Walgreens Ten Week Drugstore Study
Week 1: 8/15/10 to 8/21/10
Walgreens didn’t have much for me this week. Though generally I tend to spend the least amount of money here. Some of the deals in the ad were downright scams. The 4/ $14 12 pack coke deal is just awful. 4/$13 maybe, 4/$12 ok, 4/$10 pretty good, 4/$9 I buy eight of them if I can.
But seriously some of the deals are ok depending on your personal needs. My kids can’t tell the difference between Royal Gelatin and Jello so at 20 cents a box that is a good price.
I bought 4 rolls Tuf paper towels for 50 cents each. They are not overly durable paper towels but realistically if you are using say Bounty you are wasting your money. Bounty will generally cost more per sheet (though I have gotten free rolls from target) than the less durable brands. But… most messes do not need the power of a super paper towel. I rarely need to use two sheets to clean a single mess and for big messes I use towels. So if you use only half the sheets potential and throw it away you are wasting money. If a wussy paper towel can handle the mess use them and save a few pennies (or with paper towels potentially many dollars over a year).
I also bought three boxes of aluminum foil (20 sq. ft.) for 69 cents each.
The prices break down as so:
| Quantity | Product | Store Price | Coupon Value | End Price | Retail Price |
| 4 | Tuf paper towels | $.50 w/ Wags cp | n/a | $2.00 | $0.99 |
| 3 | Wags Aluminum Foil | $.69 w/Wags cp | n/a | $2.07 | $0.99 |
| subtotal | $4.07 | $0.00 | $4.07 | $6.93 |
| Sub | $4.07 |
| Tax | $0.36 |
| Total | $4.43 |
There isn’t much in the way of discounts here. But 50 cents for a roll of paper towels is pretty good. The price on foil is ok but careful shopping would net a better price on one box with a larger square footage. But I had been watching for foil for weeks now as my stockpile dwindled and then ended sometime last week. So I bought these and figured next week a deal will kick me in the ass.
So the tally for week is:
| Cash Outlay: | $4.07 |
| Value of Coupons: | $ 0 |
| Reward Dollars Earned: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Retail Cost: | $6.93 |
So the tally to date is:
| Total Cash Outlay: | $4.07 |
| Total Value of Coupons: | $ 0 |
| TotalRewardDollarsEarned: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Total Retail Cost: | $6.93 |
Week 2: 8/22/10 to 8/28/10
I tend to buy more food products at Wags than at the other two stores. If you watch their ads for a while you’ll notice two things. First they are loaded with store coupons and second these are often for foodstuffs (though a limited selection albeit). The prices though are usually pretty good. I imagine they plan to get you in the door to buy some cheap cans of say tomatoes and while you are there you will do all your drugstore needs. But if you stick to your list and avoid impulse buying you can get goods deals which help to further slash your grocery bill.
I got four cans of almonds this week. Now I could get a better deal by buying in bulk. But the individual cans are great because one can go in the car one by my bed and a couple in the cupboard.
| Quantity | Product | Store Price | Coupon Value | End Price | Retail Price |
| 4 | Blue Diamond Almonds | $.2.00 each w/ Wags cp |
2x $1.00 | $6.00 | $13.96 |
| subtotal | $8.00 | $2.00 | $6.00 | $13.96 |
| Sub | $6.00 |
| Tax | $0.00 |
| Total | $6.00 |
So the tally for week is:
| Cash Outlay: | $6.00 |
| Value of Coupons: | $ 2.00 |
| Reward Dollars Earned: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Retail Cost: | $13.96 |
So the tally to date is:
| Total Cash Outlay: | $10.43 |
| Total Value of Coupons: | $ 2 |
| TotalRewardDollarsEarned: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Total Retail Cost: | $20.89 |
Week 3: 8/29/10 to 9/4/10
This was another good week for grocery products at Walgreens. I got 4 cans of mandarin oranges, 4 cans of pork and beans (my son loves them), 3 boxes of pudding, and 2 Revlon Cosmetic beauty tools. Wags had a store coupon for each canned good making all eight $0.50 each. The pudding also had a store coupon for $.059 each. Lastly the tools were Bogo 1/2. So the cheaper one was half price and I had two coupons. The pudding also had some kind of promotional deal where if you bought three they were $1.00 each without teh store coupon.
| Quantity | Product | Store Price | Coupon Value | End Price | Retail Price |
| 4 | Pork and Beans | $2.00 w/cp | $2.00 | $3.96 | |
| 4 | Mandarin Oranges | $2.00 w/cp | $2.00 | $5.16 | |
| 3 | Jello Pudding | $1.77 w/cp | $1.77 | $3.57 | |
| 1 | Revlon Tweezers | $4.99 | $1.00 | $3.99 | $4.99 |
| 1 | Revlon Emery Board | $1.69 | $1.00 | $0.69 | $2.74 |
| subtotal | $11.60 | $2.00 | $9.60 | $20.31 |
| Subtotal | $9.60 |
| Tax | $0.51 |
| Total | $10.11 |
So the tally for week is:
| Cash Outlay: | $10.11 |
| Value of Coupons: | $ 2.00 |
| Reward Dollars Earned: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Retail Cost: | $20.31 |
So the tally to date is:
| Total Cash Outlay: | $20.54 |
| Total Value of Coupons: | $ 0 |
| TotalRewardDollarsEarned: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Used: | $0 |
| Total Reward Dollars Left: | $0 |
| Total Retail Cost: | $41.20 |
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