Free Stuff Category

« Older Entries
Friday, January 1st, 2010

Fun Stuff Friday: SwagBucks

After reading about SwagBucks on the Southern Savers blog, I decided to sign up.  Basically, you earn this virtual money (called SwagBucks) via online activity.  And you can redeem this virtual money for various prizes.  My plan is to use it on Amazon.com gift cards so I can get mp3s and video on demand for free.  You only have to earn 45 SwagBucks to get a $5 Amazon card, which will pay for 4-5 songs, a couple of TV episodes (like Glee!), or a movie.  I’ve already earned 3 for signing up, several for searching, and I’m trading in an old cell phone for 50.  You can earn them by shopping online, too.  All kinds of opportunities out there!

If you’re interested, go herSearch & Wine and sign up.  (And just in the interest of full disclosure, I do get SwagBucks for referring people, but I think it’s worth doing or I wouldn’t recommend it!)

And if you’re using SwagBucks, fill me in…how has it worked for you?  How long did it take you to earn 45 and what have you gotten from them?

Posted in Free Stuff, Fun Stuff Friday | 1 Comment »

Friday, August 28th, 2009

Fun Stuff Friday — FREE Bowling

This one’s a little late and won’t last much longer, but you may be able to get a few games in!  Last Friday my oldest son had a day off of school and we intended to take a day trip to the beach.  But then we were concerned about rough water due to Hurricane Bill and scrapped our plans the night before.  My husband had already planned the day off, so he wanted to do something anyway.  I dug through some old emails and found one a friend had sent about free kids bowling for the summer.  My oldest has been invited to a couple of bowling parties recently and really enjoyed them so I thought that sounded like a winning plan.

The website is http://www.kidsbowlfree.com.  The closest free bowling location to Sanford was in Cary, so we printed the coupons, loaded up the van, and headed up Highway 1.  I was pleasantly surprised when I saw a sign on the door that said the bowling alley was now smoke free, since having 3 kids with asthma makes me more than a little paranoid about them breathing cigarette smoke.  It was clean, the employees were great, and the kids had a lot of fun.

I think this is good through August 31, so if you have a chance to do it in the next few days, it’s worth the trip to Cary!

Posted in Free Stuff, Fun Stuff Friday, Sites to See | No Comments »

Friday, August 21st, 2009

Free iTunes Music

Become a fan of iTunes on Facebook and receive 20 free songs by indie artists. I’ll be honest and tell you that most of the music was not my style (including one rap song that freely used the n-word over and over and over again, so be careful before listening in front of your kids) but there were several that I liked and a couple of new songs I hadn’t heard before from artists I already like.  I’m all about the indie music AND the free, so I’m a happy girl tonight!

Posted in Free Stuff, On My iPod | No Comments »

Thursday, August 20th, 2009

Thrifty Thursday — Coupon Stacking

Last month I was invited to a “coupon party” where someone taught me how to save a lot of money by using coupons.  Initially I was skeptical…I thought it was a waste of time, that I couldn’t find coupons for the things I use, that I saved more money using generic, etc.  Now I feel compelled to share what I learned because it’s already saved me a ton of money!  Bear in mind that I am a newbie at this, so I’m still learning myself.  Hopefully this info will be useful to someone else.

On Monday afternoon, I went to the Lowe’s Foods here in Sanford and got:

  • 4 single serve packs of Whitehouse applesauce.  That’s 24 applesauce cups total.
  • 4 cans of Chef Boyardee canned pasta.
  • 2 boxes of Uncrustables.  That is 8 sandwiches total.
  • 1 box of Snyder’s pretzel snack packs.  That’s 10 small bags of pretzels.

Do you know how much that would cost without coupons or sale prices?  At Lowe’s, these items would come to a total of $23.17, without tax.  I paid $6.61, plus tax.  That’s a savings of almost 78%.

So how did I do it?  For all of these items, I had both a Lowe’s store coupon that saved me some money off of the regular price, some giving me a discount even on the sale price.  And then I had manufacturer’s coupons on top of that.  This is called coupon stacking.  Usually (not always…check with the store) a store that puts out it’s own coupons will let you “stack” manufacturer’s coupons on top of theirs, allowing you to save big.

Take for example the Uncrustables, normally $3.09 per box.  The Lowe’s coupon made them $2.00 each.  I also had a coupon that allowed me to save 75¢ per box.  Because Lowe’s doubles manufacturer’s coupons up to 99¢, this saved me $1.50 per package.

So the final breakdown is:

  • $3.09 each (or about 77¢ per sandwich)
  • minus $1.09 for store coupon = $2 each
  • minus $1.50 for manufacturer coupon = 50¢ total for each box (or about 12.5¢ per sandwich)

If I’ve done my math correctly, that is an 84% savings on that item alone.  And yes, this is an item I will use.  They’re great for days when we’re running behind and can’t take time to put lunch together.  Normally I can’t afford them, but with coupon stacking I can buy a few boxes to keep for those rough mornings!

Posted in Couponing, Food/Recipes, Free Stuff, Money/Finances, Thrifty Thursday | 4 Comments »

Friday, August 14th, 2009

Fun Stuff Friday — BCC

You’ve read gushing about my church before.  Starting this Sunday, they’ll be giving away $50 Walmart gift cards to 50 families visiting for the first time.  So if you’re looking for something non-traditional, filled with Christ-followers (don’t call us Christians!), and LOTS of fun, BCC may be just what you want.

The series starting Sunday is going to be a lot of fun…Finding God in your iPod.  I am personally not a contemporary Christian music girl, so hearing Nickelback, Jack’s Mannequin, Kings of Leon and more linked to my faith really appeal to me…it’s a good reminder that God is everywhere, that we don’t need to isolate ourselves from the rest of the world to find Him.

You can find Brickcity Community Church on Burns Drive, near the intersection of Burns and Hawkins, right across from the Coca Cola plant.  Services are at 9:30 and 11:00 Sunday mornings and you can come as you are…jeans and t-shirts are perfectly acceptable!  We have a coffee bar in the lobby where you can order your favorite coffee drink or a yummy smoothie.  The kid’s programs are a ton of fun and even my very attached children go willingly into their rooms each Sunday.  Every time we get on the road that takes us to the church my 3 year old gets all excited and asks if it’s Sunday…I hate having to tell him it’s not because he gets so sad!

And if you think I’m slightly crazy or weird for saying church is fun, trust me…I was there a year ago.  I thought anyone who enjoyed church was slightly strange.  Apparently it’s just a matter of finding the right one.  For us, that was BCC.

Posted in Faith/Religion, Free Stuff, Fun Stuff Friday | No Comments »

Friday, March 27th, 2009

The Museum of Natural Sciences

Since intersession is almost over and we’d done practically none of the educational things I’d had big dreams of doing, we got our butts in gear yesterday and headed to Raleigh for a day at the museum.  We chose the Museum of Natural Sciences because it sounded the most interesting for a 6 year old.  Admission is free, so except for the gas we burned on the trip and the $4 parking fee (oh, and the coffee I had to buy to stave off a caffeine headache) it was free family fun!  We left Sanford after an early lunch at home and were able to see the entire museum and make it home for dinner.

I don’t have the energy to write a full review, but some of the highlights were:

  • The 5 whale skeletons.  It gives you an amazing perspective of the true size of these animals!
  • A giant ground sloth skeleton.  I never really thought much about them, but assumed they weren’t much bigger than a sloth you’d see today.  So very wrong on this one!  They were HUGE!
  • Various dinosaur bones and skeletons.  My kids love dinosaurs, so they really enjoyed these.
  • The “Meet the Animals” show where they brought out real snakes for the kids to see and touch, as well as explaining why we shouldn’t be scared of them.  (That didn’t stop me from nearly having a panic attack when he pulled out the first snake, though!)
  • Seeing many venomous and non-venomous snakes behind glass, so they’re a bit easier to identify out in the real world.  The only venomous snake that’s common in Lee County is the copperhead, by the way.  And now that I know what one looks like, maybe I won’t freak out if another benign snake gets in my house!
  • The giant *live* cockroaches.  We frequently saw palmetto bugs (which is a nice name for giant, ugly roach) when we lived in SC and those things terrified me, but they’ve got nothing on the ones we saw yesterday!
  • The Discovery Room where the kids could play and touch everything.  They really enjoyed that.
  • The Living Conservatory, which houses butterflies and other living things.

We thought it was a great little trip and both of the boys enjoyed it.  I’m not sure they learned much, but it was a lot of fun and certainly more educational than sitting around and watching TV, which is what was the most likely thing to happen since it rained pretty much all day.  Worth the drive, for sure!

Posted in Free Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, Sanford, Sites to See, Travel | No Comments »

Thursday, November 20th, 2008

Need to feel like a winner?

I have been desperately searching for inexpensive baby leg warmers for my 2 year old.  These are very popular with those “trendy” moms out there and several people recommended I get a couple of pairs to help with the potty training.  Once I got the concept, it made total sense.  It’s too cold in our house for him to walk around pantsless so he needs some sort of covering, but it’s so much easier if he doesn’t have pants on to teach him to potty.  See the dilemma?

So these little leg warmers cover him up, but keep the pertinent potty parts much more accessible.  But it’s hard to find them for boys at a reasonable price.  I’m sorry, I can’t afford to pay $10+ a pair right now!  Then someone directed me to babySNAZZ where I found some on sale and got a couple of pairs at a *very* good price.  And then I saw that they are also running a contest to award 20 pairs of these things!  I could get more for him to wear while he potty learns, as well as some for Violet to keep her warm in what I fear will be a very rough winter and later protect herr little legs while she learns to crawl.  Serriously, these things are very cool.

So I entered the contest and want to share the link here.  Not only because it’s a good contest, but because I also get bonus entries for posting it.  So if you win after finding it here, I’d love a couple of pairs for my little ones. ;)

http://www.babysnazz.com/contest/

Posted in Free Stuff, Parenting, Reviews, Sites to See | No Comments »

Friday, October 24th, 2008

Anyone tried Redbox yet?

If you’re in Sanford, you’ve probably seen one of these DVD rental machines…there’s one in Lowe’s Foods, one at super Walmart and a couple in gas stations.  We decided to try it out tonight, and other than being sold out of the movies we had at the top of our list to see, it was really easy!  I reserved it online, my husband left immediately for the grocery store (5 minutes away) and it was all ready to go.  You can get a promo code if you sign up on their website (www.redbox.com) for a free rental.  They’re only $1/night so if you’re like us and rarely rent movies it seems like a really good deal.  I dropped Netflix a few months ago because we just weren’t using it anymore and I thought this would be a good substitute!  Since there are no movie rental places on our end of town (that I know of, anyway) this is very convenient and super easy.

Has anyone tried it already?  What did you think???

Posted in Free Stuff, Reviews, Sanford, Sites to See | 2 Comments »

Monday, July 14th, 2008

Hey Babywearing Mamas!

I just discovered a cool contest where you can win several types of baby carriers to try out and use with your little one. I am desperate to find some new options for this baby, so this is right up my alley…I love wearing my babies and being able to keep them snuggly and close when they’re small. So here’s the link, if you’re interested. Several of these are on my wish list already, and this package is a great mixture of the different options available for babywearing.

Win the Essential Babywearing Stash from Along for the Ride (one Beco Butterfly, one Hotsling baby pouch, one BabyHawk Mei Tai, one Zolowear Ring Sling, and one Gypsy Mama Wrap)

(Just an FYI, I do earn extra entries every time someone uses this link…I just want to be clear! But it is a nice package, especially for a new mom who’s eager to try out several different things to figure out what works best for her and her baby!)

Posted in Free Stuff, Me Stuff, Parenting, Pregnancy, Sites to See | No Comments »

Thursday, July 3rd, 2008

Local Fun Stuff

Hey, fellow Sanfordians! In case you’ve been living in a cave, I thought I’d toss some stuff to do out there for you.

Tonight (Thursday 7/3) at 7PM is the Function at the Junction. I think a beach music group tonight? We’ll be there, regardless. (And if you think you recognize me, please feel free to say hi! I won’t bite!)

Tomorrow, from 2PM on, there is a family centered 4th of July festival at Depot Park. Lots of traditional stuff, including pie eating, and watermelon seed spitting, as well as lots of fun things for kids.

On July 19, Stepping Stones is having a carnival to raise money for their new playground that will be accessible to kids of all abilities. They’re accepting donations for silent auction items and selling raffle tickets as well, so if you can help out, please get in touch with Emily Page. You can get that contact info and read more here.

Posted in Family, Free Stuff, News/Current Events, Sanford | 2 Comments »

« Older Entries
  • I am a mom to 3 living in Sanford, NC. I am a wife. I am a student. I am a Christ follower. I am a friend. This is the craziness of my life.
    • Subscribe

    • Powered by WordPress

    Blossom Theme by RoseCityGardens.com