A Drugstore Couponing Tutorial

I started couponing a couple of months ago and I have had a ton of people curious about how I do it. I post pictures of my goods on Facebook and every time, I get at least one person asking me to teach them. So, I decided to put together a little how-to using this weeks sales.

I go to Walgreens, CVS and Rite Aid on a weekly basis. I use a mixture of printable and paper coupons. I usually go to the Krazy Couponing Lady site to match my coupons with the sales. I also can find some good deals at Kroger and Target, but the best freebies I have found are at the drugstores.

These three drugstores all have some sort of money back rewards program. Each week they run specials on certain products where you get a gift certificate type coupon to use during your next visit.

Walgreens- The trickiest drugstore to coupon at- but they have some great sales. Walgreens is the only drugstore where you can get rewards back and not have to have a membership card. This means that even though they limit the number of rewards per person, you can come back the next day if you want and get a repeat deal. Walgreens also prints a coupon book that you can pick up in store. You can combine 1 Manufacturer coupon with 1 store coupon on each item.

Heres what I got at Walgreens this week:

Mitchum Deodorant (2) on sale for $3 and when you buy 2, you get $4 register rewards. I had a bunch of 75cents off 1 Mitchum Deodorant coupons so I combined them with the sale.
I paid $6- 1.50 (2 coupons)-4.00 Register rewards good off my next purchase= .50 for 2, or .25 each

Dove Men+care soap 6 pack (2) on sale for $6 and when you buy 2, you get a $4 register reward. We got a $4 off MF coupon in the paper a couple of weeks ago, so when I combined the coupon with the rewards, I got 2 6 packs for free. $12-$8 (2 coupons)-$4 register rewards= $0 for 2

Chex mix (2) on sale for $1. We got a .50 cents off 1 coupon in last weeks paper. So I got 2 of them for 50cents each.

Schick Slim twin disposable razors (12 pk) on sale for $5.99. When you buy 1 you get a $2 register reward. You can also print a 3.00 off 1 coupon from the Schick facebook page. Combine these 2 things and pick up a package for 99 cents (12 razors!)
5.99-3.00 coupon from facebook- $2 register reward= .99cents for a 12 pack

Milka Chocolate bars on sale for $1.50. The walgreens booklet has a coupon for $1 off 2 bars and you can print 2 1.00 off coupons from bricks.coupons.com to get these for free!
I paid 3 - 2.00 (2 online coupons) - $1 walgreens coupon= free

This week they also have some great deals on school supplies... .19cent mechanical and regular pencils. .9cent folders and .9cent highlighters :)


CVS- There are a couple incentives to couponing at CVS. First of all, if they are having a really good sale, but are out of stock on the item you want to purchase, you can get a raincheck for that item to purchase it at a later date for the same price (including Register Rewards). Another great thing about CVS is the coupon machine. Scan your CVS card and get additional in store coupons that you can combine with MF coupons.

This is what I got this week at CVS:

Oral B indicator toothbrushes (2) On sale for 1.99. We got
a 2.00/2 indicator toothbrushes coupon a few weeks back in the paper. You also get a 1.00 register rewards when you buy 1 (limit 2). SO, I paid:
3.98-2.00 coupon - 2.00 register rewards = -.2cents for 2 toothbrushes!

Crest toothpaste- 1.99. We got a 75 cents off 1 crest toothpaste last week in the paper. You also get 1.00 rewards when you buy 1 (limit 2) This would make them 24 cents a tube.

Pantene Prov- on sale for 3.49. Get $2 register rewards when you buy 2. We also got a 3.00/2 coupon in the paper a while back. Combine these to get 2 bottles for 99 cents each. I just so happened to have another CVS coupon for 2.00/2 that printed at the register a while back, so I got mine completely FREE!

Cottonelle Fresh Wipes 1.99- you can print a coupon from Cottonelle  for 1.00 off and get these for .99 cents!

Rite Aid- My favorite thing about couponing at Rite Aid is the surveys. With every purchase, you get a code to fill out a survey online. For every survey you fill out (max 3 per month) you can print a coupon for $3 off a $15 purchase. Rite Aid gives "UP" rewards to use towards your next purchase just like the other drugstores.

What I purchased at Rite Aid this week:

U by Kotex liners- .99cents. You can print a 1.00 coupon from Kotex and get these for FREE!

Oral B CrossAction toothbrushes 2.99. You get a 1.50 Up Reward when you buy 1. Combine this with the 2.00/crossaction toothbrush coupon we got in the paper a while back, and MAKE .50cents on these!

Excedrin 20 ct (including Migraine) 1.99- use the .75cent coupon we got a while back in the paper and pick these up for 1.24 each.

WELL, thats it! Sounds complicated, but once you get the hang of it, it doesn't take long at all. If your just starting out, you will want to get a couple copies of the paper every week to build your coupons up. I put mine in a binder with trading card inserts.

Yeah, yeah..I know. I AM one of those crazy coupon ladies with their binders in the drugstore :/ I get a lot of free stuff though! If you all want me to keep passing along the weekly coupon deals, let me know and I will. Or you can visit the Krazy Coupon Lady website for the weekly deals.