free

9/29/2022- National Coffee Day Freebies

Abby H.

Today is National Coffee Day! I waited until the last minute to post because I was looking for the best deals and freebies to share.

Let’s start with a contest because everyone wants to be a winner! Win 1 of 20 $1,500 Gift Card AND 1-Year Coffee Supply.

Tomorrow, check Wendy’s app to get a FREE small Frosty-ccino with purchase. Woo Hoo! (Available for a limited time only at participating U.S. Wendy’s. Offer valid for a limited time only at participating U.S. Wendy’s. Offer must be redeemed via the Wendy’s App. Account registration required.)

7Eleven –  7Rewards loyalty members can get a free hot coffee of any size with the purchase of a baked good offer in the 7Now app.

85°C Bakery Cafe – Free coffee with the app

Barnes & Noble – Free hot or iced tall coffee with purchase of any bake case item on 9/29

Bruegger’s Bagels – Free coffee with any purchase in the app

Burger King – Free Small Iced Coffee with an app or online purchase of $1+ during breakfast hours thru 9/30

Circle K – Free coffee when you text FREE to 31310

Corner Bakery Cafe – Free hot or cold brewed coffee with purchase thru 10/1

Del Taco – Free coffee with any purchase till 11am in the Del Yeah! Rewards app

Dunkin‘ – Free medium hot or iced coffee with ANY purchase, exclusively for DD Perks members

Einstein Bros Bagels – Free drip coffee with any order placed in the app

IKEA – Free coffee or tea with IKEA Family

 

L’Oreal Consumer Participation Panel – Free Products

Abby H.

I have been a part of the L’Oreal Consumer Participation Panel for 13+ years.

They are currently looking for men and women, 18 years and older to test out hair care, hair styling, hair color, cosmetics, skincare, and sun care products from some of the hottest brands (L’Oreal, Kiehl’s, Lancome, Garnier, The Body Shop, Urban Decay, Clarisonic, and many more)! They offer both on-site and at-home testing (on-site valid for NJ, OH & IL only).

They send great prizes for completing studies as well. I’ve received Lancome cosmetics, Kiehls skincare, and Body Shop products as Thank You’s!

To learn more and sign up, click here.

P.Lushes is Back with a New Line of Fashionable Pets

Abby H.

We’ve been participating in Tryazon events for three+ years. We’ve gotten to try all sorts of fun toys, games, and food.  You can learn more about Tryazon here.

The P.Lushes are embarking on their latest adventure with a new Tryazon Featured Party opportunity from Spin Master! Pack your bags and explore the new Jet Setters collection, featuring Alexia Zara, special edition Mischa Von Mush, and limited edition Bella L’Phante. Collect all 9 brand new P.Lushes Pets!

Tryazon has 250 hosting spots open for this opportunity! Those selected get to receive a party pack with a variety of P.Lushes Pets to sample and share with friends and family, valued at $150+ in total!

Learn more and apply here.

 

9/26/2022 Weekly Meal Plan

Abby H.

0a5e9dab796cea8a07eabe4eb4795b9e.jpgI skipped meal planning last week. It was very busy, and there have been some kiddo-related issues that I’ve been dealing with, as well as working extra hours in the morning at my day job.

I hit up the grocery store on Sunday for milk, bread, and a couple things for school lunches. Again this week but we’re eating out of the pantry and our  Yasukochi Family Farms CSA box, which will be delivered this afternoon.

I did a mini bundle at Dream Dinners this month, and we’ll be enjoying a few of those meals as well.

We’ve been trying a lot of new foods lately, thanks to the really great freebies from Social Nature lately too. It’s fun to try new foods. I picked up 5 new products to try this week at Sprouts last night using my Social Nature coupons!

For those of you that are new to meal planning, I’ve got an easy 101 style post here with super easy tips and steps. After you get that down, here is info about batch or freezer cooking.

I’ve gotten a pretty good inventory of the pantry, freezer, and fridge done (I try to update it after every shopping trip), so I’m able to plan meals and use up what we’ve got with little waste.

I only post our dinner plans for the week, because our other meals are usually the same each day.

Breakfast: Coffee with 1/2 and 1/2  for me, and pancakes or something along those lines for the kids. They are also into fruit and bagels for breakfast. Lately, the big kid has been digging protein shakes in the morning. This is his favorite kind. 

Lunch: I have a plastic tote in the cupboard full of self-serve snacks. I buy treats and snacks in bulk and fill up snack-sized zip-top bags. These snacks make up most of the kid’s lunches during the school week. School lunches are still free, but on most days, they prefer to bring their lunches from home.

Dinner: Now that school is in session and our weekday schedule is cemented, I’m using one weekend morning to do some baking/side dish meal prep, and Monday afternoons after school/work to prep the CSA box goodies.  As the price of groceries goes up, I find myself buying less meat, relying more on sale/clearance prices, and repurposing leftovers.

  • Monday: Dream Dinners Jambalaya (no shrimp for me), roasted veggies

  • Tuesday:  Breakfast for dinner (bagels, fresh fruit salad, protein shakes)

  • Wednesday: Loaded Smashed Potatoes – we didn’t have them last week, Salad

  • Thursday:   Chef Salad, garlic cheese toast

  • Friday: Takeout night!
  • Saturday:  Leftovers
  • Sunday: Dream Dinners Central Park Chicken with Creamed Peas, fruit salad

$50 Eyewear Credit with Warby Parker!

Abby H.

Warby Parker makes incredibly tasteful and fashionable eyewear, they also sell contact lenses, and they’ve got a great deal!

Buy an annual supply of contact lenses, and receive a $50 eyewear bonus! No matter the brand or lens type, receive a $50 credit—good to use on any eyeglasses or sunglasses—when you buy an annual supply of contacts from Warby Parker.

The adults in our family wear Warby Parker glasses and Scout Contact Lenses (You can score a free sample of Scout contacts here).

Warby Parker has cool frames, regardless of your style or frame size requirements.

It’s almost that time for new glasses in our house, so I’ll definitely be checking out this deal myself!

9/23/2022 Friday Freebies and Deals

Abby H.

Again this week we’ve had a lot of kiddo-based stuff happen, and I’m picking up more hours at work, so I haven’t had the energy to blog much.

Never fear, I’ve got Freebies and Deals for you!

Don’t forget all of the 2022 Birthday Freebies! Make sure to check this article out and sign up for birthday freebies at least 2-3 weeks before your birthday.

Freebies:

Free Moroccanoil Hydrating Mask & LesserEveil Puff Samples
Free Goody Bag at buybuy BABY Stores
Free Haircut at Sport Clips

Free Sample of TruSkin Vitamin C Facial Serum

Free Huggies Potty Training Kit
Free Ithaca Hummus Squeeze Hummus
Free Baby Samples & Full Sized Products from Amazon
Free Axe Antiperspirant Stick or Dry Spray Sample
Focus Group Pays with Visa Debit Cards
Free Sample of Enfagrow Toddler Formula
Educators – Free LGBTQ-Inclusive Books
Free Dunham’s Gift Card Giveaway
Free Body Care Gift at Bath & Body Works
Free Food & Drinks at Circle K
Free Chiki Organic Product
Teachers – Free Zollipops for Your Class
Free Fragrance Samples from Macy’s
Bed Bath & Beyond Wedding Registry Freebies
Free Natean Toothpaste at Walmart
Free Pizookie at BJ’s
Free Small Combo Meal at Taco John’s
5 Free Tickets to SeaQuest Aquarium
Free Big Zax Snak Meal at Zaxby’s
Free Bad Athletics Scary Strong Sticker
Free Tarte Foundation
Free Blind Fate: Edo no Yami – Dojo PC Game
Free Teach Your Monster to Read App
25 Free Disney Movie Insiders Points

 

Deals:

Womens Shoes 75% Off – Only $9 Free Shipping
Halloween Costumes for $5 at Walmart
Cookie Prep Set 17-Piece ONLY $10.13 (Reg $29)
Surprise Toy Mini Brands Collectors Case ONLY $5.70 (Reg $10)
Vitafusion Gummy Vitamins ONLY $6.99 (Reg. $15.99)
Get 3 Free Audiobooks
Men’s 2-Piece Pajama Set ONLY $10 (Reg $40)
Coach Umbrella’s Only $26.52 + Free Shipping (reg $78)
Flat Top Gas Grill Griddle ONLY $149.00 (Reg $300)
Ring Alarm Starter Kit 1st Gen ONLY $99 (Reg $200)
Lights & Easy Robot Vacuum Cleaner ONLY $149.99 (Reg $350)
Gibson 30-pc Ceramic Dinnerware Set ONLY $55.99 (Reg $120)
Get Rewarded for Paying Your Rent – Free $30 at Sign Up

Craftsy Fall Flash Sale!

Abby H.

Welcome Fall Flash Sale! All Classes 70% Off!    ** This post also contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. 

Craftsy is back at it!

Now through 9/28/2022, all classes are up to 70% off with code FALL70 at checkout.

I’ve been a Craftsy fan for years. They have incredible classes on so many topics from sewing, painting, and beading, to cabinet making and woodworking.

And if you are looking to check out some free classes, Craftsy has over 60 Free classes on a variety of subjects.

Q-insights Education study -It pays $175

Abby H.

QI-logoNOslogan.pngQ-insights is another company where I do research groups, focus groups, and online surveys to earn extra money.

They have a lot of stuff in South Orange County, and less often San Diego County. This study takes place virtually.

Q-insights is currently recruiting for a 90 min. online focus group with Parents, Teen friendship Pairs.

The study will run from Oct 10th to Oct 21st, and each will be compensated $175.00 as a thank you for your time

If you are interested in participating, please fill out the survey here to see if you qualify.

Using CVS Offers to Your Advantage! How I Paid $5.47 for Over $50 in products!

Abby H.

I have posted about it before, and I am a huge fan of CVS. They have their CarePass, which is pretty inexpensive ($5-ish a month or $48/year if you pay for it all at once).  One of the perks is you get a $10 ExtraCare Bucks each month, for a total of $120 per year. I posted about it before but I got more information here, and overall I think it’s a pretty great deal.

You probably also remember one of the reasons that I love CVS is they have Pharmacy and Health Rewards. When you fill 10 prescriptions at their pharmacy you receive a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks that you can spend any place in the store.

With the number of prescriptions my family has, we earn a $5.00 ExtraCare Bucks every two months. Which is pretty decent. Between the CarePass, and Pharmacy and Health Rewards, we usually have between 10 and $15 in “free“ money to spend at CVS at any given time.

I went in this morning to go pick up a prescription and noticed that they had a lot of snacks on sale/marked down, and with ExtraCare Bucks rewards. I quickly scrolled through my CVS app and noticed I had six dollars off any purchase of $30 or more and my $10 CarePass ExtraCare Bucks, and a $5.00 Pharmacy ExtraCare Bucks Reward.

Knowing that we needed both cereal and snacks and I walked up and down the snack/cereal aisle and quickly set upon a plan.

  • Chips Ahoy and Oreo cookies are 2/$7 or 2/$8 (depending on the product) this week. When you buy two select, you’ll receive a $2 ExtraCare Bucks (limit one per person/account). My kids loved both Oreos and Chips Ahoy, so I picked two of each.
  • We were also out of Motts fruit snacks, and they are buy one get one free so I snagged two boxes as well.
  • Rice crispy treats are buy one get one free, so I grabbed two of those.
  • Cereal was on sale buy one box get one free with select Kellogg’s varieties, so I grabbed two boxes as well.

Now, this may look like a lot of junk food, but this is about three weeks’ worth of stuff to go in lunches (and about 2 weeks worth of cereal for me). The cereal is for me, but the rest is going to go in kid’s lunches or be available for snacks- I portion out the snacks and put them into the snack box in the cupboard. I will be hiding about half of it so that they don’t know we have tons of it and just mow through it.

As you can see by looking at the video about and all the stuff I got, it’s a pretty substantial amount. I ended up paying $9.47 out of pocket, and I received $4.00 back in ExtraCare Bucks.

$2.00 for purchasing to select Nabisco Oreo cookies, and a second $2 ExtraCare Bucks for purchasing two chocolate bars, cookies, select chips ahoy, or premium crackers.

Making my grand total after ExtraCare Bucks $5.47. That is one heck of a deal. I’ve also submitted my receipt to Fetch Rewards for points, and to Receipt Hog for points!

And I was in and out of the store in less than 20 minutes (including time to wait in line to pay). Doing drug store deals doesn’t have to be long and tedious. And sometimes it’s a small deal.

It’s worth the time to download the CVS app, join the ExtraCare club to save money, and join CarePass. You’ll find deals weekly (or monthly in my case when I go in). You’ll be saving money in no time!

2 Q-insights Upcoming studies!

Abby H.

QI-logoNOslogan.pngQ-insights is another company where I do research groups, focus groups, and online surveys to earn extra money.

They have a lot of stuff in South Orange County, and less often San Diego County.  Both of these upcoming studies take place virtually!

If you are interested in participating please fill out the links below. If you pre-qualify someone from Q-insights will call you to ask some additional qualifying questions.

Study 1: An online 90 min focus group.

Alcohol Beverages – The study will run from Oct. 3rd to Oct. 5th and you will be compensated $125 dollars for your time. Pre-Screener survey here. 

Study 2: An online 90 min focus group.

Nutritional Drinks- The study will run from Oct 4th-Oct 6th  and you will be compensated $150.00 as a thank you for your time. Pre-Screener survey here.