As I look through my linen closet, I see toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, body wash, bar soap, deodorant, lip balm and feminine products that were “purchased” for FREE this year at either Kroger, Giant Eagle or Meijer. I also see razors, shampoo, conditioner, hairspray, makeup, more body wash, more feminine products and more deodorant that were purchased for one dollar or less at those same stores. That’s just a quick glance – I’m sure I could list more items if I looked closely.
If I can regularly get these items for free or super cheap at the grocery store, a place where I will be shopping anyway to get milk and fresh produce each week, there’s really no reason for me to make an extra stop at Rite Aid or Walgreens (because I can’t get my lettuce and broccoli there).
It’s not that the drugstores don’t have amazing deal opportunities. I just haven’t needed to use them. And I think we can all agree that saving time can sometimes be just as important as saving money!
The other reason that I don’t love shopping the drugstore deals is because most coupon shoppers break orders into several multiple transactions, tearing the Rite Aid +UPs (or Walgreens Register Rewards) from one receipt and using them for the next order. Over and over and over again until they run out of coupons and/or the reward limit for each item is exhausted. Exhausted… that’s a good word for it.
I’m not a fan of multiple transactions. If you’ve read some of my other articles, you probably already know that. The more I have to manipulate a coupon policy and rearrange my shopping list in order to take advantage of a deal, the less likely I am to do it.
I do think there’s a difference between multiple transactions at the grocery stores vs. multiple transactions at the drugstores (too long to cover in this article – maybe another day). But either way, I find it a hassle at best. So I avoid it. But this isn’t the end of the story.
to be continued…
(A friend of a friend recently wrote that if a blog post is more than a couple paragraphs long, he will lose interest and not read it all. You know what? I tend to do the same thing. So in keeping with our short attention spans and busy schedules, I’ll continue my story tomorrow.)
