Quest

Free & Goodness. Two Words I Love To Hear!

Today, friends, I have a few wonderful propositions for you!

Let’s start with some excellent, provocative, thoughtful, funny, and emotionally powerful theatre! I think we could all use a little more of that in our lives, don’t you?

1544998_10152275492931754_552261775_n{Last Gas at Geva Theatre Center – via}

I have ten half-price tickets up for grabs to see both Last Gas and Black Pearl Sings! at Geva Theatre Center, in our Mainstage and Nextstage spaces, respectively. Last Gas closes this Sunday (Feb 2), and Black Pearl Sings! closes next Sunday (Feb 9)…but you’d be crazy and sorry to miss either one. Ted and I saw both shows on their opening nights and we loved them! Ted actually requested to see Last Gas a second time, so we’re going again this Friday evening, and Black Pearl Sings! was just as wonderful (and won the highly coveted #4 slot on the Best 5 Central New York Theatre Shows of 2013 list), and I certainly wouldn’t mind catching it again before it closes! Please read up on both shows here and here. They’re both truly fantastic pieces of theatre and if you’re looking to both ‘sit back and relax’ and ‘sit forward and engage’ this weekend, then you’ll be so glad you decided to come to the theatre. Reach out to me if you’d like to get your hands on a few of those half-price tickets for either (or both!) shows and I’ll get you set up! I’m also looking forward to potentially seeking Boeing Boeing and Shrek the Musical at other local area theatres over the next few weeks. Because, really, who had any idea that David Lindsay-Abaire, that fantastic edgy playwright, was on the creative team for Shrek the Musical?

1505258_10152267201286754_1165272242_n{Black Pearl Sings! at Geva Theatre Center – via}

And once you’ve treated yourself to some great theatre for a pretty little discount and are ready to treat yourself to a $50 worth of free clothing (yes, that actually exists) and a free gallon of white milk of any brand of your choosing (yes, this deal also actually exists too), you can check out these offers as well….Looks like I’m all about saving you money while keeping you entertained, clothed, and full (physically and mentally) this week!

To snag $50 worth of free clothing (and I’ve done all this before, so I can promise you that it’s real, it’s easy, and it’s legit), just visit Twice (https://www.liketwice.com/zE4GQ) to register for an account through my referral link to earn a $10 credit toward your first purchase. Download the Twice app on your iPhone to earn another $10 credit. Download the Twice app on your iPad to earn another $10 credit. Then use your $30 credit to buy several pieces of stylish, brand name, new or practically new clothing from Twice! After you’ve completed your first transaction, they’ll email you a short satisfaction survey to fill out. Upon completion of the survey, they’ll reward you with another $10 credit for taking 2 minutes to provide feedback – so you’re up to $40. Buy another $10 of free clothes with it! If you’re feeling extra compelled, you can then invite your friends to try Twice using your referral link, and you’ll earn $10 for each friend who signs up and makes a purchase. You can also sell them your very gently used clothing that you no longer want, and they’ll pay you for the clothes and give you yet another $10 credit for becoming a first time seller with them. The clothing they sell is always clean, completely new or practically new, carefully inspected, name brand, and of excellent quality – I’ve been very pleased with the clothing I’ve received from them.

So now that you’ve scored at least $40 of free clothes with Twice, head on over to thredUP (http://www.thredup.com/r/WXQQBY), another company very much like Twice that I have recently used as well and have been very pleased with, to register for an account through my referral link above, and earn a $10 credit toward your first purchase with them. Spend your $10 credit and then invite your friends to try thredUP using your referral link and you’ll earn $10 for each friend who signs up and makes a purchase. And, like Twice, you can also sell them your very gently used clothing and they’ll pay you for the clothes and give you another $10 credit for becoming a first time seller with them. They also buy and sell kids clothing, for all you mommas out there.

And, boom!, just like that – $50 of free clothing. At least! And the potential to earn more.

Excuse the dreary photo, but in case you’re wondering what roughly $60 worth of free clothing from Twice and thredUP (mostly Loft, Gap, and Express – which are some of my favorite brands) looks like…here’s what it looks like: 7 tops (tanks, sweaters, button ups, tees, and cardigans) plus a pair of Express jeans (not pictured). To be fair, I did also score an even steeper discount during a sale they had going on, but all this clothing was purchased with the free money I explained above. Suitable for work and weekends!

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Are you ready for your free gallon of milk? Good. But this is an offer you have MUST complete by Friday, January 31st!

Simply visit Ibotta (http://www.ibotta.com/r/K75Grw), register for an account with them through my referral link, then download their app onto your smartphone and log into it. Go to “offers” and check out all the stores in your area that you can save money at. When you find an item at a store that you want to buy (like, milk or eggs – any brand, for example), simply complete a few easy tasks to “earn” anywhere between $0.25 and $2.00 worth of credit (tasks to earn credit may include watching a 30-second video clip, taking a poll, answering a question, reading a fact, allowing it to post an Ibotta link to your Facebook wall – which can be posted as “private” – or allowing it to post a tweet on Twitter on your behalf). Then go to the store to purchase the items you need (the milk). Upload a picture of the receipt. Scan the item’s barcode as proof of purchase. Submit the receipt and barcode electronically to Ibotta through the app, and within a few hours, Ibotta will deposit cash into your account, which you can redeem later for actual cash (via PayPal) or gift cards. They upload new offers every week (usually on Monday mornings), so check it often.

Here’s how to get your free milk before Friday, Jan 31: Register for an account using my link above. Download the app to your smartphone. Go to “offers” and select the grocery store you want to buy a gallon of white milk (any brand) at. Complete the two $0.25 tasks to “earn” $0.50 worth of credit for the milk. Go to the store and buy the milk. Go back into the app, click “redeem” – take a picture of your full receipt and scan the milk’s barcode when it prompts you to. Hit submit. You will be rewarded with $0.50 cash back for the milk AND a $2 cash back bonus because I referred you and you redeemed an offer before 1/31. So you just got back the full $2.50 you paid for milk. Done and done. Enjoy your free milk.

Then, while you’re at it and piling up on free stuff anyway, download the 7-Eleven app (yes, the convenience store) on your phone, register, click the little green $ symbol at the top center of your screen, and receive a coupon for a totally free bag of Chex Chips. Just select the coupon, take your phone to your nearest 7-Eleven, and walk out with free chips. This deal also expires on Friday night, January 31st, so be sure to redeem it when you get your free milk with Ibotta, but every week 7-Eleven posts some kind of free food offer – earlier this week it was a free bag of Pillsbury Chocolate Chip cookies….an excellent accompaniment to free milk.

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So there you have it: Really spectacular half-price theatre to nourish your mind and your soul, $50 worth of free clothing to keep you warm and looking good, and free milk and chips for your belly. Happy Thursday! I think we’re all in the same boat with this economy, so the more deals we can pass along to help one another out – the better off we all can be. I hope this starts your weekend off well :)

 

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So, about that whole money saving thing…

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So, at the end of December I wrote about moderate couponing in a post (check it out here) called Saving and Earning. That post was surprisingly popular and quite well-viewed, and in that post I mentioned a few of my favorite websites (Swagbucks, thredUP, Twice, Ebates, and Ibotta) that, over the past 6 weeks, have helped Ted and I save and earn some money at a time when our budget is really limited (which is basically all the time – as is to be expected when you both work in the professional non-profit arts industry).

In that post I also mentioned that I learned about all these websites and a ton of other couponing knowledge and additional ways to save money, earn money, and get things steeply discounted or free (stuff that I didn’t share in my last blog post) from a couponing workshop taught by my wonderful friend Shawnda, who is a seriously awesome, smart, and savvy money-saving maven.

And I also mentioned that the next time she hosted one of those couponing workshops, I’d let you know.

Well, it’s your lucky day…because she’s at it again! And if you live in the Rochester, NY area and find yourself continually struggling to make ends meet, like so very many of us do, then this is a workshop you cannot afford to miss. Here’s the info:

Shawnda’s Couponing Workshop

Thursday, January 16th at 7:30pm -or- Saturday, January 18th at 1:00pm -or- Thursday, January 23rd at 7:30pm / Cost: $15 / Workshop lasts for approximately 1.5 hours and you’ll receive a goody bag packed with useful items! / To register: Let me know in the comments (or by Facebook, text message, email, etc.) if you are interested and I’ll put you in touch with Shawnda who will fill you in on location and other important details. 

Now, if you’re still on the fence, let me assure you that the $15, which is precious in everyone’s budget right now and that seems difficult to part with, is something you can consider a very wise investment in your financial future, and what you gain from this workshop will far exceed the $15 you put toward learning a skill that has the ability to greatly impact your family’s finances. Still not swayed? Here’s a little proof. Last night I inventoried all our receipts and took stock of what we’ve done since I took Shawnda’s workshop seven weeks ago. Here are the results:
  • Free samples we received in the mail: Travel-sized tube of Arm & Hammer toothpaste, full-sized jar of Hersey’s chocolate spread, several packets of Truvia zero-calorie sweetener, sample of Finish dishwasher detergent, travel tube of Pantene Pro-V shampoo, travel tube of Garnier Fructis conditioner, free 1-year subscription to Self Magazine, 3 Julep nail polishes, and 1 pocket knife (for Ted)
  • Free items we got in-store or were “paid to take”: 2 packages of Butterball turkey bacon, 1 carton of milk, 1 bottle of wound wash, 5 movie rentals, 2 packages of Pillsbury cookies, 3 boxes of cereal (Kellogg’s and General Mills), 1 Lean Cuisine, 1 Smart Ones, 1 cup of Quaker Oats oatmeal medley to-go, 2 packages of almonds, 1 full-sized bottle of Pantene shampoo, 1 full-sized bottle of Pantene conditioner, 6 Hallmark greeting cards, 2 jars of Almay eye-makeup remover pads, 1 bottle of Suave shampoo, 2-pack of full-sized Colgate Total plus Whitening toothpaste tubes, toothbrushes, candy bars, and Kraft macaroni and cheese
  • Free cash that we earned online that can be redeemed for cash or gifts cards: $160 from Swagbucks, $10 from Ibotta, and $13.02 from Ebates
  • Free cash that we earned in store: $60 from CVS (which we spent at CVS on Special K cereal, Dove men’s bodywash, Dove women’s bodywash, Listerine mouthwash, nail polish, floss picks, Colgate toothpaste, Loreal mascara, Gold Bond diabetic body lotion, Dramamine motion sickness medication, and Puffs tissues), and $20 in Target gift cards (which we spent on food items)
  • Free online items: $10 in free clothing (which amounted to 2 tops from Loft) from thredUP, $10 in free clothing from Twice (which I have yet to spend, but they have many items I have my eyes on!), $30 in free clothing from Twice that is still pending (once the three people I referred use their free $10, I’ll get my free $30), and a free $14 Living Social deal (worth $30)
  • Value vs. money paid: In the past seven weeks we have stocked our food panty, fridge, freezer, and toiletries/household supplies closet with $779.43 worth of items, for which we only paid a total of $391.65, for a savings of $49.75%.
  • Best receipts: $88.81 worth of items for which I paid $6.02 for an overall savings of 93%. I’ve also saved 87%, 76%, 63%, 54%, etc.
  • Deals I am proud of: 280-count bottle of Aleve (originally $19.99) for $7.99, 8 travel-sized tubes of Colgate toothpaste for a total of $0.36, two 30-count boxes of Emergen-C (originally $17.98) for $7.98, 3 dozen eggs and a package of bacon for a total of $1.04, and – of course – all the free items and money earned.
  • Items I realized I was paying way too much for: These items, I learned, I could be purchasing for pennies (depending on the item) and have been paying way too much for: eggs, milk, toothpaste, mouthwash, floss, cereal, frozen meals, shampoo, conditioner, OTC medication, and bodywash (among others).

So, since compiling this list took up pretty much my entire night (you’re welcome), I think you should attend this couponing workshop, which will teach you many, many valuable things.

Now, I do have to say this: You’ll get out of couponing what you put into it. It doesn’t have to be extreme and you don’t have to drive yourself crazy or quit your job or never spend time with your family and friends to save or earn money. But you do have to put some effort into it. It took me about 4 weeks of making mistakes and occasionally getting frustrated and working at figuring things out before I could say I felt pretty comfortable with it, and every Sunday morning I continue to put about 2 hours or so of work into finding and printing and organizing all my coupons and deals and sales and apps for the week. And every day Ted and I spend a little bit of time on websites like Swagbucks to earn money. It does take some patience and time and effort that you need to be willing to put into it, but if you try, you should see your work starting to pay off.

If you’re in Rochester and want to join in on Shawnda’s Couponing Workshop, let me know! This girl is a great friend and taught me everything I know about the wise ways of couponing and getting more bang for your buck in this crazy economy.

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