If it were possible to be in love with a couponing event, I would be in love with Super Doubles. Harris Teeter has some wonderful coupon policies. I know I've bemoaned the couponing limits locally, and yes, HT has couponing limits that I wish would go away, but they are the only chain locally that allows the use of an electronic coupon and a paper coupon on the same item. If it's a current ecoupon, you can even reload it and go back in and use it again.
Very recently, they removed the BOGO Philly Cooking Cream ecoupon. That's OK, I scored that deal several times last SD, and that it was still do-able at the beginning of this one was awesome.
The Philly Cooking Cream deal went like this: ecoupon for BOGO Philly Cooking Cream, buy 2 at $2.99 each, use 2 $1.50 coupons, that double to the cost of the item making them free AND get $2.99 off from the ecoupon. $2.99 overage, every day.
This SD, there's a deal on Jello Temptations 3 packs. There's a BOGO ecoupon. There's a printable for $1 off 1. There's a catalina deal when you buy 2 or more. HT will only accept 2 identical internet printables per day, which is fine. Print 2, load ecoupon, buy 2. They're $3.19 each, so $6.38 for 2. Take off 2 $1 off coupons, doubled, and they're $2.38. Take off another $3.19 for the ecoupon, and there's 81 cents overage AND a catalina prints for $1 off your next order.
Printing extra copies of this coupon from additional computers is nice, but not necessary to keep the moneymaker Jello flowing. In many packages (and it says so on the back of the carton) there are 75 cent off coupons. So, when you buy your first 2, make sure you grab cartons that will yield coupons. Go home, take the individual cups out of the package and cut the coupon from the carton. Reload the ecoupon.
Let's do the new math. 2 Jello Temptations are $6.38, minus 2 doubled 75 cent coupons, and we're at $3.38. Take off the BOGO ecoupon, and were at 19 cents. Pay 19 cents plus tax, get a $1 off your next order catalina. You're ahead 81 cents.
The catalina gets higher with 3 or 4 Jello Temptations in your order, but the math works out that doing it 2 at a time is a better deal. HT will only double 3 identical coupons, so if you used 4 they'd double 3, give you face value on the 4th, take off the BOGO and issue a catalina for $3 off your next order. It would work out $12.76 - $4.50 - $0.75 - $3.19 = $4.32 and get back a $3 catalina. They wouldn't be free if you bought 4 using 75 cent coupons. If you used 2 printable $1 coupons (remember, you can only use 2 printables at HT) and 2 of the 75 cent coupons, you could make money on them, but you make more just buying 2 using the 75 cent coupons ($12.76 - $4 - $3 - $3.19 = $2.57 and you'd get back a $3 off catalina, you're only making 43 cents).
You can just take my word for it that buying 3 is also not as good a deal as just buying 2.
Today I hit HT, and spent a fair bit more than I wanted. I got some meat at the deli and a piece of salmon at my husband's request. Those two were more than half my $22 total. I grabbed a few things for the price of sales tax, and swung by the teen shelter to drop them off. I really have no need of more free dental floss at this time, and my family has been appropriately equipped with free electric toothbrushes, so the free toothbrushes weren't really needed either. I didn't need the free milk, and I'm pretty sure I didn't have room in my fridge for the free yogurt. I shopped at a slightly further away HT than usual because that one is very close to the shelter, and it would be collectively less driving.
I've dropped off at this shelter 3 times so far, and I've not seen the same staff members twice.
I played coupon fairy again today, which was fun. A 20-something male with his girlfriend, and he got really excited at the 67 cent Classico pasta sauce, the girlfriend just seemed annoyed. Then there was the hippie in the coffee aisle buying Starbucks coffee. I offered her $1.50 off Starbucks coupons, explained to her how SD works, and that with the coupons she could buy 3 today for $2.99 each. She took 3 coupons, which is the limit for identical coupons, complimented my binder, grabbed 2 more Starbucks from the shelf and thanked me.
Monday, March 28, 2011
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
3/23 Super Doubles at Harris Teeter
I love Harris Teeter.
OK, so, today I acquired ....
2 boxes of Hefty 13 gallon trash bags
6 jars Classico Alfredo
3 Gatorade Recovery 03
3 McCormick Herbs and Spices
3 packs of Reach Floss
2 Jello Temptations 3 packs
2 lbs HT brand butter
3 Danimals Crush
1 Danactive
Total before coupons and in store savings: $100.76
Coupon savings: $61.68
Total paid including sales tax: $11.50 ($1.19 was tax)
Savings: $89.26 or 88.6%
And I was issued 2 catalina coupons at check out for a total of $3.50 off my next order.
OK, so, today I acquired ....
2 boxes of Hefty 13 gallon trash bags
6 jars Classico Alfredo
3 Gatorade Recovery 03
3 McCormick Herbs and Spices
3 packs of Reach Floss
2 Jello Temptations 3 packs
2 lbs HT brand butter
3 Danimals Crush
1 Danactive
Total before coupons and in store savings: $100.76
Coupon savings: $61.68
Total paid including sales tax: $11.50 ($1.19 was tax)
Savings: $89.26 or 88.6%
And I was issued 2 catalina coupons at check out for a total of $3.50 off my next order.
Super Doubles
One of the grocery stores in my area is Harris Teeter. Every 4-6 weeks, Harris Teeter runs Super Doubles. Normally, HT doubles coupons up to 99 cents (limit 20 per day, limit 3 identical per day, per household). During Super Doubles, HT doubles coupons up to $1.98.
Generally, I spend half my monthly grocery budget during a SD week, but I make out like a bandit. Last SD, I got enough guacamole to give away and still have a year's supply in my freezer for the price of sales tax. I could have painted my body several times with Philly Cooking Cream, which was a money maker, with no regrets. I scored several bottles of high end shampoo for 50 cents each, and more free dish soap.
This SD, while not looking as promising as last SD, should still be good. I have a couple of good Qs for stuff we use everyday that I should be able to get great deals with.
I went to a coupon swap this evening, oddly this one and the one on Thursday were planned before there were SD rumors floating around the blogosphere. Because of SD, we had a really high turn out.
One woman was chatting up our organizer about doing SD, starting couponing and stockpiling. I had to say something.
"Make your list. Pull your coupons. Go in, get what you came to get and GET OUT."
Seriously, that's the best way to beat the store at their own game, and it's the only way to win. Put the blinders on. Get it done.
If you're new to couponing or stockpiling, and you're used to shopping where they have "Everyday Low Prices" (and they do, don't get me wrong), hit the sale as hard as you can for sale items ONLY, then go where you'd normally shop and pick up the rest of your week's groceries.
Super Doubles starts at 7 am on Wednesday. I will be going. Last SD I hit them every single day. I'm hoping not to do that this time, but we'll see. If the deals are that good, I may just have to.
I will be posting my SD totals and savings. Stay tuned.
Generally, I spend half my monthly grocery budget during a SD week, but I make out like a bandit. Last SD, I got enough guacamole to give away and still have a year's supply in my freezer for the price of sales tax. I could have painted my body several times with Philly Cooking Cream, which was a money maker, with no regrets. I scored several bottles of high end shampoo for 50 cents each, and more free dish soap.
This SD, while not looking as promising as last SD, should still be good. I have a couple of good Qs for stuff we use everyday that I should be able to get great deals with.
I went to a coupon swap this evening, oddly this one and the one on Thursday were planned before there were SD rumors floating around the blogosphere. Because of SD, we had a really high turn out.
One woman was chatting up our organizer about doing SD, starting couponing and stockpiling. I had to say something.
"Make your list. Pull your coupons. Go in, get what you came to get and GET OUT."
Seriously, that's the best way to beat the store at their own game, and it's the only way to win. Put the blinders on. Get it done.
If you're new to couponing or stockpiling, and you're used to shopping where they have "Everyday Low Prices" (and they do, don't get me wrong), hit the sale as hard as you can for sale items ONLY, then go where you'd normally shop and pick up the rest of your week's groceries.
Super Doubles starts at 7 am on Wednesday. I will be going. Last SD I hit them every single day. I'm hoping not to do that this time, but we'll see. If the deals are that good, I may just have to.
I will be posting my SD totals and savings. Stay tuned.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Where to get coupons
The easiest way to get the most coupons with the least effort is to get the paper. There are some parts of the country that don't get the coupons in the paper, they get them in the mail. You can check which yours is (paper or mail) here, at Redplum.
The 2 inserts that are in the paper almost every week are Smartsource and Redplum. Sometimes there's more than one of each. Most of the time it'll say "Smartsource" or "Redplum" in big letters on the front, but some weeks you'll find inserts that don't clearly say, like finding the big G from General Mills on the cover. If you looked on the spine (in VERY small type) it says it's a Smartsource. The publication date is also in mice type on the spine, if you choose to not cut until you need a coupon and fail to write the date on the insert, you can find it. About once a month there's also a P&G insert.
Smartsource and Redplum both have websites with printable coupons. A lot of times, the coupons there are identical to the ones in the paper, though not ALL the paper coupons are there. If you can't get your hands on the paper, or don't want to buy more papers just for one or two really GOOD coupons, you can try their websites. Sometimes you get lucky. On weeks I've failed to get a paper, a few since having a baby, the printables have kept me from missing out on all the freebies that week. I still miss out on some of the deals, but you learn to recognize a good coupon when you see it.
Other ways to get coupons are to sign up for free samples. All You does a free sample daily on their website, just scroll down and click on the daily free sample link. A lot of free samples will come with a coupon. Some don't, but enough do that it's worth it. Check a few days back (I've even gone back a few weeks) on samples if you see something that interests you. Sometimes they're still available.
I can't recommend signing up for the P&G samples enough. They come with lots of coupons.
You should request the P&G Brandsampler. Request them all, even if there's stuff on there you won't use. Extra coupons to share and trade are always a good thing. Courtesy of P&G I've got an assortment of travel size goodies lying in wait for our next vacation, Pantene, Crest, Tide, all in small travel sizes and ready to go.
While P&G makes .... everything .... and you should sign up for their stuff (get and use an email address just for couponing, it will seriously save your sanity), less mamouth companies, and even subsidiaries of mamouth companies, have their own sites where you can sign up for coupons and samples.
For example, Beechnut. Sign up for their newsletter and get a free toddler welcome kit. Whether you use Beechnut or not, you'll get coupons, which may get you some free stuff. If you don't want it, you can always donate it or keep the coupons to swap and trade.
There are a lot of coupons to be had on Facebook. Lots of companies are running promotions on Facebook offering some really good stuff. Sometimes it's a freebie. Sometimes it's $1 off. Point being, if you use a product, like them on Facebook and check to see if they're running a promo. CVS ran a promo where everyone who liked them and then registered for the promo got emailed a 20% coupon to nonsale merchandise that was good for a couple of days. Coffeemate ran a promo a that literally shut down their page it got so much traffic, but if you were one of the lucky ones you could print a coupon for a free Coffeemate creamer. Other manufacturer's will mail you a coupon if you sign up on their Facebook page. If they don't have a promo now, they may later, and if you like them you'll see it on your page. Like away.
Sneaky manufacturers put coupons inside their product packaging. Sometimes they'll advertise it on the outside of the box, sometimes they won't. I make a habit of checking inside boxes before I toss them in the recycling, and I fish through after my kids when I see one of them has tossed a box. Also, if a product has a pamphlet, check it for coupons too. I've scored some good high value coupons with far out expiration dates on some of our favorite products this way, coupons on the inside of the cereal box, coupons on the instruction sheet for the infant vitamins, coupons on the pamphlet inside a box of Biore. Coupons are everywhere, you just have to keep an eye out for them.
Sneaky manufacturers put coupons inside their product packaging. Sometimes they'll advertise it on the outside of the box, sometimes they won't. I make a habit of checking inside boxes before I toss them in the recycling, and I fish through after my kids when I see one of them has tossed a box. Also, if a product has a pamphlet, check it for coupons too. I've scored some good high value coupons with far out expiration dates on some of our favorite products this way, coupons on the inside of the cereal box, coupons on the instruction sheet for the infant vitamins, coupons on the pamphlet inside a box of Biore. Coupons are everywhere, you just have to keep an eye out for them.
You can also find coupons in the store. Blinkies, peelies and tearpads are everywhere. Take what you need, try not to get greedy, if there are plenty you can grab some to share. Blinkies are found in those boxes hanging off the shelf with the blinking light that dispense coupons. Peelies are stuck on the product packaging, you just have to peel them off (never depend upon the cashier to do this, btw). Tearpads are a pad that you tear a few off of. For all of these, even if you're not buying the item today, if you will buy it in the near future, grab a few, but don't get greedy. I was in the store a week after a good sale on Martha White muffin mix. I'd stocked up. They put a new blinkie out in front of the Martha White. If the same sale comes up again, and I have these new coupons, I will be able to get packages of Martha White muffin mix for 4 cents each. I didn't need any more right now, but I grabbed a few coupons anyway, and filed them away to match with a good sale later.
Always, always, ALWAYS take a stroll through the beer and wine section if you live in a No Beverage Purchase Required (NBPR) state. Most times it's a bust, but when you score you can score big. With March Madness coming up and St. Patty's, I've been finding rebates from Guiness ($4 back When You Buy (WYB) $4.01 of meat, cheese or bread), Murphy's ($2 back WYB corned beef) and Miller ($2 off 2 Digiornos pizza). I live in a NBPR state, so I don't have to buy alcohol to make use of these offers. If you don't live in a NBPR state, still take a walk through beer and wine. Your favorite brand may be running a promo that you can take advantage of.
Always, always, ALWAYS take a stroll through the beer and wine section if you live in a No Beverage Purchase Required (NBPR) state. Most times it's a bust, but when you score you can score big. With March Madness coming up and St. Patty's, I've been finding rebates from Guiness ($4 back When You Buy (WYB) $4.01 of meat, cheese or bread), Murphy's ($2 back WYB corned beef) and Miller ($2 off 2 Digiornos pizza). I live in a NBPR state, so I don't have to buy alcohol to make use of these offers. If you don't live in a NBPR state, still take a walk through beer and wine. Your favorite brand may be running a promo that you can take advantage of.
And lastly, a great way to get coupons is to share them. I belong to a swap group. Some churchs have coupon boxes for you to leave what you don't want and take what you do. Point here is you can get more coupons for the things you use by offering coupons for the things you don't to others. If I have a baby and you have a dog, I can give you all the dog supply coupons I get, you can give me all the baby supply coupons you get. We've both got twice as many of what we need now, and we didn't have to buy another paper.
Which brings up subscriptions. It is almost always cheaper to subscribe than to pay at the store. On top of that, many papers will give you a discount if you want more than one copy of the paper each week. My local paper charges $1, as opposed to $1.50 for the first copy delivered and $2 at the store, for each additional copy of the paper I want delivered.
Some weeks the inserts are so good you may want to run out and grab an extra copy or five. I know I have. I resist the urge unless I know, with absolute certainty, that the extra copy will pay for itself immediately. I have been known, on seriously excellent coupon weeks, to get 8 copies of the paper. I did not buy 8 copies all at once. I bought 2, clipped the coupons, scored at least $10 worth of stuff for the price of sales tax, bought 2 more papers, repeat. The greatest coupons in the world are only useful if your store has stock of the item. I try not to be too greedy with the freebies or the papers. I'm not the only one trying to get good deals, so I try to leave enough for everyone else. I've not yet found a deal that I wanted so badly that I was willing to buy a lot and clean out a store. Since I've started coupon swapping, the number of weeks I get extra copies of the paper and the number of extra copies I grab has gone down. When I can easily pick up 2-10 copies of the great coupons I would have bought an extra paper for just by trading with friends it reduces the amount of money I have to spend. Saving money is the point of the exercise, after all, and you're not really saving a lot if you're just spending all your savings on more newspapers. Unless you have a really large family, 1 or 2 copies of the paper should be enough to meet your needs most weeks.
There are also clipping services available online. You can't buy coupons, but you can pay someone for their time clipping them. I know a couple of people who prefer to order the really good coupons from clipping services instead of buying several papers to get extras. I have not yet tried one, so I can't make any recommendations.
A quick word about trading coupons....
I never, ever, trade internet printable coupons with people I wouldn't trust with my life. Internet coupons, most of them anyway, have unique identifying coding on them. If they are copied and the copies are used, the company will know and your IP address will get banned from printing. Stores do not get reimbursed for copies. A number of people I've talked to don't seem to be bothered by that. That's very shortsighted. If the stores don't get paid, they're going to stop accepting IP coupons, many already don't accept them, that means fewer good deals for all of us. On top of that, if you're giving them a fraudulent coupon you are leaving the store with merchandise that won't be paid for, that's technically stealing.
Let me be clear. Not only will I not give someone an IP coupon I have printed, I will not accept and use an IP coupon from someone else. Even if what they're giving me appears to be an original, I have no idea if it has been copied. I refuse to participate in an activity that will harm us all. There are too many good deals to be had without committing fraud.
There are also clipping services available online. You can't buy coupons, but you can pay someone for their time clipping them. I know a couple of people who prefer to order the really good coupons from clipping services instead of buying several papers to get extras. I have not yet tried one, so I can't make any recommendations.
A quick word about trading coupons....
I never, ever, trade internet printable coupons with people I wouldn't trust with my life. Internet coupons, most of them anyway, have unique identifying coding on them. If they are copied and the copies are used, the company will know and your IP address will get banned from printing. Stores do not get reimbursed for copies. A number of people I've talked to don't seem to be bothered by that. That's very shortsighted. If the stores don't get paid, they're going to stop accepting IP coupons, many already don't accept them, that means fewer good deals for all of us. On top of that, if you're giving them a fraudulent coupon you are leaving the store with merchandise that won't be paid for, that's technically stealing.
Let me be clear. Not only will I not give someone an IP coupon I have printed, I will not accept and use an IP coupon from someone else. Even if what they're giving me appears to be an original, I have no idea if it has been copied. I refuse to participate in an activity that will harm us all. There are too many good deals to be had without committing fraud.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Rite Aid trip 3/13/2011
I visited Rite Aid today. I spent most of my prep time on the CVS deal. Had I done more than quickly flip through Rite Aid's ad (which I've done since coming home), I'd have noticed other good deals. In a quick flip, I saw these. 40 count Motrin PM on sale for $3 each with a $1 +UP reward.
I've been couponing for a few months, and back in January Rite Aid had 20 count Motrin PM on sale for $3 with a $2 +UP. In that Sunday's paper there were coupons for $6 off when you buy 2 Motrin (and a couple of other items). I remember grabbing as many as I could then, because $2 back more than covers the sales tax on $3, so they were all money makers. In the time since, I've been to several coupon swaps. At every swap I've been to, I've found these $6 off 2 coupons. I've picked up quite a few. In fact, a few weeks back Tylenol Precise was also a money maker if you had these coupons. I've been making money hand over fist on these coupons, and I still have more.
Anyway, quick flip through the ad and there's $3 Motrin PM with a $1 +UP. I run in, grab 6, pay and get out.
My subtotal was zero, but I had to pay $1.40 in sales tax. On my receipt, it printed 6 +UPs for $1 each. Math time: $6 earned - $1.40 spent = $4.60 money maker.
CVS trip 3/13/2011
Today, I ventured to CVS. I had $12.98 in ECBs to roll, and there were deals to be had.
Before I go too far, I have to say, while I only have one Extracare card, my mother has made her Extracare card available to me. When there is a limit of 1, like this week's baby deal, having a second card to use is wonderful. Today, I used Mom's Extracare card because I had earned ECBs on her card and they were due to expire later this week. I have ECBs from my card, but they don't expire until April. If you don't use them you lose them, and if I can't make it back to get a deal, or the deals are sold out, with my card's ECBs I still have time to roll those without losing them.
I decided to split my order up into two transactions. Doing so would allow me to immediately roll ECBs from the first order on to the second, reducing my out of pocket (OOP) and reducing the amount of ECBs I'll have to work to roll later on. I could have done a better job spliting it up had I thought about it.
For my first order, I got a pack of Tena. They're adult incontinence pads. I don't need them, but they're easily donateable. They're on sale for $9.99 with a $9.99 ECB. There's also a coupon on Tena's website for $2.50 off. Money maker!
I paid for the Tena using $7.99 in ECBs, the $2.50 coupon from their website, and 12 cents in cash. I got back $9.99 in ECB. I made $1.88 on the deal (the rest of the $2.50 from the coupon was absorbed by sales tax). I also still have $4.99 ECB that I walked in the door with.
In my second order I purchased 1 Enfamil Newborn powder tub and a 50 count Advil (which was oddly part of the baby deal, between those 2 I met the $25 threshold to earn ECBs), 1 Dulcolax Balance 14 count, 1 Dulcolax tablets 25 count, and (2) 150 count Dentek picks.
Both the Dulcolax are on sale this week for $4.99. CVS mailed me coupons a few weeks back, one was for $5 off Dulcolax Balance 14 count, and one was for $3 off any Dulcolax. $5 off a $4.99 product is my kind of deal, and for the price of sales tax I'm OK with adding it to my assortment of OTC medications for whenever we might need them in the future. But it gets better. Those coupons are both CVS coupons, which means I could stack a manufacturer's coupon on for greater savings. A little web searching later and I found $4 off any Dulcolax coupons printable online (most online printables are a limit of 2). So, I could get two Dulcolax, at least one of them being the Balance variety, for $9.98 - $8 in CVS coupons - $8 in manufacturer's coupons = $6.02 overage towards the rest of my order.
Dentek has an ECB deal, spend $5 get $2 ECB. I had 2 $1 off 1 Dentek over $2 coupons. My family likes and uses these products, they don't often go on sale or have coupons. I selected (2) 150 count Dentek picks priced at $3.49 each. Take off $1 each from my coupons, and they'll give me back $2 in ECB. Not a bad deal.
I need formula. Enfamil is what my baby prefers, and all this effort for money makers and overage was really a blatant attempt to get the cost of the formula down. CVS's sale this week on Enfamil is really good, but with a little strategy I knew I could make it better. The Advil was the low price, name brand item I could buy to hit the $25 that I also had a coupon for. $22 for the Enfamil, with a $2 off coupon and a $5 formula check, $4.50 for the Advil with a $2 coupon, and hitting the $25 mark I get $10 back in ECBs.
I give the cashier my 2 CVS Dulcolax coupons, $8 in total, the ECBs I brought in and just earned on the Tena, $14.98, $2 Enfamil coupon, $2 Advil coupon, (2) $1 Dentek coupons, (2) $4 Dulcolax coupons and a $5 Enfamil check.
My total: $3.58
My receipt prints $10 and $2 ECBs for the baby deal and the Dentek.
Let's do the math.
I walked in with $12.98 in ECBs. I paid them $3.70 ($3.58 + $0.12 from the Tena transaction) in real money. I walked out with $12 in ECBs and all that stuff.
$3.70 plus the 98 cents more in ECBs I spent than made, and if we say everything else was free, I just paid $4.68 for a large tub of Enfamil powder. Those things retail around $25 in most stores.
I could have done better, but my CVS was out of the free after ECB Theraflu singles that I found a $2 off coupon for. Maybe they'll have it later in the week. If not, I'll get a raincheck.
Having a plan: Playing the drugstore game at Rite Aid
Rite Aid may be the most complicated of the drugstores to work, but they are hands down the best deal.
Rite Aid has a rewards program, called wellness+. You can go in to Rite Aid and get a wellness+ card. They will keep track of how much you've spent, and when you've earned enough points you'll get a discount everyday on regularly priced merchandise in the store. You earn 25 points filling a prescription (with certain limitations, like you don't earn points if the prescription was paid for using Medicare/Medicaid). You earn one point per dollar spent in the store. At 500 points, you've earned an everyday discount of 10% off regularly priced items. At 1000 points, you've earned 20% off the same. At 125, 250 and 375 points, you'll earn a 10% off savings pass good for one purchase.
Like CVS and Walgreens, Rite Aid has a reward that prints at the register good towards your next purchase. At Rite Aid, they're called +UPs. To get +UPs you make a qualifying purchase (either something from the sale flier or something with in store signage, or sometimes even something that has no signage in your store for whatever reason) and +UPs print at the end of your receipt. +UPs can not be applied to sales tax, just like the other drugstore programs. You need to use your wellness+ card at the register to get +UPs, but even if your purchase will not generate +UPs you should use it anyway so that your purchase will count towards earning your next reward level.
Pretty frequently there's something or other available for free after +UP reward. You go in, pay the sale price and a +UP for the price of the item prints at the end of your receipt. So long as you use the +UP before it expires, you've not paid anything but sales tax on the item. In a perfect world, you roll your +UPs by spending them on other items that generate +UPs (or rebates, but we'll get to that).
In addition to +UP instant rebates, Rite Aid has Single Check Rebates. Every month they publish a flier with all the rebate items and amounts listed. You buy an item during its rebate period (some times it's the whole month, sometimes it's a particular week) and you submit it for the rebate. You can only request a check once per month, which is why it's called Single Check Rebates. You can keep your receipts and mail them with the form in the SCR flier OR you can enter them online as you make purchases. The later is a vastly superior method. So long as you remember to enter the receipt when you get home, there's nothing to keep track of. Once you sign up online for the rebates, there are no annoying forms to fill out. Keeping track of things, or lack thereof, and not wanting to fill out forms to mail are two very common reasons people don't submit rebates. I like that I don't have to waste the postage.
Submitting SCR online also allows you to double dip, or at least not stress separating orders. There have been manufacturer's mail in rebates for all sorts of things. It can be a giant pain to sort out what in your basket is for a SCR and what in your basket is for a manufacturer's rebate, and heaven forbid something qualifies as both or you make a mistake and buy an item with the wrong order. You can submit your receipt information on the SCR site, and still have the receipt to mail in for another rebate.
A few times a month, items will be free after SCR. For those not inclined to keep track of +UPs, these are awesome (they're awesome either way to be honest). You buy the item, go home and enter your receipt on the website and at the end of the month you request your rebate check. Rite Aid sends you a check for the cost of the item, and all you are out is the sales tax. If you use the occasional coupon, you can actually make back the cost of sales tax and unlike +UPs this is a real check you can take to the bank and get real money to spend any way you want. If you can keep track of your +UPs, free after SCR items are a good way to spend +UPs and get back real money.
Now, if you use coupons for your item, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If you pay entirely with +UPs, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If you've earned an everyday wellness+ discount, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If a SCR is for ALL of a particular item, and you find one on clearance, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR (last month, all Almay eye make-up had a $2 SCR, and I found a less popular shade set on clearance for $1.94, it had "gift for my young niece" written all over it).
Rite Aid has in ad coupons which you can stack with manufacturer's coupons to get a better deal, but the real magic with Rite Aid's own coupons are their Video Values program. You sign up for Video Values on their website. You watch short video ads, many of them the exact same commercials that are on TV, and you earn credits. Some of the credits are for the particular item you are viewing an ad for. Some of the credits are cummulative towards a larger reward. Some are good for both.
For example, this month there is a Video Value beauty bonus. You watch 12 videos and earn $2 off a $10 beauty purchase. Some of the videos also earn you a coupon towards that item. If you watch all the beauty bonus videos, you can print the $2 off $10 coupon, and the individual item coupons. If you select $10 worth of product, you can use both the $2 off coupon and the coupon for the item AND, if you have a manufacturer's coupon, you can use that too. I, personally, do not wear make-up (weird for a woman, I know) or I would dazzle you with a deal scenario that I'd done recently using these offers. I may not wear make-up, but I watched the videos anyway. You never know what will go on sale, and I've been known to print out the right combination of VV coupons to stack with manufacturer's coupons to score free product. I have a daughter, and she loves it when I tell her there is free make-up to be had.
Most Video Values ads are short, around 30 seconds. Some can be as long as 4 minutes, but those tend to be either high value product coupon offers or $$ off your purchase.
Video Values coupons are store coupons. In ad coupons are store coupons. Even though they're both store coupons, you can stack VV with in ad coupons on the same item. The most recent example of this was during this past week's sale. There was an in ad coupon for $5 off 3 Dixie products. There was also a VV coupon this month for $5 off 3 Dixie products. I used them both, coupled with a 10% off regularly priced merchandise coupon (Dixie wasn't on sale so the 10% off applied), and I got 3 packs of Dixie plates for 79 cents plus tax. I have a friend who is at the 20% off reward level, and with those same coupons her total was $1.20 less than mine. Let's do a little math, .79 - 1.20 = -.41. That's right, she got free plates and 41 cents credit towards the rest of her basket for watching a short video (actually, she also had a manufacturer's coupon for $3 off 2 Dixie which they also took and deducted from her total, but I have no idea where she found it).
Rite Aid, more so than the other drugstores, has awesome stacking opportunities that can trivially net you free product. Moneymaker opportunities are plentiful almost every week. If you take the time to watch the Video Values, without buying newspapers and clipping coupons, and spending less than 5 minutes a week researching the ad, you can easily pick up $50 worth of product a month for pennies on the dollar. A few minutes research for online printable coupons to match with free or almost free after +UP or SCR, and you can make money almost every week. Become a serious couponer, collect coupon inserts from the paper for a few months, and making $10+ a week becomes fairly common.
I didn't hit Rite Aid all that hard last week. I got 12 cans of sardines (donating), 4 cans of tuna, 4 Thermacare heat wraps, (5) 32 oz Similac, 1 box of Similac RTF newborn bottles, 2 Ester-C, 1 Keri lotion, 3 packages of Dixie plates, 4 tubes of toothpaste, a Snickers bar and a bottle of Cepacol (which my husband had to have because he didn't feel well, I paid full price, no coupon). I spent $3 more in +UPs than I earned on my transactions. I spent about $4 in sales tax and small overages. I earned $14 in SCR which I will get a check for after I submit when the month is over. Not a gang-buster week, but I got all that product and in the end they'll pay me $7 more than I spent for it. My SCR for February (which I only requested this week and hasn't arrived yet) was $49.97.
Rite Aid has a rewards program, called wellness+. You can go in to Rite Aid and get a wellness+ card. They will keep track of how much you've spent, and when you've earned enough points you'll get a discount everyday on regularly priced merchandise in the store. You earn 25 points filling a prescription (with certain limitations, like you don't earn points if the prescription was paid for using Medicare/Medicaid). You earn one point per dollar spent in the store. At 500 points, you've earned an everyday discount of 10% off regularly priced items. At 1000 points, you've earned 20% off the same. At 125, 250 and 375 points, you'll earn a 10% off savings pass good for one purchase.
Like CVS and Walgreens, Rite Aid has a reward that prints at the register good towards your next purchase. At Rite Aid, they're called +UPs. To get +UPs you make a qualifying purchase (either something from the sale flier or something with in store signage, or sometimes even something that has no signage in your store for whatever reason) and +UPs print at the end of your receipt. +UPs can not be applied to sales tax, just like the other drugstore programs. You need to use your wellness+ card at the register to get +UPs, but even if your purchase will not generate +UPs you should use it anyway so that your purchase will count towards earning your next reward level.
Pretty frequently there's something or other available for free after +UP reward. You go in, pay the sale price and a +UP for the price of the item prints at the end of your receipt. So long as you use the +UP before it expires, you've not paid anything but sales tax on the item. In a perfect world, you roll your +UPs by spending them on other items that generate +UPs (or rebates, but we'll get to that).
In addition to +UP instant rebates, Rite Aid has Single Check Rebates. Every month they publish a flier with all the rebate items and amounts listed. You buy an item during its rebate period (some times it's the whole month, sometimes it's a particular week) and you submit it for the rebate. You can only request a check once per month, which is why it's called Single Check Rebates. You can keep your receipts and mail them with the form in the SCR flier OR you can enter them online as you make purchases. The later is a vastly superior method. So long as you remember to enter the receipt when you get home, there's nothing to keep track of. Once you sign up online for the rebates, there are no annoying forms to fill out. Keeping track of things, or lack thereof, and not wanting to fill out forms to mail are two very common reasons people don't submit rebates. I like that I don't have to waste the postage.
Submitting SCR online also allows you to double dip, or at least not stress separating orders. There have been manufacturer's mail in rebates for all sorts of things. It can be a giant pain to sort out what in your basket is for a SCR and what in your basket is for a manufacturer's rebate, and heaven forbid something qualifies as both or you make a mistake and buy an item with the wrong order. You can submit your receipt information on the SCR site, and still have the receipt to mail in for another rebate.
A few times a month, items will be free after SCR. For those not inclined to keep track of +UPs, these are awesome (they're awesome either way to be honest). You buy the item, go home and enter your receipt on the website and at the end of the month you request your rebate check. Rite Aid sends you a check for the cost of the item, and all you are out is the sales tax. If you use the occasional coupon, you can actually make back the cost of sales tax and unlike +UPs this is a real check you can take to the bank and get real money to spend any way you want. If you can keep track of your +UPs, free after SCR items are a good way to spend +UPs and get back real money.
Now, if you use coupons for your item, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If you pay entirely with +UPs, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If you've earned an everyday wellness+ discount, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR. If a SCR is for ALL of a particular item, and you find one on clearance, you can still submit for the full value of the SCR (last month, all Almay eye make-up had a $2 SCR, and I found a less popular shade set on clearance for $1.94, it had "gift for my young niece" written all over it).
Rite Aid has in ad coupons which you can stack with manufacturer's coupons to get a better deal, but the real magic with Rite Aid's own coupons are their Video Values program. You sign up for Video Values on their website. You watch short video ads, many of them the exact same commercials that are on TV, and you earn credits. Some of the credits are for the particular item you are viewing an ad for. Some of the credits are cummulative towards a larger reward. Some are good for both.
For example, this month there is a Video Value beauty bonus. You watch 12 videos and earn $2 off a $10 beauty purchase. Some of the videos also earn you a coupon towards that item. If you watch all the beauty bonus videos, you can print the $2 off $10 coupon, and the individual item coupons. If you select $10 worth of product, you can use both the $2 off coupon and the coupon for the item AND, if you have a manufacturer's coupon, you can use that too. I, personally, do not wear make-up (weird for a woman, I know) or I would dazzle you with a deal scenario that I'd done recently using these offers. I may not wear make-up, but I watched the videos anyway. You never know what will go on sale, and I've been known to print out the right combination of VV coupons to stack with manufacturer's coupons to score free product. I have a daughter, and she loves it when I tell her there is free make-up to be had.
Most Video Values ads are short, around 30 seconds. Some can be as long as 4 minutes, but those tend to be either high value product coupon offers or $$ off your purchase.
Video Values coupons are store coupons. In ad coupons are store coupons. Even though they're both store coupons, you can stack VV with in ad coupons on the same item. The most recent example of this was during this past week's sale. There was an in ad coupon for $5 off 3 Dixie products. There was also a VV coupon this month for $5 off 3 Dixie products. I used them both, coupled with a 10% off regularly priced merchandise coupon (Dixie wasn't on sale so the 10% off applied), and I got 3 packs of Dixie plates for 79 cents plus tax. I have a friend who is at the 20% off reward level, and with those same coupons her total was $1.20 less than mine. Let's do a little math, .79 - 1.20 = -.41. That's right, she got free plates and 41 cents credit towards the rest of her basket for watching a short video (actually, she also had a manufacturer's coupon for $3 off 2 Dixie which they also took and deducted from her total, but I have no idea where she found it).
Rite Aid, more so than the other drugstores, has awesome stacking opportunities that can trivially net you free product. Moneymaker opportunities are plentiful almost every week. If you take the time to watch the Video Values, without buying newspapers and clipping coupons, and spending less than 5 minutes a week researching the ad, you can easily pick up $50 worth of product a month for pennies on the dollar. A few minutes research for online printable coupons to match with free or almost free after +UP or SCR, and you can make money almost every week. Become a serious couponer, collect coupon inserts from the paper for a few months, and making $10+ a week becomes fairly common.
I didn't hit Rite Aid all that hard last week. I got 12 cans of sardines (donating), 4 cans of tuna, 4 Thermacare heat wraps, (5) 32 oz Similac, 1 box of Similac RTF newborn bottles, 2 Ester-C, 1 Keri lotion, 3 packages of Dixie plates, 4 tubes of toothpaste, a Snickers bar and a bottle of Cepacol (which my husband had to have because he didn't feel well, I paid full price, no coupon). I spent $3 more in +UPs than I earned on my transactions. I spent about $4 in sales tax and small overages. I earned $14 in SCR which I will get a check for after I submit when the month is over. Not a gang-buster week, but I got all that product and in the end they'll pay me $7 more than I spent for it. My SCR for February (which I only requested this week and hasn't arrived yet) was $49.97.
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