June 2012

Earn free stuff with Disney's Movie Rewards

Disney has a rewards program to honor all of their dedicated customers. With this program, it is possible to earn free stuff such as DVDs, posters, sing-a-longs, gift cards, clothing, storybooks, toys and even flowers.

Here's how the program works:

1. You register for the program. This is entirely free. Just enter your birth date, zip code, first and last name, e-mail address, select a password, choose whether you are male or female and check the box that states you understand the terms and conditions (you can click on the link to view these first).

Free bananas

Dole has started up a new season of their Dole Monday Funday Sweepstakes. This sweepstakes is for six months worth of free bananas. We eat a lot of bananas in our house, so you better believe that I will be entering this giveaway!

Dole Monday Funday is available from June 18, 2012 until September 17, 2012. Each Monday during the sweepstakes time frame, you can enter to win the free bananas. A total of five winners will be chosen each week.

To enter the Monday Funday giveaway, head to Dole's Facebook page. You'll need to click the “Like” button before you can continue on. From there you will be able to enter your e-mail address, name and mailing address. You'll also need to answer a question. This question is different from week to week. Sometimes it will involve a multiple choice question, and other times it will simply require a true or false answer.

Every little bit helps

These small savings tips can add up.

Sometimes people don’t have time to clip coupons or scour the web for deals, but they still want to save money. How can you do this with minimal effort? There are lots of things you can do that will save you small amounts of money over time—and every little bit helps! Here are just a few easy tips.

Use reusable bags. Many stores, like Aldi’s and Target, reward you for not using their bags (at Aldi’s, you have to buy them anyway) and knock off some of your bill just for bringing reusable bags.

Consumer Reports recommends Shop Smart Magazine

I am always on the hunt for good deals. It helps if you find one source that will provide a long list of excellent savings and Shop Smart Magazine does that. I found this magazine while browsing through Consumer Report's website. I'm so glad I did.

Shop Smart Magazine has many benefits. What I like the best is that the website is ad free. You don't have to worry about having to sign up for things in order to get a freebie or a great deal. You have three options when it comes to Shop Smart Magazine. First, you can order a subscription of the magazine delivered directly to your door through the website. Second, you can pick up the magazine at a variety of news stands. Finally, you can stick with viewing articles that are available on the website for free.

Freebie tips for newbies

I've been obtaining free stuff for over 10 years. I have learned a few key things along the way.

1. Create a separate e-mail address. Grab a free e-mail address from either Yahoo or Gmail to use exclusively for signing up for freebies. If you don't, you'll quickly see that your main e-mail account is swamped with e-mails that you really have no interest in reading. Then you'll have to spend all your time clicking the unsubscribe links in each e-mail.

2. Join some freebie forums. It takes too much time to try and hunt down all the new freebies that pop up. Joining a few reputable freebie forums is the best way to keep your eye out for great deals. Checking them once per day will only take about five or 10 minutes. This is where I find most of the freebies I sign up for.

Summer movies for kids for only one buck!


If you live in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia or Florida, you are in luck. You can take your kids to the movies for $1. Frank Theaters has a summer movie program for kids. Two days a week, a children's movie will be playing in the theater and the cost for each ticket is a low $1.

Some of the movies on the summer list include Rio, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, Happy Feet Two, Shrek Forever After, Puss in Boots, Spy Kids: All the Time in the World, The Smurfs, Kung Fu Panda 2, Dolphin Tale, and The Adventures of Tin Tin. I'm excited about this program, as there are several movies that my kids have never seen. For one dollar I'll have no excuse not to take them.

Free Baskin-Robbins ice cream


Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945. The company serves ice cream, frozen drinks and frozen desserts. With more than 6,700 stores, you are sure to find one in your area. Best of all, you can even get some free Baskin-Robbins ice cream on your birthday!

In order to get your free ice cream, you'll have to head to Baskin-Robbins Birthday Club page. Here you can fill out your full name, gender, e-mail, zip code, date of birth and a password that you want to use to log in to the website in the future. You can add your cell phone number if you like and then click the “Next” button.

Use QuiBids to score great deals


QuiBids is a penny auction site that has everything from high-end electronics to gift cards and gadgets. If you're savvy enough, you can win televisions and gaming systems for $20.

So how does QuiBids really work? This site can actually be confusing at first, but once the concept is explained and you try your hand at winning a prize, you won't have any trouble at all. To start out, you'll have to register with QuiBids and purchase your bids. Each bid equals $.60, and the website requires you to purchase 100 bids upfront. That is a total of $60 to get started.

Next, you will be able to bid on any item you want. When you use each bid, the price of the item you're bidding on goes up by a penny (which is why it is considered a penny auction). There is also a timer under each prize. The timer increases after you place a bid.

Free jigsaw puzzles

Although we had a television growing up, it was still an era where kids played outside, read books, and worked on jigsaw puzzles or paint-by-number kits. Today, everything kids do seems to be online. They read books online, listen to music online and now they can even complete jigsaw puzzles online. Best of all, they can do this entirely for free.

JigZone.com is a website stocked with online jigsaw puzzles. No registration is required in order to use the site either, which is a huge plus in my book. You can click on the special puzzle of the day, or browse for puzzles through the categories listed on the left-hand side of the screen. Once you find a puzzle you like, click on it.