Our trip to Walgreens-- question!

[butterflygrrl]

Hi! I have a question for everyone if you wouldn't mind helping me out. I went to multiple Walgreens today and did 7 transactions (I had no choice unfortunately many stores were out of what I was looking for)...

OK, so I spent out of pocket $62.39. I accumulated a total of $41 RRs which I used throughout these transactions and I have 10 RRs remaining for next week. Adding up my receipts I saved a total of $177.33 according to the Walgreens printed total savings. My question is really, how do I explain to my fiance and non-couponers what this all means? LOL. I am not good with math but it looks to me like I did good. I did have to change my planned transactions a few times because the stores were out of what I wanted but I think it still works out in my favor. Do you know the best way to explain this (the savings vs. the costs) to a newbie? How do I figure out my percentage saved? Is there anything else I am missing that I should be looking at for savings and cost record keeping?

Thank you so very much!

[$Saving!]

On the Walgreen's receipts they will read like this:

TOTAL (this is the amount out of pocket, including sales tax)
WAG ADVERTISED SAVINGS: This is the savings from items bought that were on sale, not regular price
MFG COUPON SAVINGS: Coupons and RR's used total
YOUR TOTAL SAVINGS: This is sale savings + coupons + RR's used

So, to determine % saved and total value of goods purchased, you just need to do the following.

1. Add TOTAL + YOUR TOTAL SAVINGS = Total retail value of goods purchased.

2. Divide YOUR TOTAL SAVINGS ($177.33) by TOTAL + YOUR SAVINGS TOTAL ($239.72) = % SAVED (73.97%)

I keep a spreadsheet on excel, and my columns are as follows, left to right:

1. Date
2. Spent
3. Coupons (all sources, including RR's ECB's etc)
4. Store Savings
5. Total Saved
6. Total Spent and Saved
7. % Saved
8. YTD Spent & Saved
9. YTD Spent
10. YTD Saved

I have a page for each store (Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aid, each grocery store etc)

Then I have a cumulative page that rolls all those columns for all stores into one page so I can see actual totals of all spending to date.

But that's more complex than most people want to know

But the formula you want to work is the % saved - that you, on this shopping venture, paid 26 cents on the dollar of everything you bought

Basically, you could look at it as for every $100 you spend, you get $400 in goods (rounding up)

[TerryTerrific]

...

I accumulated a total of $41 RRs which I used throughout these transactions and I have 10 RRs remaining for next week.

Adding up my receipts I saved a total of $177.33 according to the Walgreens printed total savings.

My question is really, how do I explain to my fiance and non-couponers what this all means?

...

Really, you have to look at RRs (Register Reward)s as a liability and not an asset since they expire two weeks after they are issued.

An expired RR is just a piece of paper and not like a kind of money.

I print out a calendar for the month and in the boxes, print the dollar about of RRs that are expiring for that day.

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Treat your RRs like cash.

It drives me nuts when the cashiers proceed to put my hard earned RRs in my bag and not my hand.

Q) Would they put my change in the bag too?

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Terence in Brook Park, oHIo

[butterflygrrl]

$Saving!, thank you so much for the detailed response. That helps a lot. I think I will start an Excel spreadsheet too! It sounds like I did well then...that is very exciting! by the way, I tried to click on "your wish list" to see if I could help you out and the page it opened did not have anything on it??

TerryTerrific, you make a very good point about the RRs being more like a liability than an asset. I do not like the short expiration date at all and will make sure to keep track of their expiration dates like you do.

Of course, overage, free or as close to free is best but what kind of numbers do you all see or aim for to make something worth buying? Or do you base that decision on the items themselves or maybe a combination of what you needs are? Thanks again! I am just trying to get some more ideas too.

[jackaboo]

Truthfully, it depends on what you consider a good deal. I used to pay full price for shampoo, conditioner, razors and bodywash. If I can get them close to free, I am happy. I will never again buy razor cartridges. I used to buy them all the time. Once I started couponing, I figured out that you can get razors close to free. I never buy cartridges now. It really comes down to what each person considers a deal for them. I have a stock-up price for most items. If the item is that price, I stock-up on the item. I will not pay more than $1 for a razor. A year ago, they were paying us to take razors. Now, they want us to spend a dollar.

[$Saving!]

$Saving!, thank you so much for the detailed response. That helps a lot. I think I will start an Excel spreadsheet too! It sounds like I did well then...that is very exciting! by the way, I tried to click on "your wish list" to see if I could help you out and the page it opened did not have anything on it??

You're welcome, glad I could help you see how well you did!
I haven't updated my wish list in so long, it's all expired, but thank you for thinking of me But I truly want for nothing, build your coupon stash!

Set a goal for yourself on your savings - I have my goal set for 70% savings across all "grocery budget" spending which of course includes groceries and personal care as well as paper, cleaning stuff. By tracking every receipt into the spread sheet and seeing the cumulative total for all stores at a glance, I know where I stand and it keeps me focused AND motivated

Make it realistic, then if you're consistently blowing it out of the water, you can increase it in 6 months and see if you can maintain it. It's my own personal finance game

You did GREAT at Walgreens! Keep up the terrific savings!

[TerryTerrific]

Truthfully, it depends on what you consider a good deal. I used to pay full price for shampoo, conditioner, razors and bodywash. If I can get them close to free, I am happy. I will never again buy razor cartridges. I used to buy them all the time. Once I started couponing, I figured out that you can get razors close to free. I never buy cartridges now. It really comes down to what each person considers a deal for them. I have a stock-up price for most items. If the item is that price, I stock-up on the item. I will not pay more than $1 for a razor. A year ago, they were paying us to take razors. Now, they want us to spend a dollar.

King Camp Gillette

”King Camp Gillette (January 5, 1855 – July 9, 1932) was an American businessman of french family Gillette, popularly known as the inventor of the safety razor, although several models were in existence prior to Gillette's design. Gillette's innovation was the thin, inexpensive, disposable blade of stamped steel.

Gillette is widely credited with inventing the so-called razor and blades business model, where razors are sold cheaply to increase the market for blades, but in fact he did not adopt this model until his competitors did. …”

King Camp Gillette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Terence in Brook Park, oHIo