Rite-Aid: Moneymaker Trip

Another great week at Rite-Aid. I finally found some stock on the Johnson & Johnson items from last month that I had rainchecks for. Still no Desitin though. Which is really a bummer because my raincheck and coupons expire this week. Oh well.

As always, head over to This Beautiful Frugal Life for all the Rite-Aid deals for the week.

Item	Regular Price	Sale Price	Coupon	I Paid	+UP Rewards Received
(2) Lysol Wipes	$3.49	$1.99	$1/2 (printable)	$2.98	$2.00
(1) Veet	$6.49		$3/1 In ad coupon $3/1 (printable)	$0.49	$1.00
(2) Loreal Go Clean Face Wash	$7.19	B1G1 50 % off	$2/$10 purchase (VV) $2/1 (VV) (2) $2/1 (3/20 Red Plum)	$2.78	$4.00
Physician’s Formula Organic Mascara	$9.95		$5/1 (no longer available)	$4.95
Physician’s Formula Powder	$10.95	$5.95 (clearance) + B1GI 50% off		$2.97
(2) J&J Bedtime Bath	$5.69	$0.99 (Rain check price)	$2/2	$0.00
(1) J&J Shampoo	$4.49	$0.99 (Rain check price)	$1/1	$0.00
(2) J&J Detangler	$4.49	$0.99 (Rain check price)	(2) $1/1	$0.00

Total = $14.12

-         Received $7 +UP Rewards

-         $1 Single Check Rebate on Lysol

-         $9.95 Physican’s Formula Rebate

Grand Total = $3.83 profit

Check out your store for clearance Physician's Formula items. All Physician's Formula are Buy 1 Get 1 50% off and this does include clearance. I found a powder (in my color) on clearance. I paired it with a organic mascara with a Try Me Free sticker and a $5 off coupon. I'll get both items for FREE.

Rite-Aid = FREE baby products

I have a confession to make........

I bought coupons off ebay in preparation for this week's sales at Rite-Aid.

So now you are either thinking "She has lost it" or "Who knew you could buy coupons on ebay".

This is not something I would normally do (this was my first time). But after seeing the preview of this week's Rite-Aid ad, I realized I could get a ton of FREE baby products for an event I am attending next week. At that event, they will be taking a collection for a pregnancy aid organization and I scored a huge donation!

Transaction #1

(7) Johnson and Johnson baby products (reg. price $4.49-$5.59. Sale price $2.99)
(1) Filler Candy ($.33)

$21.26
- (7) $1/1 coupons
- $14 +UP Rewards
= $.26 + tax
Total = $2.25

Received $14 +UP Rewards

Transaction #2

(7) Desitin (reg. price $4.99. Sale price $2.99)
(1) Filler Candy ($.33)

$21.26
- (7) $1/1 coupons
- $14 +UP Rewards
= $.26 + tax
Total = $2.25

Received $14 +UP Rewards

Transaction #3

(2) Huggies Little Snugglers Diapers (reg price $11.99. Sale price $8.99)
(2) Johnson and Johnson baby products (reg price $4.49. Sale price $2.99)
(1) Filler Candy ($.33)

$24.29
- $4 off Video Values coupon
- $2 off Video Values coupon
- $10 Gift of Savings reward (I completely forgot I had earned this at Christmas time)
- (2) $2/1 Huggies coupon
- (2) $1/1 J&J coupon
- $2 +UP Rewards
= $.29 + tax
Total = $1.63

Received $8 +UP Rewards

So to review.....

OOP = $6.13 (mostly tax)
Coupons off ebay = $2.94 (14 $1/1 coupons)

Used $14 in +UP Rewards
Received $20 in +UP Rewards

Grand Total = $3.07 for $102.71 worth of baby products.

I love that my couponing can benefit a great organization and help some new moms!

Rite-Aid: Single Check Rebate

So I know I promised to work out a scenario at Rite-Aid this week to help you maximize your +UP Rewards. But honestly, the +UP Rewards this week kind of suck. Most of the deals in this weeks ad are focused on Rite-Aids other discount program, the Single Check Rebate.

The Single Check Rebate program allows you to enter your Rite-Aid reciepts online and recieve a rebate check at the end of the month for a variety of offers. There are a couple things that I like about this program. First, the rebate items are cleared marked in the ad and at the store. Second, the rebates are often high-value which can result in free items. And lastly, the rebate check can be cashed at your bank or used directly at Rite-Aid on a future purchase.

But there are some things about this program that I don't like. First, in addition to entering your reciept information, you also have to select the offers you are submitting for rebate. It seems like the system should automatically be able to match them up. The biggest drawback to the Single Check Rebate program is that it takes about a month to get your check. I'm more of an instant-gratification girl, so I generally only use the Single Check Rebate program on products that my family will definitely use. I could technically get some free items to donate, but it doesn't really feel free when you have to wait that long for the rebate.

You can find a list at This Beautiful Frugal Life of products that are free with week using the Single Check Rebate program.

This Beautiful Frugal Life also posted a heads up for a +UP Reward deal for next week. Dig out your Dove deodorant coupons from the 1/30 Red Plum insert and hang on to them for a $2 moneymaker next week.

Rite-Aid +UP Rewards

I have mentioned the Rite-Aid +UP Rewards in many of my previous blog posts, so I thought I would take a minute and explain exactly how this program works. In a nutshell, +UP Rewards are money you earn on your purchase that can then be applied to your next purchase.

This is a page from the Rite-Aid circular ad from this week. See the Colgate toothpaste in the middle of the page? The amount in white ($2.99) is the price you will pay out of pocket. The amount in yellow ($2.00) is the amount you will get back as a +UP Reward. The amount is red ($.99) says "It's Like Paying". Keep in mind, you will not actually pay $.99. You will have to pay the $2.99 out of pocket. You will then get a $2 +UP Reward that prints with your reciept.

The key to using the +UP Rewards is rolling them into your next purchase. Your first trip to Rite-Aid will cost you a bit of money out of pocket, but if you plan it right, it will yield you +UP Rewards to use on your next trip. Most +UP Rewards expire 2 weeks after they are printed so in order to use them effectively you need to shop at Rite-Aid at least every other week. +UP Rewards can also be rolled immediately into your next purchase, so sometimes it makes sense to split your order into two transactions.

In addition to earning +UP Rewards on individual products, you can also earn them for purchasing a certain amount of particular products. The yellow banner on the page above shows that you can earn $10 +UP Rewards for spending $30 on participating products or $20 +UP Rewards for spending $50. The great thing about this is that the $30/$50 is calculated before any coupons. On my recent trip to Rite-Aid, I purchased items that totalled $30 to get the $10 +UP Reward, but I had $14 in coupons that I used.

I had a scenario all laid out to share with you that would have yielded a profit of $15 in +UP Rewards, but unfortunately the printable coupons that you need are no longer available. As soon as this coming week's ad is available, I will share a scenario with you to help you start your +UP Rewards savings.

Prepping for my Rite-Aid Trip

A lot of people have asked me how much time I spend cutting coupons and finding deals. If you ask my husband, he would say TOO LONG! But in my opinion, it doesn't take up that much of my time. Mainly, I let other people do all the work and just reap the benenfits.

Here is how I get prepared for my weekly trip to Rite-Aid.

There are some amazing bloggers out there who put together coupon match-up lists every week based on the Sunday ad paper. My favorite is This Beautiful Frugal Life. Each Friday, she posts the highlights from the upcoming Rite-Aid along with relevant coupon information. I start making my list here. I look for items that we need, free items for my donate bin, or items that will be moneymakers.

Next, I grab my coupons and clip the ones I might need. I'll do an upcoming post on how I organize my coupons, but basically I don't clip them until I need them.

Next stop is the coupon database at Coupon Mom. Using the database, I type in anything on my list that I don't have a coupon for yet just to make sure their isn't one out there.

Last step before heading out on Sunday morning (my usual Rite-Aid shopping day) is to comb through the ad paper myself. This Beautiful Frugal Life and other bloggers do a great job of posting the highlights, but I always want to make sure their isn't a specific item that we use or need on sale.

Check back tomorrow for the highlights from my Rite-Aid trip.

Recent Trip: Rite-Aid (1/16/2011)

I was feeling annoyed this morning because I am out of contact lense solution and figured I was going to have to overpay for it today. But I unearthed a bottle from Costco from my storage area (reason #19439 I need to clean out the storage area), so I now I can shop around to stock up.

Since I didn't have any "must buy" items on my Rite-Aid list, I just ran in to pick up some freebies for my donation bin.

(2) Rite-Aid 4 pack of bathroom tissue (regular price $1.99. On sale for $1)
(2) Rite-Aid single roll bathroom tissue (regular price $1.19. On sale for $1)
(2) Rite-Aid facial tissue (regular price $1.99. On sale for $1)
(1) 28 piece play food set (regular price $7.99. On 90% off clearance for $.79)

Used $6 in +UP rewards from last weeks trip

OOP = $1.44

Received $6 in +UP rewards

The toilet paper and tissues ended up being free and are a great donation item. The play food was too good a deal to pass up and is already proving to be a hit in our household.

Recent Trip: Rite-Aid (1/9/2010)

The Rite-Aid Wellness+ program is amazing. I used to wonder why anyone would shop at Rite-Aid because everything seemed so expensive. Now I realize the key is the coupons, Wellness+ discounts, and +UP rewards.

+UP rewards are money back coupons to use on your next Rite-Aid purchase. Each week, different products will yield different +UP reward amounts. The key is to watch the ads (or read your favorite bloggers) and find the best combination of coupons and +UP rewards.

So here is the trip to Rite-Aid that inspired me to start this blog.

(4) boxes of Special K
(2) boxes of Stayfree pads (to be donated)
(4) bottles of Motrin PM (to be donated)
(2) bottles of Aleve

Grand total......a profit of $2.48!

Here's how it worked. This was my first time attempting two different transactions in order to maximize my savings. I started with $2 in +UP rewards from a previous trip.

Transaction #1

(2) Special K (regular price $4.79/box. On sale for BOGO. $1 +UP reward/box)
(2) Stayfree Pads (regular price $4.29/box. On sale for 2/$5)
(2) Motrin PM (regular price $5.99/bottle. On sale for $3/bottle. $2 +UP reward/bottle)

Coupons

(1) BOGO Special K (Rite-Aid allows a BOGO coupon on a BOGO sale, making both items FREE).
(1) BOGO Stayfree Pad
(1) $1/1 Stayfree Pad
(1) $6/2 Motrin PM (FREE!)
$1 +UP Rewards

OOP = $.50 + $1.05 tax (+UP rewards cannot be applied to tax) = $1.55

Received $9 in +UP rewards

Transaction #2

(2) Special K (regular price $4.79/box. On sale for BOGO. $1 +UP reward/box)
(2) Motrin PM (regular price $5.99/bottle. On sale for $3/bottle. $2 +UP reward/bottle)
(2) Aleve (regular price $9.99. On sale for B1G1 50% off. $2 +UP reward/2 bottles)

Coupons

(1) BOGO Special K
(1) $6/2 Motrin PM
(2) $2/1 Aleve
$9 +UP Rewards

OOP = $1.98 + $1.99 tax = $3.97

Received $8 in +UP rewards.

Total OOP = $5.52 - $8 +UP Rewards = $2.48 profit