Free stuff

Just to let you all know, in case you were wondering if these deals sites were a scam, I have gotten 2 beautiful serving bowls from One Kings lane and great-smelling Philosophy Soaps from Ruelala. All for free. It's worth it :-)

Another site to get $20 for free!!! GILT

I'm back with more deals for you :-) I wasn't sure if people were actually reading this blog, but after talking to some people this past week I found out they are! Exciting. So I'll keep updating!

I found another great deal site called Gilt . It's like Ruelala. Just for signing up you get a $20 for free. Awesome.

You may skeptical and wondering if you can actually get things off of this site for $20. It's true that they have designer items that are expensive. However...drumroll please....I am so excited for this one....RIGHT NOW they have children's books for sale from Random House! Too many to name, but here are a few: Dr. Seuss, Richard Scarry, Duck & Goose, Junie B. Jones, Jack Prelutsky, Babar. They even had audio books: Magic Tree House, Beverly Cleary, Arthur, Stuart Little. The teacher in me right now is going crazy, you have no idea. What's great about the books is that they are only around $12 average, so with shipping you can get these totally free. Yep, I said it, TOTALLY FREE!

Don't worry, they have plenty of other items too. I am loving Gilt. Much better deals and selections than One Kings Lane and Ruelala. They have a women's, men's, children's gifts, and home categories. They have a category for Gifts under $25. Perfect for you $20 credit! Right now I'm looking at the books and some very cute serving dishes for the holidays.

Here's another bonus. You can invite your friends to sign up too. Invite 10 friends, get free shipping on your first order! Plus, when your friends make a purchase, you get extra credit in your account too! It's worth it. When you use your referral link, however, your friends will not get the $20. You have to use this link (http://www.gilt.com/account/register?pkey=mtvmen2 if they want the free $20. But after the $20 credit promo is done, invite your friends using your referral link!

So join me and be my friend, please :-) Or sign up for the $20 credit. My free $20 was posted to my account within an hour. Sweet.

Great Rue La La deal!

Some brand new sales have started over at Rue La La. If you have already signed up and have the Free $20 credit in your account (you can still sign up but the credit can take up to 48 hours to show up) make sure you check out today’s offerings- there's a good chance they will sell out fast!

There are a bunch of things that you can get very cheap, possible free!

I just got 2 Philosophy Shower gels for $4.95!

Here’s how to find my Philosophy deal:

• Head over to Rue La La and login
• At the top click on “Boutiques” and choose “Shop for Good: Breast Cancer Research Foundation.”
• Choose the set of two Philosophy shower gels that are listed for $15.
• Add 1 set to your cart.
• Checkout. Your total will be $15 plus $9.95 shipping.
• Your total out of pocket expense after your free credit will be $4.95 for two 6 oz bottles of Philosophy All-in-One shower gel, bubble bath, shampoo!!!

This is a great gift idea for stocking stuffers, piano teacher gifts, etc.

You can still get a Free $20 Credit through 10/25.

*There are some other Great deals available- like Puma sneakers for $35/pair- they would be just $25 SHIPPED after your $20 credit!

Have fun!

It's Mega SwagBucks Day! Search, search, search!

It's Megaswagbucks day! Every Friday is Mega Swag Bucks Day (MSBD), which means better odds of winning our BIG Swag Bucks denominations! Simply search naturally and you might be winning large bills starting at 20 Swag Bucks and up.

I love Swagbucks. After buying a few Starbucks gift cards I decided to save up for a $50 Amazon Gift Card. And now, I'm less that 100 Swagbucks away! Maybe I'll even make it there today!

If you haven't heard of Swagbucks, see my post here.

Photo Card Deals...Christmas Cards, anyone??

Today seems to be the day for deals on Photo card/Photo book websites. I compiled a list of the ones that I have found so far. I am thinking these would be a great deal for the upcoming "Christmas Card Exchanging" season, or a photobook for grandma for Christmas.

These are "city-based" deals, but you do not have to be from that city to get the deal. It's an online deal so it doesn't matter if you're in the middle of nowhe...I mean, if you live in Iowa. ;-)

Some of these are one day deals, so you'll have to decide today which one you like.

I made up a scenario that might help you decide. The following prices are based on buying 60 5x7 photocards:

Mamapedia.com has a deal for the KodakGallery: $20 for $40 Worth of Photo Books, Photo Cards and Photo Calendars from KODAK Gallery

• For 60 5x7 cards: $20 + $6.49 Shipping + $.14 extra = $26.63

Groupon Austin has a deal for PaperMoments.com: $20 for $50 worth of holiday cards, canvas prints, and other merchandise

• For 60 5x7 cards: $20 + $33.40 + $10 Shipping = $63.40

Groupon Madison has a deal for Mixbook.com: $15 for $50 Towards Cards and Photo Books at Mixbook.com

• For 60 5x7 cards: $15 + $7.89 = $22.89 + $17 left over to use on other gifts/more cards (which will add more to the shipping cost also)

Groupon Philadelphia has a deal for Picaboo.com: $35 for $100 Worth of Photo Books, Cards, or Calendars at Picaboo.com(you can use this Groupon towards Shipping)

• For 60 5x7 cards: $35 (You can use your groupon towards shipping at Picaboo, which will leave you with $15 credit to your account to use to more cards, gifts and extra shipping costs)

Eversave has a deal forPhotocardcreations.com: $20 for $50 worth of gorgeous photo cards for holidays, baby announcements, invitations, and more (you can use this coupon towards Shipping)

• For 60 5x7 cards: $20 + $79 extra + $15 Shipping = $114

Take a look and decide which one is the best for you. Some are more expensive because they are designer cards, some have better shipping deals...it's all up to you. Keep in mind that these sites often offer extra discounts/freebies on top of the coupon codes you will get. For instance, if you order from Mixbook soon, you'll get an extra 25% off of photocards. Or right now you can get a free Photobook from Picaboo.

Let me know if you have any questions, I'm happy to help!

$20 for free? Yes, please.

I had a few questions about Rue La La, the boutique site I posted about yesterday. So, I thought I would explain how these sites work for y'all.

Rue La La is a site that offers you designer items at a discount. They have a quite a few different "stores" open at a time, but all of the stores are limited time/items. These store sell everything from cheaper to outrageously expensive. For example, right now you could get a DKNY shirt marked down from $115 to $49. Or you could get cute Pea Coats for yourself or your little girl for $49 from Miss Sixty. Those are mid price items. Good deals, but not super cheap. They also have this Dancing Dear Fall Cake and Cookie Tower for $29.

(Image to come soon)

Or this cute necklace for $22,999. Yep. Seriously. That was not a typo.

(Image to come soon)

All, well...most, of these item would make great gifts. But the real advantage to these sites is the sign-up bonus and referral bonuses you get. I signed up for Rue La La yesterday and I now have $20 in my account to use, just for signing up. Makes that cake and cookie tower for only $9 look pretty delicious. And if I refer friends I get $10 for each friend who places their first order.

Rue La La is an invitation only site, so you'll have to click through my link to sign up. Who wants $20 for free??

One Kings Lane is another site like Rue La La. Boutique items and prices at a discount. Right now I am not aware of any sign-up bonus, although when I signed up I did get a $20 sign-up bonus so you never know...(I already spent mine in a beautiful serving bowl to use around the holidays. I paid $.05 for it :-) At One Kings Lane, you get a $25 referral bonus when a friend makes their first purchase. Not to shabby. Right now at One Kings Lane you can get towels, baskets, candles, purses, robes, bags, rugs, sheets, everything for your house.

Just so you know, if you make a purchase through one of my links above, I will probably get the referral money. But that is not my main reason for this post (although I would love you very much if did put free money in my account ;-) I am writing this post so that you can take advantage of the sign up bonuses and referral credits from your friends/family. Hopefully this can make Christmas gift-giving a little lighter on your pocketbooks this year. As I hear of more sites like this, I will post them.

Enjoy!

Update on Amazon Diaper Deal! Extra 20% off!

Here's an update on the Amazon Diaper deal: (see previous deal here)

Yesterday I got the "Parenting:Early Years" Magazine in the mail. Inside it was a 20% off coupon for Amazon diapers. You should be able to use this in addition to the already 30% off of diapers from my earlier post. It is a one-time only code. So if you get the Parenting magazines, keep an eye out for that code. Or find someone who isn't going to use theirs! (Sorry, I'm using mine :-)

Happy Shopping!

Rue La La=$20 credit for signing up

I just found Rue La La, a site for 2-day-only "Boutiques", filled with a variety of items: from clothes, to vacations, to cutlery, to pillows, to hats...tons of stuff. Some items are WAAY expensive, but some are cheap too. It's hit and miss. It's free to sign up and invitation-only. Here's your invitation from me:

Rue La La Invite

*For a limited time you can get a $20 credit just for signing up...but I'm not sure how long that lasts! Give it a shot...it's free! It can take up to 48 hours for your credit to appear. I'm looking at getting a tower of cookies/fall cake for only $9 after the credit.

Hope it works for you!

Photobook deal!

Jasmere has a great deal for you photographers and artists...check out this high-quality photobook!

Get a $55 photobook for only $25 and the price might go lower yet. Today only. Great for wedding albums, recipe books, landscape/portrait photography, drawings, writing and more.

Enjoy!

New pampers code and free sample of fruit bites.

A new Pampers Gift to Grow Code: PAMPERS4MOMSOND

Plus, right now on Facebook if you like Dole, you can get a free sample of Dole Right Bites, while supplies last.

Enjoy!

Ebates-another great cash back site :-)

Ebates is another site where you earn up to 25% cash back from your online purchases. Often times the cash back will cover the cost of shipping, so if you find a great deal online but don't want to pay the shipping, check Ebates first.

To use Ebates, sign up and then search for the store that you are shopping at. Click on that store you will be taken to the store's page. Sometimes you'll even find coupons by clicking through on Ebates. Be creative.

Here's a great deal right now...If you like Groupon (see my previous post) and you're planning to buy one, first go to Ebates. Find Groupon, click thru, and you'll get 6% cash back on the already discounted Groupon. It's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. You can get paid by check or PayPal.

In conclusion: :-)

If a "quick trip" to the store for that great deal takes an hour drive there and back (oh, silly Iowa), consider online shopping and get cash back to somewhat cover the cost of shipping.

This site has the option of putting in your referral's e-mail...that's me. If you think of it, put in my e-mail address. If you buy $25 worth of products before a certain date, I'll get a bonus for referring you. If you'd rather not do that, that's fine. But remember to refer your friends too to get fun bonuses!

Codes for freebies!

Another way to earn free stuff...Sign up for "Gifts to Grow" on the Pampers website and "Enjoy the Ride" on Huggies website. Don't have kids in diapers? Use the Target brand diapers? No problem. Even if you don't use Pampers or Huggies products you can still get the codes to enter.

Both sites have a place to enter codes. For Pampers, you can enter codes off of their products to earn points and then shop in the rewards section. For Huggies you can play games or enter sweepstakes to get free items (or save up points as well).

The great part is...you can easily find codes for these site posted online! The codes on the individual products are one-time use, but the online offered promo codes can be used by multiple people. So enter away! To get you started, here are a bunch of Pampers Gifts to Grow Codes that you can enter: Pampers Gifts to Grow

50 POINTS:

• 2BEGINEARNING50 (new Oct 12)
• GIFTSTOGROW4MOM (new Oct 7)
• JOINNOW4REWARDS (new Oct 1)
• WELCOME2PAMPERS

20 Points:

• GIFTS2GROWBONUS

10 POINTS:

• 10PTSFREECODE4U
• FACEBOOKOCT2010
• PUNTOSPARAMI123
• GTGCOUPONPOINTS
• CAREFORNEWBORNS
• GETSTARTEDNOW10
• GTGTENMONTHCODE
• GTGFIVEMONTHS10
• GTGGETREADYSOON
• WELCOME2VILLAGE
• WELCOME2GTG2010

By my count, you should get 330 points from entering these codes in your account. This can get you a code for $3 off diapers.com, or wait for more codes and get a Shutterfly collage for 400 points. Better yet, get an awesome sister-in-law who gives you her Pampers codes and save up for some toys for Christmas. Or a Walmart gift card.

And some Huggies Lovin' for ya: Enjoy the Rewards

5 POINTS

• BGRCSTFRDJGRPGB
• BJQTWZMFQJWFPGB
  
• BJQRFNCNMCNPPGB
• BJKFTDXKFHCDPGB
• BJKNGQJRMBQRPGB
• BJNDJSLLMDXJPGB
• BFZJXQLFCXQLPGB
• BHSGSWKLGQRQPGB
• BHJXFWSCMRQSPGB
• BHSQJQKKMLFTPGB
• SLHPGDSPRWCDPGB
• BFXRHQZZHCNLPGB
• BFNMBKDSPXRCPGB

1 POINT

• BGNDNHQCDQBMPGB

You can also earn points on the Enjoy the Ride website by:

• Watching 5 videos – 10 points
• Taking polls – 2 points
• Browse, click and earn – 6 points
• Registering - 10 points, I think

If you find that a code is no longer valid, please let me know and I will take it off of the list!

Freebies! (Lotions, Papers, Books, and much more to come!)

One type of Dutch Deals that I love are freebies. You can't beat free :-) Using my extra e-mail address I sign up to receive a lot of freebies. Even those that seem like they might not be worth it (a small sample for example) might still come with a great coupon.

I recently received a sample of Tide Laundry detergent. It was a 1-load packet. Not a great freebie, but still free. However, it came with a $3 off coupon of any Tide stain-release product. I brought that coupon with me the last time I went to Target and got a packet of Tide stain-release packets (10 count) that were on sale for $3.19 for only $.19 with the coupon. Not too shabby :-)

Remember to be careful when you sign up for anything. You should never have to pay or give more information than your name, address and e-mail. If the website seems shady, avoid it.

To start you off of on your quest for freebies and coupons, here are a few that I've found recently:

• Target and Walmart website have a free sample section. Check those out from time to time for free samples that usually come with coupons as well.
• Free sample of Vaseline Intensive Care Lotion: Vaseline Sample
• 50 Free Sheets of Origami Paper: Colored Paper
• 6 Free Children's Books (You pick the age level!) This one will send you an e-mail after you sign up with a link to pick your age level of books: Pacific Learning

So there's a start to your freebies list. I have had people ask me how I find freebies? I find them by becoming a "fan" of a product on Facebook, by receiving company e-mails, by looking on other blogs, and by googling. Enjoy!

Another deals site to check daily!

Another great deals site was recently brought to my attention, and I think it's great. I'm going to add it to my list of daily websites to check. It's called braddeals...coupons and deals handpicked. Right now on the site it has 3,980 coupons and 345 handpicked deals from 1, 550 stores. This is a great site to look at for online coupon codes when you are buying online. Don't forget to go through MyPoints or other cashback sites that I'll post soon to get even more rewards from your online purchases. Thanks Katie!!!

My 2 favorite sites to earn gift cards for free!

So for today I thought I would give you a list of websites that I use to earn free (well, kind of) stuff online. Some are totally free, you just get "points" by searching the web or opening e-mails. Some are cashback sites for your online purchases. Some are survey sites where you can earn cash for taking surveys. I have used all of these at one point and time, and I haven't had trouble with any of these. Just keep in mind that you will want a separate e-mail address for the extra e-mails.

1. Swagbucks. Love, love, love this site. It's free to sign up for. Swagbucks is very simple, here’s how it works:

• Create a Swagbucks account (it’s free and you’ll earn some Swagbucks just for joining!
• Use the Swagbucks search engine to search the Web and earn Swagbucks
• Not every search in the search engine will earn you swagbucks, but many will. It's totally random.
• Redeem Swagbucks for cool prizes, i.e. gift cards, Paypal cash, and more!

You can also earn Swagbucks by finding Swag codes, referring friends, trading in cell phones and video games, and more. I usually just use the search engine for my daily needs of searching for deals :-) Those swagbucks can add up fast – I have gotten so many great prizes in the past year since I joined. I have redeemed my earned Swagbucks for Amazon.com e-gift cards (I plan on paying for some Christmas presents with these this year!), and my favorite, $10 Starbucks gift cards so I can splurge on my trips to Sioux Falls/home.

2. Mypoints. (This link puts in my e-mail address, just delete and enter in yours if you want to sign up. I'm not sure why mine is in there. I think it's saved on my computer so maybe it won't show up in yours...) This is a site I also love. Set up a completely separate e-mail address for this one as you will get lots of mail. Here is a breakdown of this site. Sign up for free. There are 2 main parts to MyPoints:

a) Before you do any online shopping, go to MyPoints and click on the "Shop" tab. See if the store you're going to buy from is listed. If it is, click on it and a new tab will open for that store. Now you are earning "points per dollar" on whatever you buy online. The number of points per dollar depends on the store. For instance, right now you can get up to 8 points per dollar on your order. So if you order $75 dollars worth of items, you'll get 600 points in your account. You can redeem your points for gift cards to a huge variety of stores! (click on the "rewards" tab) The amount of points you earn at stores varies for different store, and even on different days. Sometimes stores will have specials where you can earn bonus points as well. Just explore!

b) The second part is opening e-mails. You'll get a few e-mails every day from MyPoints. By just opening the e-mail and clicking on the deal/store in the e-mail you'll often earn points. For example, you'll get a "mypoints bonus mail" for Bath and Body Works. Open the e-mail and click thru the e-mail to go to the Bath and Body Works website. You'll earn 5 points just for clicking thru the e-mail. Plus, if you want to order something from Bath and Body Works you'll earn more points still. I usually earn about 20 points/day by just opening and clicking thru the e-mails. Even if you choose not to do any online shopping to earn points, you can still read the e-mails and take a few surveys on the site to earn gift cards for free!

So, you're probably wondering how many points it takes to get a gift card? They vary in amounts, but right now a $10 Panera Gift Card is 1500 points. Yum. Soup Bread Bowls here I come!

Diaper Deal!!

Right now Amazon is having a great diaper and other baby products promotion.

1. Go got Amazon and search for diapers. You should be able to find the Subscribe and Save option.

2. You'll have to sign up for Amazon Mom to save 15% and Subscribe and Save for an additional 15% off. Both are free to sign up for. Amazon Mom comes with free shipping for 3 months, maybe more. Can't beat that!!

3. With the subscribe and save option you'll have to choose a "delivery option" but this can be cancelled anytime after you place your order, unless you'd like to keep it. Then you'll continue to get diapers delivered for 15% off.

So...example time:

Right you now you can get a box of size 4 Huggies (140) on sale for $30.21. Choose the Amazon Mom/Subscribe and save option, and get those diapers for 30% off, or $21.15, plus free shipping. That's almost half off! Remember, you can only choose diapers that are under the "subscribe and save" option to get this deal. Here's a linky: Amazon Subscribe and Save Diapers

If you have questions, e-mail me or comment on this post!

Favorite websites that I check daily :-)

Okay, so maybe not daily, but close to it. I'll start off with some "deal" websites. Keep in mind that if a website requires you to enter an e-mail address, you will probably get e-mails daily from that website. I recommend getting a new e-mail address just for the deal websites. I haven't had spam from any of these, but they can fill up your inbox. You can click on the links to take you to each website if you want to check them out!

1. Groupon

You can sign up through this website with an e-mail address. Groupon is a website that offers both deals for your local city (I am signed up under Sioux Falls) daily. There is a different deal each day and it will be at least 50% off. But is also has some great online deals. You can go to mamacheaps.com to find out what the online deals for the day are. I have bought "groupons" from this site for date nights in Sioux Falls, as well as online deals for presents for other people. They have everything from restaurants to salons to golfing to GAP.

2. Jasmere

You also sign up for this daily deal website using your e-mail address. Jasmere is not city specific but rather offers all online deals. The neat part of this website is that more people who buy, the lower the price goes. It usually starts off at least 50% off. You choose to buy it, enter in your credit card info, but you won't be charged until the deal is over and you only get the charged the lowest amount. I bought some photo tiles from this site and they were really nice.

3. Slickdeals.net

You don't have to officially sign up for this, you can just look at the deals posted. You can find some of the best online and in-store deals here. Sometimes items will have "the slickdeal effect" where so many people are trying to buy it that it's either out or the website goes down. This has great previews for Black Friday shopping, etc.

Slickdeals

Those are the 3 daily websites that I check. I'll post later about the coupon sites I look at, the blogs I follow that help me find deals, and ways I earn gift cards/rebate by shopping online.

Welcome fellow thrifty shoppers!

Welcome to my new blog, Dutch Deals. Over the past few months I've had many friends ask me about the deals I find, blogs I follow and coupons I shop with to save our family money. I have spent a lot of time the past year figuring out how to get the best deals that fit into our budget. This blog is my way of connecting with you and sharing the deals that I find with my fellow thrifty friends. Some deals will be local, some will be national (as in, you might have to go to Sioux Falls or beyond). So before you head out the door or to Walmart, check out my site and see if I have any deals for you!

Enjoy!

Kelly