Learn From My Mistakes!

Well, I was hoping for a brilliant trip to Walgreen's today...I had a prescription to fill and a coupon for a $25 credit which I was then going to use to buy some products to start getting rebates from them. I wanted to start learning how to "work" their system so that I can pass it along to you guys. Unfortunately it didn't work out that way. It wasn't a total disaster, but let me give you a couple of tips so that you can learn from my mistakes:

1. READ YOUR COUPONS CAREFULLY! Unfortunately the coupon I had for the gift card was only good for a TRANSFERRED prescription. Not a NEW one, which is what I had. I lost out on that deal. (Although next month, I will probably transfer one of my monthly prescriptions to Wag's so that I can use the coupon.)

2. IF SOMETHING DOESN'T WORK OUT, DON'T BE AFRAID TO JUST LET IT GO. As soon as she told me that the coupon wouldn't work, I should have just taken the prescription back and gone to Rite Aid. I still would've gotten $25 and it wouldn't have even added to my stops today--I was going there anyway. But the pharmacist lady was nice and I didn't want to be rude...and blah, blah, blah. The fact of that matter is that she's not paid on commission...it wouldn't have been personal had I chosen to take my prescription elsewhere.

3. IT'S BEST TO KNOW THE RETAIL PRICE OF A PRODUCT BEFORE YOU ACTUALLY GO TO THE STORE. This isn't always possible, but it can save you a lot of thought in the store. Today I bought some shampoo that I really thought I was going to end up getting almost for free based on the coupons/rebates I had, but it turned out to be a lot more expensive than I thought. 

4. DON'T BE AFRAID TO WALK AWAY FROM A DEAL. Today I was hoping to get in on a diaper deal that would've given me some really cheap diapers and a rebate to boot. The diapers they had in the right size didn't match the coupons I had and it really wouldn't have been that great of a deal since they were out of the size I needed. This rule I followed today (the bright spot in my shopping)...I walked away.

5. GET THERE EARLY. When the deals for a drugstore are announced (usually on Sunday), get there as quickly as you can to take advantage of them. There are more people that you realize taking advantage of these deals and they go quickly. Almost everything I was going to get for free at Wag's today was already gone. I was hoping since it was towards the end of the week that they would've restocked from the Sunday/Monday rush, but no such luck. Shop early.

Tomorrow I'll start taking you through the process of how I plan my meals, organize my shopping list and match my coupons. If you want to follow along, pick up an early edition of the Sunday paper at your nearest convenience store tomorrow afternoon!