The No Salt, No Fat, No Sugar Journal

With food prices continuing higher, looking for deals, coupons, sales, etc. is even more important now than in years past. I’ve written about seeking out supermarket deals. But a lot of us turn to drug stores for personal care items. So you need to work every available deal in those as well.

The two national chains, CVS and Walgreens, each have extensive couponing programs. But after trying both, using tips I found online from extreme couponers, CVS is the clear winner in offering deals to consumers.

The Walgreen’s program has more conditions, fine print and road blocks than does CVS. It really seems designed to be a bait-and-switch system, luring you to shop at Walgreens but then forcing you to spend more than you expected.

One recent example I ran into — I bought something there that offered me a $5 register cash reward. Walgreens register rewards are printed coupons that normally come with the restriction they must be used in seven days. So they basically draw you back, likely before you need to shop there again otherwise.

But the coupon I got was even more convoluted. It was for $5 off a future purchase. But it was only activated after I shopped there again and spent a certain amount (I think it was $20). Only then would it be activated — and for my next trip!

So I would need to make three shipping trips to get that $5; the first one, the second to activate it and the third to spend it! It’s an insult to shoppers, really. Shame on you Walgreens.

Continue reading →

Rising food costs have obsessed consumers in these post-Covid times. While signs have emerged that costs have leveled off, they likely won’t fall any time soon, so everyone needs to work on budgeting for their food needs. If you haven’t done this, a good place to start is with this primer The New York Times ran recently entitled 9 Tips to Stretch Your Food Budget.

Among the tips are changes in lifestyle — eat less meat, snacking less and avoid wasting food. But there are also ways to save money, like using coupons and knowing your grocery store and how to find the cheaper offerings in a. given food category.

Coupons these days are largely digital, be sure to have the shopping app for every store you shop at to get their best deals. Also, check out national couponing sites. These tend to have coupons for major brands, which I tend to avoid because they’re usually the most expensive, but you can get occasional deals.

My goal is to only buy sale/coupon items every time I shop, and to save at least 30% off full prices overall. You can see an example of one of my recent receipts here with all the discounts noted.

Tag: couponing

Maximize Savings: CVS vs Walgreens Couponing Tips

A primer on building your food budget

Start here