Sunday was also drugstore deals day. We got going a little earlier than normal and things just weren't going my way once we got where we were going. The trip went from frustration to success to disappointment, but in the end I did okay. To complicate matters, I forgot to bring my camera with me yesterday so I wasn't able to get photos of everything before it was either distributed, used, or put away. My sad, empty little loot stack photo is only part of an otherwise decent haul.
Wags
5 newspapers $10
2 gift card holder cards $1.98
2 bags cat litter $6
1 box trash bags $9.49
2 Hershey bars $1
Total: $28.47 - shelf price $39.61, no coupons, paid with expiring RRs
Received back $5 RR, $2 RR
Out of pocket $21.47
This was an adventure.
First and foremost, I had $27.75 in Register Rewards from the big Black Friday profit machine which were expiring this week. Letting those expire is like throwing cash in the garbage can, but I wasn't interested in any RR deals this week save for one. I had already figured I'd use these babies to buy something like trash bags so that's all good. The circular for this week advertises "buy two greeting cards, get $2 RR" - I'd heard there were $.99 cards in many stores so I figured I'd add two of those in my transaction and roll at least $2 of my expiring stash. In addition, this week and next Wags has a ridiculously-named program called Super Jingle Cash - for every $25 you spend in a transaction before coupons, you receive a bonus $5 RR good for the next week. Even better! I was spending over $25 regardless, so that's just an extra treat.
I found all the items I'd wanted without issue and checked out in cosmetics with the super-friendly gal who works that department. She's always very nice and she's extremely knowledgeable about Wags' coupon policies. Well, my items were bagged and I paid with my RRs and we both watched the Catalina machine expectantly for my $7 in rewards that were due. Nothin'. Crap. She sighed, I said "Umm," and before I could get the rest of my thought out she said the same thing had happened already this morning and she'd get the manager to fix it.
Long story short, the manager gave me a $7 gift card to make up for the non-printing RRs. At first he tried to say I didn't get the rewards because I'd used coupons (managers ALWAYS say this at Wags, and besides I didn't use coupons); then he said it was because I'd paid in RRs (they always say this as well, and I informed him the last 20 times I'd paid with RRs at his store I'd had no issues getting what was advertised). So I got the $7 back which is just fine because gift cards don't expire. I later did some investigation and discovered the problems:
1. The greeting card promotion is supposedly a misprint; it's get $2 when you buy THREE cards.
2. The "Super Jingle Cash" (I cringe typing it...) has some printed exclusions including tobacco, alcohol, dairy. It apparently has an UNPRINTED exclusion of newspapers as well. That's perfectly fine; if I'd known newspapers were excluded I would have just bought $10 more in trash bags or something. If they don't print their marketing materials correctly, though, I can't help that. I follow the rules exactly as written. Fortunately the store made everything right and it wasn't too much of a hassle.
CVS
8 bottles Pantene shampoo & conditioner $29.92
1 bottle Gain $.99
1 bag Planters Flavor Grove almonds $2.50
Subtotal $33.41, shelf $43.41
Less $5 off $30 purchase, less $2.50 Planters, less $.50 Gain, less four buy one get one free Pantene, less $1 off 2 Pantene, less $2 off 2 Pantene
Total $7.45, paid in ECBs, received back $10 ECB
$2.55 profit!!
This was the only store Sunday where everything went right. There's a deal where if you spend $30 on selected P&G products, you get a $10 ECB back. The Pantene is on sale for $3.74 and I had a slew of BOGO coupons. When I got a $5 off $30 coupon in my email last week, I knew this would turn out to be a great deal. I have another family member doing the $20 P&G rebate who needed about $25 more in spending to hit the $50 threshold, so I grabbed all this Pantene at a profit to me and traded it and the receipt for 4 boxes of the cereal Rite Aid had for $.99 on Black Friday. Now she'll be able to get her $20 rebate as well!
The Gain was solely to make sure my P&G purchase was over $30. Sometimes the ECB triggers a few cents short of the advertised price point, but after the hassle at Wags I didn't feel like messing around. As a bonus, I discovered that the Gain dish detergent (others as well, I'm sure, but I have about 38 million bottles of Gain) can also be used as laundry detergent! I did a test run on a comforter that had been stored away for the summer and it came out clean and fresh. This is gonna be a great money saver!!
The magic coupon machine at CVS spit out a coupon for $2.50 off Planters Flavor Grove products; they're on sale for $2.50 this week. More free nuts! We got a bag of the Chili Lime flavor to try which I really like; unfortunately Andy thinks it's just okay.
Next, on to Rite Aid:
