The Frugal Midwesterner

Free Tote Bag from Real Simple

2010-05-12T22:08:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, May 13, is the last day to order the free Disney Vacation DVD and get a free Real Simple Tote Bag. Visit DisneyVacations.com/Tote and order a free vacation planning DVD. Mail a printout of the final "Thank you" page with your name and address to:

Real Simple/Alamo "Tote Bag" Offer

c/o USSC

625 Panorama Trail (Bldg. 2 Suite 100)

Rochester, NY 14625-2437

Click here for more information.

Free CFL Bulbs

2010-04-28T21:42:00.001-05:00

Energy Efficient Now is offering 2 free CFL light bulbs. All you have to do is go here and request them. This is apparently a "no strings attached" offer -- but when you are done requesting the bulbs an offer for a free water pitcher pops up. This is a one of those sneaky "participation required" offers, so be careful!

Yet More Free Tote Bags...

2010-04-19T23:08:00.008-05:00

Red Gold Tomatoes, Nursery Water, and Earthbound Farms are all offering free reusable grocery bags!

To receive a FREE Red Gold Tote Bag click here and register for the Red Gold online e-newsletter, Tomato Country. After registering, enter the 12 digit UPC barcode on the back of the label and the 14 digit product code found on the top or bottom of a can of Red Gold tomatoes. OFFER VALID: April 19, 2010 to May 7, 2010 or while supplies last.

To receive a FREE Nursery Water Tote Bag, click here, scroll down to the green button and request your bag. This offer resets every day at 12 noon EST (11 am Central, 10 am Mountain, 9 am Pacific), so if you miss out just come back the next day.

To receive a FREE Earthbound Farms Tote Bag, click here, then click on the "Next Chance to Win a Shopping Bag" icon. This will take you to a quiz, answer the questions and win a free bag. BUT, only click on the shopping bag icon when it says "Right Now," otherwise all you will win is a coupon.

Free Reusable Tote from Target

2010-04-17T21:30:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow, April 18, the first day of "Earth Week," Target is giving away free reusable shopping totes. It is one to a customer, and they will probably go fast, so get there early!

Free Makeup Tools

2010-04-15T21:01:00.002-05:00

For their "Look Gorgeous, Love Green Campaign," EcoTools is collecting used cosmetic brushes and bath + body care products and swapping them for an EcoTools alternative.

For each item turned in, participants will receive a coupon for a free EcoTools alternative! [Up to $7.99 value, limit 2 coupons per person]. To continue to show respect to the earth, items collected will be recycled. Click here for more information.

I Love Groupon!

2010-03-03T22:22:00.007-06:00

From the Groupon FAQ:

What is Groupon?

Each day, Groupon features an unbeatable deal on the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in your city. By promising businesses a minimum number of customers, we get discounts you won't find anywhere else. We call it "collective buying power!"

The discounts are amazing - they range from 50% to 85% and they are for things people would normally buy. If enough people buy a given Groupon "the deal is on" and everyone who signed up gets the discount. Groupon is available in about 40-45 cites - including my city, St. Louis, MO. I have purchased Groupons for:

Straubs - grocery store that has the best meat in STL - and is normally out of my price range

Verve - my favorite hair salon in the world

Women's Closet Exchange - designer resale

Body Options Massage - gift for my husband

I'm not affiliated with or paid by Groupon or any of these merchants - I'm just a fan!

Click here to see if Groupon is available in your city and if it is, sign up.

A Good Start for the New Year

2010-01-15T00:06:00.000-06:00

I have a Bank of America World Points Vis a -- and I just got a check from them for $250.00 because I had accumulated enough points!

Free Seafood

2010-01-10T08:00:00.000-06:00

You can get a coupon for a free frozen seafood entree from Sea Cuisine. The offer officially begins at 3 p.m. Eastern and is good only for today, January 10. The entrees are tilapia, cod, salmon and shrimp with various seasonings.

While you are there, enter their Dinner's on Us sweepstakes to win free seafood coupons and a grocery store gift card.

Yearly wrap up

2010-01-03T23:44:00.004-06:00

I've tried to keep track of what I've earned and saved through rebates, frugality, etc. After all, you can't improve things if you don't measure them!

I've been very good about keeping track of earnings but much less diligent about keeping track of savings through sales prices and coupons. Anyhow, here are the totals for 2009:

Earnings (from rebates, surveys, focus groups, sales on Amazon and Craig's List): $2,004.54

Savings (sale prices and coupons): $143.58

Earnings (non-cash GCs, free products): $164.68

DHs net Amazon sales: $3,079.53 (His Amazon store is here.)

Amazon Giftcards deal on Swagbucks

2009-12-12T11:30:00.001-06:00

Thru January 1, 2010, Swagbucks is offering a "Gift Card Swagananza," which means that every day you can redeem your Swag Bucks on a different gift card for a discounted price. Today's deal is a $5 Amazon.com giftcard for 40 Swagbucks. Normally a $5 Amazon GC is 45 Swag Bucks, which is a bargain already IMHO. My husband, son and I are prolific readers and we also give books as presents - most of our family and friends and prolific readers, too! Even if you are not interested in books, go for it anyway; Amazon sells CDs, DVDs, household goods, etc.

The deal expires December 13 at 11 am PST. Here is a trick: Since you are limited to getting 2 Amazon GC per day, purchase 2 today, then come back tomorrow (12/13) before 11 a.m. and purchase 2 more.

If you are not familiar with Swagbucks, it is a site that pays you to search online. You collect Swag Bucks when you search and the Swag Bucks are redeemed for cash, gift certificates or merch. Get 3 Swag Bucks when you sign up here.

2009-12-03T20:29:00.003-06:00

Ran across something very cool the other day. It is called Ev'reward and it is a search engine/directory of online shopping rewards. The directory includes over 14,000 rewards for over 3,000 online stores, available through more than 40 leading cash back, frequent traveler, savings reward and points programs.

How it works:

Go to Ev'reward
Type in the name of an online store
Ev'reward will list online savings programs that include that store and the rewards associated with them

It also has a "Browse" function, so you can look at all stores in a particular category.

Although it does not have every possible rewards program (Bank of America Add It Up and Grobux, for instance are not available through Ev'reward) it has a lot. If you are signed up with multiple reward programs, Ev'reward is a huge timesaver!

Paypal deal on Swagbucks

2009-12-02T11:00:00.001-06:00

Thru January 1, 2010, Swagbucks is offering a "Gift Card Swagananza," which means that every day you can redeem your Swag Bucks on a different gift card for a discounted price. To be honest, I haven't been very impressed by the offerings until today. Today's deal is a $5 deposit into your Paypal account for 55 Swagbucks. Normally a $5 Paypal deposit is 100 Swag Bucks! This is free money! Jump on this because the deal expires December 3 at 11 am PST.

If you are not familiar with Swagbucks, it is a site that pays you to search online. You collect Swag Bucks when you search and the Swag Bucks are redeemed for cash, gift certificates or merch. Get 3 Swag Bucks when you sign up here.

Fuel for School

2009-07-28T15:17:00.000-05:00

Between coupons, sale prices and the FFS refund I think I did OK.

5 boxes Rice Krispies $1.79 each (5 $1 off coupons)
3 boxes Pop Tarts 2.08 each (1 $2/off 2 and .55 off 1 coupons)
1 box Special K crackers 2.50 ($1 off)
1 box Morningstar Farms veggie burgers 4.19 ($1 off)
Shelf Price $21.88
Coupons $9.55
FFS refund $10
Out of pocket $2.33

Not bad

Weekly wrap-up - week ending 7/25/09

2009-07-25T12:22:00.001-05:00

Earnings

Rockfish Interactive - Oral Care Survey $25.00
Being a guinea pig - $50
MyPoints $25 Amazon gift card -- and they threw in a $15 FTD giftcard as well

Stuff that will pay off in the future:

Returned about $300.00 of Lands End merchandise that I had tried on, decided it didn't work and never got around to returning until recently.

Weekly wrap-up - week ending 7/18/09

2009-07-18T14:29:00.004-05:00

Savings

Saved $3.45 purchasing a $25.00 Target gift card from PlasticJungle.com.

Earnings

Amazon $6.75
U30 (Beer survey) $5.00

Freebies

Microwave popcorn from Yahoo.com

Getting paid to eat!

2009-07-12T10:37:00.001-05:00

This is kinda funny -- I had a coupon for a free DiGiorno flatbread melt and thought I should redeem it before it expired on 7/18/09. On the freezer case there was a blinkie -- containing refund forms for the full purchase price of -- you guessed it -- DiGiorno flatbread melts. To make things more interesting, the deal expired today!

So I bought the flatbread melt using my coupon and dashed home and sent for the rebate. Later on I ate it -- and was very disappointed in both the quality and quantity. This was surprising, since their pizzas are very good. Can't complain too much, after all, they were paying me to take it!

Weekly wrap-up - week ending 7/11/09

2009-07-11T16:07:00.004-05:00

This has not been a terribly productive week. I've sent in some rebates and did some online surveys -- which don't count until I've actually recieved the $. Anyhow, this is it:

Savings
$11.93 in coupon savings

Freebies
Coupon for 2 Velveeta and Cheese Shells Microwave Cups from Kraft First Taste
Free "Schnucks Cooks" magazine at my local grocery store, for purchasing over $50 in one shoppng trip

Free e-books

2009-07-10T14:30:00.007-05:00

OK, books are not one of the necessities of life, like food and and shelter -- but they are nice to have. Harlequin Books is celebrating its 60th anniversary and Barnes and Noble is offering a FREE download of 16 of Harlequin's novels. Click here to download them.

I'm not a huge romance novel fan but I downloaded a romantic suspense novel, Stranded, and I love it.

Weekly wrap-up - week ending 7/4/09

2009-07-05T10:43:00.000-05:00

Earnings

eCycle Group: $25.38
YouData: 0.52
Amazon: $32.94

Freebies

Coupon for a free DiGiorno flatbread melt
Free samples of Jack Daniels barbeque sauce and Lea and Perrins + coupons
Coupon for a free box of Kashi TLC cereal bars
Free sample of Crest enamel care toothpaste
10 Free Food Saver Freeze & Steam bags

Cool Giveaway at Madame Deals

2009-07-04T10:26:00.008-05:00

Madame Deals is giving away a Rachael Ray Porcelain Enamel 5.5 Quart Casserole in Orange!

To quote the Madame Deals website:

"Rachael Ray has had such a successful career because of her glowing demeanor and infectious personality. Her rise to success has been marked by a drive in business that has led her to dominate the cooking industry; because of this, Rachael Ray doesn’t put her name on just anything, especially when it comes to cookware. The Porcelain enamel 5.5 quart casserole dish truly reflects Rachael Ray’s overall initiative of creating effective, high quality products at a reasonable price. The Porcelain Enamel Casserole dish is no exception to her emphasis on quality. This beautiful cast iron, non-stick casserole dish provides ample room to add ingredients, as well as an easy-to-use kitchen piece for those perfect stews or pot roasts. From an aesthetic standpoint, the vivacious enamel adds a delightful splash of color to your kitchen, while allowing all levels of chefs to prepare food cooked to perfection."

Click here to enter the giveaway.

Swagbucks Update

2009-07-02T12:44:00.003-05:00

Swagbucks can now be redeemed for Paypal gift cards. ! 80 Swagbucks get you a $5 payment via Paypal.

Read about it on the Swagbucks' blog.

Click the banner to sign up for Swagbucks.

FREE Coffee!

2009-07-01T20:07:00.001-05:00

A freebie for all caffeine addicts:

Seattle's Best coffee is offering a full purchase price refund on a 12-ounce bag of coffee. Click Seattle's Best refund to go to their website and download the form.

Compulsive internet surfing

2009-06-30T15:20:00.000-05:00

Being frugal with money is important -- and so is being frugal with time. One of my biggest time wasters is being online, ironically enough. I don't go online with the intent to kill time; a huge portion of my life is "lived" online. I use it for:

Blogging
Banking
Shopping
Paying bills
Searching for job/freelance opportunities
Searching for information that helps me save money
Keeping up with friends and family
Networking

However, turning me loose on teh Interwebz is like turning me loose in a combination library/hardware store. I end up dashing from one thing to another simply because they look interesting and I have to find out more, which in turn leads to another thing that looks interesting, and so on....

Case in point: the other day I was checking out jobs on our local public library's website and somehow ended up downloading a copy of my great-grandmother's death certificate from the Missouri State Archives!

It's good to know I'm not the only one like this -- Web Worker Daily has an excellent article on how to avoid the humongous time suck that is CIF (compulsive internet fiddling). I highly recommend it to anyone who works online.

Weekly wrap-up - week ending 6/27/09

2009-06-27T20:48:00.001-05:00

Earnings

Sold a ring to a coin/jewelry dealer for $62.00

Freebies

Coupon for free package of Oscar Mayer beef franks
Windex Outdoor All-in-One from BzzAgent
Free reusable bag from thatscaring.com
Coupon for free Kashi frozen entree

Stuff with a future payoff

Signed up for an account with Magazines.com (they periodically give out $5.00 credits/cash)
Took a high-value survey on oral health
Took a survey on beer
Opened an ING Orange Savings Account
Posted items for sale on Craig's List and Amazon

Make money shopping online with Ebates

2009-06-25T17:12:00.003-05:00

Ebates is a shopping site that gives you from 1% to 25% cash back every time you shop online. You can shop at over 1000 stores including Barnes & Noble.com, Gap, Target, Buy.com and Expedia. Plus you get additional savings with exclusive coupons, free shipping offers, and limited-time sales!

I love Ebates. They have a huge variety of stores and excellent customer service. They pay out via Paypal every three months if your balance is at least $5.01. (If it isn't, it will roll over to the next pay period.)

They are running a couple of promotions:

Get $5 when you sign up with Ebates.
Get double rebates on beauty and health items.

Click here to go to Ebates.com.

My major screwup!

2009-06-23T17:59:00.000-05:00

Last summer our mortgage lender offered me a credit card with 0% interest for a year. I jumped on this because our house needed such things as major appliances, shades to fit our non-standard-sized windows and professional refinishing to get rid of the acid burns on the hardwood floors. We had bought a house that had been foreclosed on -- while it was big enough for us, structurally sound, surrounded by trees and in a very nice neighborhood it had suffered some "cosmetic" damage.

I used the credit card, faithfully paid the minimum payment every month and just as faithfully deposited money in a savings account in order to pay the balance that would become due at the end of the year. I KNEW the date was 6/23/2009. I had it marked on my calendar. I went online to pay it this morning and discovered I WAS WRONG. The due date was 6/22/2009. I just paid an extra $84.84 because I was one day off!

The moral of that is -- pay attention! Double- and triple-check things! It is going to take a lot of frugality to make up for that $84.84.

Swagbucks!

2009-06-21T17:00:00.000-05:00

Swagbucks is an online portal that lets you search the web -- with results generated by Google and Ask.com. Swagbucks are awarded periodically as you search -- a classic example of Skinnerian interval reinforcement! I guess operant conditioning DOES have real-world applications.

Anyway, once you've accumulated Swagbucks, you redeem them for...stuff, including electronics, gift cards, books, comic books, CDs & music downloads, trading cards, almost anything.

My favorite is the Amazon gift cards (45 Swagbucks will get you a $5 giftcard). They help feed my husband's addiction to reading.

Click on the banner below to join Swagbucks.

The First Post - how it started and why I'm here

2009-06-21T16:41:00.000-05:00

My husband and I, like so many people, lost our jobs. We're luckier than most, though -- we have some savings and investments and my husband has a home-based business. Still, we've had to cut back on a lot of things and scrutinze every penny that goes out.

Our search for new jobs (and possibly a business to buy) is a whole 'nother blog -- The Frugal Midwesterner concentrates on the various things I've been doing to make money and to save money. I'll be posting tips, links and resources that I've found -- hope other people find them helpful.