Economic Endeavors

SCENARIO #1

$5.29 18oz Soaftsoap Spa Radiance (earns $5.29 ECBs, hidden deal, reportedly working everywhere)
$3.29 2 bags of 11oz M&Ms B1G1 (earns $3 ECBs, hidden deal, working everywhere)
$3.99 Speedstick 24/7 Men's deodorant (earns $3.99 ECBs)
$3.99 CVS Agua Pur water (earns $1 ECB)
$3.99 CVS Agua Pur water (earns $1 ECB)
$2 CVS brand filler

$22.55 total before coupons

-$4/$20 Welcome coupon
-$3/$10 CVS brand CRT
-$1 Soaftsoap printable
-$1 Speedstick 24/7 printable

$13.55, earns $14.28 ECBs

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SCENARIO #2

$9.99/2 Maybelline Moist Extreme Lip (earns $6 ECBs)
$3.99 Herbal Essences shampoo and conditioner B1G1
$6.99 Alavert (reportedly earns $4 ECBs, possible hidden deal?)

$20.97 total before coupons

-$4/$20 Welcome coupon
-$4, 2 $2 off Maybelline Lip Product from 2/10 RP
-$3 off 2 any Herbal Essences coupon, from a recent newspaper insert
-$4 Alavert printable *some people have said that they received $2 off CRTs for Alavert recently too, but I don't have one. :(

$8.97, earns $10 ECBs

I'll try the Alavert deal and report back whether or not it does, indeed, print ECBs.

Yesterday, I recieved an email from Sirius sattellite radio (which we subscribe to) saying that their Stiletto portable radios were on sale for subscribers, for one day only, for $75. My husband has been drooling over that radio for a long time, and I must admit that I wouldn't mind having one myself. It's portability feature would be great for when I'm cleaning the house, it has the capability of recording and storing 10 hours of programming, and like the one we currently have in our car (the Sportster), you can pause and rewind and fast forward.

I went to the website to see if they had Paypal as a payment method (I have a couple hundred dollars in my paypal account from online earnings that isn't budgeted and I was flirting with the idea of using some of it to purchase the radio).

When going through the ordering steps to get to the end to see what the payment options are, I noticed a place to enter a promotional code. Great! I opened a new web window to do a google search for "Sirius Promo code" and up popped a website with a code (SIRIUS15, if you're interested) for free shipping, plus 15% off your order of $50 or more.
I went back to the Sirius site and entered that code into my checkout page, and sure enough, my price dropped down to somewhere around $63!

The reason I don't remember the exact amount is because I did not end up buying the radio. We decided together that it would simply be an impulse purchase that we don't need, and that the money would be better spent on something else in the future.

But it did remind me of a way I have saved money countless times in the past, and I thought it would be a great thing to post about. Whenever you make a purchase online, and you see a space to enter a promotional code, or a coupon code, do a web search for them. Many times, you will find a valid one, and it could save you the price of shipping or more!

Thanks to MoneySavingMethods for the info on this great freebie!

From iMommies:

If you’ve not yet used the Google Checkout promotion, you can purchase this Soyo Freestyler 500 Bluetooth Headset for absolutely nothing out of pocket. On the other hand, if you’ve already used Google Checkout, $10 (including shipping) is not a bad price for a bluetooth!

1.) Click HERE to access Buy.com

2.) Click the Weekly Advertised Deals tab at the top of the page

3.) Click on the $10 Soyo Freestyler 500 Bluetooth Headset image to display
the product details

4.) Add the item to your Buy.com cart

5.) Select Google checkout to receive the $10 discount

6.) Select free shipping. (If your total isn’t $0, you’ve missed a step
(unless you live in the sales tax states of California, Massachusetts, or
Tennessee.)

7.) Receive your free Soyo Bluetooth within a few days (usually much faster
than their website indicates)

Buy.com allows one free Google checkout item per email address and credit
card. (You’ll have to enter your credit card information to check out, but once
the Google Checkout discount is applied, your item will be free.)

Last week for Works for me Wednesday over at RocksInMyDryer I posted about my newest find for easy online money making, Project Payday.
For that post, read here.

This week, I thought it appropriate to take it a bit further and tell you a little bit about how it works. It really is the easiest way I have found to make decent money online without spending a lot of time on it.
If you are organized (this is a must) and have about an hour a day, 3 days a week to spend online, then you can easily make $100 a week.

Project Payday is a free tutorial site that teaches you how to get started in freebie trading.
You know those sites that tell you you can win a prize by signing up for sponsor offers? Well, those sites are legitimate sites, but they require you to refer people to complete the offers also, and chances are, you would never be able to get these referrals on your own. That's where freebie trading comes in.

Say a site offers a free iPhone if you get 5 people to sign up as referrals and complete 3 offers to get credit, and then the site will send you the prize. An iPhone is worth about $400. So if you pay 5 people to $40 each to go to the site, register, and complete 3 offers to help you qualify to win your iPhone, you're paying out $200 and getting a prize worth $400, that you can then sell on Ebay or wherever.
That's just a scenario of how this all works.

In the beginning, you wouldn't be paying people to be your referrals and earn you an iPhone (or some other prize). You would be one of those referrals, getting paid by someone else to help them earn their prize.

There are forums set up where many people post the sites they need referrals on and what they pay for them. The traders on these sites are rated with a feedback score (much like Ebay) so you will know who is honest and how many successful trades they have completed in the past.
You choose who you want to trade with, and you send them a message and agree to the trade.
You then go to the site through their referral link and register, and then you look at the offers available on the site for completion. You choose the offers you want to complete to get credit as a referral. Most of the offers are trials for products or services, many are free or very inexpensive ($1 or $1.95). The reason I said that it's important to be organized is because you want to be sure to cancel the services that you don't want to continue with BEFORE the end of the trial period. I have a spreadsheet I made to keep track of each offer, and I write down the company's contact info, and when and how the offer needs to be canceled by.

Often, these offers can be completed and credited in an hours time, and then the person who referred you sends your payment immediately to your paypal account.

I made $150 doing this in the first 2 days I tried it. The offers were easy and quick, and I have enjoyed it very much. Once I had a couple hundred dollars in my paypal account, and 5 good feedback scores under my belt, I decided that I wanted to start paying people to complete offers as my referrals. I don't bother with sites that pay out iPhones or X Boxes as prizes. I chose sites that have $60 cash sent to your PayPal for a prize, and I only need one referral to earn that. I pay my referrals $45 to complete a credit as my referral, and I get paid $60. That's $15 profit every time someone completes offers on the site for me. I do nothing but email and correspond with my traders. Easy money.

If this sounds like something you'd be interested in, go to Project Payday to read up on their free tutorial. You can comment or email me if you have any questions!

::EDIT:: If you do sign up and want to contact me on the Free Lunch Room forum, my id there is LavonneJ, and here is a link to my thread. I would love to trade with you and walk you through it step by step so you can learn the ropes and we both can make money!

I have had the link up for the Money Saving Methods Report over on the right side of my blog for a week or so now, but I haven't taken the time to write my review of it yet.
This is an ebook that I came across while blog surfing a while back. I bookmarked it to look into when I had time, but forgot all about it. Until recently, when cleaning out my bookmarks folder. I stumbled across it again and decided to take a few minutes to see what it's all about.
I wish I had done it sooner. I purchased this ebook for $14, and read through it one afternoon. Some of the tips in the book were common sense, to me at least, but I found enough new info and tips that I hadn't thought of or known about before to more than make it worth the price of the book.
If you're seriously looking for ways to reduce your family's spending and stretch your income, I can't recommend this book enough.
Click here to read more!

Kraft Singles is celebrating Grilled Cheese Month with a Free coupon offer!


April is National Grilled Cheese month and Kraft Singles is paying homage to it with a coupon offer for free cheese.


**The first 1,000 people who submit their favorite grilled cheese memory at http://slickdeals.net/?sduid=259227&sdtid=791241&sdfid=4&u2=http://www.iheartgrilledcheese.com on April 16 will receive a coupon for one free pack of Kraft Singles.

Thanks to Crystal at moneysavingmom.com for the info on this great freebie.

For taking about 15 minutes to watch video ads at AdPerk, you'll qualify to receive a years subscription (12 issues) to either Good Housekeeping magazine, or Field and Stream magazine.
Go here and here. Learn more about AdPerk here.

From iMommies:

Sunkist is offering free lemonade stands again this year! For those of you who didn’t order last year, this is truly a great way for children to “take a stand” in helping others. Sunkist will send your child a lemonade stand (free shipping included) if they pledge to donate all earnings to a charity…AND your child gets to select the charity (our son raised money for the National MS Society last year)! Let them give to the organization that means the most to them, and Sunkist will reward them for their giving spirit!

Included with the stand is a lemon peeler, plastic juicer, and recipes for different varieties of lemonade. The Sunkist Take a Stand site also has printable signs and sales worksheets. Great summertime activity for kids!

Click HERE to request a free Sunkist Lemonade Stand for your child (ages 7-12).

(For the Retail Promotion Code, enter SKTAS )

My daughter Autumn is SO excited about this. She's planning to hold her stand outside a pet store (with their permission, of course) and donate her proceeds to the Michigan Humane Society. She's a huge animal lover and advocate, and since we signed up for the stand to be sent to us yesterday, she has been making plans and talking about it almost non-stop.

If you sign up and plan to hold a lemonade sale for charity, I'd love to hear your story and what your child's charity of choice is. Comment or email me with the details!

This is my first time participating in Menu Plan Monday!
Since this is a blog about saving money, I thought I'd put together a menu of inexpensive meals for the week.

Monday:
Pineapple-Brown Sugar Ham (I use a Turkey Ham from Aldis that costs about $3.50, put it in the crock pot with a small can of pineapple slices and juice, and a cup or so of brown sugar. With augratin potatoes and a vegetable, this feeds my family of five (minus the newborn), and all four think it's delicious!)

Tuesday:
Meatball Stroganoff (Simmer 2 jars of fat free beef gravy, 8oz sour cream, a small can of sliced mushrooms, and a bag of frozen meatballs till cooked. Serve over egg noodles)

Wednesday:
Italian Chicken (I use 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, 2 cans of diced tomatoes, garlic, oregano, basil, and parsley, all in the crock pot for 6-8 hours on low. Delicious over spaghetti noodles.)

Thursday:
Breakfast for dinner (omelets, biscuits, hashbrowns)

Friday:
Porcupine Balls (mix 1 lb ground beef, 1 egg, 1 cup minute rice, salt and pepper and shape into balls- I make mine golf ball sized. I cook in a pot with a jar of spaghetti sauce for about 20 minutes, turning halfway. Original recipe called for tomato soup instead of spaghetti sauce, but we like our way better. We like this served with yellow rice as a side dish, and a vegetable.)

Saturday:
$6 extra large "bake it yourself" pizza from a local convenience store.

Sunday:
leftover buffet

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If you haven't yet checked out Revolution Money Exchange, you have 1 days left to get your free $25 just for signing up for a free account! The company is completely legitimate, started by the founders and CEOs of AOL, and you don't have to add your bank account info to cash out your free money, they'll send it to you in the form of a check. Click on the ad below to go to the site to sign up:

Click photo above to be directed to the Walgreens photo website to upload your photos. Order 15 prints on April 15 and enter the coupon code "TAXDAY" and get them free when you pick them up at your closest Walgreens store!

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This year, Dunkin' Donuts, the world's largest coffee and baked goods chain, wishes its customers a less taxing Tax Day by offering all customers a free donut with the purchase of any size cup of Dunkin' Donuts' hot coffee. On April 15, customers, regardless of whether they owe taxes or are entitled to a refund, can stop by any participating Dunkin' Donuts shop nationwide and select from among a wide variety of delicious donuts.

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Do you know of any other Tax Day freebies not listed here? If so, email me to let me know!

Here are the deals I plan on picking up this week at CVS:

on my card:

CVS Brand Jumbo pack diapers - on sale B1G1 ($8.99/2)
Buy 2 and use $3/10 CVS brand coupon (I have been getting a ton of these from the card scanners when I go in and scan my card)

Airwick Starter Kit Mini - Freshmatic Lavender on sale for $4.99
Use $4/1 coupon from 4/06 insert (I only bought one paper that week, so I can only do this deal once)

Buy 2 Maalox, Gas-X, ex-Lax, Benefiber or Perdiem (Prices starting at $4.99), Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1)
Buy 2 Benefibers at $4.99 each
Use 2 $2/1 coupons from the 4/13 newspaper inserts

Buy 2 M&M's 11 oz. on sale B1G1 ($3.29/2) each, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 5)
*it's being reported that only the cherry and dark chocolate/dark chocolate peanut are working for this "hidden" deal

$27.26

Use $5/$15 expired CVS coupon (my CVS lets me use them until they "beep", which is 2 weeks after they expire.
Use $3/$10 CVS Brand
Use $4/1 Airwick man q
use 2 $2/1 Benefiber man qs

$11.26 (will pay with ECBs, of course), earns $13 ECBs
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on husband's card:

CVS Brand Jumbo pack diapers - on sale B1G1 ($8.99/2)
Buy 2 and use $3/10 CVS brand coupon

Buy 2 Maalox, Gas-X, ex-Lax, Benefiber or Perdiem (Prices starting at $4.99), Get $10 ECBs (Limit 1)
Buy 2 Benefibers at $4.99 each
Use 2 $2/1 coupons from the 4/13 newspaper inserts

Buy 2 M&M's 11 oz. on sale B1G1 ($3.29/2) each, Get $3 ECBs (Limit 5)
*it's being reported that only the cherry and dark chocolate/dark chocolate peanut are working for this "hidden" deal

$22.27

Use $5/$15 expired CVS coupon (my local store allows me to use these until they "beep", which is 2 weeks after they expire)
Use $3/$10 CVS brand
Use 2 $2/1 Benefiber man qs

$10.27, earns $13
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I'm shedding a silent tear that I'll only be able to use my $5/$15 and $3/$15 beauty purchase coupons until tomorrow. I may work out another scenario to use these coupons to get the Garnier monthly deal. I'll have to take a few minutes to look over the monthly ads and see what manufacturers qs I have, I just haven't made the time yet. Hopefully later today...

Thanks to Crystal for the heads up on this great freebie!

From Freebies 4 Mom: