It's all about the Walgreens, Baby!

Last Sunday, Hubby & I took a little road trip out of Teeny Tiny Town to a nearby larger metropolitan area.

This area just happens to be lousy with Walgreen's Stores.

Imagine that?!

I had an envelope of coupons just crying out to be used, Walgreens had some good deals this week and the weather was great.

We had all the makings for a Walgreen's Hounding Day!

Hubby had to return #1 son's tux from the Prom to the store at noon, so I went off and hit my local Walgreen's first thing.

I knew what I wanted.....I went right to the Pharmacy counter and saw that someone had already come and bought ALL the glucose meters that were giving the $5RR.
Dang!

So I went and bought a box of Ecotrin, $2.00. Used a $1/1Q, paid $1.00 and got a $2RR & a MQ for $2.00 off a larger box of Ecotrin.

Then I bought a box of Bayer crystals, $2.49. Used the Ecotrin $2RR and paid $.49 and got a $2.50RR.

I went off in search of the Nivea Body Wash, grumbling about the son-of-a-gun who cleaned out the store of Meters....grrrr.

As I rounded a corner up by the auxillary checkout register I happened to look up. Sitting on top of a bin of merchandise, sat a large cardboard display for the Bayer Glucose Meters. And inside the display was.........a Glucose Meter!

Someone had propped that display up there and put a couple of meters in it. Whoever cleaned the Pharmacy out of meters didn't find or look for meters in the rest of the store. Yay!lol

I bought the Nivea Wash & a Meter, using a $1/1Q & the Meter Q which made the meter free. Total for that receipt was $4.29OOP(for the Body Wash). I received 2 $5RRs.

Went looking for the Rembrandt-boy that stuff is expen$ive!lol

Got the Rembrandt Mouthwash & another Meter. Used the Bayer Q and the $5RR from the Nivea. Total OOP was $1.35. Got a $5 & $6RRs.

Went back for another Meter. Zero OOP and got another $5RR.

Next was a box of Ecotrin, Bayer Crystals & 3 Bottles of Suave(on sale 3/$5).

Used $1/1Bayer Q, $1.75/3 Suave Q and paid with the $6RR from the Rembrandt. Total OOP $1.04.

One last round of more Nivea Body Wash, large bottle of Ecotrin on clearance($2.19)& some Cough Drops($1.79). Used $5meter RR, Ecotrin $2Q I got earlier & a Nivea $1/1Q I finally found in my envelope. Total OOP was $1.27. Got a $5RR.

Then I went home to get Hubby and we headed out to the Big City to search for more Meters. I had put together 20+ Bayer Meter Qs over the last 2 weeks that needed using. Over the course of the day, and in many MANY stores, we found tons of Meters. I made a point though to only buy only 1 or up to 3 in any store, depending on how many were on the shelves. I know how bummed I was earlier that morning to find my usual store cleaned out of Meters. I didn't want to cause others after me to have the same bad experience. Besides, the Meter $5RR is a month long deal. No need to get greedy and scoop them all up the 1st day/the 1st store.

So the 1st store, we both got a meter....I also got a box of Ecotrin & used a Mitchum $2RR from last week, so no OOP. Got 2 $5RRs & a $2RR.

Then I bought a Bayer Crystals, used the $2RR Ecotrin to pay, $.49 OOP. Got a $2.50RR.

Next store, got a Meter, Nivea Body Wash & more Cough Drops. Used Meter Q, Nivea $1/1Q, paid with a $5RR(an older one, not a Nivea or Meter one) & $1.08 OOP. Got 2 $5RRs.

Hubby bought a Meter & Ecotrin. Used Meter Q & Ecotrin $1/1Q. Paid $1.00 OOP. Got $5RR & $2RR.

Next store, got a Meter, Nivea Body Wash & a newspaper($1.75). Used Meter Q & another older $5RR that needed rolling+$2.04 OOP. Got 2 $5RRs.

Another Meter & Ecotrin, used Qs, got a $5RR & $2RR + $2 Man.Q for larger Ecotrin box, paid $1.00 OOP.

New store....Meter & larger Ecotrin on clearance($2.19), used Meter Q & $2MQ, paid $.19 OOP. Got $5RR.

Another Meter, Bayer Aspirin on clearance for $1.69 & Rembrandt Toothpaste. Used Meter Q, Bayer $2Q, paid with $5NiveaRR and $.68 OOP. Got a $6RR & $5RR.

Another Meter, Zero OOP, got a $5RR.

New store, another Meter, Zero OOP, got a $5RR.

Purchased a Nivea Body Wash & 2 Viactiv Glides on clearance($4.59). Used 2 $2/1Q & a $5Meter RR, paid $5.47 cash. I screwed this one up paying so much OOP. I should have gotten some filler items so I could have used a couple $2EcotrinRRs. I'll blame Hubby rushing me out of the store to go eat.lol

New store, a Meter, Bayer Aspirin(Heart Advantage on clearance-$3.19), more Viactiv Glides on clearance-$4.59) & a newspaper. Used Meter Q, $2Bayer Q, $5NiveaRR, $2EcotrinRR. OOP was $.53 Got $5RR.

Another Meter, Zero OOP, got $5RR.

Rinse & Repeat. This store had tons of Meters. I could have stayed at this one and just used all my coupons....but I restrained myself.lol

New store, rinse & repeat on the Meter deal.

Then I bought a Bayer Crystals, 2 Bic Soleil cartridges on clearance($1.79) & a pack of 4 boxes of Envelopes(for mailing rebates)-$2.50. Used a $5RR(can't remember if it was a Meter or a Nivea RR) & a $2/1Bic Soleil Q. Paid $1.93 OOP. Got a $2.50RR.

Grand total spend OOP-$23.85

Value of Items-$1334.15

Value of Items minus the Meters-$408.15

Coupons/RRs & advertised Savings-$1310.30

Coupons/RRs & advertised Savings minus Meters-$384.30

Savings of 94%

RRs Earned-$144

RRs Spent-$56($6RR carried forward from last week)

RRs Left-$94

Pictured above are the items we bought, besides the Meters. There's a bag of cough drops missing(it never made it home for the photo lol)and both Sunday newspapers.

Speaking of newspapers, I did find out that this larger city gets better coupon inserts than in Teeny Tiny Town! I should have picked up more than 2 papers.

Oh well....

So how did your Wags Week go?

Sluggy

CVS & the Scary Mean Old Cashier

I am way behind on reporting on my Hounding Adventures.

Here is a trip to CVS from last Monday, March 16th. Hubby was home so he came with me to witness my 'Couponing Powers'.lol

Not pictured are 2 Dry Idea Deodorants and a Pumice Stone w/a handle.

I had a $10/$50 CRT CVS coupon so here's how I got to $50.

3 Dry Idea Deodorants ($2.99+$4.49+$4.49)More on this later!

3 Wheat Thins (on sale for $1 ea.)

1 Ritz Crackers (on sale for $1 ea.)

1 Irish Spring Body Wash (on sale for $4.99)

1 Colgate Max Toothpaste (on sale for $2.99)

1 Huggies Wipes Refill(on sale for $5.99)

2 Bandaids (on sale for $3.29 & $4.29)

3 J&J First Aid Kits ($.99 ea.)

4 J&J Buddies Soap ($1.19 ea.)

Pumic Stone ($5.99)

1 1/2 gal. Milk ($1.99)

1 1/2 gal. skim Milk ($1.79)

SUBTOTAL $55.02

Coupons Used....

2 $2/2 Wheat Thins/Ritz -$4

2 $1/1 Band-aid -$2

3 $2/1 Dry Idea -$6

1 $5 Huggies -$5

1 $3/2 J&J Products -$3

2 $2/2 J&J Buddies Products -$4

Coupon SubTotal.... -$24

Extra Care Bucks Used....

$10/$50

$.99

$3.00

$4.00

$5.00

ECB SubTotal.... -$22.99

Coupon/ECB TOTAL.... -$46.99

$55.02-$46.99=$8.03

$5 on Gift Card=$3.03 OOP

AND

I received $13.98 in ECBs.(4.99 Irish Spring/2.99 Colgate/2.99 Dry Idea/3.00 Band-Aid)

The cashier was the gumpiest, pickiest, meanest old woman I have ever had the displeasure to deal with at a CVS. It took me forever to check out because she stood there and inspected every....single.....coupon......and ECB.....back......& front.....at least TWICE!

Ugh

She was looking for problems with my coupons. She tried to tell me I couldn't use the $2/2 Wheat Thins/Ritz Qs because I was buying the small boxes of crackers that were on sale for $1 ea. I was getting crackers for FREE with this Q, so she couldn't allow that! I pointed out that the Q did NOT specify the size of box, so these Qs are valid for my purchase. I then said, if there was a problem with me using these Qs, I'd like her to call the Manager over to discuss it. Note, I was pleasant and smiled the whole time dealing with her.

Well, she didn't like me bringing up the prospect of me going 'over her head', so at that point she stopped questioning every single Q and just scanned them in and gave me my total.

Needless to say, I couldn't WAIT to get out of that store!

That cashier got me so flustered that I noticed AFTER I got home 2 of my Dry Ideas did NOT ring up for the sale price of $2.99. They were powder scented ones and the one that rang up correctly was reg. scent. And since they didn't ring up right, I didn't get the $2 ECBs for each($4 ECBs total)

So I had to return to the store, explain the problem and try to get the price adjusted AND get my ECBs OR return them, get my 2 $2 Qs back to reuse and rebuy the reg. scent ones to just avoid the whole thing from happening again on the powder scent.

I walked into the store-different day of the week, different time frame from my orginal visit on Monday and guess who's sour puss of a face I see?

Yep.

Little Mary Sunshine the Cashier.

Just.

Lovely.

I really didn't want to tussle with Miss Ray of Sunshine again, so I just returned the 2 Deodorants. Just give me my $8.98+tax back....the store can keep my $4 in Qs & their $4ECBs.

She gave me enough trouble just returning them anyway. She called the manager over b/c I had paid $5 on a gift card for the original transaction, so I got $6.49 back on the gift card(even though the GC was ONLY for $5?) and $2.49 in Cash. I was just glad they didn't try to take back the $10/$50 Q too b/c my total would now be under $50.

The whole transaction's details are now muddy-ed.

I paid $3.03 OOP but got back $2.49 OOP, but should have gotten back $3.98 OOP(& $5 on the GC).....so let's just call this one a wash.

Little Miss Sunshine also tried to tell me that there was a LIMIT of 1 on the Dry Idea(we all no better, don't we?) AND that also meant I could only buy 1 Dry Idea for the sale price of $2.99!

Um....no.LOLOL

This IS the closest CVS to me, so I will still go there to hound. I must Love Trouble!

Sluggy