A Well-Padded Deal........

So I've been sitting here looking at the ads and I always save Rite-Aid and Walgreens till last. I was so pleased with my purchases at Rite-Aid last week, I was giddy--waiting to see what the deal of the week would be. It looks like they have recycled the buy $100 worth of the items that are designated with a blue label that says "Buy and Save"--and receive a $20 Up Reward. I've love those. If you stagger your purchases, not only are you getting the Up Rewards on your items, but you can also apply coupons. When you reach the $100 mark (the total before coupon usage), an additional Up Reward of $20 prints out on your receipt. Staggering deals if you have a mind for it.

So here's the savvy shopper's dilemma. Both stores have Stayfree feminine care products on sale. The price at Walgreen's is $1.99 for the 14-24 pack of Stayfree Maxi pads. The same pads are $2.99 at Rite-Aid...but they are marked with the blue "Buy and Save" and get credited towards the $100 Up Reward total for the $20 back.

Oh the choices! I was on www.ebay.com looking at coupons and found two different ways to field this deal. There's coupons for "Buy One, Get One Free"--[making the 2 packages at Walgreen's $2.99 and 2 packages at Rite-Aid $1.99]. Or...they have $1 off per package coupons--[making the pads 99cents at Walgreens' and $1.99 at Rite-Aid]. But it all comes back to the extra Up Reward, huh? Ok...I'll get the Buy One, Get One Free coupons to use at Rite-Aid--because I don't have to pay for half as many of the pads to accrue the Up Reward kick back. I guess I just settled my own dilemma. It's just a numbers game that we volley around to see who has the better price when the deal's done.