I’m not much for entering contests and I’ve never even played North Carolina’s lottery. But I have been known to enter a drawing now and then when I thought my chances were good. Click here to read a post about my thoughts on contest strategy. But in a nutshell, if the prizes are plentiful and/or the entries few, I will enter a contest.
And that’s exactly how I won the Earth Day contest at CVS.
I picked up my winnings today and couldn’t believe how generous the prize package was. This is what I got: an eight-pack of two-ply paper towels, a 12-pack of one-ply toilet paper, a package of 250 napkins, a package of 12 lawn and leaf bags, a package of 12 tall kitchen bags, a package of 20 bowls, a package of 15 paper plates and two reusable shopping bags.
The paper towels, toilet tissue and napkins are made of 100 percent recycled material. The plates and bowls are made from sugarcane and are biodegradable. And the trash bags are also biodegradable and made from recycled plastic.
What a (cheap) thrill. OK, now you know exactly how much of a frugal geek I am.
I had almost forgotten about the contest when I got the good news yesterday via telephone.
In honor of Earth Day, each CVS store offered customers a chance to win a selection of its Earth Essentials and Go Green recycled products. For each entry, you had to purchase one of the drug store’s reusable bags. The day I entered, I peered into the reusable bag holding the entries and there were only two slips of paper. Opportunity was definitely knocking.
I bought a few bags at 99 cents each, and the cashier asked me if I’d like to use the 50-cent coupon attached to each bag. Until he told me, I didn’t even know there was a coupon on the bag! So for 49 cents each, I entered the contest and got a great reusable bag. I could feel the good karma percolating.
I’m not exactly sure how much the items I won are worth but I’d estimate the value of the paper goods at more than $30. Not a bad return on my investment.
As I said: a cheap thrill.
Free to be Frugal 
