Freebies and free stuff

During every Monday throughout March, stop in at your local Dunkin Donuts and get a free medium hot or iced coffee. If you can resist purchasing a dozen donuts while you’re there, then please send me some of your amazing willpower.

Lots of people are saying this is only working in certain regions, so be sure to call ahead. Trust me, I’d love to call every store in the country and make a detailed chart, but I’ve got other things I need to do over the next five weeks.

Geez, an unusually large number of this week’s freebies I received are still available. You know what that means. More freebies for everyone!

Freebies Received

• Kikkoman silicone basting brush
• Coupon for a free Heluva Good product
• Biofreeze (which I posted back in May!)
• Two historical figure bookmarks
• Marlboro playing cards (still available?)
• Two pet window decals
• $10 Betty Crocker coupon booklet
• Two Yogi tea bags
• Poise sample kit
• State of the States publication
• February 15 issue of eWeek magazine
• January / February issue of Spa magazine
• March / April issue of Spa magazine
• March 15 issue of Forbes magazine
• March issue of Forbes Life magazine

EDIT: Samples have been exhausted.

All You magazine is giving their readers a free Borden Singles cheese coupon as long as they are members of Reality Checkers. Not a member? Then sign up for free and then sign up for your coupon.

I’m fairly certain that the coupon is actually a voucher for a free package of cheese, but then again, I was also recently certain that Narwhals¹ were fake animals. The lesson here is that we shouldn’t rely on me whenever possible.

[thanks Common Sense with Money]

1. Seriously, would YOU think these animals were real?! They look like giant, fat, swimming unicorns. [↩]

I already wrote about the free Home Depot workshop, but there are a few other weekend events to boot.

Bruster’s: Like wearing your pajamas in public? Me too. But now we have an extra excuse to do so: free ice cream on Saturday! Make sure to call your local store, because some places are running this offer on March 20.

Hollywood Tans: stop in for a free tan all day Saturday. It includes a mystic spray tan as well, so be sure to bring your witch hat and wand!

Michael’s: If you want to sleep in for an extra hour or if you get done early at Home Depot, swing by Michael’s between 10am-1pm and build a free voo doo doll. Or a yarn doll. I don’t really know what that thing is, but I’m kinda scared.

At this weekend’s free Home Depot kids workshop (Saturday, March 6), they’ll be making free rain gauges, which can double as snow gauges. I won’t be able to attend, but I did the next best thing and built my own. I put an old bucket up against my house and at the very top wrote “&*#$ TON.” There we go, that should cover this year’s snow fall.

The workshop is available to kids 5-12 and runs from 9am-noon. Call your local store to make sure they are participating.

EDIT: Looks like these are all gone.

I try and eat as healthy as possible, but this free bag of SunChips from Facebook is one of my many weaknesses. There’s no way I avoid downing this entire bag in one sitting. I plan on immediately taping a note to it that reads, “Goob, do not eat these all at once. OR ELSE!”

Taking the initiative against myself is smart. So smart, that I think it should be rewarded with a snack. A small snack. You know, a chip or two. Maybe a handful. Both hands! Repeatedly.

I know that I said I’d be more active, I just didn’t figure into account this thing called “work” or “life” but even still? Goob knows I’m good for something now and again…

Like these free songs from Mark Kano. You see, while I was a poor schmuck who actually bought his album when it first came out, now you too can experience his first solo album after Athenaeum yourself, and for free, nonetheless.

My highest recommendations on this album, seeing it was one of my top picks of 2009 and it was highly anticipated by me for a while.

Okay, I’ll be funnier next time…

This free L’oreal Everstrong shampoo promises to “inject strength after just one wash.” What? It sounds like people are juicing up their hair to get an unfair competitive advantage.

I’ve never understood this whole “strong hair” craze. What are people doing to their hair that makes it break so often? Are there real life Rapunzel’s out there? Are people carrying around babies by tying them to the end of their hair? I’m genuinely baffled.

Holy moly, I’m actually going to have this week’s contest post published in time for Thursday’s newsletter! Ring the church bells and kiss a stranger on the street! I expect to be on the front page of every leading newspaper tomorrow and will start my talk show tour later this month.

Don’t miss the Facebook special freebies near the end of this post. The odds of multiple Hiffers winning those prizes are through the roof.

All of Kroger’s stores have a Hit the Hoops contest, with over 80,000 instant prizes for items like Coke, California Pizza, and Oscar Mayer. You can play once a day until the contest ends, which is on 04/06.

Dr. Pepper will fly you and two friends to Las Vegas, Miami, or New York for 3 nights and give you $500 spending cash. Ends 03/31.

Reese’s is sending a winner and three friends to either the 2011 NCAA Men’s of Women’s Final Four Tournament next year while a thousand consolation winners get free Reese’s Dark Peanut Butter cups. Ends 04/11.

I haven’t dove in years, but it’d be fun to win this three night trip to Pelican Bay Hotel for two, which comes with two free SCUBA dives. Ends 08/31.

Finally, I get tons of e-mails from Hiffers saying they’re still winning prizes from the Pace Picante contest. I’ll probably start throwing this contest into the list below at least once a month. Ends 07/31.

1. Sony BluRay Player and 25 BluRay DVDs or an HDTV Enter soon! (03/06)
2. Racheal Ray, as always, is giving away tons of cooking products (various)
3. Mitsubishi 65-in. HDTV, Bose home theater, Playstation 3, and more (04/15)
4. Trip for two to Paris and $2,000 (06/27)
5. $5,000 Bed Bath & Beyond gc (01/12)
6. Sultra styling iron (05/03)
7. Jessica Szohr dress, makeup, and jewelry, ARV $1,000+ (03/29)
8. 12-piece Le Creuset cookware set (03/31)
9. Rousseau 1209 Workstation, ARV $5,500 (12/31)
10. $100 AMI Clubwear gc (03/15)
11. iPod touch (05/02)
12. Trip for two to the 2010 NHL Awards in Vegas (05/10)
13. Trip for four to NC to play golf (04/30)
14. Spector ReBop4DLX Bass Guitar (04/02)
15. $100 Great Clips GC (12/31)
16. $6,000 fishing boat makeover (07/30)
17. Western Digital external HD, camera tripod, and more (04/30)
18. Trip for two to Las Vegas plus dinner and tickets to Cirque du Soleil (03/31)
19. Trip for two to Reno plus dinner and tickets to Eldorado Showroom (03/31)
20. $100,000 outdoor makeover (04/30)
21. $1,100 in Chris McMillan hair products (03/31)
22. 55″ LED HDTV, home entertainment system, and game system (04/15)
23. Trip for two to the 2010 World Cup (04/15)
24. Trip to Playa del Carmen or $8,000 (09/09)

Special Facebook Edition

All of the contests below are where you have to become a fan of some company on Facebook and you’re automatically entered to win a prize. The key here is that most of these fan pages only have a few hundred fans! If just 10% of Hiffers entered these contest, we’d be almost guaranteed to win a few prizes.

1. Sony Handycam Camcorder (03/18)
2. $1,514 Nesting Newbies swag bag (03/15)
3. Nokia 5530 XpressMusic smartphone or a Flip Video Camcorder (03/14)
4. $250 Outdoor Cooking GC (03/24)
5. $100 Urban Outfitters GC (03/15)

Did you know that it’s national Grocery Shopping Week? Okay, I completely made that one up, but I just wanted a good segway for this week’s grocery-heavy Random Coupon post. Enjoy!

Grocery Coupons

Blue Bunny: $1/1 quart of Blue Bunny ice cream (must register)

California Cuties: $1/1 bag of California Cuties mandarin oranges

HonestTea: $1/2 HonestTea or Honest Ade (must register at bottom of page)

Ideal: $1/1 Ideal No-Calorie Sweetener product

Malt-O-Meal: $0.75/1 Malt-O-Meal product [ff] [ie]

Nature Valley: $1/2 Nature Valley Granola Bars [ff] [ie]

Skittles: BOGO when you become a Facebook fan

Splenda: $1/1 Splenda product [ff] [ie]

Starburst: BOGO when you become a Facebook fan

Yoplait: $1/1 pack of Yoplait YoPlus+ (regular or light) yogurt multipacks [ff] [ie]

Health & Beauty Coupons

Aleve: $1/1 Aleve-D sinus & cold relief [ff] [ie]

Maybelline: $2/1 Maybelline Eye Studio product [ff] [ie]

Ponds: $1.50/1 Pond’s cream, towelettes, or cleansers [ff] [ie]

Pull-Ups: $1/1 flushable moist wipes (must register)

Miscellaneous Coupons

Chinet: $1/1 Chinet Classic White collection

Disney: Coupons.com has around a dozen coupons available for various movies

Pilot Travel Center: Free 16 oz. hot beverage

Smokey Bones: $10 off a $20 purchase

Waffle House: Free Biscuit & Sausage Gravy