Sense to Save

How to ‘do’ the drug stores

Country Girl at Heart has posted a question for me:

…I have a question about shopping at Rite-Aid, Walgreens and CVS. When I look at the ads I don’t see all of the deals that you (being the veteran that you are) see. But when I come to your blog I see all these great freebies and savings that I could use. What am I missing? The strategy seems so confusing. Point me in the direction of a crash course please.

First, thank you for the compliment, but I’m not a veteran at all. I only started this drug store stuff a few weeks ago! (I wish it was sooner.)

Since finding out great deals each week can be super time-consuming, lately, I’ve been taking the easy way. I’ve been buying free-after-rebate deals only at Rite Aid, though I plan to start combining sales with coupons to get other items for free. When I do this, of course I’ll show everyone how.

I have only bought the free-after-rebate things at Walgreens, as well, so far. I’m waiting to get my rebate gift card (with an extra 10% on it) before I spend much more at Walgreens. That way, I’m keeping my out of pocket (OOP) expenses to a minimum.

CVS was the first drug store I tried out, and it’s a cool one, but I’ve got to admit it is a little complicated.

For the newbies and the confused:

Visit Crystal’s blog. You can’t go wrong here. She has tutorials on CVS here and Walgreens here. Read both of those, and if you have questions, please ask.

Throughout the week, she’ll post deal combo ideas to show you sample shopping lists. Readers (including you) can submit suggestions to her, and she might post them for everyone to see.

I learn about a lot of deals and coupons through her blog.

Also, I visit couponmom.com. You have to register (for free) to use the site, but her staff matches up sales fliers with coupons in the newspaper. It’s a fast way for me to see some good deals without having to work for it.

But, say your Internet goes out some week. No worries! Just grab your CVS weekly circular, the CVS monthly catalog, Walgreens weekly circular, the Walgreens Easy Saver catalog, and the Rite Aid weekly circular and Rite Aid monthly book. All are available near the front of each store, usually in between the double doors. They also typically come in the Sunday newspaper, or through postal mail.

For each store, here’s what I do:

I look to see what items are free after rebate. These are usually obvious–and will be marked as free. For Rite Aid, if the sale price matches the rebate amount, then it’s free. Often, you’ll see the language “purchase price will be refunded (up to $x.xx).” Items this week at Rite Aid include Adidas body wash, GE power strips, and some Oral-B toothbrushes. For a complete listing of this month’s Rite Aid rebates, click here.

You can combine manufacturer coupons with store coupons and rebates to increase your savings. For example, this month, there is a $1 rebate for Listerine Whitening Rinse, 16 oz. I know I have a coupon for $1 off, so there’s a $2 savings right there.

That’s pretty much the overall strategy: combining manufacturer’s coupons with store coupons and rebates. For CVS, the strategy is to use your extra care bucks to generate more extra care bucks, and never pay anything out of pocket.

Some Rite Aid deals this month:

Electrasol products have a $2 rebate this month at Rite Aid, and there’s always coupons out for those.

On page 17 of the Rite Aid monthly ad, you’ll see a BUNCH of bottles of hair products. Deal # 87 in that booklet says if you purchase $5 worth of any variety, you’ll get a $1 rebate. Buy $10, you’ll get $3 back, buy $15 and you get $5 back, and $20 will get you $8 back. It doesn’t say if you have to buy them all in one transaction or not. Since Rite Aid deals are all entered online, it seems like you wouldn’t have to, but I don’t know for sure.

Bottles pictured include Pert, Tresemme, Garnier Fructis, Dove, Vive, Aussie…and a million others. See your own ad for details. This applies to bottles that cost $3.99 or more.

To get the $8 rebate, you’d have to reach $20 before coupons. At $3.99 each, that’s six bottles to put you over $20, but you might try finding four at $3.99 and one at $4.04 or slightly higher to get the best deal.

There are coupons out for buy one, get one free shampoos, and $1/1 or more. The best way to do this would be to use BOGO coupons AND $1 off one shampoo. That’s two bottles and two coupons (absolutely allowed).

I would need to go to Rite Aid to confirm prices, but here’s a hypothetical scenario:

Bottle 1: $3.99 (use BOGO coupon)
Bottle 2: $3.99 (get this one free, and use a $1 off 1 coupon)
Bottle 3: $3.99 (use BOGO coupon)
Bottle 4: $3.99 (get this free, and use a $1 off 1 coupon)
Bottle 5: $4.04 or more (use $1 off 1 coupon)
Total before coupons: $20. After coupons out of pocket total: $9.02.
After $8 rebate: $1.02 for five bottles of shampoo, or $0.20 each, plus tax.

I now have 11 bottles of shampoo in my storage bin (and several bottles in the shower) so I don’t plan to participate in this one.

UPDATE: To get your rebate check from Rite Aid, you simply go online and enter information found on your receipt. The store register verifies this information somehow, and you get credit for the rebate. At the end of the month, you click a button on the site to request your check. You can only do this once per month. You will know exactly how much money to expect. It takes a few weeks to arrive.

Tracking electrical usage

In the name of saving energy (and, consequently, saving money), I’m going to keep a tally of my main electrical usage each day.

On my electric company’s web site, you can see how many kilowatt hours you are using each day, including days that haven’t yet been billed.

I will keep track of how many times I run the dishwasher in a day, how many showers happen (and the length of them, if I can be particularly good about it), how long the heater is on, and how long the oven is on.

Some things will always be on the electric bill, such as lights, refrigerator, etc.

I will record the kilowatt hours we use each day in a spreadsheet to see if I can spot trends. Should be fun!

A quick (or, sort of quick) energy audit

Here in the Pgh, it has been getting pretty chilly at night for the past week. We’ve seen lows in the low 30s and even upper 20s. Yeesh. The days are still nice, with highs in the 50s and 60s.

As you might recall, I am trying to use the heat as little as possible, to cut down on energy usage and costs.

It’s the last day of October, and I’m happy to report that our heat has yet to turn on this season. The temperature in the ol’ homestead has not dropped below 65, but it did hit 70 yesterday after dinner.

If you’re already freezing your buns off at home (or, if your heat has been on all week), let’s do a quick energy audit.

1. What’s the temperature your thermostat has to hit before your heat kicks on? Can you set it lower? How about setting it so its colder at night, when you’re already warm and under your covers?
2. Are your closet doors open? Why?! Can you please tell me why you are paying to heat your closet?
3. The same principle goes to any unused room. During the day, if you aren’t spending a lot of time in your bedroom, how about closing the heat vent to the room and shutting the door? You don’t need to heat rooms that aren’t in use.
4. Are you using an exhaust fan during your shower? Try to not use it during the winter. Exhaust fans, by design, pull all that warm air up and out of your home. Now, why in the world would you want to do that? The whole point is to keep warm air in, right? If you don’t like foggy mirrors, use a wiper on the mirror. When you’re done showering, leave your bathroom door open to the rest of the home until the bathroom cools off. Then, close the door just like you would any other room.
5. If you can safely do so (no pets or small children), leave your oven door open when you’re done cooking. That extra little heat it will send into the room will feel lovely. The same goes for the dishwasher, if it is warm at the end of the cycle.
6. Are your vents dust-free? This is a good time to clean them and check your air filter on your heater.
7. Are your vents obscured? If you have a sofa covering a vent in your living room, it’s probably not going to do its job.

If you’re ready to kick it up a notch, then take some serious steps to winterize your home by sealing windows and keeping that cold air where it belongs.

If you’ve done all of these things and you’re feeling chilled, don’t turn up your heat just yet. Make a hot drink. I like tea in the mornings , but coffee and hot chocolate will really make a difference.

Wear socks and slippers. Pile on those cozy sweaters and maybe use a small blanket like a shawl.

Heat up a rice sock and hold it.

If none of these things do the trick, set your heat as low as you can without risking your pipes freezing and get out of your house. Go run errands, hang out at the library or somewhere that the heat is on and paid for by someone else.

I don’t know about you, but this certainly works for me!