Glenn scored a FREE trip to Catalina Island on his birthday!
This is a guest post by longtime reader Glenn, who last year scored $199 in birthday freebies for $4 + tips. This year he redeemed 34 birthday offers worth an estimated $413.51, for just $26.54 + tips. Yowza!!!! Here are excerpts of his story:
Happy Birthday BargainBabe.com! Credit: soapylovedeb/Flickr
Don’t forget to enter the contest to celebrate BargainBabe.com’s third anniversary!!! We’re giving away a bunch of cool prizes.
- 1 GRAND PRIZE: $100 Amazon gift card
- 10 BIG WINNERS: $25 Restaurant.com gift card
- 25 WINNERS: “I brake for bargains” bumper sticker
There are six ways to enter to win. Do as many as you like!
- Comment on this post with your favorite way to save money
- “Like” BargainBabe.com on Facebook
- Share the contest on Facebook with a link to http://bit.ly/yRdRXn
- Follow BargainBabe.com on Twitter
- Tweet about the contest: “I want to win one of 36 giveaways to celebrate the third anniversary of @bargainbabe http://bit.ly/yRdRXn“
- Join our freebie and deal email
Leave a comment for each entry so we can keep track. The contest ends Monday, Jan 16, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EST.
Earn $10 for joining Kidworth!
With a baby on the way, I’ve been thinking a lot about how to raise my kid so that she is savvy with money. How do I show her to save money, to live frugally, and to make savvy spending decisions? When should we first give her an allowance? How do I instill in her the pride I take in donating money to help others?
Enter Kidworth, a new website founded by a father who was tired of going to kids’ birthday parties and witnessing hundreds of dollars wasted on “plastic junk.”
So this father, Rudy DeFelice, did some research and discovered the average kid comes across $25,000-$30,000 in gifts by the time they are 18. Holy *$(%*#! How many 18-year-olds do you know that have more than a few bucks to their name?
“The way we treat kids reinfornces mindless consumption,” Rudy told me. He wanted a way to counter balance that consumerist message. He wanted a way to train kids to deal with money that would give kids a better chance.
Kidworth is not about creating more money, but about using resources – gifts, allowance, earnings – in a better way. Parents create an account for their kid, from babies to teenagers, and set up save goals, spend goals, and share goals. Depending on how old the kid is, they can get involved, too.
On a practical level, parents can use Kidworth to send out birthday invitations and holiday cards, using the opportunity to share their kid’s goals. It’s a not-so-subtle way to ask for specific gifts and donations, instead of the aforementioned plastic junk.
When you visit a kid’s page, family and friends can see what kind of progress the kid and what the kid is doing with their allowance, gifts, and earnings. Only first names are used, and no identifying information is shared or asked for. Pages do not show up in search engine results, but parents can share their kids’ pages with whomever they wish.
Kidworth is totally free to use, though sending an egift card costs $2.50 and sending a physical card costs $5. Both fees go to covering credit card processing fees.
If you’re dreading an onslaught of unwanted gifts this holiday season, sign up for Kidworth! The next 100 people to sign up via Kidworth’s Facebook page will earn a $10 credit when they create a goal in their Kidworth account.
My homemade gift envelope - free!
I saved money today by making a special gift envelope for my sister using a flashy magazine cover, above. Instead of a boring white envelope, her birthday card will arrive with a bang! Here’s how I did it – for the cost of postage.
I gently pulled off the cover of freshHOME, a magazine that has a really nice glossy cover. (They recently had a story on making your own mosaic pot.) I placed my sister’s card in the middle of the cover at an angle so that the upper left corner of the card and bottom right corner of the card each touch opposite edges of the paper. I folded over each corner so they met and secured my folds with a strip of clear packing tape. Afixed a stamp, return address label, and a blank label on which I wrote her address, and put it in the mail.
Here is a series of photos to illustrate this neat way to make your own envelope!
Glenn enjoying a free birthday ice cream sundae at Benihana.
This is a guest post by longtime reader Glenn. His feat – paying $3.99 plus tips for 19 birthday freebies worth $199.65 – has left me wordless. His story shows his zeal for saving money by taking FULL advantage of freebies. To see his ranking of the 19 birthday freebies he received, scroll to the end. Here are excerpts of his story.
December is my birthday month. Many businesses offer people a free appetizer or entrée during your birthday month if you join their free e-clubs. And I’m not talking about finger sandwiches or a teaspoon of ice cream either. We’re talking complete meals up to $30 in value. All that’s required is a little basic information from you. This year, I managed to find 19 places that offer up birthday freebies. The challenge is to find a way to redeem them all before they expire.
12/15/10 – For lunch, I went to El Torito’s in Sherman Oaks to get my free birthday entrée. I got there shortly after 11am, so the place was nearly empty. They had a Christmas tree near the entrance and lights strung up that made it look very festive. My friendly server brought me a basket of chips and salsa right away. I love that part about authentic Mexican restaurants. I showed him my birthday certificate, and he told me that I could order (more…)
Will Clayton/Flickr
A longtime reader named Glenn shared the birthday freebies he plans to take advantage of next week. He writes:
I know you’re a huge advocate of birthday freebies. Well, seeing as my birthday is exactly one week from now, I received 12 birthday freebie emails today.
Daphne’s – FREE plate – Expires 12/18Arby’s – FREE 12oz shake with any purchase – Expires 12/25 (more…)
Free food alert! Free pancake day is tomorrow, Tuesday Feb. 23, 2010 at IHOP.
Is it your birthday? Get a free birthday dessert from Jack in the Box.
Nursing scrubs are on sale at Dickies. Get 20 percent off when you spend $50 or more.
Gift certificates for restaurants so you can get out of your kitchen are 80 percent off until Feb. 28, 2010.
Check out all the deals on my WalletPop blog.
