Make Money with your Prescriptions!

There is no reason right now why you should ever fill or refill a prescription without someone giving you perks for it. The sale papers in the newspaper are filled each week with offers for free gift cards for filling a new or transferring an old prescription to a particular drugstore. Rite-Aid is the best at this. I LOVE their offers. They give you a $25 gift card for each prescription that you transfer or fill. I have so far made about $50 at Rite Aid that I have then used to buy diapers. HOORAY FOR FREE DIAPERS! I have also been able to take rebate deals at Rite-Aid and actually "roll" the gift card money into more money coming back through a rebate. I'll tell you more about how to do that in my Rite Aid post later this weekend.

The other exciting thing about the Rite Aid coupon is that I've been able to use them at Publix. As I've told you before. Publix accepts competitor coupons and I've found it to be true in the pharmacy as well. They accept the Rite Aid coupon and give you a $25 Publix gift card for your prescription. I've gotten probably $75 worth of free groceries by doing this. Our family doesn't use a lot of prescription meds, but during the winter/spring, there are usually a lot of doctor's visits and new prescriptions not to mention those monthly meds that you can transfer from your current pharmacy to take advantage of these deals.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did get a Rite Aid coupon rejected by a Publix store this week. They told me they were no longer accepting them. However, "my" regular Publix hasn't stopped accepting them, so it may be a store by store decision. Let me know if you try it and it works.

Walgreen's also offers a $25 transfer coupon and occasionally Target will offer one as well, although theirs is usually only for about $10. It's a great way to grab a little extra cash for making a purchase that you'd have to make anyway.

Let me know if you try it and how much success you have!!

Today I'm going to experiment at Walgreen's a bit to see what kind of deals I can find there. I'm usually not a big Wag's shopper, but my sources are telling me that they've had better deals lately than CVS, so I'm going to check it out and report back!!

********UPDATE!!!!!!!!*********

As my dear friend, Trudy, graciously pointed out, I forgot to tell you where I'm getting these coupons.  Oops. :)  The Sunday paper is your best bet. Check the weekly circulars for the local drugstores and you'll find all kinds of goodies. That's where Rite Aid usually posts theirs as well as Walgreens. It pays to thumb through the actual newspaper as well. Last week I found a page full of $25 gift card coupons for Rite Aid on the back page of the Living section of the paper. They don't expire for a while, so I'm hoping to be able to use them all before they're gone. Target usually prints their coupons in the weekly circular as well.

Sorry for the omission! Truly, the Sunday paper is the secret to everything!

The Importance of a Second Email Address

I can't emphasize enough the importance of setting up an email account that you can use for your coupon/money-saving purposes. It's super easy to go to yahoo or hotmail or gmail and set up a free account and then you're not dealing with an over-abundance of spam in the inbox of your main email account. Most places are actually pretty good about not sending tons of junk, but it's just a good idea to protect yourself by keeping things separate. 

Also, lots of the places that you sign up will send you more money-saving coupons or deals and it's much easier to have them all in one place on that second email account than to have to page through your work/personal emails to get them.

I have a second account through gmail and I check it about once a week to see if there's anything worth saving.

Victoria's Secret

Today I made a run into Victoria's Secret because I had a bunch of good coupons I wanted to take advantage of. I'll save you the details of my skivvies, but suffice it to say that they have a decent sale going on right now in their undergarment department. Is that discreet enough? :) Anyway, I got a couple of good freebies while I was there that I can share with you. The first thing I got for free was a lip gloss, which was free with any purchase. You don't need to buy $25 worth of underwear like I did, you can buy one other tiny thing and still get this freebie. Whatever floats your boat. The coupon is HERE.

Next, I gave them another coupon I received and got a cute "Pink" tote bag. I had to sign up for this one, but I'm just hoping that they'll send me some more coupons as time goes on. It was free and the site is HERE. 

**This site has been experiencing technical difficulties from time to time, so if you're interested in the bag, just keep trying back. It will eventually work.** 

Also, there's a $10 off a $35 purchase coupon on the print-out as well.

I also had a coupon for a free panty that I received in the mail a while back from having been on their mailing list. So for a grand total of about $26.00 I got six pair of skivvies, a lip gloss, and a cute tote bag that will be perfect for the pool this summer. Not the world's greatest of all deals, but if you're in the market for their products, might as well get some fun things for free while you're at it! 

Here's a pic:

(The piece of paper is what your print-out for the bag will look like.)

I'll spare you the details of my underwear choices.

They're in the bag.

:)

Target

Who doesn't love Target? I'll tell ya, though. I'm not a fan of Target's prices. I usually don't even darken the doors of the place unless they've got some killer deals because there's just too much temptation. Today was a great day of deals, though, so let me fill you in and then you can jump on these deals before they're gone!

Here's what I bought at Target today:

Total OOP (out of pocket): $4.00

Yep. FOUR DOLLARS. And it would've been less than $2.00 if I hadn't caved on the animal crackers. But hey--we've all gotta live a little, right?

Let me tell you how I did this and then you can find these deals yourself. They're all printable coupons online. In addition to the newspaper, there are MOUNTAINS of coupons to be found online. There are a few major sites and then there are several other smaller sites that just pop up with good deals from time to time.

First off, Target will let you combine one store coupon with one manufacturer's coupon. They are a tiny bit anal about their policies (anyone tried to return anything to Target without a receipt? You might as well sell your firstborn) so you have to make sure you have your ducks in a row before you get to checkout. 

Here's how I snagged these deals:

Huggies Wipes: Original price $5.99.

 I used a $5.00 off coupon HERE. 

**Internet coupons will usually print twice per computer. Just use your browser's back button and it should print again. If you have more than one computer in the house, take advantage! Often these coupons will be "reset" after a week or so and you can print them all over again.**

Huggies Wipes: $.99

They are specific as to which KIND of wipe you have to buy--Gentle Care or Natural care or whatever, so pay attention to what you grab or the deal won't work. You can also use this deal on diapers if you choose, but the Gentle Care diapers only go up to about a size 2, so you'll only be able to do that if you've got an itty-bitty one at home.

**Snoop around on that printable site I linked you to up there. Print off anything that might be of value. There are also $3.00 off Huggies coupons as well and those will still make for some mighty cheap wipes...especially if they go on sale somewhere next week. (Which they will, I'm sure.)**

Riceworks Chip: Original Price $2.99

I used a "get one FREE coupon" HERE

Hooray for FREE! And I guess the $2.99 is a sale price because the computer actually gave me a $3.50 credit for it, which means I got a $.51 credit for them. Hooray for MORE than FREE!! And turns out, they're yummy! :)

Riceworks Chips: FREE + $.51 credit!

Mott's Applesauce: Original Price $1.69

I used one $1.00 off Target coupon HERE  and

one $.55 manufacturer coupon HERE

The Target coupon you can print about as many times as you want, I believe. The site makes it look a little like you need to sign up, but you don't. And there are lots of other Target deals there that are worth printing while you're at it. The manufacturer coupon, I believe you can print twice per computer. Again, take advantage of that second (or third!) computer in your world.

Applesauce: $.14 each

So those are the Target deals. Good stuff, right? No reason why you can't make those happen for you...fire up the printer and get started! 

Just resist the temptation to buy all the other overpriced stuff while you're there!!!--Remember...it's all about self-discipline!

CVS

CVSing (yes, it's a verb) is an art form. I'm not going to attempt to explain it all today because I don't have the brain cells (they were sucked out this morning by my cranky two-year-old) and it's going to take me a little time to organize my thoughts to figure out the best way to communicate it.

That being said, here's what I got on my CVS run today.

Total Cost Out of Pocket:  $3.76

Now, like I said, CVS is an art form and it takes a while to figure it out and develop your strategies. Let me give you the run down on what I did today and then I promise, within the next week, I'll give you the scoop so you can start trying this yourself.

Herbal Essence x 4 $2.88each--

then I used 2 "$3 off 2" coupons for a total of $6 off. 

That takes the total to $5.52 for all four.

THEN (and this is where it can get confusing) I received $4 in Extra Care Bucks back.

***Extra Care Bucks (ECBs) are CVS' way of getting you to come back to the store. They choose special items, put them on sale and then when you buy them, they print out a receipt that gives you a particular dollar amount to spend the next time you come in the store. Today the deal was $1ECB for each Herbal Essence you buy. The entire trick of CVSing is combining sale items with coupons and paying for them purely in ECBs. But more on that later. ***

So for the shampoo deal, if you subtract the ECBs from the price, I actually got four bottles of shampoo/conditioner for $1.52. Not bad, eh?

Okay, hopefully you're still with me...moving on...

Crest Pro-Health Toothpaste 1@  $2.99

--then I used 1 "$.75 off" coupon

That brought the toothpaste to $2.24

And then I got $2ECB back making the toothpaste actually $.24

Still there?

Vaseline Total Moisturizing Lotion 1@  $3.69

--then I used a "$1.50 off" coupon

That brought the lotion to $2.19

And then I got 2 ECB back making the lotion actually $.19

Now, in addition, I found some coloring books for a dollar as well as a sticker book and I had a few ECBs that I needed to use because they were going to expire, so I used them on the goodies for the kids. Those goodies brought my total up $4.00.

I used $10.98 worth of ECBs from a previous trip to pay and then the total leftover was the $3.76 I paid out of pocket (henceforth abbreviated OOP).

Now, if you're new to CVSing, that probably will make little sense at best. Hang with me and I'll get you going. If you can build up your ECBs then you can stockpile them for diapers. I have a friend who hasn't paid OOP for diapers in a year. You do end up "buying" things you don't need, but there are always shelters that are happy to accept donated toiletries. I pass a lot of things on to my family and friends as well.

Also, each drugstore has it's own "customer retention" program. Rite Aid has one, Walgreen's has one. I'll fill you in on Rite Aid's this week--I'm familiar with their program. Walgreen's I'm just learning about so I'll keep you posted!

Hang with me for more drugstore info!

One Heck of a Shopping Day!

Well, today I dropped Will off at school, went to the gym for a great kickboxing workout (seriously....don't cross me in a back alley) and then it was off to pound out some great deals. I'm going to go through them bit by bit with tips on each one, so hopefully you can either duplicate some of these deals yourself or at least start getting familiar with the thought process behind putting these deals together.

Ready? 

Here we go!

Comments

Hooray! I found my comments! Sorry I didn't post them sooner. Apparently I'm set to "moderate" them, so I'll keep a better watch. Thanks for reading, guys, and thank you for the suggestions. I'm excited to know that you're out there and that you're interested in this stuff. Tomorrow I'll post my meal plan process for the week and I'll let you in on some great websites to check for deals. I'll also let you know where to look for coupons...they're not just in the Sunday paper anymore. (Although, it's still your best bet!) Keep your thoughts coming and let me know how I can help you...I can't wait to hear your success stories!

Oh! And tomorrow I'm doing some shopping out and about for "research" purposes, so I'll probably have some fantastic deals to let you in on from Victoria's Secret, Bath and Body Works, Target and CVS.

See you soon!!!