CVS Advisory Panel

Not too long ago I learned about the CVS Advisory Panel. Not sure what rock I've been hiding under, because the Advisory Panel has been around for a while, but somehow I don't remember ever hearing about it.

Anyway, if you shop at CVS at least occasionally you'll definitely want to sign up for the CVS Advisory Panel. In exchange for doing occasional surveys regarding CVS products and services, you'll get Extra Bucks emailed directly to you.

Just today I got an email request to do a survey about some programs CVS is thinking about rolling out. The survey took me less than 10 minutes and as "pay" I got a $5 Extra Buck coupon. Not bad pay in my opinion!

Are you a CVS Advisory Panel member? What has your experience been like?

Weekly Spending Summary

Well, this is the vacation addition. I had hoped to be able to type a big $0 here but unfortunately soon after we got home, we realized that we had forgotten to stop and get milk at the farm we get it from. And so, Vince had to run to Giant and get a gallon to hold us over. Still, it was fun to have a week of very little spending. And amazingly I had absolutely no Extra Bucks or UpRewards that were close to expiring so I didn't even have to worry about setting foot in one store!

Total Spent: $4.03
This was for a gallon of milk at Giant.

New Coupons at Coupons.com

• $5.00 off 1 gallon of Benjamin Moore paint
• $1.50 off any 2 boxes of Kashi TLC bars
• $1.00 off 3 Kashi GOLEAN Bars
• $1.00 off off any box of Kashi TLC Snack Cracker
• 2 for $79.99 Kids' Eyeglasses at JCPenney Optical
• $99.99 off with No-Line Bifocals only $34 more per
• $0.75 off any Efferdent or Effergrip product
• $3.00 off 2 Glidden Paint Testers
• $3.00 off 1 gallon of Glidden Paint
• $1.00 off 1 Renuzit Pearl Scents
• $1.00 off One (1) Renuzit Super Odor Neutralizer
• $1.00 off on any 1 Dove VisibleCare Body Wash
• $5.00 off 1 PHILIPS NORELCO BG2020, BG2030, BG2040
• $5.00 off 1 PHILIPS NORELCO REPLACEMENT SHAVER
• $10.00 off ON ONE (1) PHILIPS NORELCO SPEED XL
• $30.00 off ON ONE (1) PHILIPS NORELCO SENSOTOUCH
• $3.00 off 1 BOTTLE OF 16 oz. BreathRx Mouth Rinse
• $0.55 off on any Bagel-fuls (4ct)
• $1.00 off 1 Minute Maid Juice Box 10-pk
• $3.00 off any Non-Drowsy Claritin-D Allergy
• $4.00 off Non-Drowsy Claritin Allergy Product
• $10.00 off any Comfort Zone diffuser or spray

Ebates: Cash Back for Online Shopping

Earlier today I mentioned shopping through Ebates to earn cash back on your purchase. It occurred to me later that some of you might not even understand what Ebates is or how it works. If that describes you, read on. Hopefully, your questions will be cleared up!

Do you sometimes shop online? Then you'll want to sign up for Ebates. Ebates is a shopping site that gives you up to 25% cash back every time you shop online. They have over 1,000 stores that you can get cash back at including Abebooks, Ebay, Walmart, Overstock.com, Kohl's, and Snapfish. Plus sometimes you'll even get additional savings with exclusive coupons and free shipping offers. And when you sign up you'll also get a $5 bonus when you make your first purchase.

So how do you shop through Ebates?
* Simply sign up or log into your account.
* Click the "Coupons" tab to check for any special offers from the store you want to shop.
* If there are no special offers, click "Select a Store" on the left hand side of the site and find your store in the drop down menu.
* Click on the store's name and you're on your way to earning cash back on your purchases.

Note: It is very important that you go to the Ebates site first and shop through there, otherwise you can't earn the cash back as they have no way of tracking your order.

Have you used Ebates? What stores do you like to shop through Ebates with?

Weekly Spending Summary

Well, since we were on vacation, I'm a little off schedule, so this post is actually my spending for 8/14 - 8/20.

Total Spent: $47.24
Total Saved with Coupons: $39.38
Total Saved with Sales: $28.52
Total Saved: $67.90

CVS: $0 (gift card)
Saved with Coupons: $35.68
Saved with Sales: $22.28

My out of pocket for this would have been $3.77 had I not used a gift card that we earned through our credit card rewards program. I paid $3.99 for three of the packs of Huggies and $2.99 for the other one. And then to top it off, the Huggies was part of a promotion where if you spent $30 (before coupons) you got a $10 gas gift card. So I got that as well! The Twix and CVS bandages were free with coupons from the little CVS coupon printer machine in the store.

Giant: $7.20
Saved with Coupons: $1.70
Saved with Sales: $6.24

I've been watching for inexpensive grapes all summer because I've been wanting to make fruit slush. (I really need to post that recipe on here. It's such a refreshing thing to eat.) The sandwich flats are for our trip that we are taking. Here's my confession. I do not really enjoy cold sandwiches that much...unless they are made with sandwich thins. So when we go on trips that is one of the things I splurge on. I figure it is still cheaper and healthier than eating out!

Aldi: $12.92
I had to buy yet more sugar for canning. I'm planning to make applesauce in a couple of weeks and know I'll go through a lot then.


Walmart: $12.36
Saved with Coupons: $2.00

I decided to make my own marinara sauce this year. I'm skeptical that it was actually cheaper than buying it, but I enjoy doing that kind of thing AND I know what is in the stuff that I make. Plus, the homemade stuff is usually better than most of the brands that I can buy inexpensively. Anyway...that is what all the tomato paste was for. :) The fruit pectin was free after coupons. I'll save it and use it to make jelly next year.

Amazon: $14.76
This was for 96 oz. of honey, which in my opinion is a great price. I was really excited because I was almost out of honey and saw this deal. And hey, you can't beat getting honey shipped right to your door!

The Children's Place: FREE Shipping + 20% Off (8/29 Only!)

I was excited to see this sale. While I love finding clothes at yard sales, sometimes I simply don't have time to go and sometimes, well, it's just easier to buy brand new clothes online at really good prices. :)

Anyway, The Children's Place is offering FREE shipping on all orders today, 8/29, and if you use coupon code Y6E2011 at checkout, you can get an additional 20% off- even on clearance items! Plus if you shop through Ebates, you can earn an additional 2.5% cash back. No, it's not a lot, but it does add up!

A few things I found (some of these are under clearance and some are just mixed in with the regular sections):

$3.99 shipped


$2.39 shipped


$3.99 shipped

$0.79 shipped

Also, this time of year, you can often find great clearance deals at The Children's Place stores as well, so if you get the chance you might want to stop by. It's a great time to stock up for next year!

Vacation Time

I know I've been quiet on here this week and that is because we are on a week long vacation! Earlier I had thought I'd write some posts up ahead of time and then have them automatically post this week so that it wouldn't be completely dead on here. But, well, with canning 1 1/2 bu. peaches, doing 400 ears of corn, 2 bu. tomatoes plus all the normal stuff in the last couple of weeks I just simply ran out of steam and didn't get it done. And so, this week my blog is just going to enjoy a vacation. :)

Actually, Vince and I are enjoying an early 5th anniversary trip to the Boston area. We are thoroughly enjoying our time here and have taken in a whale watching cruise (we saw a LOT of them and it was amazing!), visited Plymouth Plantation (a great way to learn history for this non-history buff), taken a Segway tour of the city (this was a lot of fun!), as well as numerous other things. It's been a fun time, although I'm wondering how rested I'm going to feel when we're all done with all the running around we've been doing! It's okay though, it's still relaxing and we're making great memories. I wish I had some way to upload some pictures, but we actually haven't taken that many and I also failed to bring along the cord I need to upload the pictures from my camera.

I hope all of you are having a good week too!