If you plan on making some money online, making purchases, or sell things on Ebay, I strongly recommend getting Paypal. Paypal is basically an online bank and can be incredibly useful.

Here’s the skinny on why:

• It’s secure and widely used - Major sites like Amazon.com, Walmart, American Eagle, Dell, Buy.com, Newegg, Overstock.com, Footlocker, drugstore.com, and so many more! This means that you don’t have to put in your personal and credit information in all these sites. You just select Paypal as your method of checkout and then you’re done!
• Your information won’t be floating around the web - Personally, I don’t like giving my credit card info to so many sites since they’re not always secure.  Last year, the major clothing retailer Forever 21 got hacked and their customer’s credit info actually got stolen
• Faster, easier checkout - Rather than having to type out your whole credit card info, expiration date, etc, you simply just put in your Paypal username & password! It really can’t get any easier than this!
• Getting paid - If you plan to fill out surveys and etc online to make some extra cash, they usually have two payment options: check or Paypal. With a check, there is usually a delay for them to send it, roughly a few weeks. With Paypal, it can be instant or as little as  few days.
• Paypal’s “Buyer Protection” program - Paypal covers the full cost of your Ebay purchases if you don’t receive an item you pay for, the item is significantly different from what was described, etc.  It’s also great because sellers don’t get to see your personal information. 
• Paypal required for some Ebay items - 97% of Ebay sellers utilize an option that requires the buyer to have Paypal. People normally do this so the purchase is secure so if there are any issues, a refund can be issued without any problems. This is a great option for people who want to buy expensive items, like luxury handbags and etc because there are fakes out there so if you happen to come across one, you’ll get refunded without question.
• Paypal Mastercard & Debit Card - No annual fee, plenty of reward points, really can’t go wrong. This is really useful for people who make a lot of transactions on Paypal, like Ebay sellers.  Rather than constantly having your money transferred to your bank account so you can use it, you can just get a debit card or mastercard to make it that much easier! Nifty, right?
• FREE - It’s free, secure, and easy. Why not? 

CVS is by far my favorite drugstore. Their program is simple enough but it might be a little tough getting the hang of it in the beginning, so here are the basics!

The way CVS works is that they have a program called “Extra Care Bucks” (ECB). It’s basically credit you earn after you make a qualifying purchase. They’re printed at the end of your receipt and you can use them to purchase anything in the store, except for alcohol and prescriptions. Items that earn ECB are printed in the CVS circular that is delivered to your home once a week.

1. First thing you do, get a CVS Extra Care card! They’re free and takes only a minute to sign up. If you don’t do this, you won’t be able to use their Extra Care Bucks program. Not only this but you’ll receive 2% back on all your purchases, you can print exclusive coupons at the price scanner at CVS, AND if you sign up your CVS card at CVS.com, they will occassionally e-mail you additional coupons, like $5 off $15, $4 off $20, etc. 
2. Each week, a CVS circular with all the weekly deals are mailed to your house or can be found inside the Sunday newspaper. Make note of all the items that offer Extra Care Bucks (ECB) and any other items that interest you. 
3. Come to my site so you can make sure you have all the coupons and scenarios planned out. I say this because there are a good amount of online coupons on various sites so rather than going to each and every site, you can just come here for the latest deals. There is also the occassional hidden deals, etc. 
    

Here is a scenario:

These are a few things that was listed in my CVS Circular. 

Skintimate shaving cream for $2.50 earns $1.00 ECB
Crest Toothpaste for $2.88 earns $2.88 ECB
Act Mouthwash for $3.50 earns $2.00 

Lets say you buy just the Crest toothpaste (hopefully with coupons!). At the end of your receipt, it will say “Crest Toothpaste $2.88 ECB”.

You then use the $2.88 ECB to buy something else that offers ECB.

So Transaction #2:
You buy just the Act Mouthwash for $3.50, which earns $2.00 ECB

That means your total will be: $3.50 minus your $2.88 ECB from the Crest toothpaste = .62 cents along with the $2.00 ECB you earned from buying ACT.

And at the end of your receipt, you would’ve earned another $2.00 ECB to use for another purchase, like for the Skintimate ShavingCream since it also earns ECB! Basically, you just keep “rolling” your ECB’s to buy more and more products for a mere fraction of the cost. 

Don’t forget that you can also use coupons with your ECB! When this circular came out, I had a Crest toothpaste coupon AND a Act mouthwash coupon from the Sunday paper so not only am I getting items for mere pennies, the total money out-of-my-pocket (OOP) is even less.

* Here are a few tips to ensure maximum savings * 

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If the guide is hard to understand, please let me know! Feel free to ask me any questions you may have.