Rite Aid/Shaws Trip of the Week!

I really enjoy having both my grocery store and drugstore of choice right next to each other in the same shopping plaza.  I normally spend a good amount of Monday morning planning out both stores and then I visit them in the afternoon.

Thanks to Rite Aid's SCR program, I ended up getting the above pictured medicines, box of Huggies, and Kleenex for $2.22!  Plus, I have $4 in UPRs for next week!  How, you ask?  The medicines were all freebates this week; I paid out of pocket, but will get that money back in a Rite Aid rebate (for example, Simply Saline spray was $3.99, and I will get $3.99 back). But, taking Simply Saline as an example again, I used coupons on some of the medicines to get a surplus; I had (2) $1/1 Simply Saline Qs, so right there is a $2 surplus since I'm already getting the full price of the medicine back in a rebate. Any additional medicine coupons are a bonus! So after my medicine coupons, I had a surplus of $5.00, which I applied toward the Kleenex and Huggies. The Kleenex were $.99 each. I had a Rite Aid Video Values Q for $1/3 and a manufacturer Q for $.50/3, making the Kleenex $.49 each. The box of Huggies was $19.99. I used a manufacturer Q off of the Target website for $3/1, plus I got $4 in UPR. I had a $5/$25 RA Q and a $1 RA Q, plus $6 in UPR from last week, making my OOP total with tax $44.33. I will be getting $42.11 back in freebates, making this purchase $2.22.

Then, I headed next door to Shaws where they're having a wonderful General Mills catalina (spend $25 in certain products, get $10 back on a future purchase). Thanks to How to Shop for Free, I learned that the $25 was on pre-sale prices, and before coupons! I also learned that you could do it more than once in the same transaction.  So... I got 12 cans of Progresso soup, 3 Betty Crocker cake mixes, 3 Betty Crocker frostings, 2 Betty Crocker boxed potatoes, 2 Betty Crocker cookie mixes (which my food-allergy hubby can have when the egg is substituted with applesauce), and 2 boxes of Cinnamon Toast Crunch.

Pre-sale Prices at my local Shaws:

• Cake mix/frosting- $1.85 each
• Progresso soup- $2.49 each
• Potatoes- $1.89 each
• Cereal- $3.39 each
• Cookie mix- $2.47 each

Pre-sale Price Total: $56.48
After Sale/Coupons Total: $21.43
I got $20 back after the double catalina, plus $2 back from another Betty Crocker frosting catalina... making this transaction a 57 cent moneymaker! Then, I did a separate transaction to get the other shown items (2 tubs of Country Crock, 2 International Delights coffee creamer, whole wheat bread, vegetable oil, applesauce, 3 lbs. of ground beef, French's mustard, 3 Larabars, 2 Crest toothpaste, and 6 Honest Teas). After coupons, that total came to $21.71 and I used the $20 catalina reward, paying $1.71 out of pocket. Plus, I have the $2 Betty Crocker reward for a future Shaws trip. By the way, the Honest Tea continues to be free this week, as well as the Crest toothpaste!

So, all told, for my Rite Aid/Shaws trip this week, I spent $25.36 and I have $4 UPRs at Rite Aid and $2 in rewards at Shaws for next time!

Want to do these transactions, too?  Go to Maven of Savin's Rite Aid and Shaws coupon and catalina match-up pages for the Qs.


*Update: It appears the Shaws is no longer allowing a double catalina in the same transaction, though you can still do multiple single transaction catalinas.