Can you say "REBATE" baby?

I am amazing.....that's right, A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. I have always been a thrifty spender but now that I have learned a few tricks of the trade I have taken it to the extreme. I wonder if Rite-Aid and Walgreen's are even aware that they have me in their employ. That is to say....I get PAID to shop at their store. Month after month money goes into my pocket and I get FREE stuff. Again, FREE. All it takes is a little time and a little effort and VIOLA! Want to know how? Well.....I'll tell ya!

Each month both Rite-Aid and Walgreen's come out with a rebate savings booklet. You pick it up directly at the store. The Walgreen's booklet is pretty straight forward. It flat-out lists the items that are FREE for the month among several other rebated items. If you want to purchase something that is not free but has a rebate, watch the adds throughout the month and you will most likely find the item on sale, at one point, as well as rebated (extra savings). Rite-aid, on the other hand, is not as open about their FREE items. The best way to keep up on them is through their adds each week (add will say.....FREE with single check rebate). They have items that are FREE all month long and items that are only FREE for one week at a time (read the fine print. It will say "only valid XX/XX/XXXX throught X/XX/XXXX." If it does not specify a date then it is valid all month. Make sure you do not buy something FREE with a rebate outside of the dates it is valid for. Otherwise it makes it really hard to return....they think you are trying to scam them....believe me, I know). Just like Walgreen's, Rite-aid also has a whole plothera of item that have month wide rebates that also go on sale throughout the month so be sure not to pay full price just to get a rebate....wait until it is on sale as well.

As far as actually taking care of the rebate form and the $, each store have their own bonus. Rite-aid's can be done on-line. You just have to enter information from your receipt(s) and it's done.....you have your money in about 2 weeks. It's GREAT! Walgreen's has to be sent in and takes a little longer to receive but......if you have your rebate put on a "Walgreen's gift card" you receive and additional 10% of your rebate amount (i.e. if your rebate is $37 you will get that plus $3.70 making your total rebate $40.70. MORE MONEY!). The down side is that can only use the money at Walgreen's but I just use it for next month's rebate items and it all comes out in the wash.

Now.....you still have to pay sales tax for the FREE items. So how do you make money you ask? You add coupons to any of the item you can. For instance......I had a $1.5o off coupon for one toothpastes and $1.00 off coupon for the other. I also had a $1.00 off coupon for each of the bottles of shampoo and conditioner I bought so.....on top of the rebates I had $7.50 of manufacturer's coupons. Hence, the coupons more than covered my sales tax of $4.28. (Now in case you are wondering....not all of the item's I purchased this month were the FREE items. Some of them just had rebates on them but I still got them for free....in the end).

So.......Can you guess how much I paid......or should I say, got paid for all of the items you see above? $1.42 .....well, actually if you subtract the postage stamp I will have to put on the Walgreen's rebate to send it in I will only have made $1.00. I know that may not sound like much but.....think about it again. I GOT PAID $1.00 to pick up all of these items from the store(two bottles of shampoo, two bottles of conditioner, two bottles of hair gel, two tubes of toothpaste, a toothbrush, tums-quick desolve, mineral blush, and 35 days worth of Rob's allergy medicine....and I'm not even done for the month). You can't beat that (and really, if you think you can, let me know. I want to know your savings "secrets" as well).

So......don't miss out on this opportunity. These stores are just banking on the fact that people will forget to turn in their rebate, or loose their receipt, or forget to cash their checks or something. Don't give them the satisfaction. Go out there are take advantage of their generosity. Someone has to so why shouldn't it be you?


For more money saving tips, please contact Melanie @..........just kidding. But no, seriously, if you have any question's e-mail me. I am more than happy to help others save money as well. I figure that when we have to, I mean get to, practice the law of consecration we will all be better off if everyone prepares for it. My new slogan is as follows:

"DON'T PROCRASTINATE THE DAY OF YOUR FREE LOADING......TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE STORES AND NOT YOU FELLOW SAINTS" ;)

Sometimes I kill myself I am so funny! :)