Life on a Budget
**I wrote this post as part of the Recyclebank Insiders. I will receive Recyclebank points for this post. No other compensation has been received**
Recyclebank provides tips and rewards for green living. Having a Recyclebank account is free. Earn points for complete point opportunities, recycling, and more. Trade your points in for rewards like coupons and gift cards! Sign up today. Complete the Recyclebank opp below for 270 free points!
I needed a several pair of shoes. One for each of my kids and myself for my sister’s upcoming wedding. Payless is having their buy one get one half off sale right now. Plus if you sign up for their new rewards program online they send you a coupon for 20% off in your email. When you shop the sale, also shop through Ebates and earn 3% cash back on top of all your savings.
I love this sale, I ended up getting a pair of shoes for each of my boys (3 of them) and a pair for myself. 2 of them just happened to be on clearance. I got 4 pairs of shoes we needed plus black dress socks for my 2 older boys (which are also bogo) for $57 total!
If you are not a member of Ebates yet, I suggest signing up. It’s free and you’ll earn money back on the purchases you’re making anyway.
**I wrote this post for a chance to win tickets for my family to the Crayola Experience. No other compensation has been received. The Crayola Experience information has been provided by Crayola**
I had heard about the Crayola Experience a couple years ago. Since then I’ve been determined to find a way to get my family there. I think it would be a lot of fun for both the kids and my husband and I. We all grew up with crayola and I think it would really neat to see how they’re made and to participate in Crayola related activities.
The Crayola Experience is more than 60,000 square feet of Crayola fun. It’s located right here in PA in a town called Easton. It’s a few hours drive for us so it would be a nice weekend family trip for us. I had looked into The Crayola experience last year and apparently they added 18 new attractions since I last looked into it. Even more reason to want to go now. The Crayola Experience is open year round so even if you can’t go this summer you could plan a trip anytime.
I had no idea Ebates even did this but I think it’s a cool idea. Every year Ebates let’s it’s member vote their their favorite store to earn double cash back. If you are not familiar with Ebates, it’s a great site that let’s you earn cash back when you shop your favorite online stores through their site. Earn cash back with deals like these, but there are many many more including Target, Old Navy, and Drugstore.com just for a few examples:
Freebies, I love ’em. If you’re here you probably do too. The problem when grabbing freebies online can be wondering if it’s legit or not. Another issue raised is getting unwanted emails or spam from freebies. Here’s some tips to cut down on your headache when grabbing freebies online.
1. Set up an email account strictly for grabbing freebies and entering sweepstakes. Some freebies and sweepstakes require that you sign up for their newsletter, or sometimes they get sneaky about the check off boxes about receiving more info from them or partners. I’d also make it something that doesn’t include personal info in the email address. For example don’t put JoeSchmo @ email . com.
2. A lot of times when I site offers freebies, it’s in the hopes of gaining business, subscribers, going viral, etc. You’ll often see check off boxes that say things like “sign up for our newsletter” or “receive offers from our partners” or “do you want to know about future promotions like this”. If you don’t, then make sure they aren’t check off or selected in some way. Sometimes they get sneaky about that and have them already checked off in the hopes you won’t pay attention and bam they got another subscriber.
3. If the offer sounds too good to be true…well you know how that saying goes. There are tons of sites out there that say “Get a free $1000 Walmart gift card” or “Get a free Xbox 1” or something along those lines. Sweepstakes on a legitimate site is one thing but there is not a site out there that’s going to be handing out $1000 Walmart gift cards like sheets of paper. Often these sites make you complete “offers” and you have to complete several. Many you have to spend money on to complete. Also, BIG spam sites. Some of them even collect your info to sell it.
4. Stick with trusted sites. Entering a sweepstakes from a company that’s familiar like Target, Kmart, Allure Magazine, Toys R’ US on THEIR website is most likely safe. Though these companies will sponsor giveaways on other sites like blogs or magazine sites for instance. There are of course spoof sites. If the site looks funny at all (company logo doesn’t look right, claims are unbelievable, minimal info is divulged about the sweepstakes or freebie itself, spelling errors, etc it might be a spoof site) Even on trusted sites, I recommend using your dedicated “sweepstakes and freebies” email account.
5. What kind of info are they asking you for? No sweepstakes or freebie will ask you for your social security number or drivers license number when you enter. IF you win a prize though you may have to fill out an affidavit to claim your prize which may ask for info like that. I used to think affidavits were only for when you win a big prize but I found out through first hand experience that it’s not. I had to fill out an affidavit one time for a $25 J. Crew gift card I won from Sheknows.com one time.
5. LuvSavingMoney’s policy. I do post about freebies, deals, sweepstakes, and samples here on LuvSavingMoney.info. I only post legitimate offers from sites I trust. I also only post offers I have, would, or did take advantage of myself. With the check off boxes and some sites requiring you to sign up for their emails etc for the sweepstakes or freebies I can’t guarantee you won’t get further emails from the offers and I’m not an expert but what I post comes from my experience as a frugal blogger and frequent freebie and sweepstakes entrant.