Yes, I Am Cheap - Save Money

Twitter Freebie Post of the Week

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 18:59:23 -0700

It's time again for another freebie post roundup! If you're not following my twitter then you can get what you missed here. Some of these offers go fast, so they may no longer be available.

New blog posting, The Newest FREEBIES! - http://tinyurl.com/29ct8x6

Reminder: Free 5×7 Photo Book: http://goo.gl/fb/43A8g

New at MoneySavingMom.com: $3/1 Chef's Requested coupons available again = $0.28 steaks at Walmart http://bit.ly/8ZVGxj

Free Samples of Sun Crystals http://bit.ly/cSVt2J

Free John Frieda Root Awakening http://bit.ly/annaLu

Don’t forget! It’s Arts & Wonder FREE Family Event weekend! Find a some fun near you: http://Target.com/arts

Free Picture Portraits at Sears, Picture Me and Kiddie Kandids http://bit.ly/9yjjim
If It’s For Free It’s For Me Friday http://goo.gl/fb/lXje

First 1,000 Fans Get a Free Sample of Better Oats!: The first 1,000 fans that sign up get a free sample of Better http://bit.ly/9bhtBF

First 100K fans to sign up will receive a free coupon for a free Bottle of Vitaminwater Coupon via mail. http://tiny.cc/88h22

I don't know if you want to smell like Axe Bodyspray but if you do and you have a Sams Club membership get a free one. http://tiny.cc/ge53u

Free sample of Redken® clean spice 2-in-1 conditioning shampoo. http://tinyurl.com/34yqux2

Get a free sample of the 6 different varieties of Nescafe Taster's Choice. http://tiny.cc/lycrp

Free Bamboo Bag sample from Jerry Parker's printing. http://tiny.cc/06k6k

Ontario Only: Free breakfast at Subway Stores 8/ 19. http://tinyurl.com/294w5sz

Buy 2 Right Guard defense 5 deodorants at Walgreens for $3.99 BOGO. Print $3.00 coupon to bring cost to $0.50 each. http://tiny.cc/0uy7c

Free Farm Story app for your iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch people. http://tiny.cc/2huq0

Regal Theaters are screening G and PG movies for kids free every Tuesday and Wednesday at 10am all summer. http://tiny.cc/1lirp

Get several free bags of pull ups for your kids + $10 free! http://dlvr.it/2bKSd

Coupon Divas has amassed this long list of places and dates where your kids can eat #free. Love it! http://coupondivas.com/kids-eat-free

Turn any surface into a dry erase area for you kids with this #freebie from of IdeaPaint. Better than writing on wall. http://tiny.cc/i590n

You now know how to get #free or low cost medications, but what about doctors? I've got you covered. http://tiny.cc/fwf1v

No health insurance but on medications? The Partnership for Prescription Assistance can with #free or low cost meds. http://www.pparx.org/

Friday Freebies: What You Might Have Missed

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 06:00:00 -0700

I haven't published a Friday Freebie in forever, primarily because that's what my daily tweets are for. Just in case you've been too busy to sign up for Twitter or don't want to follow my Twitter feed (@yesiamcheap) then I've taken the liberty of listing the best freebie tweets of the week here. I hope that they're still available since some of these things go very fast.

Father's Day Related
Free Cup or Cone for Dad on Father's Day at TCBY http://ht.ly/17Mq9H
Free Father's day coloring projects. Get your kids started now on the cute presents for dad. http://tiny.cc/fd2010
HUGE list of Father's Day freebies! http://bit.ly/a50o4G
Make a Father's Day card on Facebook and receive a coupon for a free Denny's ice cream float with value meal purchase. http://tiny.cc/cp4zb
On 6/20 Tasti D-Lite is offering a #free small cup or cone of their frozen yogurt to dads only. No strings attached.

Other Stuff
According to Kellogg's if you eat more fiber for 7 days you'll feel better. So get a free sample of All-Bran to see. http://tiny.cc/5k0u5
BOGO Snapple Iced Tea coupon when you "LIKE" Snapple on FB then click Iced Tea Day Tab. Hit "Back" button to print 2. http://tiny.cc/snpp
Buy a 6-inch or 12-inch Blimpies sandwich and get a 6-inch #free with this coupon. http://tiny.cc/blimpy I loved them long before Subway's
Canadians get free Honey Nut Flavored All bran bars. 'Cause Canadians need to be regular too. http://tiny.cc/y5sxs
Click “Like” to become a Facebook fan of Propel, and then go to the “#Free Sample” tab to get a fitness water. http://tiny.cc/ht4te
Economy giving you heart burn? Try a #free sample of Zantac. It's either that or the pasta that you had for lunch. http://tiny.cc/zant
Free Degree Natureffects body mist for women sample when you "like" them on Facebook and get their friend feed. http://tiny.cc/dmist
Free milk shake at Jakes Hamburgers to kick off summer on June 21. Check the website for details. http://www.jakeshamburgers.com/
Free Nescafe Taster's choice coffee sample. Between this & Starbucks Via lots of caffeine for free. http://smartchoice.tasterschoice.com
Free samples of Green biodegradable Doggie Bags & EatCleaner Biodegradable fruit and veg wipes to clean your fruit. http://tiny.cc/uf7z1
Get a free sample of Bounty Paper Towel. It's from Sam's Club but you don't need a membership ID number to get it. http://tiny.cc/bnty
Get a #free Fresh Express Salad. Follow the link and anter code “FREESALAD”. Coupon expires 6/22/10. http://tiny.cc/fesalad
Get into the world cup with this free soccer game APP from the APP store. http://tiny.cc/5odd7
Join Enfamil Family Beginnings get up to $250 in #free gifts including 1 wk supply of Enfamil, and savings on formula. http://tiny.cc/babys
July 9th dress up like a cow and go to Chick-Fil-A to get a FREE combo meal (bfast, lunch, or din). Partial cows and kids count too
Just got my code for $10 in free Amazon movie rentals. All you have to do is follow @AmazonVideo and they'll send the code in 48 hours.
Life driving you crazy? Get a free copy of Well-Being For Dummies or Retirement For Dummies http://www.realforme.com/register
Like Clairol on Facebook go back at 12 EST. The first 1K ppl to register get a #free box of Clairol. DAILY chances. http://tiny.cc/a5w5s
Purina ONE--Free sample of Purina ONE from Walmart ~ http://bit.ly/cCKiwx
Redbox will give away a free rental on June 21 to everyone who likes them on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/redbox
Request a free sample pack of Kotex Products. You have a choice of 4 sample packs. http://www.kotex.com/na/free-sample
Sign up to get a free P&G booklet by mail of over $30 in savings on great home care products we think you'll love. http://tiny.cc/30dolla
Summer is almost here. Time to bar-b-que. Get two #free samples of Bull's Eye Sauce. Choose from 4 types. http://tiny.cc/naing
Taco Bell hasn't given out 500K FREE Limeade Sparklers yet so get yours before I get my 30th one. I love these things. http://tiny.cc/tacob

Who doesn't love the smell of clean clothes? #Free sample of All OXI-Active™ laundry detergent. http://tiny.cc/alldet

How The Little Things Add Up

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 28 May 2010 10:50:00 -0700

I had a conversation with my brother the other day that inspired this post. We were talking about my mother’s crazy assertions that I somehow have a bunch of money secretly stashed somewhere since I was able to purchase the investment property with 100% cash. My brother knows that I borrowed roughly half the vested value (the maximum allowed by my 401K plan) to purchase the property. What neither my brother nor my mom knew, and what I later shared with him, was how I managed to save money in a 401K while deeply in debt.

I started my 401K when I was 19. You read that correctly. At the time I was make $10 an hour part-time while going to school full-time. The temp agency that I worked for offered a 401K, and while I didn’t fully understand it, the thought that I could put away a little money that the government didn’t tax made sense to me. I certainly needed the money, but I figured that if I put away 1% my pay check it only amounted to $0.10 per hour. I wasted more money buying cans of soda at school. The temp agency didn’t match any of my contributions.

I eventually worked my way up to making $12 an hour at that job and increased my 401K contribution to a whopping 2%. I figured that even if I increased my 401K contribution, I wouldn’t miss the money too much since I was still going to be taking home more pay. I was right and I didn’t miss it. When I graduated from college my first job paid $35K. I was in heaven. That worked out to $16.83 an hour but not only did my pay increase; my expenses also increased. I now had to repay $26K in student loans and $4K in a PLUS loan that my mom had taken out for me for my first year of school. I also had to pay for a portion of the healthcare that the company provided (I didn’t have health coverage before that), in the amount of about $70 per month. On top of that I had about $20K in credit card debt and the interest payments were drowning me. I really couldn’t afford to contribute to the 401K but I did anyway to the tune of 1% of my pay. The company matched 25% of my 1% however, I wouldn’t be fully vested (meaning the money wouldn’t be mine) for about 3 years.

Continue reading "How The Little Things Add Up"

The Best Frugal People to Follow on Twitter

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Tue, 25 May 2010 10:53:00 -0700

I've needed a Twittervention for a while now, but since no one has forced me to sit down and go through a 12 step program, I have been combing Twitter to find the best of the best that YOU should be following if you're not already doing so. I know that you don't want to read personal finance stuff all day and night, but you might want to save some money and you might be interested in the occasional free thing. This is the post that you'll want to bookmark because you will come back to it and I might update it.

Daily Freebies
@yesiamcheap (me)! I'm shameless.
@AwesomeFreebiez
@freesamples411
@freesnatcher
@HeyItsFree
@startsampling
@SwagGrabber

Coupons
@Couponcodelady
@Couponizer
@CouponSherpa
@CouponTweet
@Coupon_Dad
@KrazyCouponLady
@livingwithcents
@lLivinRichCoupon
@mommyscoupons
@MySavingscom

The Frugal Geniuses
@bargainbabe
@DealSeekingMom
@dealtaker
@easybudgeting
@luvbargains
@MoneySavingMom
@NotMadeOfMoney

Other Stuff
@farecoup for travel
@FreeinDCBlog no explanation needed
@Freeiphoneapps no explanation needed
@nycfreeconcerts no explanation needed

You should also follow the list @dawilson2002/frugalistas. If you know of someone on Twitter that actively posts really good deals then let me know, and don't forget to follow my feed @yesiamcheap for daily freebies. I mean it.

It's Friday. Do You Know Where Your Freebies Are?

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 21:08:09 -0700

The IRS is partnering with numerous organizations (AARP, United Way, etc.) to offer its Volunteer Income Tax Assistance, or VITA program for free nationwide. Volunteers will help you fill out tax forms and you efile for free if you qualify. To locate the nearest AARP Tax-Aide site, call 1-888-227-7669 or visit AARP's Internet site. You can also efile for free at the IRS Free File site if you have a gross adjusted income of 57K or less.

Time Warner Cable is offering free phone calls to Haiti through February. You must be a customer of its digital phone service. Calls to landlines and cell phones are included. Calls to operators or directory assistance will continue to be charged at the usual rate. If digital phone customers have already made calls to Haiti, their bill will be credited retroactively.

Tylenol is offering a free pedometer. Register at justkeepmoving.com, which is a site by Tylenol Arthritis Pain. You'll get a free pedometer and a DVD (while supplies last).

Sign up for the Denny's Rewards program online on Monday and they'll send you a coupon good for a free burger and fries good March 1 through March 7. They're only offering coupons to the first 500,000 people so make sure you sign up at the crack of dawn. When you sign up they'll send you a coupon for 20% off a meal whether you get the freebie or not. Oh, and it will also qualify you for a free meal on your birthday. Sign up today.

Have a snorer in your family? Want to try a non-surgical solution? Get a free sample of new Breathe Right strips. Doesn't work for my snorer, but it's free so give it a try.

Coupon Dad has some great coupon match ups with deals from Walmart where a few things end up close to free. When I say close I mean under $1. I've got a buck in change hanging out in my car so that's almost free money since the guys who clean my car usually take it.

If you want to play the Extrabucks game at CVS Baton Rouge Mommy has figured out how to get 16 Sobe Lifewaters for free. Genius!

Did I mention that someone with sticky fingers helped themselves to my coupon binder? Yes, I said coupon binder. I had coupons nicely organized in plastic sheets by grocery isle in a nice black 3-ring binder that disappeared from my car! I wonder if it went the way of the change under my seat...although my brother's girlfriend as well as my mom had both been eyeballing my binder as well. Sigh. Time to start all over again.

Keep up with my craziness automatically. Subscribe to my feed.

Black Friday Steals and Deals

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 15:30:00 -0700

I love Thanksgiving. Oh sure, I love it for the food and family and all that good stuff, but I love it even more for the deals! Yes folks, I'm talking about Black Friday. Now, in case you've been on another planet and don't know what Black Friday is, it's the luscious day that follows Thanksgiving where stores try to lure you in for Christmas shopping by offering ridiculously priced deals that only a few people will be able to take advantage of. Whew! That was a mouthful.

I'm not a shopper. Truly, I'm not. But, if there is something that I am in need of like say, a laptop, then I usually try to wait for this time of the year to get it. I've done the Black Friday thing a few times since I was a teenager. I've had the pleasure of waiting on a line for a store to open at 11 pm. Those were the days when you had to really be "in the know" to take advantage of a good deal. These days the damn internet has evened out the playing field to where amateurs think they can step in on my turf. P.S. The key to waiting on line for hours is to not eat too much on Thanksgiving and train your sphincters to get your peeing and pooing under some serious control because it might be a while.

So listen, most stores will open at 5am, but Walmart has decided to stay open for 24 hours on Black Friday. Their deals are only from 5 to 11 am though, so get there early. Trust me when I tell you that the best time to go will be around 1am. If you don't get to take advantage of these deals, don't worry. There's always the clearance sales after Christmas.

If you find yourself in need of a few things and want to find out what deals are out there, there are a few websites that you'll want to check out. Oh, and if someone spots a decent laptop on sale that you'll want me to check out, please pop me a message.

Amazon.com
2009 Black Friday Ads
Black Friday Ads
Black Friday Info
Black-Friday.net
Deal Taker Black Friday
Gotta Deal
TGI Black Friday

If waiting on long lines isn't your thing, don't worry! Many large retailers including Amazon are now offering Black Friday deals online. You get to eat all of you want, poo when you want, and shop in your PJ's. Ain't life grand?

Freebie Friday

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 07:41:00 -0700

We need to restart the Friday Freebies posts. This is brought to you by our friends at HeyItsFree.net, Coupon Mom, Coupon Dad, Bargain Brianna and Engineer A Debt Free Life

Free
Always Infinity
GoodNites Underpants
Carl's Jr.Small Fries. Click on the Carl's burger then scroll down
Music for Kids download
Walgreens Coupon Booklet - Just ask them for one.
New Yorker 2010 calendar
Total Cereal
Fibre One Cereal plus $5 coupon
Bare Naked granola
Nutri-dog Chews
Blockbuster Express Free Rental Code through October 23
Diapers plus coupon.

Almost Free
Go to Wendy's and spend $1 to get 10 free Jr. Frosty coupons valid between 11/1/09 and 2/1/10
$1 off Cesar canine treats
$1 off 1 Bumble Bee Premium Tuna pouch. Tip: It's $1 at Walmart
Kmart: 20% off Kmart brands for Unemployed
$3 off NeosporinLip Health
$0.75 off Trident Layers

Cool Coupons
Glade Refills
$10 Off Eukanuba Dog Food (scroll to bottom)
$1 Off Purex Laundry Sheets
$5 off $25 Purchase at CVS when you take the flu quiz
Get flu shot at CVS and get $100 coupon book
$10 off any 2 Olay Pro-X products
$1 off anyGeneral Mills cereal
$1 off anyFrito-Lay variety pack
$1 offNestle candy

Know of any goodies? Leave a comment with a link!

Forum Now Open

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 09:10:40 -0700

I don't know how but somehow people have trolled the site and found my forums! I didn't have a link from here to the forum but I love the joys of Google. I was still in the process of making it all nice and pretty as I learned how to use the program but the cat is out of the bag. Anyway so since people have registered for it (?!) I guess it was time to make the forums public.

You can now see a link up top to the forums. You can register with a username and post any deals that you find. It will be an easy way to just pop in and see a deal and when it expires. Feel free to post your own as well.

I will also post the cheap recipes on there as well for those of you who cook. By the way, it's a busy upcoming 2 weeks at work but I will try to make sure I at least hit my three post personal quota for the week. I do have an exciting post coming up that I am working on. In the meantime I am chipping away at my debt. I hope you do the same.

Sandy

How to Go Green Cheaply and Save Money

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 07:25:00 -0700

This is a portion of my article on eHow. If you'd like, please stop by and rate it! Every rating an comment helps me earn money towards the debt snowball.

Going green is the cool thing to do, but some green ideas can leave your wallet hurting. This doesn't have to be! If you are just starting to go green, here are some simple ideas that will reduce your impact, won't leave your wallet in pain, and can save you money.

Slowly switch your regular bulbs over to compact florescent bulbs. Instead of buying new bulbs all at once, wait until each of your current bulbs die and replace them with CFL versions. CFL bulbs use up to 70% less energy and last much longer -about 5 times- than conventional bulbs. Over time, this can save you money on your energy bills and bulb replacement costs.

Plug your electrical products into power strips and turn off the power strips when the items are not in use. Electronics such as televisions and microwaves can still pull energy even when off. By turning off the power strip you will save not only this latent energy use (sometimes called vampire energy), but money as well.

Reduce the number of miles that you drive. Do this by combining multiple trips into one, buying in bulk, walking, biking or taking public transportation. Empty out your trunk and inflate your tires to the correct levels to reduce drag. You will save on gas money and if you reduce the number of miles that you drive per year below certain thresholds, your car insurance company can reduce your premiums.

Save money on water by replacing your shower heads with low-flow versions. This will reduce the amount of water that you use each time you shower. Run your dishwasher on full loads. Run your washing machine using cold water and line dry your clothes.

Reduce the amount of trash you generate by switching to green grocery bags or reusing plastic bags from your previous trips. Receive your monthly statements online instead of the mail. Switch from buying bottled water to refillable bottles and you will save these bottles from going directly to the landfill.

There are lots of free or cheap things that you can do to both go green and save money. What's your favorite?

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Grow Your Own Food, Save Money

nospam@example.com (Cheapskate Sandy) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 17:39:00 -0700

I think I'm about to lose a few of you with this one but now that Spring is here have you thought about planting a garden to supplement your food? For those of you who live in apartment buildings with my balcony, I'm sorry but this might not be the best post for you to read. Everyone else, scoot a little closer to the computer monitor.

Now you've heard about these survivalist wingnuts who thing the great war is coming and you have to grow everything you eat to preserve your food supply. You have? Yeah, well I'm not talking about that. I'm taking about a little patch for veggies and such.

I find now to be a great time to go to your local Lowes, Ace or Home Desperately-In-Need-Of-Better-Trained-Staff to purchase packets of seeds. It's much cheaper than buying seedlings later plus you can control what kind of chemicals are going onto your veggies. I recommend planting something that you eat a lot of. For me tomatoes make sense. So I plant tomatoes. I also do a mixture of different lettuces in a pot so that it can grow and I can clip off some lettuce as I need it. I love peas and peppers so those two get a planted as well. Now I'm entering the final frontier. Did I tell you my potato story?

So I have a degree in Biology and I thought that I would grow potatoes in a pot this year. Trust me, it can be done. So I selected some red potatoes, brown bagged them so that they would sprout, and got ready to plant them. Let me say that I had them sprouted for months. I went to the home supply store and got organic soil and a large pot. I got home all ready to plant the potatoes that I'd now had sprouting for months. I couldn't find the potato anywhere. Finally, I asked the BF's mother where my potato was. Turns out she has tossed it the day before! I hit the ceiling. Everyone knew that I planned on planting this potato and had left it away from the ones we eat. She thought it looked "wormy". So be sure to keep your sprouts away from everyone else.

Also, visit Lindsay at Off The Urban Grid for more tips on growing things. She even has a post on how to grow things even if you don't have a garden. You should also check out what one family in California did with their home garden. Oh, the possibilities. Love it.

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