If you live in the United States, chances are you do some of your health and wellness shopping at Walgreens.
The pharmacy chain is an iconic American brand. According to Walgreens, 78% of the U.S. population lives within 5 miles of a Walgreens, and there are more than 9,000 Walgreens stores across the country.
Walgreens makes shopping for pharmacy services, health care products, and beauty supplies easy. The convenient shopping experience Walgreens provides can quickly drain your wallet if you’re not careful, however.
Ways to Save Money at Walgreens
Thankfully, there are numerous ways to save money at Walgreens. Use these money-saving tricks the next time you shop.
1. Sign Up for myWalgreens
Often the most effective way to save money at a major retailer is to sign up for its rewards platform and credit card. For example, Walmart has its Walmart Rewards Card and Target offers the Target REDcard;. Similarly the easiest way to save money at Walgreens is to sign up for the myWalgreens reward program.
Formerly known as Walgreens Balance Rewards, myWalgreens is the company’s new loyalty program that pays you for your loyalty. It doesn’t matter whether you shop in-store, online, or from the Walgreens App. However you shop, myWalgreens cuts down on costs.
Features of the myWalgreens program include:
- Everyday Points. Earn 10 points for every $1 you spend (1% cash back) on almost all non-Walgreens-branded purchases at Walgreens.
- Bonus Points. Earn 50 points for every $1 you spend (5% cash back) on Walgreens branded products.
- Save Online. Shop online or through the Walgreens app and still earn points for eligible purchases.
- Save Time. Order online or through the Walgreens app and pick up your order in-store or at curbside from a local Walgreens within 30 minutes.
1,000 myWalgreens points equals $1. You can redeem your points when you reach $1 minimum. Points are redeemable in-store or online up to a maximum of $50 per transaction.
You can also compete in myWalgreens health goals to earn bonus points each month. These four-week challenges include a series of weekly physical and lifestyle challenges, such as reaching a certain step count. You track your weekly activity with a Walgreens-supported fitness app or device.
Once you complete a week of challenges, you earn $0.25 in myWalgreens points. If you complete an entire month of challenges, you earn $1 and a bonus entry for a chance to win an additional $2 in points. While this won’t pay for a Walgreens shopping spree, every bit counts, and it’s also fun to get paid to stay active.
Your myWalgreens points expire after one year.
Ultimately, the ability to earn 5% cash back on Walgreens brand products is a substantial upgrade for this loyalty program.
2. Install the Walgreens App
The Walgreens app makes it easy to refill prescriptions, consult a pharmacist, and use the Walgreens photo center. The app also lets shoppers save more money by providing easy access to coupons and deals.
With the Walgreens app, it’s easy to browse through the Weekly Ad section and to clip paperless coupons. At checkout, you can use the app to redeem coupons, earn myWalgreens points, or pay through Google Pay, Samsung Pay, or Apple Pay.
The mobile app also allows you to browse stores to check product availability and to compare prices between in-store and online products. If you’re shopping for expensive beauty or health care products, this feature is excellent for finding more affordable alternatives.
The Walgreens app is available for Android and iOS devices. It’s a must-download because it makes money-saving features such as Weekly Ads and coupons more accessible.
3. Shop With a Cash-Back Credit Card
Shopping with a cash-back credit card is an effective way to save money at Walgreens.
Walgreens accepts a wide range of payment methods in-store and online, including Mastercard, Discover Network, and American Express. Although Walgreens, unfortunately, lacks its own rewards credit card, you can earn cash back with other cards while also earning myWalgreens points.
Several cash-back credit cards to consider include:
- Chase Freedom Unlimited®. Earn 1.5% cash back on most purchases and 3% on eligible drugstore purchases. This card has no annual fee.
- Bank of America Cash Rewards Credit Card. This zero-fee card provides 3% cash back for a category of your choice, 2% at grocery stores, and 1% everywhere else. You can choose pharmacies as your 3% category. You also earn a $200 bonus for spending $1,000 within the first 90 days of opening your account.
- Amazon Prime Rewards Card by Chase. This card pays 5% cash back on Amazon.com if you’re a Prime Member. You also earn 2% cash back at restaurants, gas stations, and pharmacies, as well as 1% everywhere else. Redeem cash back on Amazon purchases or through cash, gift cards, and travel rewards.
Ultimately, which credit card you choose is up to you. What’s important is taking advantage of any cash-back reward options you have when shopping at Walgreens.
4. Make Use of Walgreens Coupons and Register Rewards
There are multiple ways to make use of coupons at Walgreens.
The easiest way is through Register Rewards (RR). At Walgreens, certain products award you an RR coupon upon purchase. These are manufacturer coupons you can use on future purchases to save money at Walgreens.
For example, if you purchase toothpaste and receive a $1 RR coupon for the same brand of toothpaste, you can use the RR coupon on your next shopping trip. It’s basically a rebate program, except your savings take place on your next purchase.
The easiest way to find RR coupons is to look in the Weekly Ads section or browse in-store products. Stacking Registry Rewards plus coupons from Weekly Ads is the most effective way to save. Just be sure to review the limitations for the Registry Rewards program and Walgreens’ coupon policies:
- Multiple Coupons. The total number of coupons, including manufacturer coupons, can’t exceed the number of items in the transaction. Otherwise, you can stack manufacturer coupons and Walgreens store coupons unless specific terms prohibit doing so.
- Total Coupon Value. The total value of all coupons can’t exceed the value of the transaction.
- Register Rewards Limit. There’s a limit of one RR coupon per offer per transaction. You can’t use an RR coupon to unlock another RR coupon for immediate use.
- Coupon Expiration. RR coupons expire in 15 days.
- BOGO Deals. You must purchase at least one product as part of a buy one, get one (BOGO) offer.
Note that coupons can prevent you from earning myWalgreens points if you aren’t careful. For example, if there’s an offer to earn 10,000 myWalgreens points for spending $50 or more but your coupons drop your transaction total below that requirement, you don’t earn the points. Keep this in mind when calculating how much coupons will actually save you.
5. Find Exclusive Online Deals
Walgreens already makes it easy to shop online by offering free shipping on most products regardless of your order total. Walgreens.com also offers exclusive online deals. The Walgreens Online Deals section of the site has a range of rotating offers.
Examples of online-only deals include:
- Price Cuts. Many products are on sale at discounts of 25% to 50% off.
- Bonus Balance Reward Points. Earn thousands of Balance Reward Points for buying specially marked items.
- Buy One, Get X. There are plenty of BOGO offers and “Buy one, get X percent off” deals available online.
- Rebates. Earn cash rebates for buying specific products.
Balance Rewards members also earn points for shopping online. In addition, the Promotion Terms page often lists online coupon codes new customers can use to earn even more discounts at checkout, so be sure to check this page to save money on your first Walgreens purchase.
6. Shop Online With Cash-Back Sites and Apps
Since shopping online is already an excellent Walgreens saving strategy, using cash-back sites and apps like Rakuten or Honey only sweetens the deal.
Using Rakuten and Honey together is an incredibly effective money-saving combination. Here’s how each platform works:
- Rakuten: Earn cash back for shopping through Rakuten’s web portal at thousands of retailers.
- Honey: This browser extension automatically applies coupon codes at checkout to find the best deals possible.
Rakuten offers up to 3% cash back at Walgreens. To earn this cash back, just create a free account at Rakuten and visit Rakuten’s Walgreens page before shopping at Walgreens.com. Your cash back appears in your Rakuten wallet. Rakuten pays through PayPal every quarter as long as you hold more than $5 in your account.
Like other shopping browser extensions, all you have to do to save with Honey is install the Honey browser extension. When you shop, Honey alerts you if there are coupon codes available and applies them at checkout.
Honey also offers a cash-back side of their platform known as Honey Gold. This feature lets you earn even more cash back at select retailers, including Walgreens., Honey Gold provides 1% to 5% cash back at Walgreens.
Honey Gold is redeemable for a variety of gift cards to merchants like Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Macy’s.
7. Shop On Senior Discount Days and Use AARP Benefits
If you’re over age 55, Walgreens offers you even more ways to save money in-store and online.
Every Tuesday is Senior Savings Day at Walgreens. Seniors typically save between 20% to 30% by shopping online during this day, and Walgreens rotates what products are eligible for a discount.
Note that these discounts only apply to regularly priced items. Furthermore, only one product per account is eligible for a senior discount.
However, if you’re an AARP member, you can save even more by joining the myWalgreens reward program to link your two accounts together.
There are several ways to save as an AARP member at Walgreens, including:
- Vaccinations. Get free flu shots as an AARP member.
- Health and Wellness Bonuses. Earn 10% cash back in myWalgreens points for Walgreens branded health and wellness products.
- Beauty and Personal Care Bonuses. Earn 3% cash back in myWalgreens points on eligible beauty and personal care products.
AARP membership benefits apply in-store and online, and you’re automatically eligible for discounts once you sign up for myWalgreens.
8. Join The Prescriptions Savings Club
The Prescriptions Savings Club grants discounts on the price of brand-name and generic medications at Walgreens. It’s an easy way to save on medical expenses and offers robust discounts:
- Prescription Discounts. Save on more than 8,000 prescriptions. You can save even more on generic medications; see Walgreens’ value-price medication list for current prices.
- Immunization Savings. Receive 5% to 20% off most immunizations.
- Additional Savings. Enjoy discounts on various pet medications, all compound medications, nebulizers, and diabetic supplies with a prescription.
- Health Care Clinic Services Discount. Save 10% on clinic services.
The Prescriptions Saving Club costs $20 for individuals and $35 for families per year. Individuals benefiting from Medicare, Medicaid, or Tricare programs are ineligible.
Although this program is not an insurance plan, if you don’t have insurance or you have prescriptions your insurance doesn’t cover, this program is an effective way to reduce your medication costs. The Prescription Savings Club also applies to refilling prescriptions online, making it even easier to save.
9. Auto-Reorder and Save
If you find yourself regularly buying the same products from Walgreens each month, you can save up to 20% by using the auto-reorder feature.
The auto-reorder feature is similar to Amazon’s Subscribe and Save. This service provides 10% off plus free shipping starting on your second delivery, and Walgreens products are eligible for up to 20% in discounts.
Popular categories for auto-reordering include wellness products, vitamins and supplements, household goods, beauty supplies, and baby products.
Auto-Reorder and Save works in three steps:
- Select Products. Choose from thousands of everyday products at Walgreens.com.
- Choose a Delivery Schedule. Select how often you want your deliveries. You can skip or cancel your order any time without incurring fees.
- Get Regular Shipments. Enjoy your favorite products at a discount.
There is no minimum order requirement to get free shipping. If a product on your order goes on sale, you receive the greater of the two possible discounts.
10. Shop With A Flexible Spending Account (FSA)
A flexible spending account (FSA) is an account you can use to pay for out-of-pocket health care expenses. You need to work for an employer who offers an FSA to make use of this account, so this option won’t work for self-employed individuals. Using an FSA helps you save money because you don’t pay income taxes on the money in the account.
Walgreens has a wide variety of FSA-eligible products, including:
- Contact lenses
- Home medical equipment
- First aid supplies
- Pain relief products
- Family planning products
- Baby supplies
- Vitamins and supplements
Walgreens also has an FSA Sale section, making it even easier to save on health care supplies.
You can use your FSA card in-store and online. Be sure to read the Walgreens FSA terms or consult your health care provider to learn more about your personal FSA account.
11. Subscribe to the Walgreens Newsletter
If you prefer getting coupons and deals via email, sign up for the Walgreens newsletter to ensure you don’t miss out on savings.
You can tailor your email subscription to include only the information you want from the following Walgreens categories:
- Health Care Clinic. Learn more about special offers and services at Walgreens clinics.
- Health and Wellness Resources. Receive seasonal health advisories and pharmacy service information.
- Custom myWalgreens Offers. Get personalized deals and product recommendations based on your shopping habits.
- Extra Deals. Get weekly updates on in-store deals and online-exclusives.
- Weekly Ads. Catch up on Walgreens Weekly Ads via email.
This newsletter is free, and you can unsubscribe at any time.
12. Shop for the Right Tags
Like many other major retailers, Walgreens uses a tag system in its stores to distinguish products that are on clearance or at a discount.
Orange tags mean products are on clearance, so it’s a good idea to buy these items quickly before they’re gone for good.
Red tags mean a product has a lower price than normal. If you need the product in question within the next few weeks, it’s probably a good idea to buy it at this lower price point.
Final Word
If you’re shopping for health and wellness products or refilling a prescription, you can probably find what you need at Walgreens. Walgreens makes it easy to find affordable prices and satisfy all of your wellness needs in one place. However, if you aren’t careful, health-related expenses can still get out of hand.
Use a multitude of strategies to cut down on your Walgreens spending. Even incorporating a few of the above money-saving tips can put a significant dent in your annual health care expenses. And when you consider how easy most of these tips are — such as using the Walgreens App to find coupons or joining programs like the Prescriptions Saving Club — there’s no excuse for not saving.
After all, every dollar counts. Put in the effort to save, and you’ll be surprised at how much of a positive impact it has on your finances.
