Walgreens for extreme beginners

Never shopped at Walgreens before, or only for medicine?

You're missing out on a lot. Walgreens has some amazing deals not only on medicine, but on health and beauty items - and on food, too!

If you've never shopped there, here's the absolute basics about getting good deals at Walgreens.

First of all, unlike CVS, you don't need a special card or tag to get deals.  However, you will need a copy of the weekly ad, generally.  You can get this in your local Sunday newspaper, or pick one up at the store.  You can also read it ahead of time online - I always link to it in my Walgreens Under a Buck post - and then pick up a copy at the store to cut out the coupons you need.

The weekly ad contains lots of Walgreens store coupons.  These can be for Walgreens brand items or for name brand items.  For name brand items, you can also use a manufacturer's coupon along with the Walgreens coupon to save even more.

Some deals will create Register Rewards.  These are slips of paper that come out of a separate printer from your receipt.   They are coupons that are good for dollars off your next purchase.  But, there are some caveats:

• Register Rewards cannot be used to purchase prescriptions, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, sales tax, lottery tickets, money orders, transportation passes, postage stamps, dairy, and gift cards.
• Your total must be equal to or higher than the amount of Register Rewards you use.
• The total number of manufacturer's coupons plus the number of Register Rewards you use cannot exceed the total number of items you have purchased.
• You must pay sales tax, if applicable.
• If you return an item, you are supposed to forfeit any Register Rewards you earned in the original transaction.
• Register Rewards are generally issed by a particular manufacturer.  You cannot use Register Rewards to then purchase another item from the same manufacturer.  So, for instance, if you get a Register Rewards for buying an item made by Procter & Gamble, you cannot use it to buy another item made by Procter & Gamble.

It seems like a lot, right?  And it can get complicated, but once you learn the system, you'll be able to get some great deals.  Next time I'll go into more detail about how to make Register Rewards work for you.

For more frugal tips, please check out the bloggers listed on the left sidebar under Frugal Tips Linkups. There are lots of great ideas on each blog and I'm sure you'll find lots of wonderful tips!