BargainBabe.com turns 3!

We’re celebrating BargainBabe.com’s third anniversary this month!!! Sometimes it’s hard to believe I’ve been blogging for three years (plus 1.5 years at the Los Angeles Daily News). And even harder to believe that some of you have been reading me the entire way. Thank you!

To celebrate, 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.

Pay just $1 for a $25 certificate!

There are 34 coupons and freebies today. If you shop online, get a cash back rebate on every purchase through Ebates. Free to join! Don’t miss exclusive coupons we share on the BargainBabe.com Facebookpage. “Like” us today!

HOT! Restaurant.com coupon - Pay $1 for a $25 Restaurant.com gift certificate with coupon code JOY. Expires Dec. 24, 2011. Gift cards are not eligible for this promo code. Here’s how Restaurant.com works. The Restaurant.com site is very slow due to so much traffic so if it times out, try again later.

Free call from Santa - Let Santa know your special someone wants a free call from Santa. You can personalize it and make it quite funny and cute! The freebie is brought to you by Gmail, so it’s unclear if Google will use your phone number later.

Freebie holiday card - Download and print out a free holiday card from The Company Store. This is perfect for a child to color in and personalize!

Free Christmas music - Amazon has 25 days of free Christmas music downloads. Awesome!

Free perfume - Get a freebie perfume sample from David Yurman when you fill out a request form. While supplies last.

Free Santa tracker - Use Norad to track Santa as he delivers gifts to millions of children on Christmas Eve.

Free hair treatment - Get a freebie sample of John Freida’s frizz control formula when you “like” the JF Facebook page.

Sephora - Get a FREE upgrade to second day shipping with coupon code UPS2DAY. Expires Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

HOT! Parents mag $7/2 years - Get a two year cheap subscription to Parents magazine for two years for just $7 through this LivingSocial deal. Not too shabby!

Sally Beauty coupon - get free second day shipping on $60 or more with Sally Beauty coupon code 555184. Ends today, Dec. 20 at 11:59 p.m. EST.

Feel good news - An anonymous donor has been paying off the layaway accounts of cash strapped customers, according to Yahoo! News.

Michael’s holiday sale - The holiday blowout sale at Michael’s looks awesome. Stocking stuffers are up to 50% off, ornaments up to 70% off, faux trees and wrapping paper are up to 60% off, holiday baskets are up to 60% off and holiday baking items are up to 50% off.

Harbor Freight sale - The holiday sale at Harbor Freight ends Dec 24, 2011. Last chance for tool discounts!

Land’s End gift card discounts - Get up to 10% off discounted gift cards for Land’s End at Plastic Jungle.

iTunes discounts - You can also find discounted gift cards for iTunes at Plastic Jungle.

Gift card discounts - Here are two more sites that sell discounted gift cards – a great way to save because you can stack them with coupons and cash back rebates!

Gift card bonuses - More than a dozen retailers are offering gift card bonuses, like freebies or additional gift cards when you spend a certain amount (usually $25 or $50).

Entertainment Book deal - Save $10 off all 2012 books with this click through Entertainment Book couponwhich includes free shipping. Plus, additional books are just $15 each. Save an extra 25-35% in cash back when you shop through Ebates.

Piperlime sale - The twice yearly tag sale at Piperlime has prices are up to 40% off through Jan. 20.

Target coupons - Today only, the FurReal Friends Cookie My Playful Pup is on sale at Target.com. Plus, the Hampton Kobe 12 pc Stainless Steel Knife Set with black block is 20% off online.

PetSmart sale - Dec. 26-31 the following items are on sale and clearance at PetSmart: • Up to 50 percent on all dog beds, 50 percent on all PetHoliday™, Martha Stewart Pets™ Holiday & Kong Holiday products, 50 percent on all Top Paw™ retro dog shirts, 50 percent on all PetHoliday dog rawhide & treats, 30 percent on all Grreat Choice™, Martha Stewart Pets and Top Paw dog sweaters & coats, u to 20 percent on all aquariums. PetPerks loyalty card required on some deals, certain deals only available in the US.

Girardelli coupon - Save 10% off SITEWIDE and in stores with this Ghirardelli coupon code LASTMINUTE. Expires Dec. 31, 2011.

Picaboo coupon - Get 25% off everything with coupon code BYEBYE11. Ends Dec. 28, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. PST.

Doll outfits sale - Get 20% off all doll outfits with this click through Pottery Barn coupon. Ends Dec. 20, 2011. Order as late as Dec. 22 at 10 a.m. PST for delivery Dec. 23.

QVC for Xmas - QVC has guaranteed Christmas delivery with no extra charge for shipping. See all the QVC Christmas deals. Ends Dec. 20, 2011.

Costco holiday deals - Today is the final day of Costco’s final “12 days of deals.” Today’s deal is for a convection toaster oven for $99 (orig. $150). Online while supplies last. Several other sale items end today.

PetCo - Get pet gifts delivered by Christmas Eve with $10 express shipping. PetCo is having a pet sale with items 15-50% off. If you’re in no rush, get free standard shipping with a purchase of $49 or more. Flat shipping is $6.

OfficeMax deals - Each day Office Max has one item on super sale. Not all deals are available online and in stores, see below. The deals include Dec. 20 QuickBooks accounting software for small business. Save $80 on QuickBooks Pro 2012, save $200 on QuickBooks Premier 2012 and save 35% on select Quicken titles. (available online and in-store); Dec. 21 HP Color Inkjet Photosmart Premium Fax Wireless e-All-in-One printer with automatic 2-sided printing and 2.4″ color LCD for $99 (save $200, available online);  Dec. 22 – 18” x 24” oversized prints from the OfficeMax ImPress® Print Center for $8.99 (save $8.99). Offer valid in store only;  Dec. 23 – HP Color Inkjet Photosmart Premium Wireless e-All-in-One printer with 4.3″ touch screen and lab-quality photo printing for $79.99 (save $120, available online);  Dec. 24 Epson® EX3200 SVGA Multimedia Projector for $299.99 (save $150, available online).

DSW deal - Buy a $50 gift card and get a $5 bonus DSW gift card through Dec. 24. The bonus card is valid Jan. 14-29, 2011, which is pretty limiting.

Grocery coupons - My Coupon Database searches dozens of coupon sites for all grocery and drugstore coupons available, including Coupons.com, mobile coupons from Cellfire, Redplum, CouponNetwork, SmartSource, and lots more. Totally free!

Coupon lessons - Grocery University is a comprehensive, 19-lesson set that will take your coupon skills (if any) to the next savings level. Sign up for these coupon lessons now and see your grocery bill drop!

Free Target events - In 34 cities across the country, Target sponsors free museum days and cultural events. Search by city to see what’s happening near you.

Groupon travel deals - Find hot travel deals leaving from your city.

100 Swagbucks – Get 100 Swagbucks just for joining when you use code HOLIDAYSWAG during registration. If you use the code after you’ve registered, you will NOT get the extra 100 Swagbucks. Normally you only get 30 for joining so this is a HUGE increase. Expires Dec. 31, 2011. This site feeds my Starbucks habit!

Clicking on these links supports BargainBabe.com. This post is copyrighted by BargainBabe.com. Other sites posting this content are violating the DMCA.

This $100 Sears gift card could be yours!

This is your last chance to enter to win the $100 Sears gift card! SO far only 235 people have entered so your chances OF WINNING ARE REALLY GOOD! Sears donated this awesome prize as part of the Bargain Babe Hot Holiday Gift Guide showcasing hot gifts in the Sears Holiday Catalogue. Here are all the holiday and Christmas gifts I’d love to buy at Sears. Make sure to use the following coupons when you shop at Sears!

Sears coupons:

• RealJoy gets you free shipping on $99 or more through Dec. 19. If you’re in a rush, chose in store pickup to get your item the same day!
• SEARS2011 saves you $5 off $50 (unclear when it expires)
• STOYS20 gets you $20 off $200 in toys through Dec. 31, 2011
• ELEC05 saves you an extra 5% off consumer electronics through Dec. 31

To enter to win the $100 Sears gift card, visit the Sears Wish Book and tell us what you wish for from the Wish Book. Comment by Dec. 5 to be eligible to win!

This is dedicated content. Want to reach tens of thousands of savvy spenders? Read our blog marketing page.

Ready for school? Credit: orangeacid/Flickr

Don’t forget to enter to win the $500 back to school savings spree with $250 gift cards donated by Sears AND Kmart, which I’m working with on this giveaway.

To recap, here is what’s on the “must have” list for back to school shopping at Sears and Kmart.

• Sears – Some of the best clothing deals are on BONGO, American Star, and US Polo Assn. I saw stylish BONGO tops and graphic tees for $10-$18, American Star vests for $23 (vests are back in style), and polos for $15-$20.
• Kmart – The back to school 2011 gear at Kmart spans everything from school supplies, to backpacks, lunchboxes, gadgets, and dorm decor. I saw notebooks, pens, and binders – school supplies that I didn’t even know Kmart sold! Dozens of backpacks and totes are $10-$30, though most fall in the $13-$20 range. There was a wide selection of laptops, netbooks, tablets and desktops, plus memory sticks and ereaders. Dorm decor included the practical (sheets, bedding) to the personal (bean bags and lava lamps). Should your kid need paper plates, baggies, and plastic utensils, Kmart’s Smart Sense line has you covered. Is it me or has Kmart thought of everything?

To win the $500, do two things:

• Join our BargainBabe.com email list (if you already receive a daily or weekly email from BargainBabe.com, just see the next bullet point)
• AND leave a comment with your strongest memory of school, whether it be the day you aced a test, overcame the school bully, or fell in love for the first time.

EXTRA ENTRIES (leave a comment for each extra entry so we can count you):

• Get an extra entry for tweeting: “I want to win a $500 back to school savings spree at @MySears and @KmartDealsnNews on the @bargainbabe blog http://bit.ly/qaNBor”
• Get an extra entry for an update on Facebook about the contest with this link: http://bit.ly/qaNBor
• Get an extra entry for following @Bargainbabe on Twitter

Comment, join our email list, tweet, and Facebook by Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2011 to be eligible to win!

This prize for this giveaway was donated by Kmart and Sears. I received no compensation to run this contest. Interested in sponsoring a giveaway? See my blog marketing page.

Which prize do you want to win?

Don’t forget to vote for which prize you want to win in the back to school giveaway that begins next week. The store that gets the most votes win!

So far the tally comes to:

• Macys – the clear leader with 55 votes
• Barnes & Noble – trailing in second place with 28 votes
• Zappos – a distant third with only nine votes
• Dell has not gotten a single vote!

Leave a comment with your vote!

Back to school contest starting soon!

I’m putting together a back to school contest and am considering the following prizes. Vote by commenting. The prize that gets the most votes wins!

•  $100 Dell gift card
• $100 Barnes & Noble gift card
• $100 Macy’s gift card
• $100 Zappos gift card

The contest will launch next week. Thanks for your input!

Time is running out on the $100 Visa contest!

This is your last chance to comment, Tweet, and share a Facebook update to be eligible to win a $100 Visa gift card from WhitePages.com. About 150 people have already entered!

WhitePages Neighbors is a new free tool that helps you connect with neighbors and it is the reason for the $100 Visa giveaway. Watch a quick video about Neighbors.

To win, comment on this post about a time when you relied on your neighbors. Get extra entries by:

• Tweeting “I want to win a $100 Visa gift card on @bargainbabe to throw a @whitepages Neighbors Block Party. http://bit.ly/ort5dc”

• Mentioning the contest on Facebook with a link to http://bit.ly/ort5dc

Comment by July 19, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. EST to be eligible to win. Good luck!

This is paid content. Interested in a sponsored giveaway? See my blog advertising page.

LOZO is raffling off five $50 American Express gift cards to celebrate it’s upcoming new tool that finds coupons for your grocery list. You get one free raffle ticket with admission so everyone is eligible to win!

The Stand is bringing free hot dogs and chili to share with everyone at the Festival. YUM!

Get your tickets today!

Lindsey won a $100 Quiznos gift card!

More than 200 BargainBabe.com Facebook fans commented for a chance to win a $100 Quiznos gift card, donated by the sandwich chain. The winner is…Lindsey Matthews, who commented that she wants to taste Quiznos’chicken cordon bleu sandwich. Yum yum!

Lindsey has 48 hours to respond to claim her prize, or the prize goes to runners up (in order) Debra Olson, Cherl Porritt, or Lora Lopez. Thanks to everyone who joined the BargainBabe.com Facebook page for this contest! We now have 2,657 Facebook fans!

1. Register and review a retailer on StoreCrowd.com, a site that offers coupon codes and reviews from real consumers on their recent online shopping experiences. Your review can be positive, negative, or so-so. Just make sure it�s true! Register for StoreCrowd.com using Facebook or chose a username, pick a password, and plug in your email.

2. By reviewing a retailer on StoreCrowd.com you�ll be automatically entered to win the $200 Amazon gift card, a separate giveaway that StoreCrowd is running that ends Dec. 25, 2010. You can write as many as 10 reviews for 10 entries (one entry per review) for the StoreCrowd giveaway.

3. After you write a review, post a link to it in a comment on this post on BargainBabe.com. Leaving the comment on BargainBabe.com enters you to win the $100 Target gift card. A winner will be randomly chosen from the comments, so you can see exactly how many people have entered!

Get additional entries by�

• becoming a fan of StoreCrowd on Facebook (one entry)
• following @storecrowd on Twitter (one entry)
• blogging about the contest (five entries)

The winner and three runner ups will be notified by email on Dec. 20, 2010.

This is paid content. Interested in an ad? Read my blog advertising page.

I've been carrying this TJ Maxx gift card for years. YEARS!

New federal rules require gift cards to be good for five years at a minimum, says the December 2010 issue of ShopSmart magazine, which is published by Consumer Reports. A major caveat to this new law is that a lot of retailers are enticing shoppers with bonus gift card freebies, but many of these bonuses are not being called gift cards and have tight expiration dates.

For regular gift cards some � but not all � fees are reined in. For example, fees for inactivity can only start if you let your gift card languish in your wallet for a year. If a retailer goes out of business, your gift card is worthless. Make a point to spend your gift cards by the end of January, something the mag story says is hard to do. Some 25% of people surveyed said they had gift cards that were almost a year old. I know I�m guilty!

Bank-issued cash cards with a credit card logo are a different story. They fall under a different set of rules that lets banks charge all sorts of fees. I try to avoid bank-issued cash cards because of these fees, and give cash instead.

Some people feel giving cash is tacky, but I think it can be appropriate if you have a close personal relationship with the recipient. Co-workers and your boss are off limits, big time. But a sibling or friend might appreciate a cash gift a lot more than another red sweater. Do you think giving cash is tacky?

Here is what she has so far:

Husband – Susan is at a loss but is considering some kind of electronic gadget because her guy is a techie. What would you buy him?

Son – Susan’s 9-year-old needs pj’s and enjoys playing soccer and basketball. He likes video games and shares a Nintendo DSi with his older sister.

Daughter – Susan’s 11-year-old also needs pj’s, and likes art activities and video games. The family has an Xbox so a new game might be a great gift. Does Sears sell Xbox games and accessories?

Sister – Her sister is easy to shop for because she likes jewelry and clothing.

Brother – No ideas yet.

Niece – Susan wants to buy a toy and outfit for her 6-year-old niece.

Retired grandparents – They love cooking and gardening, so I’m not worried about finding them something at Sears. Perhaps a new small appliance, pots/pans, or cookbook?

Second grandparents – No ideas yet.

Susan and I are going to meet at a Sears in Massachussets in the next few days. The challenge is to buy gifts for Susan’s immediate family – but she hopes to cross almost everyone off her list! I’ll be catching Susan’s shopping spree on a flip camera (both the gift card and flip camera were donated by Sears) and hope to share how Susan spends her $600 gift card soon!

On a more personal note, I’m almost half way done with my Christmas shopping. How much more holiday shopping do you have?

Enter before Nov. 21, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST for a chance to win.

UPDATE: I talked to Sears’ rep and they have agreed to open the contest to anyone. I repeat, anyone can win, no matter what your family status!!! However, the $600 gift card has to be spent at a Sears in MA, CT, RI, or New York City.

PREVIOUSLY: The reader contest to win a $600 shopping spree at Sears ends Sunday, Nov. 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST. To be eligible to win, join the BargainBabe.com daily or weekly email list.

Rules to be aware of:

• I�m going to come along to share shopping tips and record the event with a flip camera, which means the shopping spree must take place in MA, CT, RI, or New York City. I can only drive so far!
• The winner must shop for a family of four, including a mom, dad, son, and daughter. I�m checking to see if we can define �family� a bit more broadly.
• The shopping spree will take place Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2010 at a Sears in MA, CT, RI, or New York City.
• I�ll be recording the event with a flip camera, so if you�re camera shy do not enter.
• You must be 18 or older to be eligible to win.
• The reader will get to keep everything s/he buys with the $600 Sears gift card, of course!
• If you already receive my emails, you are automatically entered to win. Sears donated the gift card and flip camera for this contest.

Got a question? Leave a comment and I�ll get back to you asap.

Illustration by OConnorCartoons.com

Don’t forget to enter the latest BargainBabe.com contest to win a $600 shopping spree at Sears! Just think, all your holiday shopping done without spending a dime (of you own)!

To be eligible to win, join the BargainBabe.com daily or weekly email list. Enter by Nov. 21, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST to be eligible.

If you already receive my emails, you are automatically entered to win. Sears donated the gift card and flip camera for this contest.

Rules to be aware of:

• I�m going to come along to share shopping tips and record the event with a flip camera, which means the shopping spree must take place in MA, CT, RI, or New York City. I can only drive so far!
• The winner must shop for a family of four, including a mom, dad, son, and daughter. I’m checking to see if we can define “family” a bit more broadly.
• The shopping spree will take place Nov. 29-Dec. 5, 2010 at a Sears in MA, CT, RI, or New York City.
• I�ll be recording the event with a flip camera, so if you�re camera shy do not enter.
• You must be 18 or older to be eligible to win.
• The reader will get to keep everything s/he buys with the $600 Sears gift card, of course!

Got a question? Leave a comment and I’ll do my best to answer it.