Walgreens is one of my favorite places to get toiletries, medicine, and beauty products for free. Yes, I said free. While you will also find highly discounted products by combining sale prices, coupons, and Walgreens Register Rewards, many of the products that I buy from Walgreens cost me absolutely nothing or earn me money. Shopping at Walgreens does not have to be overwhelming. I actually find it easier than matching up deals from the grocery store because there are fewer things to choose from and their weekly ad lays everything out for you.

Walgreens Tips and Tricks

Walgreens generally has some great deals but you need to know what you are doing to make the most out of them. You can combine store coupons that are found in the weekly ad insert, manufacture coupons, and register reward deals to lower the price of an item from Walgreens.

Walgreens Register Rewards

Register Rewards are Catalina coupons that print out when you make a qualifying purchase that work like high value coupons you can use on your next shopping trip. Register Rewards are great because they essentially work like cash on your next shopping trip. I know what you are thinking, and it won’t work. You cannot buy an item, receive a RR, then turn around and use your RR to buy the same item again and hope to get another RR. You will be allowed to purchase the same item with your RR but Walgreen’s system will not print out another RR for you. You can, however, use the RR you received on item A to purchase item B (from a different manufacturer and with another RR offer) and then turn around and use the RR from item B to purchase another item A.

Walgreens Store Coupons

Walgreens has some great store coupons that you can combine with manufacture coupons to create some really amazing deals. The Walgreens weekly ad contains a handful of store coupons that are valid for that week and expire on Saturday night. Walgreens has several In-store coupon books that are a great source of store coupons. These can generally be found at the front of the store and Walgreens usually has a new coupon book each month. I’ve never had a problem finding a coupon book when I need one but if you live in an area where you think they may get picked over you may want to grab a few at the beginning of the month. Most stores will let you use as many in-store coupons as you need for the number of items you have purchased. On high demand items, I have had one store limit it to 2 coupons in a transaction.

How Many Coupons Can You Use?

Walgreens is pretty good about being flexible when you walk in with a stack of coupons but they do have one rule that you cannot get around. You must purchase more items than the number of coupons you are using. Manufactures coupons, in-store coupons, and Register Rewards all count towards your coupon total. That means, if you have 3 items and are using 2 manufactures coupons, 1 store coupon, and 1 Register Reward you will need to find some sort of filler item to get you total number of items up to 4 or they will not accept all your coupons.

How to Shop Walgreens

1. Find the Weekly Ad – The Walgreens Weekly Ad is available online, at the front of each store, or can be found in the Sunday paper. I like flipping through the copy that comes in my Sunday paper because I can mark it up when I see something I am interested in. I generally scan through the deals and do some fast match-ups for things I use often and know I have coupons for. Walgreens usually has at least a few items that are free after Register Rewards so I always add those to my shopping list.
2. Have Your Coupons Ready Before Shopping – Walgreens is pretty patient about working with you to get the most out of your coupons but don’t push your luck by holding up the line while you sort through your coupons. I like to cut out the store coupons from the weekly ad before I go so I don’t forget to use them and Walgreens will not automatically adjust the price just because the coupon is listed in the ad – you have to hand them the coupon to get the lower price.
3. Multiple Transactions – I have rarely had a cashier not allow me to process multiple transactions if they are slow. During busier times I always go through the line once, drop my purchases off in my car, and then return and wait in line again. If there is no one in line behind me I always ask the cashier if he minds if I make my purchases in multiple transactions and then limit myself to 2-3. If you are going to be doing multiple transactions, make sure that you plan how you are going to split up your purchases before you get to the register.

Coupon order is important at Walgreens if you want to get the best deal. Walgreens often has $5 off $25 coupons. These coupons need to be used first. If your total is over $25 and qualifies for the coupon and you drop under that after using your manufacture and store coupons, their system will not take the $5 off.

After using the $5 off $25 coupon you need to hand the cashier your coupons in this order:

1. Manufacture coupons
2. Walgreens store coupons
3. Register Rewards

One of the biggest complains I hear from people is that Walgreens is constantly out of their sale items and they don’t do rainchecks. Walgreens does not stock extras of items just because they are sale so they do generally run out of things. You either have to be there as soon as the ad comes out on Sunday or know when your local store gets their weekly shipment. I’ve found it’s much easier to ask my local stores when they get their shipment and then I make the rounds to each of those stores as I’m out running other errands when their shipment comes in. Since most people try and grab the deals at the beginning of the week, shopping any time after the weekly shipment comes in usually gives you a pretty good chance of finding the items that you want.

Help with Match Ups

If you want to save money but don’t have time to do your own coupon match ups there are plenty of places that can help you out.

Grocery Smarts - This is free but is not in all areas
The Grocery Game – This is a paid service but will help you save money

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