Economic Endeavors

I posted yesterday about my CVS loot for the week, but I had to update with the stuff I got today. I went a little crazy, I went to 3 different stores, and did 10 transactions in all (5 on each of our 2 cards).

I maxed out the Ellin Lavar deal, because I love trying new hair products and there were so many to try! In addition to the products in the picture above, I also got 4 more packs of the Playskool diapers. I don't use the Playskool diapers on my daughters, because I have found that they leak easily, but my mother-in-law volunteers at a crisis pregnancy center, so I have 10 packs from this week to donate, all free. What a blessing!

Oop for the above purchases was $4.49, and I finished with $10 more ECBs on each card than I started with. Definitely a good week, but I went to CVS waaaayyyy more than I usually do, or should have, for that matter! I got sucked in this week with the great deals and that golden $5/$15 that expires tomorrow. Next week I'm sure things will go back to my normal once a week. :)

Here's what I have so far (my scenarios for the first two can be found here, and for the third, here):

All in all, I got about $180 worth of merchandise for less than $5 oop. and have increased my ECBs by about $10 (it's late so these are estimates because I'm too tired to get up and get the receipts and do the actual math!).
Great week so far! Tomorrow I'll be doing the Ragu/Skippy/Lipton/Hellmans deal, and the Ellin Lavar deal, and maybe more diapers... why not? :)
I'll update this post tomorrow with more details on how I had to rework my deals a bit at the stores, but for now, Hubs is patiently waiting for me to go to bed!

*To read about more great savings, visit Super Savings Saturday at Money Saving Mom!
*For more great CVS Savings, hop on over to the CVS Superstars at the Centsible Sawyer!

I was so happy to find two new coupons in my email, and one in Hubs' email, yesterday from CVS! One is for $4 off Viactive Flavor Glides, one is for $5 off of 2 Ellin Lavar hair care products, and one for $3 off Playskool megapack diapers! The coupons expire 6/1, and both products earn ECBs in the May monthly book.

For the rest of you who got these coupons, here are the money-making scenarios I put together to utilize these new coupons:

$8.99 Viactive Flavor Glides
2/$10 Ellin Lavar products

Total before coupons: $18.99

-$5/$15
-$4 CVS Viactive coupon
-$5/2 CVS Ellin Lavar coupon
-$2 Viactive man. q from 5/11 RP

$2.99 after coupons, earns $7 ECBs ($3 for Viactive, $4 for Ellin Lavar)!

__________________________
Or if you need diapers:

$10.99 Playskool diapers
$8.99 Viactive Flavor Glides
$1.20 4 pencils at $.30 each (so you have as many items as coupons)

-$5/$15
-$3/$10 CVS brand coupon from card scanner
-$3 CVS Playskool coupon
-$2 Playskool printable
-$4 CVS Viactive coupon
-$2 Viactive man. q from 5/11 RP

Total after coupons: $2.18, earns $3 ECBs

Do above transaction a second time and earn $8 ($3 for Viactive, $5 for Playskool) ECBs!

This deal is very similar to the Glamour bag deal I posted about earlier this month, however this one is only available to the first 1000 participants.

From Money Saving Mom:

Set the scene for a sensational summer with CVS/pharmacy! Add a little magic here, a lot of shimmer there, and make your summer sizzle with the season’s best beauty products. Plus, purchase any two or more of the featured products at CVS/pharmacy and you’ll receive a fabulous Allure cosmetic case filled with a selection of summer must-have samples. The first 1,000 to send in their receipt will receive an Allure cosmetic case filled with samples! More details here.

Featured products include: 24/7 minerals, Ban deodorant, CVS-brand suncare products, Revlon lipgloss, Tressemme, and more. See all products here.

Since this offer is only for the first 1000 participants and thus there is a chance you won't receive the Allure cosmetic case, I'd recommend you don't go out of your way to purchase these items specifically to complete this offer. However, if you have already purchased two of these items at CVS or are planning to purchase them, it is definitely worth the cost of a stamp to see if you are one of the first 1,000.

If you already bought the products for free or almost-free at CVS, you might as well send off for a free cosmetic case and samples!

Use this coupon to get $15 off any order, no minimum, at Ann Taylor. You can use this in-store or online. This coupon was a 2-day coupon, but I didn't hear about it until one of my readers emailed it to me today. If you're interested, use it before it expires before the end of the day today!

Take this coupon to Macy's for a free Jockey's Ultimates panty ($9.50 value) on the spot, no additional purchase necessary! Offer valid May 31 -June 6, in store only, while supplies last.

Click here to request your free BuddyCheck9 Breast Health Kit. Kit includes important information on breast cancer health and tools to help you remember your monthly breast self-exam.

Walgreens has a new $10 off $30 printable, valid today only, Friday, May 30!

A visit to Money Saving Mom this morning alerted me to this awesome freebie! Thanks Crystal!

Get your free sample of free Clean and Clear Morning Burst Oil Absorbing Sheets here.

I bought these at CVS a couple months back when they were free after coupon and ECBs and I really liked them. It's amazing to see how much oil they really absorb. I'm just now running low on the 2 packs I bought, so this offer comes at a good time!

If you haven't yet maxed out the monthly Tums QuikPack deal (buy one at $4.69, earn $4.69 ECBs, limit 3), there is a $2.25 printable coupon that you can use towards them to make them a moneymaker. This coupon has just been reset, so if you were unable to print it earlier this month, you should have no problem printing it now!

It's been a while since I posted an update on my online earnings, so I thought this would be the perfect time to do so, since the last week was a great week for me!

On Friday, I got my first paycheck from Cash Crate. It was for $54. That may not sound like much, but the truth is, I haven't been spending any time at Cash Crate in the past month or so, so almost all of that was earned by my referrals. Cash Crate pays you 20% of all the money earned by your referrals, so even when you slack off like I did the past month, you can still make money.

Also, I received a payment to my paypal account this week for $48 from Project Payday. Every time someone goes to their site through my referral link and enters their email address for the free tutorial, I get $2. That $2 really adds up! And that referral money is on top of the real money I make at Project Payday, which is money I earn by freebie trading. Last week, I made $125 by freebie trading, which you can read about in my post here.

I cashed out the last of my referral money for Revolution Money Exchange this week as well, and will receive a check for $47.50 this week. Revolution Money Exchange was offering $10 for each referral who signed up under your referral link, and I am truly sad that that promotion has finally ended.

This week, eight people signed up under my referral link to Pay Per Post, and once they are approved and submit their first paid post, I'll earn $15 for each of them.

So while these small amounts of money here and there may not seem like much, it's these little trickles of income that really add up and help me to lift a little of the financial burden of our household off of my husband's hard-working shoulders, without sacrificing very much of my own time or energy at all.

I want to give a heartfelt thank you to all of my readers who have helped me by signing up for these great sites through my referral links. You have truly been a blessing to my family and I can't tell you how much it means to us.

As a thank you, I'm hosting a give-away in my post here. If you haven't yet entered, go there and take a moment to do so now! I'm enjoying reading all of your comments and tips, and I can't wait to see who wins! And a special thanks to the Centsible Sawyer for the linky love, which has brought more than a little traffic my way this week!

This looks like a pretty good week at CVS. I was able to plan out 5 transactions, and will be stocking up on diapers, lots of wipes, Tide, some food items, and a purchase to send in for the Glamour bag offer, and will be breaking even and spending very little, if any, out-of-pocket (oop). I heart CVS. :)

Here are my scenarios:

Transaction 1:

$2.50 Playskool Cottony Cloths wipes
$5.99 Tide Free 24-32 loads (earns $2 ECBs)
$4.99 Adidas deodorant (earns $4.99 ECBs, monthly deal)
$1.99 Excedrin migraine

$15.47 before coupons

-$5/$15*
-$1 Tide Free printable (can print as many as you like)
-$1 Playskool Cottony Cloths wipes printable (can print as many as you like, can only use once per transaction)
-$2 Excedrin printable

$6.47 after coupons, earns $7 ECBs
______________________________

Transaction 2:

Do the above transaction a second time, to get more wipes toward your Playskool ECBs.
______________________________

Transaction 3:

$10.99 Playskool Mega Pack diapers
$3.99 Colgate 360 toothbrush

Total before coupons: $14.98

-$5/$15*
-$3/$10 CVS brand (from the card scanner machine, can be used on Playskool, which is a CVS Brand)
-$3 Playskool diapers CRT
-$2 Playskool diapers printable

$1.98 after coupons (or $4.98 if you don't have the CRT, which I only have on one of my 2 cards), earns $3.99
______________________________

Transaction 4:

$2.50 Playskool wipes
$2.50 Playskool wipes (earns $5)
$1.50 Ragu 26oz
$1.50 Ragu 26oz
$1.50 Skippy 16.3oz
$1.50 Liptons tea bags 40-100ct
$3.00 Lipton To Go tea 10ct
$1.50 Hellmans mayonaise 24-30oz (earns $3)

Total before coupons: $15.50

-$5/$15*
-$1 Playskool wipes printable
-$1 off 2 Ragu Pasta Sauce, RP 5/18
-$0.60 any one Lipton tea bags, or iced tea mix RP 5/18
-$0.60 any one Lipton tea bags, or iced tea mix RP 5/18
-$0.50 any one hellmann product RP 5/18

$6.30 after coupons, earns $8 ECBs
______________________________

Transaction 5:

$16.99 24/7 Mineral Makeup (earns $10, and qualifies for Glamour bag offer)

-$5/$15*

$11.99 after coupon, earns $10 ECBs
_____________________________

Breakdown of ECBs:
Card #1 (with the Playskool CRT in transaction 3): ECBs spent- $33.21, ECBs earned- $35.99
Card #2 (without Playskool CRT in transaction 2): ECBs spent- $36.21, ECBs earned- $35.99

_______

* this $5/$15 coupon was in the NY Newsday last week, and was available in their e-edition only if you were a current subscriber, or if you paid $19 to sign up. I have a friend who subscribes, and who allowed me to print the coupon from his account. I did not blog about it because it was not a coupon that was available for free to everyone.

For Memorial Day, CVS is having a two day sale in which 2-liters of Pepsi products are B1G1 free. This includes Sierra Mist. The limit is 4 bottles total per customer per transaction.
Pick up 4 bottles and use two B1G1 free printable coupons here and here (if your store allows this) and get all four bottles free. A perk to this is that 4 bottles at $1.79 each before sale and coupons make a $7.19 filler to get you up to $15 so you can use the $3/$15 coupon!

Tonight, my 2 1/2 month old has a little cold and her nose is stuffy, and I can't find our aspirator anywhere (I suspect my 2 year old got ahold of it), so I needed to run to CVS to get another one. This was the perfect chance to try out this Sierra Mist deal.


Here was my transaction:
4 bottles of Sierra Mist ($7.19, free after sale and coupons)
1 Adidas deodorant ($4.99, earns $4.99 ECBs)
1 nasal aspirator ($3.99)

Used 2 B1G1 Sierra Mist printables
Used $5/$15 CVS coupon*

Spent $4 ECBs and $.18 oop, got back $4.99 ECBs.

This is what I love most about CVSing. All the extra free stuff is great, but the real blessing is getting the things that you actually need, and paying next to nothing for them.

~~~~
* this $5/$15 coupon was in the NY Newsday last week, and was available in their e-edition only if you were a current subscriber, or if you paid $19 to sign up. I have a friend who subscribes, and who allowed me to print the coupon from his account. I did not blog about it because it was not a coupon that was available for free to everyone.