Breaking down the limits on rewards deals (a must-read for drugstore rewards newbies)

I haven't done this for a while, but I think it's worth repeating since there are some great rewards deals at the drugstores this week (specifically at Rite Aid). If you're a rewards newbie, here's what to look for and how to maximize your savings on rewards offers:

On any rewards offer at CVS or Rite Aid (Walgreens is a bit different), look for the limit. If there is a limit on an offer, I will state it in my Weekly Drugstore Makeup Sales post and it will also be printed in the weekly ad.

Keep reading for a full breakdown of how to maximize your savings using drugstore rewards...

Let's use the Jesse's Girl sale at Rite Aid this week (now through 10/6) as an example. This week when you spend $15 on any Jesse's Girl cosmetics or nail polish, you'll get $10 back in +UP Rewards (limit 2) <--note this!

Let's break that down: 

• Go to Rite Aid and buy $15 worth of Jesse's Girl cosmetics. Pay $15 out of pocket (not including sales tax of course) and in return you'll get $10+UP Rewards. This will automatically be loaded on to your Wellness+ Card (or if you have opted out of the load-to-card feature, the rewards will print out at the bottom of your receipt like they did in the past). 

• Since Rite Aid changed their policy on +UP Rewards recently, you can no longer turn around and use those $10+UP immediately. You must wait until at least 6AM the following day to use them. 

• So go to Rite Aid the day after your first purchase, and pick up another $15 worth of Jesse's Girl cosmetics. Use the $10+UP Rewards that you got the day before toward this purchase. In other words, you'll only pay $5 out of pocket for $15 worth of Jesse's Girl products. And guess what? Since the limit is 2 on this offer, that means you'll get an ADDITIONAL $10 in +UP Rewards (to be spent however you wish on your next visit).

• To recap: the limit on the Jesse's Girl offer is 2, which means you can repeat this process a total of two times. In the end, you'll be getting $30 worth of Jesse's Girl cosmetics for $10. It's tricky because you will be spending $20 out of pocket ($15 for the first transaction and $5 for the second transaction), but when you deduct the $20 in rewards, you'll actually save $20 on $30 worth of product.

The opportunity for savings is even greater when you see "limit 4" or "limit 6" because you can "roll over" your rewards and keep spending them on the on the same thing over and over until you reach the limit. That's less money of our pocket for more goodies!

You can definitely apply the scenario above to any of the rewards offers at CVS or Rite Aid, as long as the limit is not one. If the offer is "limit 1" you can still use your rewards to buy anouther round of products, but you will NOT receive rewards for that second purchase.

However: you can always use your rewards on ANOTHER rewards offer! For instance, take the $10 in +UP you got above for your second Jesse's Girl purchase and you use them toward the Chameleon, CQ, etc. polish offer also at Rite Aid this week. You need to spend $9 on those polishes to get $4 back in +UP, so you will be spending ZERO out of pocket on $10 worth of polish and you'll get $4 back in +UP to spend however you wish on your next trip to Rite Aid! You could apply it toward another round of CQ polishes and spend $5 out of pocket to hit the $9 threshold and receive another $4 +UP since the limit on the CQ offer is two).

It gets a little crazy when you think of all the possibilities for carrying over or "rolling over" rewards, but the bottom line is this: why play with real money when you can play with drugstore money?