Where or where have all the freebies gone? Or where or where can they be? Bringing you the best I can find; guess everyone’s on vacation now that it’s August!
Also, be sure to scroll to the bottom of this blog posting for something completely different–and free: a giveaway, courtesy of Bed, Bath and Beyond!
Free Food
- Get a free package of Swedish Fish when you purchase the new Swedish Fish flavor of Rita’s Water Ice. (That’s Italian ice to anyone not in the Philly area.)
- Through August 31, anyone with an August birthday can stop by their local Domino’s to receive one free Lava Crunch Cake on their birthday! (Proof of date required, identification can include drivers license or birth certificate.)
- Arby’s free-food Wednesday continues: Enjoy a Free Roast Chicken Club with any soft drink purchase on August 12.
Complimentary Cosmetics and More
- Through August 29th at Rite Aid stores, you can participate in the Rite Aid “Freebate” program. It allows you, with one click of your mouse, to get rebates on many purchases you make in the store. Once complete it’s as if you’d gotten your cosmetics and more for free!
Entertainment at No Cost
- Radio station 106.7 Lite fm in New York City presents the best of Broadway in Bryant Park, a free concert of Broadway music, on six consecutive Thursdays this summer. On August 13, starting at 12:30 p.m. on the Bryant Park Stage, you’ll enjoy music from Billy Elliott, South Pacific, Altar Boyz and Mamma Mia! Also, John Stamos from Bye Bye Birdie will make a special appearance. Bryant Park is located behind the New York Public Library on 6th Avenue between 40th and 42nd street. Seating is first come-first-served on the lawn.
Great Giveaway If You’ve Got a College Student
Bed, Bath and Beyond would like to send one Suddenly Frugal reader a free extra-long twin sheet set for his/her college student to take away to college. How do you enter? Post a comment here about one of the ways you scored freebies or acted frugally when you were in college. The funnier, the better. I’ll be judging the most “entertaining” anecdote and deciding who wins. Please be sure to include your email address when you post a comment.
READ LEAH ON HOME GOES STRONG
I worked for the campus bookstore in college. It was a tough job at the start and end of the semester, but I got a great discount on my textbooks, and when it wasn’t buying or buy back season, it was an easy job.
At the end of the semester, students threw out a lot of stuff. I mean — a LOT. If I lived year round in Tampa, I could have furnished an apartment. I didn’t, so I didn’t dumpster dive.
But on the day before I flew back to Jersey, I dropped a bag of trash off at the dump and saw a textbook, still in the shrink wrap with CD, leaning against the wall of the dump.
I knew that the shrink wrap and enclosed CD made the book valuable. So I took it to the book store, passed it off as my own, and made $20 cash. Best dumpster dive ever.
I don’t have a kid going to college, but I will say I now know what Rita’s ices are, and actually tasted the Swedish Fish flavor last week! I feel so in-the-know…
I remember selling area rugs with logo imprints on them so I could spend a summer studying abroad. This was back in the 1980s, so I only had to raise $1,800 for the six week term. The rugs had cutesy designs on them like a frog saying “Welcome to my pad,” and “Geaux Tigers” (for LSU fans).
I sold rugs because the return was great—I got half of each $6 sale. I went door-to-door in my little town in Louisiana, my mom sold them to bank tellers when she went in to cash a check and even to workers in the courthouse when she went to pick up documents. My dad was hanging out in the local bar a bit in those days, and he sold quite a few to his drinking buddies there. All in all with a little help I sold a bit over the 600 rugs I needed to make my money.
I had a great time on the trip, and I was careful when doling out my hard-earned cash. One splurge? A purple, silk dress bought in Rome and proudly worn for years after.
Even now, almost 30 years later, I still see a few of those rugs when I visit the people I sold them to. By now, of course, they are relegated carports and garages and quite faded, but they’re still going strong. What a good investment those buyers made, adn what a great trip I had.
Lots of great ones for food – Jack in the Box Taco Tuesday again 8/11. new free samples from NutCrunch, cheerios, poster from Redwood creek winery.
check out the list
http://abundantfoodsavings.com/Daily-Good-Deal-Alert/freebie-friday-8709.html
I could use regular size twin sheets for one of my 2 small children!
So most of us know about Goodwill, but in my area, perhaps all areas? they have a place called “Diggers Delight.” These are items that were too big for Goodwill, or that hadn’t sold in 14 days. At Diggers Delight clothing was $2 a pound, and furniture was real cheap.
My college roommate and I scored a HUGE dorm suite, so we had to get furniture. We found a very orange recliner and the price was right. The only problem was she had a Honda Civic and we weren’t sure how we’d get it to the dorm.
Fortunately for us, someone in the parking lot had self-proclaimed “ADHD” and spent the next 30 minutes helping rig up the recliner to her car.
That sad ol’ recliner lasted two years in our suite, and then was passed on to a friend, who may still have it today (10 years later!)
May the frugal purchases live on through us and others we love.
Thanks for the funny story, but BBB has offered the XL sheets for dorm rooms only.
Those tiny dorm refrigerators save a lot of money on the meal plan, but in the 1970s my college rented them for the astronomical fee of $75 per year. I bought one for $99 and used it for the two years I was in the dorms. After I moved to an apartment, I rented it to other students for a few years at $50 per year (undercutting the school’s fridge monopoly). After graduation, I sold it for $90 to a high school teacher to use in her classroom. If my math is right (hey, I was an art major..) I made a net $241 off the deal — not counting what I saved on my meal plan. (Oh, and I sold my meal tickets too, but after 30+ years I can’t recall how much money I made off of that deal.) My daughter is going off to college in 5 weeks, and one of the first things she bought was (drum roll) a dorm refrigerator, for about $100. And the refrigerator cycle starts again.
Did you at least buy the refrigerator on Craigslist?
She looked on Craigslist, but they were not less expensive. (We’re in a kind of rural area, not near any college.) She compared prices at several places and bought on a good sale, at least.