Using rewards to pay for purchases

One way I keep my weekly out-of-pocket pretty low is to use my earned rewards from the prior week to pay for purchases. ExtraBucks, Register Rewards, and +UP Rewards can be used to pay for pretty much anything in the store. Be sure to read them for exclusions, though--especially Register Rewards from Walgreens. 

Some people prefer to use all their rewards up in one week. I advise that if you're not sure you'll be returning to the store in the next two weeks. Your rewards DO expire. Most I've seen have an expiration date of at least two-weeks after the time of initial purchase. 

Since I pretty much know I'll be returning every week, I don't mind to hold on to my rewards. I use them to pay for my first purchase at each store. I buy items that will give me the most additional rewards FIRST, so then I can "roll" those to pay for other transactions. I really strive to pay as little out-of-pocket as possible--ideally just tax. 

After you coupon a few times, you'll start accumulating some rewards that you can use weekly. Treat them like cash. If you lose them, they're probably gone forever. 

I wouldn't save as much if I didn't use my rewards to pay. For example, let's look at my Rite Aid shopping trip from this past week. The total of my first transaction was $25.98 + tax. I only had $4.50 in coupons, but I had $19.50 in UP rewards leftover from last week. That brought my total down to $1.98 + tax, AND I earned $17.00 in UPs to pay for my next transaction. 

Someone walking in to the store with no prior rewards probably won't save as much on their purchases, unless they make a ton of different transactions that day. (And trust me, your cashier and other customers will not appreciate you for that.) You'll end up paying more out-of-pocket the first few weeks. That's okay. But once you accumulate some rewards to roll every week, you'll see some CRAZY good savings.