I love me some free photos! Photo gifts are THE BEST for grandparents and other relatives that don’t live close by.
Right now Shutterfly is giving away 101 free 4×6 prints when you use coupon code CARROT by April 7, 2015. You are still responsible for shipping and taxes, but it’s usually less than $5.00 all in!
I order 2 sets of 50, plus 1 extra photo (usually of something silly for my purse to share with friends). Then when the photos arrive, I separate the sets, and fill two inexpensive photo albums (usually less than $5/each at Michael’s with a 40% off coupon). Then I have two great holiday gifts! One for each set of Grandparents! If you are anything like my family, you have TONS of photos on your phone or camera that you *need* to print!
To get started on your ordering your free 101 prints, click here.
Right now, most 99 Cents Only locations have Dole Fruit & Oatmeal for 99 Cents a 2 pack.
A Facebook fan told me these retail for $2.00 a pack at the mainstream grocery store- that’s nuts!
Here is a way you can score these little beauties for free- and make .50 on each package!
There is a Snap By Groupon rebate for $1.50 back! Which means you pay $.99, submit for the $1.50 Snap Rebate and it’s a .50 Money maker (and there is no limit as to how many you can purchase and receive the rebate on).
Not a SNAP by Groupon member, You can sign up here! SNAP by Groupon is an app for your enabled device that gives you cash back when you buy specific items (at any store!)- items change about once a month, and there is always in interesting mix of items, including fresh fruits and veggies! You can cash out once you reach $20 in savings!
I tried one of these oatmeal cups this morning, and it was pretty good (but a little sweet). They’d be great to stash in your desk at work, or to donate to a food bank or shelter. Deals like this are just one way that you can help others and maintain your food budget!
Got piles of clothes stashed in a closet that the family has outgrown or are no longer worn? Have you thought about participating in a clothing swap? For those who aren’t familiar with clothing swaps, it’s a pretty cool concept:
Gather friends, family, co-workers and everyone brings their unwanted clothes, shoes, and accessories. For each item you bring, you receive 1 ticket. Each ticket is exchangeable to another piece of clothing, accessory, or pair of shoes. You bring ten items, you get ten tickets, you leave with ten items.
You can do kids clothing, women’s, men’s, whatever your group of friends is interested in doing.
There are a bunch of already established clothing swaps in San Diego.
Kinders Keepers is a fun clothing swap group in San Diego that meets quarterly. You can learn more on their Facebook page here.
The Sonrise Church in Santee has a clothing swap too! One for kids clothes, and another for women’s clothing. Miss Charity’s Closet & Little Blessings Boutique 2nd Saturday of every month at 9:00 am
Contact Charity Murphy for more info clmurphy71@gmail.com
Not strictly clothing related, there is the San Diego Really, Really Free Market. They also meet about once a quarter in various areas around town.
Also not strictly Clothing Related, but one of my favorite give back orgs is the Buy Nothing Project. There are chapters all over the US, and we have a few here in San Diego. I’ve been able to share clothes, panty staples we no longer needed, Lil’ Man’s outgrown toys and clothes.
If you don’t want to wait for an upcoming swap, check out consignment or resale shops! Just last week, I took some items over to Conceptions Children’s Resale. It’s a nice resale shop in Santee, I take a lot of Lil’ Man’s outgrown clothes and toys. In exchange I get 50% of the price they will sell the items for when I chose to receive Store Credit. Since #2 is on the way, I’ll usually take store credit. You can keep credit on file too. I’m saving mine up! There are tons of kid’s resale shops across the US, I bet there is one close to you. There are consignment or resale shops for adults too!
And of course… don’t forget Freecycle. Do a quick google search for Clothing swap + the name of your city.
What are some of your favorite money saving strategies when it comes to keeping the family clothed?
UPDATED 2018 My birthday has already passed, and this year was the first year I didn’t redeem all of my birthday freebies. Between all the awesome things going on in life (Preschool, the new baby coming, and not having the energy to get off my butt and cruise all over town), I stuck mostly to the awesome free stuff that was close to the house. I wanted to share with ya’ll all the sweet stuff you can score for free just fer having a birthday!
I recommend signing up for these freebies at least a month before your birthday, so there is enough time for you to be added to their list. I have included only the freebies that I have signed up for and personally received in 2015, so there is no bunk.
Most of these offers can be redeemed any time during your birthday month, so no need to cram all of this excitement into one day! I try to pull together offers that are close to one another 3-4 a day once or twice a week in February, combined with my regular errands.
DSW Shoe Warehouse – $5 off birthday coupon, plus 500 points for signing up for their loyalty club.
If you’ve got kids, sign up forGeoffry’s Birthday Club at Toys R Us. Your child will receive a card in the mail, a gift certificate and coupons to use in store.
Members of the Cost Plus World Market Explorers program get a surprise birthday gift, among other perks; you will also get a 10% off coupon upon enrollment.
Members of the AMC Theater loyalty club, AMC Stubs receive a special surprise for their birthday. (Stubs costs $12/year to join)
Torrid– Members of the DivaStyle Club will receive $10 off their next purchase of $10+
K-Mart Kids Club: Your kiddo will get $5.00 coupon to spend in the store and other birthday goodies!
Old Navy: Sign up for their email list and they’ll send you a $5.00 off coupon to use in store. You can also sign your kids up too! Scroll all the way to the “Sign up and Save” box at the bottom of the page.
Free Food Noms:
Red Robin: FREE burger on your birthday and all the latest Red Robin news.
Cold Stone Creamery: Free ice cream on your birthday when you buy one at regular price.
Del Taco Free Shake (You also get something free when you sign up!)
Starbucks – register a free Starbucks Card and get a free birthday handcrafted beverage of your choice(as well as other goodies throughout the year).
Benihana Japanese Restaurant – complimentary meal up to $30 when you purchase an Adult meal at Regular Price (You must sign up for The Chef’s Table club) . This used to be a FREE meal, no strings attached, it was changed last year.
Sprinkles: Get a free cupcake for your birthday when you join the Sprinkles birthday club.
Pita Pit: Free Pita for your birthday when you join the Pita Pit E-Club!
Some offers that I have been told about but no longer exist include: free tokens for the b-day kid at Chuck E. Cheese, free cheeseburger at Fuddruckers (now it’s a BOGO), Free cake at Corner Bakery Cafe (It’s a free dessert WYB an entree), free brow wax at the Benefit Brow Bar.
I live in Southern CA, so I have different offers than other websites, because not all establishments that offer freebies are nationwide. Please leave your favorite birthday freebies in the comment section of this post!
A freebie from your utility company? Sounds weird, but it’s true. If you live in San Diego County, you can score a Complimentary Water And Energy-Savings Kit. It includes a brochure with tips, three faucet aerators, and a low-flow showerhead to help you save energy and water. These devices allow air to enter into the water stream, maintaining a high-pressure flow while reducing water usage.
I get asked a lot, “How do you get so much awesome stuff for free?” I could lie and tell you it’s my good looks, but really, it’s because I belong to a couple of really awesome Word of Mouth Marketing companies. Word of Mouth (WOM) Marketing- It’s not a new concept, but nowadays companies are starting to realize how powerful consumer recommendations can be. Remember the “I told two friends, and they told two friends” commercial from the 1980’s? That’s word of mouth marketing. Since the invention of the internet, WOM marketing has been amplified.
There are companies that connect consumers with companies and products looking to market directly to a specific cross-section of the population. What does that mean for you? Sign up with a WOM Marketing company and when they have products that someone like you would like and use, and they will have you complete a brief survey and send you the product.
Often times, the product they will send you will be full size. Additionally, they will send marketing materials with talking points for you to share with friends. Depending on the product, samples and coupons may be included! Once you receive your kit, you try out the products and “bzz” about them by posting on FB, Twitter, G+, or on your blog. You can also “bzz” face to face. When I get a lot of coupons in a kit, often times I’ll “Coupon Fairy” when I’m at the store (that’s a term for leaving coupons on the shelf next to the corresponding item). You report back to Bzzagent when you share/”bzz”.
The BzzAgent bee looks Angry, but he’s just determined to find some sweet deals
My favorite WOM Marketing by far is Bzzagent. Bzzagent was founded in 2007 and they work with a lot of great national brands. In the past I’ve received diapers, wipes, beer, frozen food, razors, cereal, and tons of other awesome stuff to try and share with my friends.
The Campaign I’ve got right now is for Kroger brand products. For those of you who are thinking, “Kroger??” Kroger is the company that owns a bunch of grocery stores across the US, including Ralphs and Food4Less here in So. Cal. Like most major grocery store chains, they have quite a number of private label (formerly known as generic or store) brands.
Kroger is no slouch, check out the wide variety of their Private Label Brands:
Kroger® Brand: The classic Kroger® Brand has you covered with the products you love most in every section of your local store.
Private Selection™: Each Private Selection item has been carefully crafted to delight your senses — from the artisanal breads and cheeses to prime meat cuts and decadent desserts.
Simple Truth™ & Simple Truth Organic™: Every Simple Truth product is free from 101+ artificial preservatives and ingredients — taking the worry out of what’s in your food.
HemisFares: Kroger’s culinary explorers traveled the globe to bring you an extraordinary collection of authentic, regional food specialties.
Everyday Low Price Brands: On a tight budget? Look for P$$T…™, Check This Out…™ and Heritage Farm™ items throughout your local store to discover great prices on everyday essentials.
My BzzKit contained:
Kroger® Brand Tomatillo Lime Flavored Tortillas
Simple Truth™ Banana Chips
P$$T…™ Brownie Mix
Private Selection™ Coffee (I got Breakfast Blend)
Coupons for FREE Bacon, Pasta, and Mexican Cooking Sauce
This morning I made the Brownies up as cupcakes (perfect for portion control). They are super fudgey and chewy- YUM! I’m setting the rest aside for dessert tonight- I’ll be pairing them with fresh berries and Fat Free Cool-Whip.
I’ll be cutting up the tortillas and baking them to give them some crunch to top our taco salads tonight.
There are quite a few other WOM Marketing Companies such as Smiley 360, Houseparty, Influenster, MomsMeet, and VocalPoint, but I find that overall Bzzagent provides the better campaigns and they have more kits to supply so more people can try out products. Some other WOM Marketing companies make you jump through hoops to get campaigns for example: Locate products on shelves and take a selfie with them in store, post to your blog, FB, or other Social Media outlets before you are considered or approved for a campaign. That’s just too much work for my tastes, especially when you aren’t guaranteed a spot if you do all of those things!
WOM Marketing is just one way I score free stuff to share with others and stretch our family budget.
I am all about picking up new skills and discovering new patterns, especially when they are free! Craftsy (which is an awesome repository of crafting and cooking classes) has a section dedicated to free classes. They also have a section dedicated to free patterns! What I really like is that you can take as many free classes and download as many free patterns as you like.
One of the ways that I stretch our grocery budget is by keeping my eyes out for items that are free after coupons and store sales.
Some companies make it a little easier by offering a weekly freebie. Now sometimes the freebie is something you’re family will eat, and sometimes… Well, sometimes it’s not. Like this week.
Ralphs (or Kroger, depending on where you live) offers a free item each Friday. You simply go to Ralphs.com, log onto your ralphs account, load the coupon to your ralphs card and redeem the coupon within 2 weeks. This week it’s:
Blergh. If you need Easter Basket filler, or have a crazy sweet tooth, this might be perfect for you. I however, will pass.
The other weekly freebie is from Savingstar. It’s a Smartphone app that gives you cash back for buying specific items. You can use coupons with Savingstar to double dip (or in laymen’s terms save TWICE). Check the app, add the items you want, shop at one of the stores Savingstar works with (there is a list on their website), then come home and upload a photo of your items UPC and receipt. When you reach $10.00 in savings in your account you can opt for a paypal payout or buy gift cards (like Subway, iTunes, or Starbucks to name just a few). Savingstar doesn’t have a lot of food we eat, but it’s nice to earn a little extra cash back whenever we can.
Each week, also on Friday, Savingstar has a 100% cashback offer (which means it’s free after rebate!). This week, it’s:
1.61 oz. Almond Joy® Milk Chocolate Coconut & Almonds OR 1.75 oz. Mounds® Coconut Filled Dark Chocolate candy bar.
For either weekly freebie, it’s usually something with a value of $2.00 or less. It’s a marketing technique to get you into the store to buy other stuff. BUT- you don’t have to. Be strong!
If you are looking for other free stuff, I like the following sites: Freestufftimes.com and MySavings. There are a lot of sites that offer free samples, so keep your eyes out! I like to order free samples of new products because most of the time they come with high value coupons. Sample sized toiletries are also great for traveling, camping, or making blessing bags (which I will post about later).
I love me some free photos! Photo gifts are THE BEST for grandparents and other relatives that don’t live close by.
Got piles of clothes stashed in a closet that the family has outgrown or are no longer worn? Have you thought about participating in a clothing swap? For those who aren’t familiar with clothing swaps, it’s a pretty cool concept:
Hewes Family Fun 