Walgreens 8/9/11

I used the last of my lotion after my shower this morning.  By "used the last", I of course mean "smacked around the bottle like it owed me money."  In my epic journey to pay off my massive student loans on a salary slightly more anemic than a school teacher's, running out of something tends to be a swear-worthy moment.

Recently, though, I've started to get into using coupons.  While I'm not - and never intend to be - as ambitious as the folks featured on Extreme Couponing, I'm learning quickly.  To my coupon binder I flew.

Here is how one $8.29 lotion turned into $59.72 worth of shopping:

Transaction 1
Keri Lotion                               $5.99 (sale)
Keri Coupon                             ($2.00)
Crayola Crayons (24 count)      $0.99 (sale)
Out of Pocket                          $5.46 (including tax)
Keri Register Rewards              $5.00
Crayola Register Rewards         $1.00

(I let a nice lady buying a Hershey bar cut in line.)


Transaction 2
Gillette Proglide Razor*            $9.99 (sale)
Proglide Coupon                      ($4.00)
Generic Highlighter**               $0.09 (sale)
Generic Highlighter                   $0.09 (sale)
- used - Keri RR                      ($5.00)
- used - Crayola RR                 ($1.00)
Out of Pocket                         $0.86 (including tax)
Gillette Register Rewards          $4.00

Transaction 3
Keri Lotion                               $5.99 (sale) - 2.00 (coupon)
Crayola Crayons (24 count)      $.99 (sale)
- used - Gillette RR                   ($4.00)
Out of Pocket                          $1.46 (including tax)
Keri Register Rewards              $5.00
Crayola Register Rewards         $1.00

(I let a grumpy old dude cut in order to buy his super-urgent masking tape.  I then let a younger lady cut because she's preggers and babies-having-babies makes me sad for the world.)


Transaction 4
Gillette Proglide Razor*            $9.99 (sale)
Proglide Coupon                      ($4.00)
Generic Highlighter**               $0.09 (sale)
Generic Highlighter                   $0.09 (sale)
- used - Keri RR                      ($5.00)
- used - Crayola RR                 ($1.00)
Out of Pocket                         $0.86 (including tax)
Gillette Register Rewards          $4.00


Transaction 5 
Progresso Soup (4)***            $5.00 (sale)
Progresso Coupon                   ($1.00)
- used - Gillette RR                  ($5.00)
Out of Pocket                         $0.00

Total Retail Cost                   $59.72
Total Out of Pocket               $8.64  
Saved                                      85.5%  (Shibby!)

* Instead of buying the plain old Fusion Proglide Power, I was clued in to a special added bonus pack that includes the razor, a cartridge, shave gel, cooling lotion, and thermal scrub.

** Walgreens treats Register Rewards like manufacturer coupons and per their policy, you must have one item for each coupon you intend to use.  Because I was using two RR's and one Gillette coupon, I needed three items total - the two cheapo highlighters made up the item count.

*** Progresso soups were technically on sale for 2.79 each, however, the Walgreens store coupon in the circular brought them down to 4/$5.  Because this is a store coupon, you can stack manufacturer coupons on top with no additional complications.