Rite Aid Deals 101

I've gotten a lot of responses to my coupon deals and it seems couponing is a little confusing for most of you. I remember when I first got into couponing I spent a lot of time trying to find tutorials and blog posts from the blogs I read to help me out.

I thought I'd help you out and do a Rite Aid 101 post with step by step instructions on the deals I did this week. If you have any questions let me know and I'll try to explain further.

First: Rite Aid & Couponing Lingo

MFQ - Manufacture Coupon
RAQ - Rite Aid Coupon
BOGO - Buy One Get One Free
RAV or RAVQ - Rite Aid Video Value Coupon
SCR - Single Check Rebate
MIR - Mail in Rebate
OOP - Out of Pocket Cost
(#) - The number of items you buy for a certain item
RP - Red Plum coupon inserts - In Utah, only The Daily Herald has Red Plum as far as I know. Deseret News does not carry Red Plum. Not sure about other states.
PG - Proctor & Gamble coupon inserts - Comes once a month and my FAV insert
SS - Smart Source coupon inserts
GM - General Mills coupon inserts - Comes randomly
8/15 - RP - Date of the coupon insert and the name of the coupon insert
WYB - When you buy

Second: Where to Get Coupons

Online: Redplum, SmartSource, Coupons.com, Upromise, Facebook, and brand websites. Make sure and print each online coupon TWICE by hitting the back button after the first one prints.
Paper: Sunday paper subscription or buying them on Sunday at a grocery store or gas station. I've heard that you should buy the number of papers equal to the number of people in your home. I only get 2 currently through subscription and buy more when the P&G inserts are in the Sunday paper. I'm pretty brand loyal to P&G.

Go HERE and HERE for some discounted paper deals

Third: Rite Aid Basics

1. You may want to read Rite Aid's coupon policy HERE to get a good handle on things.
   
2. You can stack only ONE MFQ per item with ONE RAQ with ONE RAVQ.
3. You need to sign up for a Wellness Card to get sale prices and +UP Rewards.
4. +UP Rewards is a monetary reward that prints at the bottom of your receipt which can be used on a future non prescription purchase. They are like money or gift cards but expire after 2 weeks.
   
5. You can only receive ONE +UP reward per household when you buy a certain item. However I've gotten two sometimes and others have gotten more. That's why I read the couponing blogs to find out.
6. I've learned that you need to invest about $10 in a couple of your Rite Aid deals to get a good stack of +UP rewards. That way you continue to use your +UP rewards on future purchases and less money comes out of your pocket.
   
7. Rite Aid has awesome $5/25 ($5 off $25 purchase or more) which you get for signing up for a wellness card and for the Rite Aid Video Values program.
   
8. Sign up for Rite Aid Video Values and watch commercials for RAVQs.
9. Sign up for Rite Aid Single Check Rebates which allows you to electronically submit for rebates on items bought during a rebate period.
10. If you live in Utah - Plan to go Monday or even Monday morning when they open to get the deals since the stores are usually out of stock by Tuesday morning. It's frustrating.
    

Fourth: DEALS!

I'm going to show you the deals you could be getting if you were an avid couponer and got the coupons from the Sunday paper. You'll have to change the scenario of the deals for the coupons you do have to determine if they work for you. Hopefully they make sense to you!

*Disclaimer - These deals are valid for Utah or Western Rite Aid Region. Go HERE to find your region's weekly circular prices.

1. Oral B Toothbrush = Moneymaker

• Buy (2) Oral B Toothbrushes
  
• Use the BOGO (Buy one get one free) coupon from the 8/15 RP
  
• Use the $0.75/1 coupon from the 8/29 PG
  
• Use the $1/1 Oral-B toothbrush coupon from the Rite Aid Flu Shot Coupon Booklet (Found in Rite Aid stores at the Pharmacy)
• Pay $1.24 OOP (out of pocket)
  
• Get a $2 Single Check Rebate #54 (this week only) Go to Rite Aid Single Check Rebates and sign up. Then submit your receipt information and allow 2-5 business days for the receipt to process. Only request your check once during a rebate period. For example September's Single Check Rebate period goes until Sep 9/25. If you want to purchase more things for the Sep rebate period, wait until the period is over to request your check.
  

So your transaction would look like this in most couponing blogs -
$5.98 = (2) Oral B Toothbrushes*
-$2.99 - BOGO MFQ
-$0.75 - PG MFQ
-$1.00 RAQ
=$1.24 OOP
- $2.00 SCR
= $0.74 Profit!
*This can be applied towards the Oral Care Single Check Rebate #556.(Spend $15 and get a $5 Rite Aid gift card or spend $25 and get a $10 Rite Aid gift card.)

2. Pampers Deal = $0.08 a diaper
Really though... how creative can you get with two boxes

$39.98 = (2) Big Pack Pampers Cruisers
- $5/25 RAV
- (2) $1 MFQ - 8/29 - PG
= $32.98 OOP - I had $13 in +UP rewards from my last week deals to bring this down
- $20.00 +UP*
=$12.98 for 152 diapers = $.08 a diaper! Awesome Deal!
*(2) $5 +UP for each box of Pampers and (1) $10 +UP for purchasing $30 or more of selected P&G product.

3. Mixed Items = $2 Moneymaker

$4.00 = (2) Playtex Gentle Glide or Sport Tampons, 18 ct
-$2 MFQ HERE
-$3 +UP Reward (word on the street is limit 2!)
= $1 profit!
*Or use this $1 MFQ for Playtex Sport to get them free

$3.99 = (1) Johnson's Babycare
-$1 Babycare MFQ (RP 9/12)
-$1 Johnson's RAVQ
-$2 +UP Reward (word on the street is limit 8!)
= FREE

$2.99 = (1) Reach Toothbrush
-$1 MFQ Reach Toothbrush HERE
-$2 +UP Reward (word on the street is limit 3!)
= FREE
*Qualifies for the Oral Care SCR.

2/$10 Cheer Laundry Detergent
-$1 +UP Reward wyb 2
-$2 MFQ Cheer (RP 9/12) x 2
= 2/$5

Total Price = 24.98 +tax
- $5/25 RAQ
-$11 total MFQs
=$8.98 OOP
- $11 +UP Rewards
=$2.02 Profit

For more of this week's Rite Aid Deals go HERE or HERE.