Be sure to take advantage of the CVS sale that runs thru Wednesday this week. It is actually BETTER than their Black Friday ad sales. There are over 20 items you can get FREE after ECBs. And check your coupon stash- I found a few CVS mailer coupons that made for even bigger savings. Here is the general info on my haul. To make your own printable shopping list to keep track of your trip, see the CVS Matchups page.
Spent $54.49 out of pocket (after coupons)
Received back $39.87
That’s a 6 foot plus receipt full of savings! 🙂 (Thanks to hubs for humoring me on the pic, BTW he is 6 foot 6!) Honestly it could have been even lower, but I had to get that dear man some razors!
So the highlights:
- Load $150 and pay $4.95 activation ($154.95 OOP)
- Get back $50 ECBs (must be used in one transaction)
- Use the PayPal MasterCard full balance within 24 hrs so as not to incur another fee (First monthly fee occurs within 36 hrs after activation).
Since I used mine to pay for my trip; it turned my haul into an overall $35.38 profit! 😉
UPDATE! I activated my card at around 10 PM on Sunday night. I went to use it on Monday morning at 10 AM, and they had already taken a deduction for the monthly fee. So I have already had the $10 in fees taken out. It is unfortunate. But I still have $40 ECBS after figuring in these fees. So I did it a second time (limit 2 per card) and I immediately went to Kroger and bought my gift cards. This time I was only charged the initial $4.95 and the PayPal card still had the full $150 on it. So moral of story is use it right away or pay a second fee.
This is one you will have to decide for yourself if you are comfortable following all the “steps”. If you do, it essentially is a $45.05 money maker! 😉
NOTE: There is some talk that this one if being pulled. I would check your region first. Go to CVS.com and login to your ECB account. Then search the “my ad” section, it should be there. Also, my cashier know all about it, so you could also just ask if they have seen it still printing. I am still seeing it on Cbus as of 10:30 Sunday night.
I am on a mission to help you save. Join me on this frugal living mission and together we will learn how to save more, so we can do more living and give more too!
I heard about the paypal card but didn’t want to deal with the hassle of activating, then making sure it gets deactivated, plus what are they doing with your SSN if it’s not a line of credit? If it’s not income being reported to the IRS and it’s not a line of credit, there should be no need for an SSN. Once I saw in an online forum that an SSN was required for activation, I decided it wasn’t worth the risk.
I did get the freebies. I was starting anew and had not shopped CVS since last year’s black Friday. I only had a couple of coupons and no ECBs or giftcards. I got the freebies my family could use, then I did a second transaction and spent all those ECBs on the CVS brand training pants that were buy one get one 50% off. My 3yo refuses to use the potty and we were almost out of training pants. This way I don’t have to worry about rolling bucks and whatnot. I used to be pretty heavily into it, until a few years ago when the deals slowed down and weren’t things that my family really used. I remember one really good year when there were free earbuds, razors, lots of shampoo, facial care, cosmetics, pain relievers, and all sorts of other things too. Oh well, I would have had to buy training pants anyway and getting the other stuff for the same amount of money was a nice little bonus! 🙂
Jessica-
I understand the PayPal deal isn’t for everyone. I already have a PayPal account, so I attached the card to it (for piece of mind)
I also agree there have been some really killer years with the BF freebies (I remember the earbuds!). Sounds like you did a great job of “rolling” the ECBs- nice! And I like what you said ” I would have had to buy training pants anyway and getting the other stuff for the same amount of money was a nice little bonus!”. Great way to think about it.
Thanks for commenting!