jasonhutchinson.com

Some great deals this week!  All of the items below (excluding the gift cards) have a pre-coupon total of $115.66 and a post coupon total of $0.21, a savings of 99.8%!  If you include the $11 of ExtraCare bucks I received from the gift cards, it’s over 100%!

Walgreens

• 7 Colgate 360, MaxFresh, MaxWhite or Total Toothbrushs ($2.99 – $0.75 coupon – $2.00 Register Rewards = $0.24 final price)
• 7 Wal-Fex Allergy Relief, 5 ct. ($3.99 – $3.99 Register Rewards = FREE final price)
• 1 Lysol Neutra Air FreshMatic ($7.99 – 4.00 coupon – $3.00 Register Rewards = $0.99 final price)
• 6 Bayer Advanced Aspirin, 20 ct. ($3.00 – $2.00 coupon – $1.00 Register Rewards = FREE final price)
• 6 Nestle Crunch Candy ($0.39 – B2G1 free coupon = $0.26 final price)

CVS

• 1 Zyrtec 24 hr tablets, 5 ct. ($5.99 – $5.99 Extrabucks = FREE final price)
• 1 Schick Hydro 5 razor ($8.00 – $4.00 coupon – $4.00 Extrabucks = FREE final price)
• 3 Motrin PM, 20 ct. ($4.00 – $1.00 coupon – $3.00 Extrabucks = FREE final price)
• 6 Tic Tac Big Packs ($1.11 – $0.75 coupon = $0.36 final price)
• American Express Gift Card ($6.00 Extrabucks when you buy 2)
• Visa Prepaid Gift Card ($5.00 Extrabucks when you buy 2)

Walmart

• 6 Dial Body Wash, travel size ($0.97 – $2.00 coupon = -$1.03 overage final price)

In my couponing adventures, I have quickly learned there are a few differences between Walgreens Register Rewards vs. CVS Extrabucks.  Both are rewards that print out at the cash register when purchasing certain items.  The items that produce the rewards vary weekly.  Both types of rewards must be used on a “future purchase” but so far I’ve had no problems asking the cashier to do an immediate separate transaction during the same visit.

You can use one Walgreens Register Reward per item.  You cannot use a separate coupon in addition to a Register Reward for a single item.  The Register Reward amount cannot exceed the price of the item.  You cannot have more Register Rewards and/or coupons than the number of items in your transaction.  Some Register Rewards restrict the type of items you can purchase.  For example, my Reward I received from buying a P&G item did not allow me to purchase another P&G item with the Reward.  Obviously there are ways to work with these restrictions such as adding low cost items to the transaction to obtain the best savings.

CVS allows you to purchase multiple items when redeeming their ExtraCare Bucks.  The total value of all items must exceed the total value of the ExtraCare Bucks being redeemed.  If you buy multiples of the same item, the CVS registers will combine the value into one ExtraCare Bucks reward on the receipt.

CVS requires customers to use their ExtraCare card to receive ExtraCare Bucks.  Walgreens does not have a customer loyalty card.  CVS will often limit the number of items that can be purchased that produce ExtraCare Bucks.  I was surprised to find that my local CVS store had a limit of one for a particular item that was listed in their ad as limit two.  Walgreens cannot limit the number of items due to the lack of loyalty card.  They may however require the customer to buy multiple items on separate transactions to produce multiple Register Rewards.

Just a couple items in today’s coupon shopping trip at Walgreens.

• 6 Nivea For Men Body Wash ($2.50 – $1.00 coupon – $2.00 Register Rewards for every 2 = $0.50 final price)
• 6 Nivea For Men Wash & Shave Gel ($2.50 – $1.00 coupon – $2.00 Register Rewards for every 2 = $0.50 final price)

I also have tomorrow’s trip pre-planned.

At CVS:

• 2 Oral B Pulsar Toothbrushes ($6.00 – $3.00 coupon – $3.00 Extrabucks = FREE final price)
• 2 Crest Pro Health Rinse – 1 liter ($4.50 – $2.00 coupon – $2.50 Extrabucks = FREE final price)

At Walgreens:

• 4 Crest Pro Health Rinse – 1 liter ($3.99 – $2.00 coupon = $1.99 final price)

Another successful day of coupon shopping!  Today, the retail value of my items was $99.97.  My final total after all coupons was $24.22, a savings of 78%!

The following items were purchased today at Walgreens:

• 6 Gillette Fusion ProGlide Power Razors ($9.89 – $5.00 Register Rewards – $4.00 coupon = $0.89 final price)
• 4 Fructis Shampoo 13 oz. w/ free 3.4 oz trial size attached ($3.50 – $1.00 Register Rewards – $1.00 coupon = $1.50 final price)
• 1 Fructis Shampoo 25.4 oz ($4.89 – $1.00 coupon = $3.89 final price)
• 1 Fructis Shampoo 13 oz. ($2.39 – $1.00 coupon = $1.39 final price)

The following items were purchased today at Walmart:

• 1 Colgate Toothpaste 6.4 oz. ($1.74 – $0.75 coupon = $0.99 final price)
• 1 John Frieda Full Repair Styler ($5.97 – $5.00 coupon – $0.97 final price)
• 12 Rayovac Alkaline Heavy Duty AA 4-count ($0.97 – $1.00 coupon (for every 2 items) = $0.47 final price)

Today, I embarked upon my first extreme couponing adventure. It was a small one, but it’s a start. I bought 16 items from Walmart. Before tax, the total before coupons was $65.68 and my final total was $23.38 after using $42.30 of coupons. This reflects a savings of 64.4%.

My purchases included the following:
• 1 4-pack Wilkinson Classic Twin Razors ($0.97 – $1.00 coupon = -$0.03 final price)
• 1 Coffeemate Creamer ($2.88 – $0.55 coupon = $2.33 final price)
• 2 Oral B Battery Cross Action Toothbrushes ($5.97 – $3.00 coupon = $2.97 final price)
• 2 Oral B Battery Toothbrushes ($5.67 – $3.00 coupon = $2.67 final price)
• 5 Colgate Toothpaste 6.4 oz. ($1.74 – $0.75 coupon = $0.99 final price)
• 5 John Frieda Full Repair Styler ($5.97 – $5.00 coupon = $0.97 final price)

I did encounter a few disappointments in my first crazy coupon shopping trip. I had 5 FREE coupons ready to use for single cans of Seattle’s Best Coffee and my Walmart only had 4-packs. I considered opening them but decided I didn’t want to get escorted out by security today. I couldn’t find the $1.00 NexCare Bandages-35 ct. that I had 5 coupons for. I did find the Cutter Citronella Candles that were supposed to be on sale for $2.47 but they were marked at $5 and I didn’t feel like doing the price check thing today.

Overall, not too bad for my first attempt. I’m already looking forward to shopping trip # 2.