Black Friday! + how to get stuff free at Walgreens
Shawn and I have been going out doing the Black Friday things for a few years now. We don't line up outside stores before they open and we stay the hell away from Walmart and Best Buy for at least the first few hours they're open. But still, we brave the crowds and freezing early morning temperatures to get great deals. We were both very frugal this year, no "oh hey, lets get a video camera and a blue ray player!" stuff like last year.
We're night owls so I didn't get any sleep last night, Shawn took a 30 minute nap. Went to Target at 5am, LOTS of people there. I was looking for a 32" flat screen tv for my mom (she was gonna pay me back) but they all got snatched up instantly. I did find everything else on my list though. Then we hit Rite Aid, I got some free-after-rebate stuff and used coupons so I only spent about $2 there. Had a little time to kill so we went to Safeway and I used a coupon to get a bag of blueberry bagels for free - yum! Went to Office Max and got Norton AntiVirus for my bro (x-mas present), regular price is $80, I got it on sale for $20! Last stop was Walgreens (or Wags as I call it) and I rolled some Register Rewards to get more free stuff.
Came home and crashed for a couple hours. Shawn worked 11-3:30 today. I worked on buttons this afternoon and walked to the post office. We headed back out for more shopping around around 5:30 tonight. Went back to Wags, then Walmart in West Sac, then Natomas (Target, Ulta, Best Buy, Walmart, Bath & Body Works, BevMo). Overall it was a successful day and I was able to restrain myself from over-spending.
Here's a run-down of my purchases:
*TARGET* - spent $35
12-cup coffee maker for my mom
1.5qt slow cooker
4 bath towels
Playdoh for my niece and nephew
pjs for my niece
Veronica Mars season 1 dvd set (impulse buy, I only watched the show occasionally, not sure if I'll keep this)
*RITE AID* spent $2 ($13 out of pocket after coupons, will get back $11 in rebates)
ear buds
mouthwash
toothbrush
razors
soap
little dot label stickers
*OFFICE MAX* spent $21
Norton 360 AntiVirus for my bro (reg price $79.99!)
*SAFEWAY* spent $0 (used coupon)
bag of yummy blueberry bagels
*ULTA* spent $7 (used coupon w/ buy 2 get one free sale)
6 nail polishes in funky colors
*BATH & BODY WORKS* spent $6
2 air fresheners (scents: "Leaves" (smells fresh and outdoorsy) & "Fireside" (I know, weird. It smells like a campfire, kinda woodsy and musky, I really like it!)
*WALGREENS* cost: about -$1 (spent $7-8 out of pocket, used coupons and Register Rewards, ended up with $9 more in RR than I started off with)
Snuggie for my mom
(3) body wash
(3) toothpaste
(3) Dove deodorant
(4) Infusium conditioner
(2) shave gel
a bunch of x-mas bags, gift tags and plastic cups
So I spent about $70, which is $10 less than the regular price of the virus protection alone, I think I did pretty good! Got a little more x-mas shopping done, and some goodies for myself too. And I never had to stand in line for more than 5 minutes!
Hmmm, I should probably explain how Register Rewards work at Walgreens huh? I'll put it under a cut because this is getting long.
Ok, Register Rewards (RR) are basically coupons that print up when you buy certain products, sorta like instant rebates. They can be used to buy just about anything in the store (excludes alcohol, tobacco, gift cards, lottery tickets and for some reason dairy). Most weeks they have several things that print up RRs that are the full purchase price of an item, so if you pay $4 for something you get back $4 in RRs. Then you can use that RR to buy something else that gives you another RR and basically get it for free. Pretty cool huh? Once you put a few bucks into it, and if you're savvy, you can keep rolling RRs and get a TON of stuff for free. And it gets even better, if you have coupons for stuff you can actually make money with it. Say something costs $4 and gives a $4 RR, and you have a $2 off coupon. You'd pay $2 and get back $4! Lots of coupons are available to print online, others are in the Sunday paper (I buy mine at Dollar Tree to save a buck). Let's see if I can throw together a quick example of the deals from this weekend:
Buy Johnson & Johnsons body wash - $6 (-$1 printable coupon)=$5, get $6 RR
Aquafresh toothpaste - $2, get $2 RR
Pay $7 +tax, get $8 RRs total
Buy Infusium product - $5 (-$2 coupon in Sunday paper)=$3, get $5 RR
Dove deodorant - $4 (-$2 printable coupon)=$2, get $4 RR
Nivea shave gel - $2.50, get $2.50 RR
(2) 29 cents x-mas bags as fillers*
Use your $8 RRs, pay 8 cents +tax, get $11.50 RRs total
(*I added the bags to get the total to just over $8, they always have cheap little things that you can add as "fillers").
So with these 2 transactions you would pay $7.08 +tax, get all that stuff, and end up with $11.50 in Register Rewards. Isn't that awesome?! Then just keep rolling and rolling them - never pay full price for anything at Walgreens ever again! In the last month or so I've gotten literally several hundred dollars worth of stuff for nearly free.
Check out this page to learn all you need to know about RRs:
http://www.thecouponproject.com/the_coupon_project/2009/04/seven-rules-for-walgreens-register-rewards-success.html
Then go here to see how it's done and get links to all the coupons:
http://iheartwags.com
And hey, while I'm at it, here's a couple more great sites for find deals, signing up for free samples, etc...
http://www.abundantfoodsavings.com/
http://dealfindingchik.blogspot.com/
http://www.bountynsavings.com/
Have fun!
Oh, yeah, and I spent about $7 at BevMo on unusual sodas. I'm most looking forward to trying the banana soda, most fearful of the celery soda. hehe
We're night owls so I didn't get any sleep last night, Shawn took a 30 minute nap. Went to Target at 5am, LOTS of people there. I was looking for a 32" flat screen tv for my mom (she was gonna pay me back) but they all got snatched up instantly. I did find everything else on my list though. Then we hit Rite Aid, I got some free-after-rebate stuff and used coupons so I only spent about $2 there. Had a little time to kill so we went to Safeway and I used a coupon to get a bag of blueberry bagels for free - yum! Went to Office Max and got Norton AntiVirus for my bro (x-mas present), regular price is $80, I got it on sale for $20! Last stop was Walgreens (or Wags as I call it) and I rolled some Register Rewards to get more free stuff.
Came home and crashed for a couple hours. Shawn worked 11-3:30 today. I worked on buttons this afternoon and walked to the post office. We headed back out for more shopping around around 5:30 tonight. Went back to Wags, then Walmart in West Sac, then Natomas (Target, Ulta, Best Buy, Walmart, Bath & Body Works, BevMo). Overall it was a successful day and I was able to restrain myself from over-spending.
Here's a run-down of my purchases:
*TARGET* - spent $35
12-cup coffee maker for my mom
1.5qt slow cooker
4 bath towels
Playdoh for my niece and nephew
pjs for my niece
Veronica Mars season 1 dvd set (impulse buy, I only watched the show occasionally, not sure if I'll keep this)
*RITE AID* spent $2 ($13 out of pocket after coupons, will get back $11 in rebates)
ear buds
mouthwash
toothbrush
razors
soap
little dot label stickers
*OFFICE MAX* spent $21
Norton 360 AntiVirus for my bro (reg price $79.99!)
*SAFEWAY* spent $0 (used coupon)
bag of yummy blueberry bagels
*ULTA* spent $7 (used coupon w/ buy 2 get one free sale)
6 nail polishes in funky colors
*BATH & BODY WORKS* spent $6
2 air fresheners (scents: "Leaves" (smells fresh and outdoorsy) & "Fireside" (I know, weird. It smells like a campfire, kinda woodsy and musky, I really like it!)
*WALGREENS* cost: about -$1 (spent $7-8 out of pocket, used coupons and Register Rewards, ended up with $9 more in RR than I started off with)
Snuggie for my mom
(3) body wash
(3) toothpaste
(3) Dove deodorant
(4) Infusium conditioner
(2) shave gel
a bunch of x-mas bags, gift tags and plastic cups
So I spent about $70, which is $10 less than the regular price of the virus protection alone, I think I did pretty good! Got a little more x-mas shopping done, and some goodies for myself too. And I never had to stand in line for more than 5 minutes!
Hmmm, I should probably explain how Register Rewards work at Walgreens huh? I'll put it under a cut because this is getting long.
Ok, Register Rewards (RR) are basically coupons that print up when you buy certain products, sorta like instant rebates. They can be used to buy just about anything in the store (excludes alcohol, tobacco, gift cards, lottery tickets and for some reason dairy). Most weeks they have several things that print up RRs that are the full purchase price of an item, so if you pay $4 for something you get back $4 in RRs. Then you can use that RR to buy something else that gives you another RR and basically get it for free. Pretty cool huh? Once you put a few bucks into it, and if you're savvy, you can keep rolling RRs and get a TON of stuff for free. And it gets even better, if you have coupons for stuff you can actually make money with it. Say something costs $4 and gives a $4 RR, and you have a $2 off coupon. You'd pay $2 and get back $4! Lots of coupons are available to print online, others are in the Sunday paper (I buy mine at Dollar Tree to save a buck). Let's see if I can throw together a quick example of the deals from this weekend:
Buy Johnson & Johnsons body wash - $6 (-$1 printable coupon)=$5, get $6 RR
Aquafresh toothpaste - $2, get $2 RR
Pay $7 +tax, get $8 RRs total
Buy Infusium product - $5 (-$2 coupon in Sunday paper)=$3, get $5 RR
Dove deodorant - $4 (-$2 printable coupon)=$2, get $4 RR
Nivea shave gel - $2.50, get $2.50 RR
(2) 29 cents x-mas bags as fillers*
Use your $8 RRs, pay 8 cents +tax, get $11.50 RRs total
(*I added the bags to get the total to just over $8, they always have cheap little things that you can add as "fillers").
So with these 2 transactions you would pay $7.08 +tax, get all that stuff, and end up with $11.50 in Register Rewards. Isn't that awesome?! Then just keep rolling and rolling them - never pay full price for anything at Walgreens ever again! In the last month or so I've gotten literally several hundred dollars worth of stuff for nearly free.
Check out this page to learn all you need to know about RRs:
http://www.thecouponproject.com/the_coupon_project/2009/04/seven-rules-for-walgreens-register-rewards-success.html
Then go here to see how it's done and get links to all the coupons:
http://iheartwags.com
And hey, while I'm at it, here's a couple more great sites for find deals, signing up for free samples, etc...
http://www.abundantfoodsavings.com/
http://dealfindingchik.blogspot.com/
http://www.bountynsavings.com/
Have fun!
Oh, yeah, and I spent about $7 at BevMo on unusual sodas. I'm most looking forward to trying the banana soda, most fearful of the celery soda. hehe