Free Soy Joy Bars at CVS

CVS has Soy Joy bars (Limit 5) Free after ECB this week. Enjoy them or not, they are free and you can either eat them or donate them!

Ebay Bucks

Currently Ebay is running a rewards promotion for the summer through August 14, 2008. They will give you 3% back into your Paypal account for all of your purchase during that time frame. They have even made it better for the time between June 20 and June 29, where they will give 6% back. The program is called Ebay Bucks.

I usually purchase gift cards through Ebay, so this gives me extra incentive. Couple these rewards with the cash back I get through Extrabux and then my rewards credit card, it adds up to quite a bit of money.

FREE Oral B Cross Action Power Tootbrush

This week at Walgreens you can purchase an Oral B Cross Action Power toothbrush FREE after Register Rewards catalina coupon. Unlike CVS Extra Care Bucks, the $5.50 is not pretax, but will be applied after the sales tax has been calculated for the item that your purchase.

In today's coupons is a coupon for Buy One Get One Free for Oral B Cross Action Power toothbrushes, so you can get two toothbrushes for $5.50 plus the sales tax on both toothbrushes, plus you will get a catalina coupon good for $5.50 towards your next purchase at Walgreens.

You cannot get cash back for these catalina coupons so your next purchase needs to be more than $5.50.

Cash Back Program: Extrabux

Along with the Upromise program I look at several other sites when shopping online to make sure that I am getting the maximum amount of cash back when I shop online. Another site that I use is Extrabux.

Extrabux is a nice program that has many of the same shops as other Cash Back Programs, but also includes many smaller sites that are not included in the other sites. For the most part, though, I use Extrabux for shopping on Ebay. Unlike other Cash Back Programs that give you a percentage of your purchase (usually 1%) on Ebay, Extrabux gives you 45% of the profit that Ebay makes from the sale. Thus, just as Ebay's profit is larger on smaller ticket items, so will your profit be.

For example, I often purchase CVS gift cards on Ebay using Extrabux as my shopping portal. Since I usually purchase them in $25 increments, the profit percentage for Ebay is higher than if I purchased the gift cards in $100 increments. So, I purchase a $25 CVS gift card on Ebay for $22 (a 12% savings), going through Extrabux (usually around 4% or 5%) and pay with my credit card through Paypal (around 1% or 2%). After all is said and done, I have purchased a CVS gift card at a 17% to 19% discount.

Even better, right now Ebay is giving you 3% back on purchases through August 14, 2008. That would make the above scenario 20% to 22%.

For larger purchases the cash back earned through Extrabux is 2%.

Update: CVS June Free After Extra Care Bucks Items

The limit for the three Free After Care Bucks Items at CVS in June is actually 3 and not the 2 that is stated in the June catalog.

Listerine SmartRinse in Upromise

I just noticed in my Upromise account that Listerine SmartRinse is one of the eligible products to receive a percentage back (2%) from Johnson and Johnson. If you recall, the Listerine SmartRinse is one of the products that is Free after Extra Care Bucks at CVS.

You could earn even more if you use SCRIP or the Upromise Credit Card.

Cash Back Programs: Upromise

We talked about Upromise in this earlier post. Now we can talk about the Cash Back Program. Basically, when you shop online you should be going through a shopping portal. These shopping portals will give you a percentage back for linking to the website through their site.

For example, if you wanted to shop online at Gap, you would go to the shopping portal, sign in and link to Gap.com through the link at the shopping portal. For Upromise, you would log in to their website, then go to the "Earn" menu and click on Online Shopping. Here you will find hundreds of sites to shop at, like Gap, Target, Walmart, Dell, Sears and a lot more.

In this case, Upromise will credit your account with 3% of the pre-tax and pre-shipping total, if you link to Gap.com through Upromise, when you make your purchase.

Here are the percentages for some other online stores (of course, these percentages are subject to change):

Oriental Trading 4%
Gap 3%
Target 3%
Walmart 1%
Ebay 1%

Of course, you can use SCRIP for these purchases, as long as the online retailer allows the use of their gift cards on their online presence. So, for a $100 purchase at Gap.com you would get $9 in SCRIP Credit (assuming Gap 9% SCRIP credit) and $3 in your Upromise account (assuming 3% cash back) for a total of $12.

If you have not signed up for Upromise, take a look at this post to show you why you need to do it.

Great Father's Day Sale At Sears

If you purchase $100 worth of Docker's clothing and accessories, you can get a $75 Shell Gas Card by Mail In Rebate. Use SCRIP and make it a great deal. Go through a Cash Back portal and make it an even better deal. The deal ends 6/15/08. Remember you can use Lands End SCRIP at Sears as well, so get it at 17% SCRIP credit.


From the Sears Website:

Discounted Movie Tickets

I know that this post will sound like a round about way of getting discounted movie tickets, but with the increase in movie ticket prices and discount is helpful. Basically, you will buy a pack of Pond's towellettes that will have a coupon code sticker on it for tickets to see MaMa Mia (even if you don't want to see Mama Mia, keep reading) when it comes into theaters.

These towellettes (cost is about $5) can be found at Walgreens in a sealed pack of 45 total towelettes (30 in one pack and 15 in the other). Make sure that the sealed pack has one of the Mama Mia stickers on it.

When you get home, go to Ponds.com and enter the code on the sticker along with the UPC code of the TOTAL package, not the UPC of one of the two packs. For some reason the website will not recognize the UPC from the packs of micro dermabrasion packs, so either avoid these packs or write down the UPC of another type of pack (Age Defying, etc.) or write down the UPC code number from the Ponds cold cream 9.5 oz jar.

Make sure you purchase 2 packages of Ponds towellettes this week because you will receive a $3 coupon towards your next purchase at Walgreens. Just don't use it to purchase another 2 packs of Ponds towellettes, since you will not get anoter $3 coupon, if you use the coupon. Otherwise, you can "rinse and repeat" this deal. The movie tickets are a limit of 4 per address, but you can use another family member's address if you go over the 4.

Once you are done entering all of your information, you may run into an error page, where you will need to refresh the page and reenter the Code and UPC. You will then be taken to a printable version of the certificate. Print it off and you have a movie ticket that can be used at almost any theater. You can go to http://www.hollywoodmoviemoney.com/ to make sure a theater near you will accept the ticket. Both Showplace 16 and Movies 14 will accept them in Mishawaka and South Bend

Even if you do not want to see Mama Mia, the tickets are good until 10/31/08 and can be used for any Universal Pictures movie. Go to the Universal Pictures website for details of current and upcoming films, but films of interest to my family are Mama Mia and The Mummy: Tomb of The Dragon Emperor.

In the end, if you purchase 2 packs of the Pond's towellettes, not only will you receive the towellettes, but you will get a $3 coupon towards your next purchase at Walgreens and 2 movie tickets to any Universal Pictures film between now and October 31, 2008 all for the cost of about $10, plus tax ($10.70 in Indiana) plus SCRIP credit, if you use Walgreens SCRIP.

We will probably use some of the towellettes, but will donate the rest to Hannah's House a local young, unwed expectant mothers home. Not a bad deal!

Go A La Carte: Get Rid of Recurring Bills

I Will Teach You To Be Rich has a nice post on Subscriptions and their cost on your budget. Subscriptions are basically the inverse of David Bach's Automatic Millionaire idea:

Subscriptions are a business’s best friend: They let companies make a
reliable, predictable income off of you — with no action on your part. Without
doing anything, you invisibly pay money each month.

On the A La Carte Method:

Here’s how you can use the A La Carte Method for yourself. Cancel all the
discretionary subscriptions you can: your magazines, annual Rhapsody plan, cable
— even your gym. (It would be totally ridiculous to cancel your Internet,
though. I’d cry like a little girl if I couldn’t get online from my house.)

Next, buy what you need a la carte:

Instead of paying for a ton of channels you never watch on cable, buy only the episodes you watch for $1.99 each off iTunes
Buy a day pass for the gym each time you go (around $5-$10)
Buy songs as you want them for $0.99 each from Amazon or iTunes

These are some nice ideas. Other things that I have done is change our cell phone plan from a $39.99/month plan (plus the multitude of taxes) to a pay as you go plan with Tmobile. You get voice mail, caller id, long distance and a great national network for the average cost of around 7 to 10 cents a minute depending on the cost of the minutes that you purchase. (I have seen Target run ads for a 1000 minutes for $80).

On the internet, I have Comcast Cable internet and pay one year at a time to get a decent deal on my internet access.

Dave Ramsey's Baby Steps

Here is a link to a PDF printable version of the 7 baby steps on the Dave Ramsey website.

These Baby Steps are a nice guide for everyone to follow to get themselves out of debt and keep them on the path to financial freedom.

June CVS Free After Extra Care Bucks Items

I have been doing Extra Care Buck deals for quite a while now and have become pretty adept at it. In this post I will just talk about the free items in the Extra Value Book for June 2008. I usually use these types of items (toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, etc.) and donate the items to our church's St. Vincent DePaul Society.

Extra Care Bucks are like an instant in store credit rebate that can be rolled over again and again. Here is an overview from the CVS website. You need to have an Extra Care Card, which is free.

This month they have 40 ct. CVS Brand Band Aids (Limit 2), Oral B CrossAction Manual Toothbrush 2 pack (Limit 2) and Listerine SmartRinse 250 ml (Limit 2).

So that you know what each product looks like and what the Extra Value Book for June 2008 looks like, I have linked a scan of the book here.

What is cool about the Extra Care Bucks (shortened to ECB) is that you can use a coupon for the item and get back the original amount. For example, I had a $1 coupon for the Listerine SmartRinse and thus paid $2.49, instead of the $3.49. Once the transaction was done, an ECB for $3.49 printed out instead of $2.49. I even used an ECB from a previous transaction, so I really did not spend much money out of pocket.

To augment your savings you can pick up CVS SCRIP to pay for the item and get a 2% SCRIP credit. Also, CVS will give you 2% of the amount on a quarterly basis for any money out of pocket (minus tax) that you spend when you use your Extra Care Card. This 2% credit will print out at the register a few days after the end of each quarter.

One word of caution, make sure that you get exactly the item pictured or your ECB will not print. Also, if you use ECB to pay for the item, most CVS stores will only refund your out of pocket amount and leave you high and dry without the ECB that you used. In these cases, it's usually better to keep the item.

As you can see, the CVS Extra Care Bucks program can be profitable to you, your school or church and to your church St. Vincent DePaul Society or local food bank, homeless shelter, etc.

Dave Ramsey's Debt Snowball

Here's a nice blog post from Smart Spending.

Basically, it cites a blog post by Kristy at Master Your Card where Kristy states that Dave Ramsey's debt snowball does not work mathematically or psychologically.

Kristy writes:

I’ve already mentioned that I don’t like the debt snowball method, so for me
Ramsey’s number two is ridiculous. As a financial “expert,” he should be
teaching people the right way to manage their debts and offer advice on how to
overcome their discouragement with regard to paying off those high interest
debts. He shouldn’t be offering easy-out solutions that don’t teach people the
value of working to pay down their debts. Beyond that, I’m just opposed to
giving financial advice that costs people more money.

I think that Kristy looks at it from a much more savvy financial frame of reference than the people that Dave Ramsey attempts to teach. Like Kristy, I would not follow his Baby steps line by line, nor would I pay of the smallest debt first (unless of course I could do it within a couple of months). I would rate myself above average, when it comes to finances, which is where Kristy probably is as well. Dave Ramsey's advice is great for average to below average financial minds.

Buy Stamps Somewhere Other Than The Post Office

You can increase your SCRIP credit by simply buying your stamps at somewere other than the Post Office. Here are some places that you can get stamps:

CVS
Walgreens
Staples
Kroger
Martin's


I will update it with more places once I verify it. Please comment if you know of any more.

4 Free Reports With Your Personal Insurance, Employment, and Tenant History

From MyMoneyBlog

Credit Report

www.annualcreditreport.com

You can get a credit report from the 3 credit agencies once every 12 months.

Insurance Claims History

Personal Property and Auto Claims CLUE Reports
A-Plus Report

Before purchasing a house get these histories to make sure the car you are looking at has not been in too many wrecks and that the house you want to buy does not have too many claims. Too many claims on a property will probably make your Homeowner's Insurance higher, even if you are not the one to have made the claims.

Employment History Report

To get your free employment history report, call 1-866-312-8075. More information here.

Tenant History Report

To get your free tenant history report, call 1-877-448-5732. More information here.

Upromise Program

Have you signed up for Upromise! Upromise is a program where your every day purchases can give you cash back.

I have been able to save up quite a bit for college in this way. I've used some other tricks with Upromise, as well, but I will get into those at another time.

For now, you should sign up with Upromise just to get started, so that you can take advantage of their $10 promotion for shopping online before 6/30/08. Once you sign up, shop online at one of their many partners (all names that you know) and get a $10 credit into your account. When you sign up, use promotion code shoponline.

What is Upromise? (from the Upromise website)

Book Review: Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki

Over at The Enhance Life is a nice review of Robert Kiyosaki's book Rich Dad, Poor Dad. If you have not read the book, it is a good read, though many of his ideas are not actionable for every person. Here is the synopsis of the review:

I found Rich Dad, Poor Dad to be very inspiring. Somehow, I felt that I was reading this book, a few years too late, into my life. The book doesn’t overwhelm people with technical jargon. It simply concentrates on the inner being of what it takes to be rich.

I’d recommend this book as an good way to challenge your thinking about work and money, in ways you haven't thought before. However, if you need technical "how to's" and "to do's" in personal finance, this book is not for you.

Here are a few other reviews:

The Simple Dollar
Profit Advisors
Wikipedia

Gift Cards at Kmart

I went to Kmart today and wrote down the arsenal of gift cards that were available at the Kmart in Mishawaka, IN. In an earlier post I wrote about how Land's End, Sears and Kmart gift cards could be used to purchase almost anything at Kmart, including Gift Cards for restaurants, stores, etc. Here they are in no particular order:

Chicago White Sox
AMC Theaters
Regal Cinema
Marriott
Coldstone Creamery
Bass Pro Shop
MLB.com
NFLShop.com
OfficialRacingCard.com
Shop.NHL.com
ITunes
Olive Garden
Red Lobster
Barnes and Noble
Cracker Barrel
Hot Wheels
Chilis/On The Border/Maggiano's/Macaroni Grill

Robert Kiyosaki Video

If you are a fan of Robert Kiyosaki, here is a video on 2008 predictions for investing and real estate.

100 Free Thank You Points

If you have a CitiBank credit card and belong to the Thank You Network, you can get a free 100 points. The Thank You Network is a "points" system that Citibank has put together where you can redeem points for gift cards, travel, in kind gifts, pay off student loans, etc.

From mymoneyblog:

More free ThankYou points! Visit this link, log in, and then type in “DPR1CDW408WK” as the promotional code. You may get an error of some sort, but check your points history and you should see 100 free points credited. If you missed the last one, also try code “CITICCI508IN” for another 100 free points. Remember, ThankYou points can be used to pay back student loans as well. Via FW.

1 GB MP3 Player at Office Depot

In today's Office Depot ad there is a 1 GB MP3 player that plays Music, Video and Shows Photos on sale for $39.99 with a $35 Mail in Rebate. I have had good luck with Office Depot rebates, so I might do this deal, especially since I can recycle my HP ink cartridges and get a $9 credit, which in the end nets me a bit of money.

If you are not familiar with ink cartridge recycling, Office Depot, OfficeMax and Staples each have a program whereby you can turn in used HP and Lexmark (note: only these two companies' cartridges) ink cartridges and get credit at that store. Each program is a little different and I will go into each program at another time, but Office Depot will allow you $9 in ink cartridge return coupons on your purchase (note: some Office Depot stores, like in Michigan City, will only allow you to purchase ink with these coupons).

For illustration, you will purchase the MP3 player for $39.99 ($42.79 when 7% sales tax is applied). If you have 3 ink cartridge, your cost will be $33.16. Turn in your rebate and about 6 to 8 weeks later you will get a $35 check from Office Depot that you can deposit in your bank account. Without ink cartridges your net cost will be $7.79 and with 3 ink cartridges you will make $1.84.

Make an even better return by using Office Depot SCRIP for the purchase. Since OD SCRIP gives a 4% credit you can get a SCRIP of up to $1.71, if no ink cartridges are used.

I have not looked it up, but you might even be able to get cash back from an online shopping portal. I'll talk about those at another time.

Another Use For the Land's End Gift Card

Another way that I have used Land's End, Sears and Kmart gift cards is by using them to purchase American Express gift cards in $100 increments at Kmart. The cost to do so is $5.95, but with a 17% SCRIP credit for Land's End cards, you will be able to shop anywhere that takes American Express cards.

For illustration, you purchase a $100 Land's End SCRIP gift card (17% credit = $17) and head over to Kmart and purchase a $100 American Express gift card. When you check out, you give the cashier your Land's End gift card and $5.95 (by charge or cash) and walk out with a $100 Amex gift card. Your total profit is then ($17 - $5.95 = $11.05).

If you assume a 50/50 SCRIP credit split with the school, the school will get $8.50 and you will get a tuition credit of $8.50. Your net profit is then $2.55 ($8.50 SCRIP credit - $5.95 outlay for the Amex gift card) and you will have supported your school with $8.50.

Looked at in another way, you are able to get a 2.55% "cash back" credit card in this way and a "match" of 8.5% to your school.

A couple of problems that you might face are cashiers that will not allow you to use a Land's End/Sears/Kmart gift card to purchase the Amex gift card and you might not be able to find the gift cards. Whenever I have run into a cashier who will not allow the purchase of the Amex with the gift card, I have come back later and gone to another cashier. I have not been turned down twice. On the second point, I have always had luck finding the Amex cards at the Laporte, IN Kmart and the Sturgis, MI Kmart. Elkhart and Mishawaka have been hit or miss.