The Secret Method to Getting Freebies at Walgreens

Here’s how to stop overpaying and get freebies from Walgreens.

Did you know you can get free stuff from drugstores?

Oh yeah, there's an entire coalition of savvy moms out there doing this stuff. Ninja-ing their way into drugstores across America and sweeping the shelves of select items without paying a dime for them.

All the while, the rest of the world pays full price for those same items.

One of the places this is happening is Walgreens.

If you thought Walgreens was just an over-priced convenient store with a pharmacy attached, you'd be oh-so wrong.

Walgreens can be a money-saving jackpot if you know what to look for.

You just need to know:

* What keys to look for to spot freebies;

* How to use Walgreens' reward system the smart way;

* How to combine coupons with those rewards;

* And how to put it all together for a money-saving masterpiece.

That's exactly what you'll get below, and it's much easier than you probably think.

Here's how to stop overpaying and get freebies from Walgreens:

If you want to get free stuff from Walgreens (or any drug store for that matter), you need to learn how to combine rewards points and offers with manufacturer and store coupons.

And mastering that balance isn't as difficult as it may seem. Here's a quick rundown:

Let's start with rewards.

Walgreens' reward system and marketing can be downright complicated.

They have what's called Register Rewards, which are coupons printed out on the back of receipts, but you won't see anything about Register Rewards on their website's homepage.

Register Rewards come on the back of receipts, usually offering a certain number of dollars off on your next purchase.

If you want to know which items come with Register Rewards, check out the Walgreens weekly ad. You'll have to look to find them, but certain items will say something like "+ Register Rewards" with the dollar amount included.

For example, in their weekly ad, I was able to find a BOGO 50% off on Old Spice deodorant, plus the ad said there was a $1.00 coupon out there for Old Spice (I was able to find it by searching for Old Spice on Dealspotr), PLUS $3.00 in Register Rewards.

The great thing about Walgreens is they tell you which items have a coupon that goes with them. Then all you have to do is head over to Dealspotr and search for that brand to find it. Or you could pick up a Sunday paper, but who has time for that?

Back to my example, I'm no math whiz, but Old Spice deodorant runs about $5 in my neck of the woods, so that means:

2 Old Spice Deodorant = $10 total

$10 - BOGO 50% off = $7.50 total

$7.50 - $1 off coupon = $6.50 total

$6.50 - $3.00 register rewards = $3.50 final total

So that means I saved $6.50 total. That's not exactly free, but it's 65% off. But hold on, it gets better.

Walgreens also offers what's called Balance Rewards.

These are the cards you see them advertising on the homepage of their website. It's essentially a rewards or loyalty program for members and it's free to sign up.

Once you're signed up, you'll earn Balance Rewards points whenever you purchase something from Walgreens. They say you get these points for nearly everything in the store, usually about 100 points for every dollar spent.

You can redeem your points for cash when you hit certain milestones:

$5 for 5,000 points

$10 for 10,000 points

$20 for 18,000 points

$35 for 30,000 points

$50 for 40,000 points

Here's a link to their Balance Rewards page if you want to learn more.

Now, back to your example again, here's where the magic happens.

Remember, we spent $3.50 on deodorant.

But we want it for free. So here's how we do that:

Walgreens offers bonus Balance Rewards points on certain items each week. If you look through their weekly ad, they shouldn't be hard to find - just look for the bright green highlighted text.

Now you want to try to find something you actually need that's offering bonus points. We need 3,000-4,000 to offset the cost of the deodorant.

In my scenario, I found a 5,000 point bonus offer when you spend at least $15 on first aid products.

5,000 points = $5, so that more than covers the cost of my $3.50 deodorant.

Here's where I'm at now:

I was $3.50 in the hole for the deodorant

$3.50 - $5.00 Balance Rewards bonus = -$1.50 on the deodorant

-$1.50 + $15 spent on Band-Aid products = $13.50 total

So I got $15 worth of Band-Aid products for $13.50, and got 2 Old Spice deodorants for free (technically speaking).

Although I would actually spend more than $13.50 at the register, Balance Rewards can typically be applied on the spot when you hit a threshold (5,000 in this case) and the Register Rewards are just like cash in most instances.

So I'm not worried about spending more now because I know I'll get it back the next time I go to Walgreens.

AND to take it a step further, there are a ton of Johnson and Johnson coupons on Dealspotr, so I could probably knock some off of that total as well if I wanted.

Now that you see how it works, you can keep going through Walgreens' weekly ad to find more Balance Rewards bonuses, more Register Rewards, and more coupons on Dealspotr to bring your total down even further and get even more items for free.

Here's the bottom line:

Balance Rewards + Register Rewards (on your receipts) + Coupons = Steep savings and free stuff.

If you want to know even more about Walgreens couponing, check out this article from Dealspotr called The Definitive Guide to Couponing at Walgreens.