So this year there are not too many Earth Day Freebies. Earth Day is 4/22/15, but most events are taking place this weekend.
There are a lot of fun earth Day Events around San Diego, including the Earth Fair in Balboa Park (which is FREE)!
Now if you can’t make it out today, the fun continues throughout the month. San Diego Family Magazine has a list of events here.
If you are on the hunt for freebies the only one that’s confirmed for San Diego, CA area stores is the free reusable grocery bag from the Disney Store! On Wednesday the 22nd, visit your local Disney Store to receive ONE FREE Reusable Bag when you come in and recycle 5 plastic shopping bags. In the past the bag has featured Cars (Lil’ Man’s favorite) or Apes (from a Disney Nature movie). I’m unsure what this years design features.
Origins Confirmed that they are not having a free Earth Day item, however, per their tweet to me: “We are offering a FREE reusable tote with any purchase!”
Starbucks has not responded to my tweet asking if they are offering a free cup of coffee when you bring in a reusable cup. At this point, I would not count on it.
Not Strictly Earth Day Related, but I know ya’ll love a free RedBox Code! Text SHOPS to 727272 to get a unique coupon code for a free Redbox 1-day DVD rental (or $1.50 off your Blu-ray rental).
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.
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?
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).
So this year there are not too many Earth Day Freebies. Earth Day is 4/22/15, but most events are taking place this weekend.
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 