Posts filed under ‘freebies’
Free $10 Gift Card From American Express
I’m a huge fan of prepaid credit cards. I know that might sound strange, but I take advantage of just about every good deal out there that offers one. Last year I bought 30 boxes of Raisin Bran free after coupon and received three $10 prepaid credit cards for buying them. (I don’t normally stockpile, but I eat Raisin Bran almost every morning and I gave more than half away to friends and family.)
Why prepaid credit cards? Well I shop online a lot and sometimes I come across a deal that seems to good to be a true on a website that looks a little less than legit. When I buy with a prepaid credit card I never fear that my information will be stolen or my credit lines tapped.
I also use the free prepaid cards (like the ones I earned from my Raisin Bran deal) to stretch our grocery and drugstore deal dollars. I can make that $10 gift card last for weeks at CVS!
Right now American Express is offering a free $10 gift card when you buy and load a prepaid card with $50 or more at the time of order. There’s no credit check and no fear of overspending since you load just as much as you need. There are no monthly, annual, purchase or overdraft fees.
The American Express Prepaid Card. Get exclusive American Express benefits- with no credit check. Get your card now!
Information about the offer: ORDER AN AMERICAN EXPRESS® PREPAID CARD, LOAD $50 OR MORE AT THE TIME OF ORDER, AND RECEIVE A COMPLIMENTARY $10 GIFT CARD. Offer Ends July 31, 2012. Limit one (1) offer per Card. After qualifying for this offer, please allow 6 weeks for the $10 Gift Card to be mailed to the Card purchaser.
Get Notifications Before Your Packages Arrive
My husband and I get a lot of packages in the mail on a weekly basis. As crazy as it sounds I bet we receive a package in the mail at least every three or four days. We buy a lot of things on the Internet. Everything from diapers and groceries, to repair parts and even tires, which means boxes are arriving at our house quite often these days.
Since we travel a lot between our home in Maryland and our home in North Carolina it’s nice to know when a package is scheduled to arrive. With UPS My Choice we receive notification emails whenever a package is on it’s way. The email provides tracking information along with the expected delivery date and time.
Now whenever we get an email we can call our in-laws and ask them to keep an eye out for packages at our front door. We actually had a problem with criminals following UPS trucks in our neighborhood and stealing boxes off of people’s steps, so having this service is vital for us. We let our in-laws know when an item is expected and can call them the minute it arrives. We no longer have to fear criminals stealing our packages and we can ensure the packages are kept out of the rain.
If you’re interested in this service just sign up for free at UPS My Choice. It’s nice to know when the products we order will be delivered. Sometimes I wait until the last minute to buy things and it’s nice to know whether or not the next shipment will arrive in time!
Note: This post contains sponsored links.
Free Tiny Prints Valentine’s Day Card
I am a huge fan of Tiny Prints. I think they have the most adorable cards and I love that I can customize them with the names and photos of friends and family members. Today they are offering a free Valentine’s Day Card if you like them on Facebook. I couldn’t resist a free card for the one I love. To find out more click here.
Will We Finally Send Out Holiday Cards This Year?
Every year since my husband and I first got married we’ve talked about mailing holiday cards to our friends and family. Yet, somehow, despite the best intentions, we’ve failed to accomplish this task.
We’ve come up with every excuse under the sun, but the truth of the matter is that my husband is always behind the camera and rarely in front of it. In fact, if you look through the thousands of pictures in our collection I bet you’d find my husband’s face less in less than one hundred. Since we can never seem to find a photo that includes both of us, we tend to skip mailing out cards all together.
But this year we can’t have any excuses. This year the holiday gift card drought must come to an end! We are expecting our first child in roughly two weeks and I cannot wait for my husband to capture his or her first Christmas!
I started getting excited about the idea as I was poking around the Internet in search of baby announcements. Since we don’t know the gender of our little one I narrowed down the options, but haven’t picked the final theme. I received a promotion code for free announcements when I registered at Babies-R-Us and I can’t wait to use it!
With the baby announcements nearly checked off my to-do list I turned my attention to holiday cards. I was already poking around Shutterfly’s website in search of adorable baby designs and couldn’t resist browsing through the Christmas cards and holiday cards I found there.
I love the idea of creating a card with a couple of different photographs and absolutely love the design pictured below. “Blessed” is the perfect definition for me. I feel so fortunate at this time in my life that no other card could represent my feelings better.
Do you typically send out cards during the holidays? If you are a blogger and want a chance at 25 free cards this holiday season register here: http://goo.gl/DDw7Q. If you’ve never sent out cards before the notion of ‘free’ cards might just provide you with the incentive to do so this year!
An Error In Our Favor
My husband and I celebrated our anniversary at a Hyatt not too far from where we live. We considered getting married there back in 2004 and stayed in this particular hotel at least three or four times since we first visited.
This time I was lured to the hotel by a letter from the Hyatt that offered $100 off hotel services. The Hyatt’s advertising definitely caught my attention and convinced me to book a night. If I hadn’t received their invitation in the mail I can honestly say I wouldn’t have thought about staying there. I really wanted a prenatal massage, (I haven’t had a massage since two weeks before I found out I was pregnant), and knew the $100 credit would just about cover the cost of it.
When I booked the room I decided to spend an extra $20 dollars on a package that offered $40 worth of food and beverage credits. One of my favorite things about staying in a hotel is ordering room service. Nothing seems to hit the spot like an ice cream sundae or a sandwich at 11 o’clock at night. This is certainly more true now that I’m nine months pregnant! Room service always costs a lot of money and I knew we’d easily order $20 worth of food, so I booked the deal and didn’t spend another second thinking about it.
When we checked in the hotel staff provided us with a sheet of paper describing the details of the package that I ordered. It had been awhile since I booked the room so I couldn’t remember exactly what was included.
The details included $40 worth of food and beverage credit, a $15 movie credit and a special dessert that could be ordered by calling room service. When we ordered room service we mentioned the special dessert and hotel staff arrived twenty minutes later with a bucket of sparkling wine and chocolate strawberries with whipped cream and brown sugar. After devouring the food my husband picked a movie and we snuggled in to watch it.
When I looked over the bill the following morning I noticed that we did not receive the $15 movie credit and asked the front desk about it. It turns out that the staff made an error in our favor. The original package I purchased only included $40 worth of food and beverage credits, not the strawberries, sparking wine or $15 entertainment credit.
Since we’d already watched the movie and eaten the goodies the hotel really had no choice but to offer us the upgraded package at no extra cost, but it was nice that they made good on the deal without any extra hassle or fuss. The upgraded package would have cost $35 more than the one I selected.
The extra goodies definitely helped make our anniversary celebration even more special. The fact that we didn’t have to pay for them was like extra icing on the cake!
It’s Hard to Resist Free
Throughout the week of my birthday I ate a free burger, dined on free pasta, ate free ice cream and picked up a bottle of free body wash. I love my birthday freebies! Who can resist a week full of yummy food and free gifts? Not me.
Getting Paid to Read
Somehow, unbeknownst to me, I got on a book reviewer list, which means a new book arrives at my house every few weeks. I absolutely love to read, but I absolutely stink at finding books I enjoy reading. I’m not sure why I have such a hard time selecting books. I read online reviews, I search for best sellers and I even browse the book store for interesting reads, but nine times of ten I start reading a book and then find I’m completely disinterested in the story.
I received five books in the last month and a half and surprisingly enough I’ve really enjoyed reading each and every one! I liked the last one so much I read it from cover to cover in just over a day.
Books seem to be falling into my lap lately. I purchased a bunch of books from Barnes and Noble a few weeks back after discovering a Groupon that was set to expire and I cashed in e-rewards points for $15 worth of Borders Bucks, which also helped me add to my library. I even received a brand new book at my last doctor’s visit, which was entirely unexpected.
All of these books have really sparked my interest in literature again! When I get home from work instead of vegging out I take a nice walk, then grab a glass of water and find a comfortable spot on the couch to start reading.
Best of all I get paid for each review I write. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world. I receive new, interesting books to read and then get paid to write about them. It’s great!
Free $5 Amazon Video on Demand Credit
I took advantage of the free $5 Amazon Video on Demand credit this afternoon and watched two recently released movies for 98 cents. It was the perfect way to spend a chilly Tuesday afternoon.
To take advantage of this offer you have to click the link above, log in to your amazon account and click on the Tweet and Get $5 button.
By clicking this button your twitter account will automatically follow @amazonvideo and “I just got a $5 credit for instant movies and TV shows @amazonvideo. Click http://amzn.to/hh8gtp to get yours. #get5″ will automatically display in your twitter account.
The offer appears to be valid through January 1, 2011 at 11:59 pm.
A Great List of Freebies
All You magazine posted an article today listing 33 of the Internet’s best online freebies. If you have a second you should definitely check out the list. My favorites included free language courses, free online education courses courtesy of MIT, free long distance calls (my husband uses Skype almost every night), free movies (I’m a HUGE hulu fan), free games, free music, free medical help, free planners and free legal advice!
Free Chocolate Covered Strawberries and a Free Movie
A few weeks ago I signed up for Fresh Rewards at 1-800-flowers.com. As a reward for signing up and adding ten gift reminders to their site I earned a $40 credit*. Earlier this week I spent that credit on a box of chocolate covered strawberries. The strawberries arrived yesterday and are absolutely beautiful. I plan to serve them tonight at our annual Christmas Eve dinner.
This is actually the second free box of chocolate covered strawberries I received this year. I picked up a box a month or so ago from Edible Arrangements. I received that freebie by adding Edible Arrangements as a friend on Facebook*. I haven’t tasted these yet, but I’m interested in how they compare.
Excited about my free score I hopped on the Internet in search of other freebies. Wouldn’t you know I found a free $4 credit from Amazon Video on Demand. Last night I ordered a two day rental of Four Christmases and watched it from my laptop. The movie wasn’t anything to write home about, but I was impressed by the picture quality. I’m now even more excited about the Blu-ray DVD player I purchased for my husband this Christmas. It’ll stream videos from twenty-five content providers including Netflix.
I received so many fabulous freebies this year that I now wish I’d documented them. Too late now, but maybe I’ll keep a list next year.
* I believe these promotions have ended.
