My Haul of the Year from Rite Aid

Here's an example of why it really pays to roam the aisles of your local drugstores. Sometimes you can find things on clearance that aren't located in the beauty department and, when you do, you can sometimes win the lottery (figuratively speaking, of course).

This has GOT to be the best Rite Aid clearance haul I've done this year, and I found all of these items on a clearance end-cap far away from the beauty department! I can't keep it to myself any longer so here we go:

Want to guess how much I paid out of pocket for the following items?

First, let's add up the full retail price of each item:

$7.59 x2 for the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure polishes 

$8 x 3 for the Essie polishes

$9.79 for the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Real Nail Polish Strips

$2.99 for the (not visible) Crayola nail stencils

$5.99 for the Crayola Nail Art Pen

Grand total for this haul (retail value):   
 $57.95

BUT WHAT DID I PAY FOR THIS HAUL?

Well let's turn around each item to reveal the CLEARANCE price tags:

The total for this haul was actually:

$14.50

BUT IT GETS BETTER: I also had coupons and +UP Rewards!

• I happened to have a $2 off Essie coupon that Rite Aid sent via email (check your emails, Wellness+ members! You may have received it too--reader Nina just left a comment on the You Tell Me page saying she just got it as well.)

• I also had two $1 off Sally Hansen nail color coupons in my purse.

• AND, I had $2 in +UP Rewards from some previous purchases I made last week.

So after coupons and +UP Rewards, my grand total for this haul: 

$8.50

(For $57.95 worth of products! Whaaat?)

That's less than the retail price of just ONE Sally Hansen Salon Effects!

Even though YOU may not be able to find the exact items featured in my haul at YOUR local drugstores, you CAN have hauls similar to this! All it takes is a little planning: when I post about coupons, print them out and tuck them away in your purse. You NEVER know when you might need them. Also, print out coupons that retailers send via email, grab a few coupons in-store when you see them on new product displays, and always hold on to your store rewards (Extra Bucks, +UP Rewards, Register Rewards) if you don't use them immediately. 

The goal is to be well-prepared in case of a "clearance emergency". So keep coupons for brands you know you love in your purse, along with any store rewards you may have, so that you can whip those babies out exactly when you need them most!

In case you'd like a closer look at the items I purchased, here you go:

Sally Hansen Himalayan Blue and Ballet Rouges are both Limited Edition shades from the Fall 2011 Designer Collection Series. You can see swatches of both shades here. 

Essie Camera is from the Limited Edition Summer 2012 Poppy Razzi collection. My camera turned this shade orange, but in real life it is a bright hot-pink-coral. You can see swatches of it here.

Essie Bordeaux is a core collection shade that (I believe) was first introduced in 2003. You can see swatches of it here (yum....red jelly!). 

Essie Lollipop is a core collection shade that was originally introduced in the Winter 2009 Sweet Time of the Year collection. You can see swatches of it here.

Ever since November of 2011, when Sally Hansen released that wave of new Salon Effects designs, I've been wanting Tri-Bal It On. So happy to finally have it! (You can see my full review of Sally Hansen Salon Effect Real Nail Polish Strips here.)

And ever since I first blogged about the Crayola collection back in April of 2011 (wow, has it really been over a YEAR since that post??), I've been wanting to try a few things from this line. I'm so happy to have gotten them at such a discounted price.

Do you already own any of the products featured in this post? Have YOU scored a great deal on clearance items lately? I'd love to hear all about it!