Restocking your Donations by playing the Drugstore Game!

I love playing the "Drugstore Game!" It is probably the quickest (and most fun) way to replenish your stockpile and items for donation on a regular basis. Some of the items I have gotten for nearly free by playing the Drugstore Game include toiletries, baby products, medicines, foods, and office supplies.

So what is the Drugstore Game, and how does someone play? It's a "game" where one takes advantage of the rebate/reward programs offered by major drugstore chains like CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens. When played successfully, a drugstore game shopper can walk away with items that cost pennies to nothing!

Money Saving Mom has already written a terrific post on How to Get Started Playing the Drugstore Game, which I found very helpful when I started playing this past summer. Practice does indeed make perfect (or at least more successful), and I have found myself becoming much more proficient each week that I play.

Personally, I love shopping at Rite Aid!  They have a reward program called UPRs, and a rebate program called the SCR (Single Check Rebate) and I have found that they are less restrictive on how you can use the rewards than Walgreens with its Register Rewards program. For example, if you have multiple UPR rewards to use, Rite Aid will allow you to use them all in the same transaction, where as Walgreens will only allow you to use as many manufacturer coupons as you have items, with Register Rewards counting as manufacturer coupons. Also, I rarely have a problem with cashiers not understanding their own coupon policy at Rite Aid; my transactions are usually much smoother and hassle-free there.

I have heard that CVS is a great chain to "play" the game with, but I  haven't played the game with them before, mainly because we do not have a CVS chain nearby. I would recommend, as Money Saving Mom does in her above post, to stick with just one chain when you start playing. It's easy to overwhelm yourself if you try too much at once. 

So pick a store, and check out CVS 101, Rite Aid 101, or Walgreens 101

Once you read up on your selected chain, subscribe to a good blog for the chain's weekly sale updates and step-by-step scenarios on store deals. I use Money Saving Mom, For the Mommas, and Maven of Savin' quite frequently.

I'm excited to hear how it goes for you!

Want to see how I am doing with my "game?" Track my weekly purchases below:

Got back into the game in January 2012 after about a month of reprieve (sometimes you need to take a break). I started by spending about $24 out of pocket on (8) Johnson and Johnson baby products, getting back $10 in UPRs. Here's how I have stretched that initial purchase, by rolling my UPRs since...

$1.10 out of pocket. Got back $7 UPRs for next time. Socks and candy are for donations (either OCC or Disaster Relief).




1 comment:

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