I heart Walgreen's 12/17/10

Second trip to Walgreen's yesterday.  The Register Rewards deals this week are really awful.  Last week was all about free Scunci barettes and Stayfree along with some free contact lens solution for my sister.  But they had "buy one get one free" on $6.99 toys and "Buy $25 get $5 Register Reward" so I knew there was some kind of way to make this all work out to stock up on toys for future use for birthday parties.

Here's what I worked out with 2 transactions:

Transaction #1
Pepsi Throwback 12pack- $4.99 (100% splurge on this one.  I never pay more than $2/12 pack on the rare occassions I buy pop at all)
6 votive candles- $2.40
Olay Ribbons Body Wash, 10 oz.- $5.29
Olay Quench Lotion, 20.2oz- $9.99
Complete Lens Solution- on sale $7.99
Used $1 Olay Body Wash MQ
Used "Buy 1 Olay Body Wash get Olay Body Lotion free" MQ (took off $9.99)
Used 6/$1 votive candle in-ad Walgreen's Q
Used $14 Register Rewards (3 $2 RR's from Scunci, 2 $4 Gillette)
OOP- $4.27
Register Rewards received- $13 ($8 Complete, $5 "Buy 25, get $5)

Transaction #2
4 "Pretty Pony" Sets- On sale "Buy one @ $6.99ea., get one free" x 2 = $13.98
2 Construction Truck Block Set- Same sale, $6.99 for both
2 John Freida Luxurious Volume hair spray- $3.59 each
Used 2 $3/1 John Freida Wag's IVC
Used $16 Register Rewards (2 $8 Complete)
OOP- $6.15
Register Rewards Received- $5 (Buy $25, get $5)

I found out the $5 RR's from the $25 totals expire *this Sunday*!!  Oh No!  Usually RR's have a two week life span giving you some flexibility if one week is a stinker for deals.  Not so this time and I'm a little panicky about using these wisely.  After reading on some of the other blogs and the Walgreen's forum at Hot Coupon World about some of the deals other people were able to do, I'm a little disappointed in myself that I still had so much out of pocket.

This is what happens when you start couponing and using RR's like a fiend--you pay out of pocket the amount that one of the products would have cost you pre-couponing/paying attention/being thoughtful about your spending and you just *know* you could have done even better.  For the price of one Olay lotion and a couple candles I got a table full of toys, a 12 pack of pop, 2 premium hairsprays, a premium body wash and contact lens solution and I'm slightly bummed.