The easiest way is sadly through Facebook. The quests are previous tough levels with tougher goals to beat it and paying is paying, even though I believe it’s only $0.99
For the iphone, I just set it a day in advance, open up candy crush, get my lives, then go back and set it back to the present day and go back and play with full lives.
A color bomb by itself really isn’t that great of a special candy. Taking a color of the board is effective for a few levels, but meaningless in a lot more.
Another good tip to not waste lives on mobile devices, as long as it’s not a timed level, is to look at the board to see if it’s favorable before you make your first move. If you don’t make a move and leave the level, you won’t lose a life.