{Review} Walgreens Balance Rewards Program

If you follow my blog, you know I’ve been shopping Walgreens for years. I’m such a dork, because I know all this trivia information about them–which is why I’m pretty loyal to them. I have a child with special needs and am very active in that community. Well, there was a gentleman by the name of Justin Dart. He got polio at the age of 18 and lost the use of his legs. He went on to become the son-in-law of Charles Walgreen, and was very instrumental in the growth of the company. He actually ended up divorcing Ms. Walgreen and went on to marry again. He was quite a colorful figure. Among his accomplishments, he is pretty much known as the father of the ADA act that was signed into law in 1992 I believe. When the first President Bush signed it, Justin Dart got the first pen–which is pretty significant. So now people with disabilities everywhere can thank Justin Dart whenever they now have access to a facility they couldn’t access before. And, Walgreens has a significant history of working with and hiring people with disabilities in the company. Needless to say, as a mom to a special needs child, it tugs at my heartstrings and that is why I like Walgreens.

So when Collective Bias put out invitations to do this shop for the Walgreens Balance Rewards program, I begged to be considered! Even before I signed on to do this, I had been promoting the program because I thought it looked interesting.

Getting ready to go!

My first step was to sign up for the Balance Rewards program. I had already done that, but I had to install the app on my tablet. It comes in Android or Apple apps. Ok, done! Next, I checked my ad to prepare for my shop. The program is pretty simple. When you purchase items that are giving points, you get points. 1000 points translates to $1. When you reach a $5 threshold, you can cash out and spend them, in the store. You do not have to spend them, you can bank them. I love this concept because it means that I don’t have to track paper things anymore. Paper things that get lost at the bottom of my purse only to expire. Right?

I looked at the ad and found a few things I needed. I was excited to see the trash bag deal because trash bag deals are hard to find and we were on our last few. They were on sale for $5.99 with 1000 points back, so I grabbed two. Next, I found a toilet paper offer and got that. There was lots of Halloween stuff on sale and I was thrilled to find the little trick or treat playdough things for $0.96! Both of my kids go to ‘nut free’ schools so it’s really hard to find treats sometimes. This fits the bill and one pack will cover both of their classes. My little guy talked me into buying the Sponge Bob Halloween window clings, but he was being good, so I was ok with it.

Ready to check out.

Took everything up to the register to check out. And #FAIL. This part was my fault though–my tablet wouldn’t load the app while I was in the store for some reason. My 3 year old loves to use our tablet, but he loads it up with tons of junk. He knows how to install apps, but he doesn’t know how to read. So we end up with a bunch of junk sometimes that clogs up the unit and we have to go in and delete a bunch of stuff. I think that’s what happened, because I couldn’t get anything to come up, not just the #BalanceRewards app. Luckily, if you don’t have a smartphone or you can’t get the app for some reason, it works on your phone number too. I punched that in and voila! It worked.

I ended up with some good deals and 2000 points on my account. I was able to use both Walgreens coupons from their monthly booklet and some manufacturers’ coupons. Overall, I really like the program and definitely see us using it a lot. Since it will take my phone number, I think I can probably even get my husband to use it. I encourage you to sign up if you haven’t already done so, and check it out!

To see more of my photos, visit my Google+ album. You can also find Walgreens on Facebook and Twitter. On my special needs parenting site, I have more on Walgreens and their commitment to helping the disabled community, as well as some photos of my boys and me with a Justin Dart statue (told you I was a dork!) at Disability Pride Philadelphia Day.

2000 points to start

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This content has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All opinions are my own.