How To: Make Money Getting FREE stuff!

Money-makers are what we extreme couponers live for! What exactly constitutes a money maker (MM)? Anytime you are able to get the item(s) FREE plus get extra cash, that deal is a money-maker. Since a picture and example say it better, here is this week's Target Money-maker: (minus the Orbit Gum!) If you have questions, leave a comment or email me (frugalforyou @ gmail . com)

Buy 2 Venus Razors, Get $5 Gift Card
Buy 3 Olay Body Wash, Get $5 Gift Card
Subtotal: $14 + $17.50 = $31.50
Coupons: $4 + $12 = -$16
Pay Out of Pocket: $15.50
Get 2 Gift Cards: $10
Submit for Olay Rebate: $15
Make $10.50!!!

So you'll pay $15.50 but get $10 Target GC and $15 in the mail from the Rebate. You'll make $10.50 and get 5 products FREE! I'm using my extra money to pay for printer toner! I always try to find other ways to pay for high ticket items like these since they're so expensive.

Deal specifics: Visit Totally Target and Hip2Save for coupon match-ups and other scenarios! You can also buy coupons from Coupons by Dede or ebay (I've never done ebay).

The best money-makers are usually through mail-in rebates. But you can regularly get smaller ones using coupons for drugstore and grocery deals. At the store, if you buy an item and it costs less than the coupon you're using for it, the extra money you get is referred to as OVERAGE. You will have to buy other items to make up the "credit" your overage gives you. The store will NOT typically pay you cash for overage. (They did once at Winn-Dixie!) Most stores allow this. The easiest store to get overage is at Wal-Mart. When they won't let you get overage, simply ask them to "price the coupon down" or just let you get the item free by making the coupon equal the item price. (I personally don't think this is fair since the store will get reimbursed for the full value of the coupon, so you might as well get the full value of the coupon discounted to you, too. But most of the time, it's in your best interest to just let these arguments go, especially since you'll still get that item free.)

Combining coupons with ECB or RR deals at CVS and Walgreens, will get you money-makers too. You won't need to make up the credit the overage gives you, though. This is because you pay out-of-pocket costs up front to buy the item. Then after your receipt prints, you get your ECBs or RRs.

Example:
The ECB deal at CVS is: Buy for $5 and Get $5 ECBs.
Coupon you have is $3 off the item.
You'll pay $2 out-of-pocket (OOP) after the coupon.
Then they'll give you $5 ECBs
You'll make $3 MM with your ECBs, plus the item is FREE!

Recap: $5 (sale price) - $3Q = $2 OOP + $5 ECB => $3 MM!

You still had to put out $2 in real money. But now you have $5 in ECBs or CVS Money that you can use for anything at CVS. The beauty of ECB and RR deals is that you can start out with a small amount of real money. Once you get your ECBs and RRs then you can keep using these to pay for other ECB and RR deals. Essentially, you can rollover the same ECBs and RRs for years. I don't know of any better investment out there than this.

I hope this clarifies how money-makers work. Couponing can be a topsy-turvy world at times. It doesn't make much logical sense to buy something you don't need. But when it comes to money-makers, it really does. Getting overage or making money on rebates will lower your grocery spending and free up your budget for buying items you really do need. Just make sure to have a plan for what to do with those FREEBIES! Be creative and share the goodies: gifts, food pantry donations, toiletries for the women's shelter, hostess favors. You'll get paid to be a blessing! How's that for kingdom work!