Being frugal is fun!

admin — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 01:16:52 +0000

Yesterday the hubby messaged me a link to a very good food deal at Baja Fresh. Basically Baja Fresh put out a coupon on their Facebook fan page that allowed customers to get a free burrito with the purchase of a beverage. The drinks are less than $2 and the burritos are usually $6 to $7. So after work the hubby and I took advantage of the deal.

When we got to Baja Fresh there was actually a line and the servers at the registers had a giant pile of coupons that people have redeemed. The hubby was kind of excited that the deal was being accepted at the location. We each used a coupon and spent $1.74 each for a fountain drink and a burrito. It would have been cheaper if our sales taxes didn’t go up. We sat down and ate our burritoes with a bit of glee.

Afterward, we were walking towards the car, and the hubby cheerfully said, “I found the deal!”

I congratulated him and said, “good job!”

Then he said, “I beat you in finding the deal!” I am usually the one sending him coupons so he seems very proud in finding this particular coupon. Apparently he put Slickdeals on his RSS reader after he married me, and yesterday he read it before I did so he did beat me to it. I thought it was awfully cute how proud he was of his accomplishment.

Even today he was cheerfully saying how he found a deal, so I think he really had fun in being frugal. I think for folks who like to save money finding these opportunities is not a chore, but a game of sorts. It does take a little bit of effort to always look for a coupon or discount before you shop, but it really does not hurt to look. The hubby rarely used coupons before we got together, so I am glad to see that he is starting to enjoy it.

Tips for Entering Sweepstakes and Getting Free Stuff

admin — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 06:16:23 +0000

In my article about how I saved $30,000 in college I wrote that I entered a lot of sweepstakes, and some people are curious how exactly that works. Today I will share in detail what I did, and give some tips through what I learned.

1. Use a sweepstakes list - It is time consuming to find out about individual sweekstakes yourself. What I did was use online-sweepstakes.com. It is a great community and forum with thousands of contests that you can enter. It used to be completely free, but now there is a subscription fee for some of the premium content (more sweeps and site specific contests). I paid subscription for one year because I won so many things from there.

2. Use a sweepstakes only email address - This is to prevent spam and newsletters from rendering your main email address useless. No matter how hard you try, if you are a sweeper you may be spammed.

3. Always read the rules – You should always read the rules and see if you qualify. Otherwise, if you won something and then got disqualified it would be a sad loss. Usually sweepstakes disallow Floridians to enter because of the laws there. Liquor companies also do not allow Californians to enter for prizes worth more than $5.00.

4. Try to enter contests sponsored by reputable companies – This is important because there are scammers out there that try to collect emails and addresses and then sell these lists. If you only deal with companies that are fairly well known then the chance of being scammed is lessened greatly.

5. Use a form filler - The most popular form filling software I have seen is Roboform. Before Roboform I had to write my own form fillers. It is usually not against the rules to use Roboform to fill out a contest entry.

6. Enter local contests or limited entry contests for better chances – Some contests have rules that say they are limited to the first X number of entrants. These contests will give you a much better chance at winning. Local television and radio stations are also good places to look for contests because the pool of entrants is much smaller than a national contest.

7. Never give out money – Sweepstakes should be no purchase necessary. This is the law. If a sweepstakes asks for money or credit card information you should avoid it. There should be no entry fees of any kind.

These are the basics of sweeping, but there are a lot of other things I learned through the few years I was a sweeper. A lot of sweepers are stay at home moms and they are generally very friendly. The key is to be careful when you are online and supplying private information. You also have to be persistent to win. I have won some very nice prizes and tried many products that I would otherwise not have bought. So I think if you have a lot of free time on your hands it is a good hobby.

The Baglady » Freebies

Being frugal is fun!

Tips for Entering Sweepstakes and Getting Free Stuff