Walgreens

Soo, I ventured into the brand new Walgreens they opened over the summer down the highway a piece, but a little closer to me than the others.

Mainly I was going for the Brach's candy.  I looooove the mellowcreme candys with the Black Cats and Witches. I think this used to be called the Harvest assortment, because it also has Yellow Corn Cobs and Quarter Moons, Brown Haystacks and some sort of Jug, and Orange Pumpkins and (I forget what else might be Orange).
Last year I couldn't find this kind anymore, so I wasn't really expecting to today, and wasn't surprised when I didn't see any on the pegs.

As a backup plan, I was going to buy some Mushrooms, on sale for .50 with the in-ad coupon. I like these on my homemade pizza or in spagetti sauce.
I had thought about stocking up on a couple more things of Morton Salt while it was .50 cents.

I was not particularly interested in buying the Blistex or Hyland's, converting cash into an RR when there wasn't any profit to be made, and then having to figure out a way to roll it later. Or, probably letting it expire and go to waste again.
But on the way there it finally occured to my slow-arse brain, if I'm going to spend a couple bucks on the Candy or Mushrooms and/or salt anyway, why not buy the Blistex and use the RR to pay for the other stuff. Pretty much the same amount out of pocket (other than .14 tax), and I get (practically) free Blistex.

So, I didn't see the candy I wanted, so I went and looked for the Blistex. Found one, and went for Mushrooms and Salt. On my way to the register I passed the photo counter, and there was a whole spread of the candy, including mine!
I grabbed 5 bags.
It did NOT occur to my slow-arse brain to go look for the Hyland's and get it (practically) free, and use the RR on the candy I was buying anyway.

.79 is still a pretty ridiculous price for this candy, considering how little there is in the bag anymore, maybe 20 pieces, if that many.  But still better than the regular, even more ridiculous price. I justify it because I only buy it once a year.

Later I wondered why in the heck I had bought Salt at .50, when I had just seen the Kroger brand for .39 cents.  Brand names don't matter to me; the only reason I had any Morton's before was because I'd had a mq last time I bought them, bringing them down to about .15 cents.  Shoulda bought more Mushrooms instead.

Transaction #1
$2.00 Blistex + .14 tax = $2.14 oop
Earned $2.00 RR

Transaction #2
$3.95 (5) Brach's candy
$1.00 (2) Geisha Mushrooms
$1.00 (2) Morton Salts
    .18 tax
-2.00 RR
= $4.13 oop

Total oop = $6.27