Amazing CVS Black Friday Deals!

This Thursday through Saturday, CVS is having three days of free products with so much overage you won't know what to do with yourselves! Overage, if you're new to this, means you have a coupon and the item is free (via extra care bucks) so you're coming out a dollar ahead of where you started.

As you know, you need to have a plan of attack before going. This will help you to minimize the amount of money you need to spend and will maximize the amount of products you get at no cost.

Here is my plan of action for tomorrow at 7 AM. As you see I already have $8.99 in bonus bucks for the free contact lens solution so that's a nice starting point which will help me reduce the amount of trips to the check out line. I only need to go to the check out line to exchange bonus bucks for products four times tomorrow.

Careful with self check out when you get things 100% for free because the machine, like the workers, are in disbelief and have trouble processing what just happened.

Please remember to go early tomorrow since many stores only stock a few of the free items. I mean go early unless you live in Rosslyn....

I have $8.99 in extra bucks

First Round

Universal Remote: 6.99, get 6.99

Colgate Acti Flex Manuel Toothbrush: 2.99 (1.99 with coupon), get 2.00

Pay nothing, get 8.99 in extra bucks

Second Round

Bic Soleil Razor $6.99 (4.99 with coupon) get $5

Degree: $4, get $4

Pay nothing, get $9 in extra bucks

Third Round

Shcick Razor $8.99 (7.99 with coupon), get 8.00

Mars Bar $1.59 (plus get one free), get 1.59

Pay.58, get $9.59 in bonus bucks

Fourth Round

St. Ives Body Wash: 3.99 (2.99 with coupon), get $3.00

Vaseline: 7.99 (6.49 with coupon), get 7.99

Hershey’s Bliss Bar .89 (plus get one free), get .89 back.

Pay .78, get 11.88

Ebates!

I know I've written previously about the magical ebates.com but now that I just received my second "big fat check" in the mail I realized I had to insist all of my followers join now.

Basically many websites link themselves to ebates and when you are going to buy anything online (airline ticket, computer memory, blinds, clothing) if you click through to the website through ebates, you get 2-10 percent cash back!

To join click this link: http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=gLRlWG0ngWiOGXPRtcqOXQ%3D%3D . You even get $5 in your account just for joining!

FREE CONE DAY

Hi everyone,

It's Tuesday, April 21 and that means today is FREE CONE DAY at Ben and Jerrys. Free scoops will be given out between 12 and 8.

Hurray!
Stephanie

Free Kashi Meal

The seven whole grains on a mission want you to try a free meal on them! Just fill out this link and your coupon will be sent to you! Bon appetite!

Things You Shouldn't Pay For

Here is a family picture of some of my Colgates.

I realize my linen closest looks look I robbed the back of a Colgate truck but truth be told all these Colgates came to me costing between $.50 and negative $.50 each.

I get my Colgates for free by taking advantage of when they are on sale at CVS combined with CVS extra care bucks on Colgate weeks combined with coupons ranging from $1.00-$1.50. When this combination strikes I go crazy.

Other items you should never pay for are the items that are often free at CVS and Walgreens - including contact lens solution, foundation, powder, nail polish, fash wash, mouth wash, etc.

Free: Bottles of Suave

Today, January 14, 2009, Suave is giving one bottle of any Suave Product (ie shampoo, lotion, styling aids, etc) to every woman in America!

To claim your coupon, visit: http://www.suavenomics.com/.

Enjoy!

Rebates: To do or not to do

I was recently asked if I thought rebates were worth the hassle.

Here is my opinion- if you have forgotten to redeem rebates more than twice in your life, I would advise against rebates. Business Week had an article back in 2005 that claimed only 60% of rebates were redeemed. That is, of course, why companies love them.

If you are organized rebates are definitely worth it. Now days some companies such as Walgreen's and Rite Aid make rebates easier to redeem by allowing you to submit a claim online using your receipt. This makes sending away for your money much easier and allows you to track your rebate check online.

When I need to snail mail a rebate form I always make copies of everything before I seal the envelope and keep the copies on my desk until I receive the check. This way I don't forget about it and can call the processing center in case my check never arrives.

Free CVS Extra Bucks!

CVS has an online advisory panel to give them tips about their policies and products throughout the year. As a thank you for taking part in some of these surveys, you will be rewarded with free extra bucks ranging from $5-$15. Click here to become a CVS Advisor.

Remember, once you have extra bucks, only spend them on products that give you the same amount of extra bucks back. This will lead to many free products throughout the year! Just watch out for the expiration dates.

MyPoints

I found out about MyPoints.com through my friends Lex and Marisa. MyPoints is a site that gives you free points every day for answering quick surveys, making purchases, etc, which you can use to buy gift cards and other items. One of the cool parts about MyPoints is its coupon section which always has printable coupons for food items- plus you get 10 points for every coupon that you use. How great is that? Check the site out here.

Don't worry about your November Stash of CVS Extra Bucks

As you know, extra bonus bucks from CVS only last for one month. If you took advantage of the post-Thanksgiving CVS free product shopping spree, you probably have a plethora of extra bonus bucks set to expire as soon as December 26! There haven't been a lot of free items since then to "pay the extra bucks forward" so you may be getting antsy this close to their expiration dates.

I've received an inside tip that CVS will have another free product shopping spree during the two days after Christmas. So you can relax and wait to see what is in store! Remember the rule of thumb to only buy things you really need with the extra bucks or to use them to buy other free products!

Walgreens Rebates

I don't live near a Walgreens (there is one in Old Town and where Lulu's used to be) but I try to make it to one at least once a month for their Rebate Club. Basically there are several free items a month that you buy and then get a refund for in the form a check. Rebates used to require mailing receipts in and circling things, etc but now days you go online and type in your receipt number and you are done! Your check arrives in a matter of weeks.

Note that you can use coupons on items that have partial rebates and you will then be able to get that item for free too.

Finally, if you choose to get your money back on a Walgreens Gift Card instead of by check, they will add 10% more money than you spent.

Have fun!

CVS Extra Bucks: Clarification Part 2

Welcome back.

The correct answer to yesterday's post is "C".

The coupons that print out for random products you do not purchase (see "A") are wasted paper and I throw these away (unless they are for a free product- which my sister sometimes gets but I never do).

The $10 off of $50 purchase is too much to be spending at CVS so I thow those away as well. More helpful are the $4 off $20 purchase or the $5 off of $15 purchase but I rarely get those now days.

The CVS extra bucks that I often rave about can be found in exhibit "C". I remember the first time I got a extra buck back in 2005 it was for $1 and I thought it was random that they were giving me free money. Was I a novice back then, or what? CVS puts out weekly circulars as well as monthly circulars (both can be found at their circular stand near the front door) that list all products that qualify for extra bucks that month or week.

The free products (meaning you get the same amount of $$ in bonus bucks as the amount you spend on the product) are not always easy to find. Blogs like couponcravings.com help point them out for you so you know what to look for in the circulars.

The way to take advantage of extra bucks and not let the bonus bucks take advantage of you is as follows:

1) When you buy products that are free, use coupons. If a product is $8 and you get $8 back in extra bucks. But say you have a $2 coupon. You will spend $6 and still get $8 bonus bucks back! Incredible, right?

2) Only use your extra bucks to buy products A) you were going to buy anyway or B) that are also free items therefore giving you even more extra bucks.

3) Let's say there are 3 free items one week. Don't buy them all at once! Then you'll end up with a large investment on products you don't need and a large amount of extra bucks that you need to spend in one month! Instead buy the items one at a time (the cheapest first) and keep using the extra bucks you get back to pay for the next item. This lowers your investment and keeps you with a reasonable amount of extra bucks. I know it's slightly embarrasing for you and annoying for the cashier - this is why I am thankful my CVS has a self check-out.

4) This is important and you'll understand why once you get the system (it may seem confusing if you still haven't experimented with extra bucks). I was once told by a CVS cashier that you can't use your extra bucks if the product you are buying is less than the amount of extra bucks you want to use. So you have $4.99 in extra bucks and the product you want to buy costs $4.60- it's a no-go. Their system won't let you lose money. However, I was also told that the product needs to be more than the extra bucks value BEFORE taxes. So you have $5.00 in extra bucks and the product you want costs $4.99. It turns out the cashier was wrong. I've been using a self-checkout which counts taxes as the total (so in my example above the total would be more than the $5 extra bucks). This will save you time trying to find the cheapest item CVS sells (which by the way is travel cough drops or travel Q-tips for .50- what a rip off. Better value is the CVS enviornmental toliet paper at .89 but ouch!).

What to do with your old electronics

Best buy has a website that let's you estimate the value they will pay you (in gift cards) of old electronics you have around your house. Click here to see what your goods are worth.

I just learned about this site and though I'd share, even though the devices I've entered in seem to be worth a lota nada.

CVS paid me $1.13 to take $30 worth of products

It can be a bit complicated and almost unbelievable at first but once you get the hang of it you will fall in love with CVS Bonus Bucks. Every month and every week CVS puts out advertisements with their "free items." This differs from Walgreen's rebate system where you get the money mailed back to you in a check. Right when you buy the free CVS item you get the exact amount it cost back in Bonus Bucks- which are a paper certificate that expires in one month. While you need to make an initial investment to get your first set of bonus bucks, after the first time you can always use bonus bucks to buy the next week's free items. Thus you will get free items every week just by cashing in your current bonus bucks for more bonus bucks.

Another amazing element is that you can use coupons for the free product and you will still get the full value back in bonus bucks.

This week, for example, contact lens solution and foundation are the free CVS items. These cost $17.98 and you will get $17.98 back in bonus bucks. However, there is a $2 contact lens solution coupon online and there was a $3 off coupon for the foundation a month ago so I only paid $12.98 and in exchange received $17.98 back in bonus bucks. I had $15.99 to use, however, in bonus bucks so I purchased additional items (duracell batteries usually $5.50 on sale for $3.00 plus I had a $1.50 coupon) and two boxes of tissue on sale for $99 instead of $1.99. After my bonus bucks ($15.99)and coupons the cost was .$86 and again, I received $17.98 back in bonus bucks.

Thus I made money off of this purchase.

Please note that if I only was spending $15.00, I would not be able to use my $15.99 in bonus bucks because you aren't allowed to "lose" money.

With my new $17.89 in bonus bucks (divided into two 8.99 certificates) I will wait for more free items next week.