Burt's Bees grab bag is 50% off!
This post is brought to you by familyFinds.com, a top source for Los Angeles deals, which has a 50% deal on Cinderella tickets at El Portal.
Free pet food – Get a sample of free dog or cat food through Target. Limited supply.
Free holiday music – Target has 13 free holiday songs you can listen to or download, no strings attached.
Double rebates ending – Today is the last day to get double cash rebates from Ebates.com, one of my top five ranked money saving websites.
Freebie with $10 purchase – Spend $10 or more at Bath & Body Works and get a freebie worth up to $13. Expires Dec. 24, 2010. (more…)
Podknox
Just got word that the online electronics seller DealNews.com is offering a 100 percent match for donations to the American Red Cross to benefit Haiti. The site is matching donations dollar for dollar up to $50,000 (so with DealNews’ share they hope to raise $100,000 total).
DealNews’ matching pledge continues through Feb. 11 or until the site raises a grand total of $100,000. “If I may, I respectfully request that you please use some of the money you’ve saved reading our sites to make a donation to Haiti earthquake relief,” said the site’s CEO Dan de Grandpre in a blog post. Here’s how:
- Make a donation online at RedCross.org
- Keep your confirmation email and forward it to haiti@dealnews.com.
- DealNews will match 100 percent of your donation until it hits $50,000 or until February 11.
Thanks, Andrew!
Whether you are making a donation in your name or someone else’s, here are three charities worth considering.
Support innovative humanitarian programs by sending a Mercy Kit to someone in need. That could be a school supplies kit, a women’s small business kit, or a family garden kit. There are 20 kits to chose from with prices from $18 to $500, though most are well below $100. MercyCorps spends less than 10 percent of its funds on administration, according to JustGive.org. Give now.
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One of my favorite ways to help my community is to support my local food pantry. Everyone needs to eat. Nuff said. Feeding America has a database of local food pantries so you can find one near you.
The World Vision Catalog is similar to Heifer International in that you don’t just write a check. You get to pick out animals to give to poor people abroad to help them improve their lives in the long run. A goat and two chickens that will produce eggs and milk that a family can eat and sell costs $100. Five ducks and two chickens costs $55, a dairy cow costs $500. World Vision spends just 5 percent of its funds on administration, according to the charity evaluator JustGive.org. Give now.
If you want to go lower: donate your time to a charity in need.
Here’s a deal to make your donation dollars go farther. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation will match your donation on DonorChoose.org, in effect doubling your dollars.
The caveat is that the projects must help educate kids in rural or high-poverty areas. Projects include buying basic art supplies for a social studies lesson and chipping in toward five digital cameras for a special education class. Browse all the eligible projects here.
Thanks, Hubby!
Just heard about a way to buy a Father’s Day gift and donate to charity in one fell swoop. Use GoodShop.com to search for and buy your gift. The site has partnerships with more than 1,000 stores, including Amazon, Home Depot and GolfSmith, that have agreed to donate a percentage of each purchase to your (or your Dad’s) favorite nonprofit. The site also has coupons and deals.
To use the site, go to GoodShop.com and designate your favorite cause (you only do this the first time). Click through to your favorite store – shop on their site as you normally would and a percentage of your purchase will go to your cause!
Similarly, GoodSearch.com is a Yahoo powered search engine that donates about a penny per search to your favorite cause. When you first visit the site, designate your favorite cause, then search as you normally would. Each search gives about a penny goes to your cause!
I read an interesting essay in Newsweek that says psychology plays an important role in charity. The more direct a connection we have with the person in need, the more likely we are to help them.
But what I found most interesting was the essay’s final statistic: people who give are more likely to be happy. Reading this made me wonder if frugal people, i.e. you and I, are more likely to give than the spendy?
In other words, are we one big, cheap, happy family?
And yes, I will admit that while writing this post I took a moment to donate $250 to my favorite charity, Heifer International (which gives animals to poor people so they can sell eggs/milk/wool), so I could vote affirmatively. Peer pressure also increases donations!
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