My Walgreens trip this week with the $5/$20 coupon

My planned transaction almost went according to plan. Here's how it broke down:

Gillette Fusion razor - $8.99
Keebler Sandies & Club Crackers - $5
3 Children's Tylenol @ $4.99 each - $14.97
Oral B toothbrush - $4.49
Lysol wipes - $3.99
L'Oreal Revitalift cleanser - $6.99
4 Puffs tissue @ 89 cents each - $3.56
Total before coupons: $47.99

Coupons used: $4 Fusion, 55 cents Keebler Sandies, 3 $1 any Tylenol, 75 cents Oral B toothbrush, $1 L'Oreal cleanser, 4 25 cents Puffs, $10 RR, $3 RR, $5/$20

Total after coupons: $22.82 including tax

I received the following Register Rewards: $5 for Tylenol, $4.50 for Oral B, $4 for Gillette, $2 for Keebler (total: $15.50)
I will also receive the following monthly rebates: $6.99 for L'Oreal, $1 for Lysol, plus 10% on my gift card (total: $8.79)

I was shocked to find that my favorite Walgreens had quite a few of the free-after-RR Oral B toothbrushes in stock. In fact, the only thing they didn't have that I wanted was a second package of Keebler Sandies cookies - I had to substitute a box of Keebler club crackers, which I didn't have a coupon for. It worked out fine, though - I was planning to get the free-after-rebate Lypsyl so that I had as many items as I did manufacturer coupons, so I just put it back and will get it later in the month. The Lypsyl and Nivea men's body wash were free after rebate last month, and have been added as items for October - they're not in the Easy Saver book, but you'll see them online when you enter your receipt info. FYI, I found the Lypsyl with the Chapstick next to the cold medicine and cough drops.

The biggest snag I ran into was that the Easy Saver book I picked up doesn't have the Children's Tylenol coupon in it. I hadn't thought to print it out, so I couldn't ask if my favorite cashier would accept it. And I didn't think to pick up a different book and see if it was in there - I just assumed that it was some weird regional thing, since we do seem to get different deals out here sometimes. But after getting home and looking the catalog up online, I realized that the catalog I grabbed is missing the page that the coupon is on. Of course, the missing coupon may have been a blessing in disguise, because my total would have been under $20 if I'd had the coupon - and I don't think I would have realized it until after I'd been rung up. I also didn't get a $2 RR for the Tylenol, although I had read reports that they were printing out - bummer!

If I have a little time to kill tomorrow, I might head back to Walgreens to use the $5 off $20 purchase coupon a second time. I'm hoping my gift card will have been credited with last month's rebates, making it easier to spend $20 after coupons. I won't be able to use the Register Rewards that I received today if I want to do the same deals tomorrow, but that would be okay if I'm using a gift card. I'll have that much more to spend in the next two weeks - and the $5 RR from the Tylenol deal has an expiration date of Dec. 26, so I can hold onto it for a while.

I'll definitely get another razor and toothbrush, and maybe more Tylenol. PaidTwice pointed out a deal over at Chief Family Officer for Quilted Northern toilet paper - it's on sale for $4 for 6 double rolls, and there are $1 off coupons in the Easy Saver book, and $1 off coupons from the September 21 paper (some regions got a $1/2 coupon, I think). It works out to 33 cents per roll, which is quite good, or 25 cents per roll after the $5/$20 coupon. The Kimberly Clark deal at CVS worked out to 30 cents per roll after ECBs. So I'm adding that to my shopping list as well. Thanks, PaidTwice!

Find more drugstore scenarios at The "Cent"sible Sawyer.