachers and binders and folders for all of the students with whom I directly work). I usually spend about $50 during the summer to stock up on all of that stuff. If I can play the Drugstore Game at Walgreens well enough, I can cut that expense down dramatically. That would be super.