Deals of the Week......

(This really should be a picture of Rite Aid and Walgreens =)

I have no more babies or shelving space lost to cases of diapers...but I still seem to have a homing device that senses a good deal for diapers. This week at Rite-Aid, there just might be one. Huggies jumbo packs are regularly $8.99. There is a UP reward (like the Catalina print-outs) for $2 a package. But it is also marked with the blue "Buy and Save" mark--which means it qualifies for the $20 Up reward when your totals of items with the blue "Buy and Save" marks reach $100. So, if you don't have a Rite-Aid savings card (free at any register)--it might be worth a trip to the local Rite-Aid this week. This cycle on the $100 worth of purchases end this Saturday, February 26th. Most likely, a new time period and selection of products will start on Sunday, February 27th. So there is still time to get that $20!


Going back to the Huggies deal at Rite Aid--the $6.99 price is before any manufacturer's coupons and discounts from any other Up reward incentives. If you are buying multiple packages of diapers to accrue the dollar amount towards that extra $20 in savings--it will actually total up fast with the diapers because of the higher dollar value. And another way to save even more is to not only use a coupon, but apply previous Up reward savings coupons.
Bonus with the Rite Aid plan--you can buy multiple packages of diapers in one transaction and the register totals them and prints off the Up rewards at the end of the receipt. Whereas, in the deal that I outline below, you would have to do one package at a time/per transaction, in order to generate the register reward. [I was a non-biased diaper user, especially when it came to which I could get the better deal on--but it seems to me that Huggies' may win this competition based on expediency and overall savings].


A similar deal is going on with Pampers at Walgreens this week. Pampers are $8.99 with a $2 Register Reward, making them $6.99. Apply coupons, use other rewards and come up with a much better deal. Not that Pampers aren't a great product--but there isn't the $20 advantage on the store level. If that's inconsequential to you and you are a loyal Pampers-user--this may be the better game plan for your ankle-biter. Suggestion: if you are doing other purchases at Walgreens that will generate register rewards, do them first and then apply them to your diapers for additional savings. You still get the $2 reward from the package you buy. With Walgreens, you have to be careful not to use a register reward that came from a Pampers product on the Pampers you are currently buying--a new register reward will not generate at the end of your transaction. But if you use register rewards that you got from cereal, hair products, etc...it will. So just be careful [methodical]--and all will be well.


I like to take the Up rewards or Register Rewards and pay for my purchases with them. They act like "cash" and pay for my new purchases, saving all but the out of pocket expense of sales' tax. For example, last week I purchased 30 bottles of Speed Stick deodorant, earning me $30 in Up rewards ($2 for every set of 2). I paid for all but $2.76 (tax) with Up rewards from Colgate toothpaste that I had purchased the week before--also free except for sales' tax. I just rolled the savings from one week onto another and still walked away with another $30 in Up rewards to use next week. Valuable savings tool: If you apply the Up rewards to items that also generate an Up reward, then apply a coupon, you are doubling your savings and still getting more Up rewards to use next week. [I'm so enthralled with Rite-Aid right now that it's getting kind of addictive. But at least it's an addiction that doesn't cost very much or make me fatter!]

Another fair deal at Rite-Aid to look for is the Dove shampoo and conditioners. They are normally priced between $4.49 and $4.99 a bottle. They are on sale 2/$6 with an Up reward of $2 for a purchase of 2, theoretically making the product $4/2, or $2 each. There are coupons for $1 off each bottle available in cyberland. If you use Up rewards earned from the purchase of another item, you can buy this product for free and still have Up rewards to use on something else. Similar deals can be had on Kotex, dental products, household cleaners, snacks, and personal use products--all the time.

A similar deal on Herbal Essenses/Aussie/Pantene/Head and Shoulders started today at Walgreens. Everyone has to see what the best combination of goods works for their budget and which coupons they can get. I find it hard to pay over a certain dollar amount for hair care products because of what I was able to purchase them for in the past.

Tip: if you can get a great deal...stock up on the product, enough to get you buy till it comes on sale again, especially if it's free or near free. But don't clear the shelves of a product if it's not something your family normally uses. Other shoppers and the stores can get a little miffed at the inconsideration of hoarders, especially on the first day of a sale. But if it's a product that is regularly in stock, see if the store will give you a rain check for the sales' price (post-rewards price), rather than waiting for the product to come in past the sales' date, eliminating the possibility of the Up reward or the Register Reward. Most stores want to keep customer loyalty and will give a rain check for the product at the lower price. That creates a window of opportunity of having a "sale" whenever you want it, within the time frame of the rain check. Good luck and happy savings to you.

Steal of a Deal

Through January 22nd, Rite Aid has been running a promotional deal where if you buy any of the products marked with a blue "Buy and Save" dot, totally $100 (before coupon discounts taken), you get a $20 Up-Reward. An Up-Reward is like the Catalina coupons...it prints out on the bottom of the register tape and is like CASH towards anything on your next purchase. If you jockey your purchases around and accrue the Up-Rewards first, you can pay for subsequent transactions with the rewards, rather than money.

That's what I did a couple of nights ago. I was looking for birthday invitations at one store and didn't see anything I liked. I remembered that I had already received my Rite-Aid Up-Reward for all the household cleaners and mouthwashes I had purchased at a discount the week before. So it was like having a $20 bill burning a hole in my pocket. The invitations I found were only $4--leaving $16 of the Up-Reward to still use.

So I wandered down the school supply aisle, as I was looking for supplies for preschool, and came across several things that also regenerated new Up-Rewards. The best were on the sticker labels and paper clips. They were $2.49 each, but generated a $2 Up-reward each. Working the numbers...that means I'd only have to pay the "difference" of 49cents. [The Up-Rewards are like "paying it forward"--you pay the whole amount now, and then the store returns the Up-Reward portion for each item to you on the receipt, to be used on future purchases.]

I methodically worked out how to pay for everything with the littlest cash out of pocket. I bought all the office supplies first, making sure to watch the total as to not go too far over $20. I paid for that with my $20 Up-Reward. The Grand Total on that transaction: 6 cents. On the bottom of that receipt was almost another $20 in new Up-Rewards. We had several dear families bring us dinner in the last couple of weeks with Nathan's surgery and recent home care. I didn't want to send the dishes back without a token of appreciation, so I bought five of my favorite chocolates--Ferrero Rochers at $4.99 each. After the Up-Rewards were taken off the last total, I only paid $2.11 (basically--sales' tax). So all the goodies on the table only cost me $2.17 out of pocket (OOP)!!

It's amazing what a little forethought and strategy can accomplish in your shopping adventures. Mass purchasing doesn't have to cost a lot. Knowing the store programs and using them to your advantage means HUGE savings. Tip for new users: Up-Rewards do not mean you can't use coupons on the items. The best combination of savings is to put the coupon on the lowest priced items, generate a Catalina-style return to use on future purchases, and combine the two savings options! Pennies on the dollar, if not free, is always the BEST price in town!!

My purchases here would have easily totaled $46 before tax. I felt pretty good about only paying $2.17 for everything that night. That's a 95% savings! The particular Up-Reward program that just earned me $20, ends today--but there are on-going programs just like the one I used, going on at stores all the time. Rite-Aid and Walgreens are both awesome stores to get Health and Beauty aid needs, household cleaners, and OTC medicines and supplies. I'll never pay cash for most of these products again!