I haven’t posted about my drugstore deals in far too long. Mostly because I haven’t been too over-the-top thrilled with them. But I have a confession to make: recently I’ve been shopping more and more at Walgreens. Shocking, right? I used to feel like their register rewards were too inconsistent to really make it worth my time. But within the past few months, they’ve gotten on the loyalty card train and now have a “Balance Rewards” program. So in addition to register rewards items, now you can also earn Balance Rewards points on your card for buying certain things. When you get to 5,000 points, you can redeem them for $5 off your purchase. I was skeptical at first, but twice reached the 5,000 point mark pretty quickly without really even trying. Then, after the deal I got this week on the products above, I was sold! Here’s what I got.
Transaction #1:
3 Splenda $2.99 each with in-ad coupon = $8.97
iChill sleep remedy $4.99
total = $13.66
coupons -$3 (three $1 off Splenda printables)
total = $10.66 + tax and I got back $10 in Register Rewards! $5 for the Splenda and $5 for the iChill.
So then I bought:
Two Viva 6-packs (my favorite paper towel ever!!) $5.99 each = $11.98
One clearance pocket folder 54 cents (filler item. I had more coupons than I had items so I had to throw that in. Something I still don’t enjoy about Walgreens.)
One Thermacare cold pack $7.99.
total = $20.51
coupons:
-$2 ($1 off Viva Walgreens monthly saving book coupon, took $1 off each pack)
-$3 Viva coupon I got in a Kroger mailer but coupon can be used anywhere 🙂
-$3 Thermacare coupon from RedPlum insert
-$5 Register Reward from previous purchase.
Total = $7.51 and I got 2,000 balance reward points (aka $2) loaded to my card for the Thermacare and a $3 Register Reward for the Viva.
So I walked out of Walgreens with all that product and $8 in Register Rewards and another 2,000 points on my card! I was pretty happy! If Walgreens keeps having deals like this, we will be very happy together in the future!
That’s what I got at the drugstore last week – how about you??
I did not get on board with Balance Rewards. I used to go there every week, but once they switched to BR, I was out. My main issue is that BR cannot be used to buy new things that generate BR…i.e. they do not roll. That is my understanding. I was already on thin ice with Walgreens just due to the complexity and annoying quirks of Register Rewards. I can still get all the ‘free’ toiletries I need just by doing CVS. Doing 2 drugstores was really giving me more than I could use. But I’m happy that you are enjoying your good finds.
Hmm, I didn’t realize that Balance Rewards don’t roll. I’ve not tried it yet. I will keep that in mind as I move forward! I had trouble in the past with RR too which was why I gave up on Wags for a long time. But every time I’ve gone recently, all has gone well.
I have also abandoned Walgreens since their switch to the new program. Maybe I should give them another try…