Becoming A Walgreens EasySaver
Yesterday on the Festival of Frugality blog, I wrote my frugal tip about playing the Drugstore Game. The Drugstore Game is basically using coupons and saver programs at Walgreens, Rite Aid, and/or CVS to get items you need at very low cost, free, or even effectively get paid to buy them. I do not have a Rite Aid in my area, but we do have CVS and Walgreens. In the past, I have used CVS’s Extra Care program to save money on diapers, batteries, toothpaste, and other toiletries. I am not very skilled at the Drugstore Game at CVS though, and have only really managed to get great deals a few times. I can usually get excellent toothpaste deals for some reason, but nothing else can I do consistently. Part of the problem is that anything that has a lot of Extra Care bucks back is sold out the very first day of the sale, and I can’t manage to get there before it is. So although I know that great savings can be had, I still merely dabble in CVS shopping.
This week I decided to give Walgreens a try. I bought a Sunday newspaper this week in hopes of starting to better utilize coupons in my shopping, and in doing so got circulars for many stores, including Walgreens. There were many things in the circular on sale that we actually need, and I also had a few coupons I could match with sales. So off to Walgreens I went to learn about their EasySaver program.
The EasySaver program is actually a rebate program, not a store membership. There is an EasySaver catalog, and in it are a number of rebates each month for items in the store. As well as all the sales I was shopping that week, I found three items in the EasySaver catalog I could get rebates on and matched with my coupons, got the items either significantly discounted, or for two of them, actually free. But I hate rebates. So I investigated further. I could actually submit the rebates online through a code on my receipt, and get back through the mail a Walgreens gift card with a 10% bonus. This would be $8.80 on a gift card total for this shopping trip. This made me excited, so I went through with it and bought the items. Once I have a gift card, I can actually get it refilled with new rebates every month online.
So I bought the items, as well as a number of sale items using coupons from the weekly circular (including packages of mechanical pencils for 5 cents per pack!) and then once I got home, I submitted the rebiate online through the Walgreens website. It was very easy – I had to register online and create an account, which took about 3 minutes, and then filling out the form took another 5 minutes. In about 2 weeks, I should get a gift card for $8.80 from Walgreens, and even if I decide not to keep going with the Walgreens EasySaver program, we get my spouse’s Advair prescription filled each month at Walgreens so I can use the gift card money for that. But I am going to give the program a try, and see if I can get enough rebates to not have to spend any money other than gift card money at Walgreens each month.
We’ll see. But I am happy with this week’s trial, at least.
July 25th, 2008 at 6:49 am
The Walgreens program I think is easier to understand than the CVS one. I have Riteaid, CVS and Walgreens in my area. I decided finally to use Riteaid exclusively–It is not too far and it is right next to my favorite grocery store. The thing too–it is easy to figure out the deals and get them and it is a small store and not so busy as Walgreens/CVS so everybody in town doesn’t go there before me. I also use the grocery game–which means I get a list every week telling me exactly what the best deals are and how to get them. I subscribed to the riteaid list though they also had cvs and walgreens–found the same thing–the best deals sold out before I could get them at those stores. They all have the deals I think, so I go to the one I feel works best for me.
July 25th, 2008 at 8:03 am
i love the walgreen’s program. i do the grocery game as well and get my lists from them. i will say that the deals haven’t been as good lately (except for the school stuff, which is great right now). i’m hoping the fall will have better sales.
also, remember to go into the easy saver site and request your rebate at the end of the month. walgreen’s will automatically submit it a few days later, but you won’t get the 10% if you let that happen.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:13 am
I’m not very good at the CVS game. There are lots of hoops to jump through and very specific items that qualify and they rarely have things organized well at all (at my cvs, that is.) I haven’t really tried the Walgreens program, but think I’ll work on that one next. Thanks for posting about your success with it.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:55 am
Lately the CVS deals have been a pain! You have to beat everyone to the store for a limit of 1 or 2 on any given, good ECB item. However, the grocery deals have been great this week! Worth multiple papers. I’m getting better deals at the grocery store (with no limits) than at CVS – even on personal care items.
July 25th, 2008 at 10:36 am
I dabble with both (another Grocery Gamer here). Just remember that Walgreens rebates can only be submitted once a month. We’re at the end of the July rebate cycle, but for any deals you find at the beginning of August hold off submitting those rebate requests until the end of August. Make sense?
July 25th, 2008 at 12:05 pm
Instead of buying the newspaper, for Walgreen’s weekly ad go here, and follow links:
http://www.walgreens.com/default.jsp
They also have, once a month, or so, either $5 or $10 off, as well as pretty good deals weekly. I believe this is the link:
http://www.walgreens.com/hotbuys/default.jsp
Enjoy!
The $ off should be coming up this Sat/Sun (I think). Walgreens seems to accept its internet coupons, unlike -say- our local Target.
July 25th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Green with envy
I live in an area where there are no CVS, Walgreens, Walmarts, Rite Aids, etc…
ALL we have are Fred Meyers and Safeway…. anything else is over 50 miles away…. bummer….
July 26th, 2008 at 12:13 am
i do walgreens and rite aid every week and have gotten such great deals with them. I now have a whole closet shelf devoted to my drugstore finds and probably have enough toothpaste, razors, and shampoo/conditioner for the next year thanks to the great deals. keep it up, walgreens is pretty decent, although i find rite aid to be better. it’s too bad you don’t have one near you. we have one on every corner around here, it’s kind of crazy
July 27th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Well, phewey, no $ coupon this week. ;-(
I just check every Sunday, as well as subscribe to the weekly ad.
July 29th, 2008 at 4:13 am
I LOVE Walgreens! It has the easiest rebate program to use so far that I have found. I just keep finding more and more bargains every time I go in the store. There are lots of great deals that aren’t even listed in the ads. I carry my coupons around the store and just look for discount and sale tags.
July 30th, 2008 at 7:51 pm
$5 off $20, tomorrow only:
http://www.walgreens.com/hotbuys/default.jsp