Savings

OK, here’s what I got today.  I finally took the time and figured how to make 3 smaller transactions work for me.  Bottom line is I got $73 worth of products for $5.50 out of pocket and came home with $13 ECBs.  Here’s how I did it.

Transaction #1

3 sets of 16 count Energizer batteries (2 AA and 1 AAA if you’re curious)

2 $1/1 Energizer coupons
$2/10 CVS coupon
$3/15 CVS ECB coupon

Paid with around $20 ECBs I had from last week
Total oop: $.61
ECBs Earned: $10

Transaction #2

Palmolive Dish Liquid
Pull Ups
2 Dimetapp Children’s Medicine

Used
.40 on Palmolive coupon
$2 Pull ups coupon
2 $1.50/1 Dimetapp coupons 
$2/10 CVS coupons

Paid with $10 ECB battery deal
Total oop: $.62
ECBs earned: $5

Transaction #3

2 Garnier Nutrioniste Towelettes

Used $2/10 CVS coupon

Paid with $5 ECBs from last transaction
Total oop: $4.26
ECBs earned: $10 and $3 off of $15

Alrighty, folks, this is what I got at CVS:

Dawn Dish Liquid
Sugar-free Tums
2 Nature’s Bounty Fish Oil
2 Planter’s Cashews
6 Fruit2o water bottles
Goody’s 4 pack
Degree Clinical Deodorant

Regular price $53.96
Sales/Coupons $33.19
Used $20 ECB

Out of pocket .77!!  Man, that felt good!

Earned $8.50 ECB

I still have about $11 in ECBs that I haven’t spent from last week.  It was actually hard to make my total over $20 to use that one ECB.  I could have bought other stuff for Christmas presents and such but didn’t.  I may make another trip this week.  I haven’t even touched November’s ECB deals.

Walgreens was not nearly as good.  But I saved over 50% so I’ll post it anyway:

Cascade
3 boxes of Splenda
Dawn Simple Additions (?) Dish Liquid
Vick’s DayQuil
Vick’s 44 Cough Syrup
Vick’s Vapor Rub
2 Wrigley’s DoubleMint gum
OldSpice RedZone Men’s Deodorant

Regular Price $43.09 –not sure on this as it’s not a very detailed receipt
Sales/Coupons $25.62
Used $4 Register Rewards

Out of pocket $21.65

Earned $6 Register Rewards

So not nearly as good but I got pretty good prices on the the stuff I got and I’m very stocked up on Splenda and cold medicine for the winter now. 

I just think it’s funny now I’m disappointed I didn’t save over 90% in what I bought.  What a concept…77 cents is ridiculous for what I got from CVS.  I told Heather it’s like shopping with Monopoly money every week!

Today I made another CVS deal that was FABULOUS. 

Nova Max Blood Glucose monitor is normally $59.99.

On sale for $29.99

Coupon for $50 is found in a Diabetes pamphlet in the store – check the sale ad this week for a picture of it.  The clerk had to do register magic to make it be $29.99.

I paid $2.10 in tax and they wouldn’t let me use ECBs to pay for it.

I received $20 in ECBs from the transaction.  It also spit out a $3 off $15 coupon and $2.50 off $10 in CVS brand items.

No one in this house has diabetes but I mentioned donating things I got and I was serious.  I found Amy’s site and plan to send her the monitor for the missionaries in Gautemala.  Win-win for all of us.  Yay!

Just another tip–they seem to be out in A LOT of the stores around here but a clerk told my sister they could order one for her and it’d be in-store the next day but the sale is up Saturday, so hurry if you want to take part.

I’m starting to think I may need some serious addiction treatment from these store savings I’ve been getting.  I say that in jest but tonight I bought eye drops.  We’ve probably used eye drops like 3 times in this house since we’ve been married.  What was I doing?  A lot of people are really interested in how it works and are amazed and supportive of my savings but at the same time, a lot of people are very skeptical I think.  I think the big question is are you actually wasting time and money buying things you don’t need? 

I had to think hard about this one.  It’s true. I bought eye drops tonight and I don’t know if I’ll use them.  But I got $4.99 in ECBs because of it.  Is that ok that I bought them and basically was given a rebate for them?  I don’t know.  It almost seems like a vicious circle.  Buy things you don’t need just so you can buy things you don’t need right?

Well, I started to add up what I’ve spent in the past 3 weeks or so I’ve been doing this and comparing it to the price of anything I bought that I would have normally  bought and it seems to me if I’ve spent the same or similar, then I’m doing well.  In the past few weeks, I would have had to buy more body wash, shampoo and conditioner, face wash and batteries.  I’ve gotten all of these things during the last 3 weeks from CVS or Walgreens.  Now before all of this, I would have NEVER used a coupon of any sort.  I would have just gone to Target to get what I needed.  And from my guess, that would have cost me around $25.  From what I can tell, I’ve spent out of pocket around $50.  That’s twice as much.  A pretty big gap.  But from what I can tell, I’ve brought home about $190 worth of stuff.   So my choices are spend $25 and get $25 worth of products or spend $50 and get $190 worth of products.  To me, I’d like to spend $50 and get $190 worth of stuff.  And 95% of all I’ve bought, I will use.  Jury’s still out on the eye drops.  (If you need eye drops, let me know and I’ll mail them to you.)

I really, honestly enjoy saving the money.  I can stop doing it at any time.  My "pantry" is stocked.  I don’t freak out and have to wash my face with shampoo because I forgot AGAIN to go buy more facial soap.  I’m able to donate things I wouldn’t have before.  And I honestly and truly get free stuff.  And the thing is I’ve spent more, but I’m stocked up for much longer than what I would have bought in the last 3 weeks so if I count the amount of money I will have to spend to keep us stocked up, I really think I’m doing well.

And you might not believe this but before when I felt the need to shop, I would load up the kids to Target and not walk out of there with less than $100 bill–ask Heather, she’ll tell you.  But now, I can walk in CVS, spend a few dollars and possibly make money and get the same feeling.  Is it healthy to have a shopping "need"?  I don’t know and probably not.  But this helps and it’s WAY cheaper.

I’ve just gone over and over it and with CVS especially, you either have to buy the ECB earners, roll the money to the next week and keep buying ECB earners or it doesn’t work.  Maybe one week you can get away with earning and get a little bit free the next week but to really rack up, you have to do it continuously.

So for now, I think I’m staying in.  I certainly don’t think I’ve wasted any money.  The very worst you can say is I’ve wasted $25.  And what’s that?  One Isaac Mizrahi shirt that doesn’t even fit right?

OK, I have another deal from last week’s sales too. I ended up getting extra because I realized I do actually use a Revlon product.

Revlon foundation $12.99 B1G1
Wipes $7.99
Used .50 off wipes
Used $18 in ECB
Paid $2.48 + tax
Earned $5 ECBs (it spit out a $3 off $15 purchase)

Made $2.50 on $33.97 of products

Since I used that, I didn’t have many ECBs left but I forged ahead…

4 Soy Joy bars @ $4
2 Softsoap @ $6.98
1 Rohto eye wash $4.99 
Used $1 off Softsoap
Used $2 off Soy Joy
Used $2/$10
Used $5 ECB
Paid $6.48 + tax
Earned $10.99 ECB

Made $4.50 on $19.99 of products

Alright, it’s been a little over 2 weeks since I joined PayPerPost.com after being turned onto it by Allison.  Thank you once again Allison!!  This has been THE quickest money maker I’ve ever seen outside of actually leaving my house and getting a job.  From PayPerPost.com  alone, I have made $268.64 since my first post only two weeks ago. 

Seriously. 

Most days I try to post my max of 3 posts and it can be cumbersome to weed through on my site if you don’t like reading paid posts but really, I’ve enjoyed trying to insert a little story or fact about myself in each and every post.  I was a little naive when I first started that I would only blog about products that I would "normally" post about.  And I know I haven’t.  But. I do feel like in 98% of the posts I’ve done, I’ve been able to find something about me to talk about.  Sometimes I’ve even blogged about things I wouldn’t normally think to blog about and no one would ever know about me had it not been for the paid posts.  So to me, that’s a plus.  And people, I’ve made $258.64 in two weeks!! 

If you join and get paid to blog, a few things I’ve learned from PayPerPost.com are:

• It can take awhile for your blog to be added.  I think it took me at least 3 weeks.
• Be careful about the links.  Do it JUST LIKE they request and don’t try to be adventurous and post extra links unless it specifically asks for that.
• Don’t do paid posts right after one another.
• Be diligent about checking the site for open posts.  Don’t settle for low paying posts early in the day, keep checking for the higher ones and then if nothing comes up, do a few lower paying ones at night up to the max.
• Be sure your Page Rank and Alexa ratings are correct on their site.  Email them if it’s not.  It greatly affects your open opps.
• It has taken awhile for my posts to be approved.  Since I’ve only been on for two weeks, I still haven’t seen the process through but from what I hear, it will be around 30 days before I see the payment.

I really can’t recommend them enough.  Happy blogging!

This week I really racked up on the deals because of the ECBs/Register Rewards I earned last week.

At CVS:

2 8 pack AA Energizer batteries

3 100 count Tylenol Rapid Release

$45.98 with no sale or coupon

$5.40 in store sales

$11 in store coupons

$12 manufacturers coupons

$15.68 in ECBs

My total taken out of my bank account: $2.97

ECBs printed out for next week: $18, plus a $10/$50 and free shipping for online

WOW.  And I could have gotten more off if I had printed that 3rd Tylenol coupon.  I thought they were over $10 so I only needed to buy 2 to get the $10 ECB but I had to buy 3 since it was only $9.99.

At Walgreens:

Venus Breeze Razor

Cetaphil face cleanser (I really NEEDED this)

$21.98 with no sale or coupon

$7 in store sales

$2 in manufacturers coupons

$10 in Register Rewards

My total taken out of my bank account: $4.03

RR printed out for next week: $4

Summary for the week: I got paid $15 to take home $67.96 worth of merchandise.