It was an exciting week for Natalie. I took her on a field trip to show her exactly what she needed to do for the Scotts deal. Later that day, she went to Rite Aid and did the deal! Since it was her first time shopping at Rite Aid, I was nervous about her rolling her UPR and doing 3 transactions. But… she did it! Her total was less than $31.00 after UPR & coupons.
I know as couponers you cannot imagine paying $104.93 for this, but that is retail price. I will say that she normally shopped sales, but still would pay about $76.00 for these items.
From Natalie:
This week, I went all by myself to try the Rite Aid Scott’s Bath Tissue Deal. Because I am new to this, I get one set of coupon inserts each week, and did not have many of the Scotts coupons. Even without the coupons, I still was able to follow the scenarios and saved.
I did three separate transaction and left the store with $20.00 in UPR’ to use
Natalie’s Tip for this week:
Rite Aid is not where I normally shop, but I know there are upcoming deals to use these UPR’s. If you go to a store for one deal, don’t be afraid to use those rewards before you leave the store – buy things that you need anyway. Most drug stores carry milk, eggs and bread – even with the slightly inflated prices – it is better than never using them. Don’t risk letting them expire, pick up something else you might need or want – if you cannot make it back to the store.
Now onto CVS.
Since the best deals this week at CVS were Huggies Diapers, I had just a small trip. Please note the tapped bag of candy corn is a result of taking a 9 year old along.
Here is what I did.
(2) Soaftsoap Foaming Pampered Hands $1.67
Revlon Lip Color $6.49
Candy Corn $.99
use (2) $.70/1 Softsoap Foaming Hands Coupon
used $8.79 ecb from last week’s trip
Paid $.63
Got $5.00 ecb (Revlon Lip Color)
and $.99 ecb (Candy Corn)
So, how did I do?
Kathy T says
Good Job Natalie…. Watch out Natalie coupon shopping can become addicting :)
allie says
I am confused…at Rite Aid they told me I can’t use my UPS to purchase state regulated items…like milk. That really disappointed me. So are you saying CVS lets you use your ECB’s towards milk?
Kelley Brandt says
I have the same bag of candy corn because of a 3 yr old! LOL Did you get ecb from the candy corn? I didn’t.
Janine says
I know that this after the fact Kelley, but I didn’t get the candy corn ECB either. Either way, the candy corn got eaten in our home:)
Shanta says
Hey Shannon……you did just fine Natalie!!!!! Keep up the great work. Shannon’s a great teacher to us all:)
sherry says
Good job!
MaRobb says
I did the Huggies deal – Spend $25 get $10 ecb
3 Huggies slip ons $9.00 each
used 3 $3/1 Huggies Slip On Diapers
used 1 $6.76 ecb & 1 $.99 ecb from last week
Paid $11.30 (incl tax) & received $10 ecb (Huggies)
Paid $1.30 for 3 packs of diapers
Shannon says
nitce!
Lissa says
Not to be a stickler, but you’ve counted your ecb’s twice. This is a general comment, especially to newbies out there, as it will help you to see the true cost of items and not overestimate your savings. You can’t count rewards as money off a transaction on both the front and back sides. In other words, you can’t count BOTH the previously earned rewards that you use to help pay for a transaction AND the rewards that you WILL earn for that transaction against the transaction final cost. What I generally pick is to use the rewards I will earn as a way of figuring my final per item/per transaction cost.
So, to use your transaction as an example of this:
Huggies – $9ea
Subtotal: $27
Minus – (3) $3
To pay: $18 (it doesn’t matter HOW you pay this: cash, previous rewards. using previous rewards just affects your OOP, not the actual cost of the items)
Receive: $10 ecb
Final transaction cost: $8 for 3 packs/$2.67each! (paid amount – ecb earned)
I hope that helps people! If you count rewards on both ends you end up thinking you’ve spent much less than is really true!
Shannon says
My rule of thumb is count them when you earn them only because everyone earns them at the same time – we will all spend them at a different time.
Ruth Jenkins says
This happens a lot and I do agree with you. A lot of couponers underestimate their cost so their savings seem more. In order the get ECB, UPR or Register Rewards, they have to come from somewhere, there was money involved in getting them. Seasoned couponers know this but the new people who just started couponing sometimes don’t understand the couponing is not as simple as they make it seem on TV and on some posts. I am a personal shopper so I get a lot of information from the local retailers. Some have told me that some new couponers read the posts and go to the store and try to do the deals. When it doesn’t work out, some get enraged, curse out employees and blame the manager or employees for their mistakes. There is always a reason why a scenario didn’t work and my advice to the newbies is take a few minutes to figure it out after your transaction. You can always return the item. Don’t hold up lines, remember at drug stores, most customers are getting a couple of items and they go there because the transaction is usually quick. They didn’t plan to wait in line while a couponers tries to figure out why she didn’t get a ie. register reward.
Another thing that bothers me is when I see couponers do 2-3 transactions at one time at a drug store. In order to make life easier for the rest of us, do one transaction, go back in line, minimize the amount impact that your transaction has for the store.