Economic Endeavors

Save $5 off $30, exp 5/04/08

Save $4 off $20, exp 5/04/08

Save $3 off $15, expires 5/04/08

Save $2 on Pledge, exp 5/04/08

Save $5 on Skin effects, exp 5/04/08

Save $3 on 2 Christophe hair care, exp 5/04/08

Save $4 on Zyrtec, 30ct or larger, exp 5/04/08

Save $2 on CVS brand eye itch relief, exp 5/04/08

Save $2 on Huggies Supreme diapers, exp 5/4/08

Right away, I see that the Christophe could be a good deal.
In May, if you buy $15 of Christophe Beverly Hills hair care products, you get $5 back in ECBs. On CVS's website, full size shampoos and conditioners start at $7.99

Here's a quick scenario I threw together:

1 shampoo and 1 conditioner ($15.98)
1 Colgate 360 clean or deep clean toothbrush ($3.99)
Use $4/$20 coupon
Use $3/2 Christophe CVS coupon
Use $1.00 off any Colgate Adult Manual Toothbrush printable

$11.97 total, get $8.99 ECBs back.
Less than $3 for both the shampoo and conditioner after ECBs!

There's also a $1 off Christophe CVS coupon available(exp 5/31). I *think* if you are buying 3 Christope products, you should be able to use both the $3/2 and $1 coupons in the same order.

UnderJams are made by Pampers, and are supposed to be more discreet and feel more like underwear than GoodNights. You can request a sample for boys, as well, just click "For Boys" at the top, and then click "Moms, request a free sample!" also up at the top.

Thanks to BeCentsAble for this awesome deal!

I have been wanting to start shopping for deals at Walgreens for a while, but haven't found the right deal with low enough oop and a big enough return to motivate me to get started. This is it!

Next week, 5/4 - 5/10:
Make $9 to $18.50 in Register Rewards on Crest Night Pro Health

~Get 9 crest pro health at 2.50 (22.50)
~buy 9 items get $20 RR
~use $3 off 2 crest pro health night Easy Saver booklet-found in stores(-$12)
~use with $1.00 off 4/6 PG (if you have them -$9)
~get back $20 in Register Rewards
OOP $1.50 with MC coupons or $10.50 without
Get Back $20 in Register Rewards!

I can't remember how many newspapers I bought that week, hopefully at least 4!

--------------------------

Another Walgreens money maker (thanks to Crystal at Money Saving Mom!)

~Buy 1 8-count Zantac, on sale for $3.99.
~Use this $5/1 coupon and get it free (with $1.01 possible overage)
~Get a $3 Register Reward back!


So, my plan is to do the Zantac deal first, twice in two separate orders if I can print off 2 coupons. Then do the Crest deal and use the RRs from the Zantac on the oop.
With the $20 RRs from the Crest, I plan to start buying monthly items that are free after rebate:

Oral-B CrossAction Toothbrush - $4.99
Use $1/1 coupon from 4/6 insert
Free plus $1 overage after rebate

Orajel Kids Plaque Revealing Rinse - $5.79
Use $1/1 coupon from 1/6 SmartSource insert
Free plus $1 overage after rebate

Nexcare 3M Cold Sore Lip Treatment - $8.99
Use $1/1 coupon from 4/6 RedPlum
Free plus $1 overage after rebate

Walgreens Maxi Pads 12 or 24 pack - $1.99
Free after rebate

Walgreens Standard Light Bulbs - $1.69
Free after rebate

$20.45 total, use $20 RR, spend $.45 plus tax oop, earn back $23.45 (plus 10% for loading it on a Walgreens prepaid card) in rebates! Which I'll use in the future to purchase more free-after-rebates items!

I've been reading the excitement on other blogs that now you can enter your register receipt transaction number online on Walgreens website to process your rebates electronically, so no hassle with stamps or mailing them out, and this is sure to allow the rebates to process faster!

I'm excited to finally get started at Walgreens! As if I need one more store to run to each week... lol

::EDIT::
According to one commenter who tried this, it appears the code is no longer valid. :( I just found this great deal late last night, or I would have posted about it sooner! If any of you try it and have different results, please be kind enough to comment and let us know! ::


I'm not sure when this coupon code expires, there was another coupon code on the site for a discount on photo mugs that expires April 31 (no such day!), but I don't know if this one expires at the same time. I can say that it was after midnight on May 1st when I placed my order, and the code worked for me, so it's definitely worth a shot to try!

At Snapfish.com, I just purchased 11 2"x3" photo magnets with various pictures of my kids and my sister's kids, to give my mom for Mother's Day (with the free photo book from Picaboo that I blogged about here, which is still an ongoing promotion!). The photo magnets are normally priced $4.99 each, but when I used the promo code "MAGNET", it took off the full price of all 11 magnets ($54.89!) and left me with only shipping ($6.99) and tax ($.42). So my grand total was only $7.41 for a Mother's Day gift that my mom will love.

Please let me know if you try this and the promo code is no longer valid. I believe the code must be entered in all caps, because it didn't reflect the discount when I entered it in lower-case letters. But I went back and tried again in all caps, and it worked like a charm!

This post isn't about any deals, or saving money, but I believe it is much more important. I'll have more deals and money saving posts tomorrow. :)

>"Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you..." Jeremiah 29:12.

National Day of Prayer will be commemorated tomorrow, May 1st. If you are not familiarized, the National Day of Prayer is an annual observance held on the first Thursday of May, inviting people of all faiths to pray for the nation. It was created in 1952 by a joint resolution of the United States Congress, and signed into law by President Harry S. Truman. It exists to communicate with every individual the need for personal repentance and prayer, to create appropriate materials, and to mobilize the Christian community to intercede for America's leaders and its families. To know more about this event and it's impact in our nation go to: www.nationaldayofprayer.org

Did you know that worldwide May is the month of prayer? It is. May 11 is another important day, that's when the Global Day of Prayer will be celebrated as well. And from May 1 through May 10, multiple churches and ministries will be praying in an intercessory movement, which will culminate on May 11th.

I am a huge believer in the power of prayer, and I believe God's Word when it says in Matthew 18:19-20: "Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them".
If you are a person of faith, please join together as God's people tomorrow and pray for our country and it's leaders! What a difference it could make at a time when our country is enduring such economical hardship and when there are still so many of our people overseas and at war.

Thanks to Sarah at Sarah's Savings for bringing this to my attention through her blog! :)

I didn't realize that there were people out there who were concerned about whether or not it is ethically ok to print the $3/$15 coupon that is available online through the Washington Post. Sarah clarified CVS' stance on the usage of this coupon in her blog. She contacted CVS' Customer Service and here is the response that she received:

"Dear Sarah Gomez,
I have looked into this, and you should be able to print out that coupon and use it in a CVS/pharmacy location. Each store has the final decision as to what coupons it accepts, but I did verify it was acceptable to print this out and use it.
Also, you may want to look into the Washington Post Points program if you are a Washington Post subscriber as well as an ExtraCare member, as we are one of the participating vendors. Please visit:http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/registration/postpoints/ for more information.
Thank you for contacting CVS/pharmacy ExtraCare. If you have any other questions please do not hesitate to contact us either by e-mail or by calling (800) 746-7287.

Best Regards,
Bill Koch
CVS/pharmacy ExtraCare Representative"

I hope that this eases the concerns of others who might have been wondering about whether or not it was ok to use this coupon! And a big thank you to Sarah for taking the time to clarify this for us all! :)

I don't get excited about every deal that I come across, or even every deal that I buy. But this one excited me, because I have been wanting to buy one of these but haven't wanted to spend $25 for one (which was the price when I originally looking into buying one).

Thanks to Crystal for the info on this great deal!

From Money Saving Mom:

Scrubbing Bubbles Automatic Shower Cleaner is on sale for $12 at Wal-Mart this week. Use the $10/1 coupon from last month's insert and get it for
$2!

Other deals and freebies at Wal-Mart:
Free and inexpensive Kashi products
Free K-Y Jelly
Free plus overage Zantac
Free Malt-O-Meal
Free trial size Old Spice body wash
Free Buddies Soaps
Free Fast-Fixin's Dino Bites
Free Suave lotion
Huggies CleanTeam wipes for $0.14/package
Organic tomatoes for $0.16/can
Post Honey Bunches of Oats for $0.24/box

I decided to write this post to highlight the current ways that I am earning money online, and to ask for suggestions on ways that you, my readers, have found that I may not yet be aware of.

Currently, I only have a few ways that I'm earning:

~A major money-maker for me for the last few weeks has been Revolution Money Exchange. If, by chance, you've been living under a rock and haven't yet heard of this or signed up, they offer $25 free when you sign up for a free account, and then they pay you $10 for each referral who signs up under you, using your referral link (maximum referral pay is $500). I have earned $190 to date on referrals, but I think it has pretty much dried up now because it has been hugely popular on personal finance blogs all over the internet. Click here if you want to know more about the company itself.

~I also have been successful with freebie trading (you can learn about this by reading my post about it here). I spend about a half hour, 3 nights a week online posting and corresponding on the forum and I typically earn $75-$100 a week. Also, Project Payday, which is a site that teaches you how to get started in freebie trading and has a free tutorial on their site, pays me a $2 commission for each person who goes to the site and enters their email address for more info. I don't make much from those $2 referrals, but every little bit counts as earnings, so I thought I'd mention it.

~Another potentially great money-maker is the little link I have on the right to the Money Saving Report. This is an ebook that is full of info on saving your family tons of money and cutting costs in places you may not have considered before. The ebook cost me $14, and I do feel I got my money's worth from the info I found there. Some of the information was stuff I already knew or already take advantage of to save money, but enough of it was new and useful to make it worth the purchase price. A huge perk to ordering the ebook is the affilliate benefit. After purchasing the ebook yourself, you can post your unique referral link on your blog to refer others. When someone you referred purchases the ebook, you receive the full purchase price in your paypal immediately. That's $14 per referral! If one person purchases through your referral link, you've earned back the price you paid for the book, and are on your way to some pretty good profit!

~Another recent find of mine is Cash Crate. It's free to sign up, and then you choose the surveys or offers you want to complete from a list that tells you exactly what you'll be paid for each option. Today, I took a one-page survey that took about 30 seconds and it earns $4. I spend about 10 minutes a day on Cash Crate, looking through the offers for high paying surveys and just taking those. Today alone I made $9 in my 10 minutes or so of work. If you can even call taking a survey work... :) Another hugely appealing perk of Cash Crate is that you earn money when your referrals earn money. You get paid 20% of what your direct referrals make and 10% of what THEIR referrals make. So if you do nothing after joining but put your referal link on your blog, you can get a check in the mail each month if someone signs up through that link and makes money on the site!

~Lastly, I should mention that I recently signed up for Pinecone Research, which pays you $3 for each survey that you complete. I have yet to make any money, though, because I haven't yet been emailed with any surveys that I qualify for!

So there you have it, all the ways I make money online. Pretty unimpressive, I'm sure, compared to some of you out there in blog-land who are making a pretty decent income in your spare time online.

So if any of you can recommend ways that I can really earn some good money online without much time or money invested, I would love it if you would email me or comment your suggestions. If it's something I want to try, I'll happily sign up through your referral links so you can benefit as well!

I'll end this post by thanking those of you who have come to my blog and clicked to sign up on these sites through my referral links. The money I have made this month through referrals and affiliates has really blessed my family at a time when we're adjusting to my husband's change in job positions and adjusting to the flip-flops in our pay periods and budgeting. God has provided for us through you, my readers, and I can't express to you enough how appreciative I am!

*I posted this as a helpful tip at WFMW. For more tips to make your life easier, visit Shannon's Blog!

Have you signed up yet for the CVS Advisor Panel? If not, you can do so here. After becoming an advisor, CVS will contact you from time to time via email to participate in online surveys. They thank you for your time by crediting your ExtraCare account with $5, $10 or $15 in ExtraBucks!