Freebies and free stuff

For some reason I really enjoy saying “new newsletter.” Life is all about the small pleasures.

As many of you probably inferred, I updated HIF’s newsletter service to the fine folks at Mailchimp. I’ve been working out the kinks over the past few months and now it should be good to go. If you want to join up then check out the box over to the right titled “Join the newsletter!” or use this handy dandy link. Either way gets the job done.

Additionally, if you want to make absolutely sure you get the daily updates, add newsletter@heyitsfree.net to your contacts list. Some email providers have been known to send newsletters straight to the spam folder. I promise I’m not a Nigerian Prince nor am I peddling cheap knockoff prescription drugs.

Why join the newsletter? Well besides being able to send me an “out of office” message every day (seriously, what’s the deal with those?) the newsletter is your one stop freebie dose each and every day. As a bonus, I’ll pick two subscribers at random to win a $50 American Express gift card! I’ll use Random.org to pick the winners on Wednesday, January 12, at 8:00pm est and email them!

If you’ve got any questions about the contest or newsletter, please leave a comment.

EDIT: If you were already a subscriber before today, then you’re already entered into the contest.

If you’re not buried in snow like the south *giggles at the idea of being “snowed in” by six inches* then head to your nearest Blockbuster Express kiosk and use ESU11B for a free rental. It doesn’t expire until 1/18, so all my friends back in South Carolina have a week to shovel themselves out!

Actually these are my friends we’re talking about here. I guarantee a few of them are trying to melt the snow with hairdryers and / or flame-throwers.

[thanks to Hiffers who sent this in!]

EDIT: They only have a $1 coupon now.

Props to whoever came up with this free Cream of Wheat Cinnabon offer, but can I opt for a free Cinnabon instead? I don’t care how bad it is for me. There’s something about clogging my arteries that’s so satisfying.

We first posted this back in September, but today’s a slow day and it’s still available.

Target’s old offer of free Purina One SmartBlend cat food that I somehow missed is the first post where I get to use the new Pets category. It’s actually the old Animal / Pets category, but I trimmed it down after realizing that all pets are animals. It’s the kind of enlightenment that only took me five years to make.

I swear I’m getting worse at taking these photos. The lighting in my place resembles an episode of West Wing.

Freebies Received

• Purina One dog food
• Kashi GoLean Crisp cereal and $6 in coupons
• HydraPeptide anti-wrinkle cream
• Tom’s Shoes bracelet
• One weeks worth of Wall Street Journal newspapers
• February 2011 issue of Ladies’ Home Journal magazine
• February 2011 issue of Town & Country magazine
• Jan. 10, 2011 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine
• February 2011 issue of Maxim magazine
• February 2011 issue of Macworld magazine
• Jan. 10, 2011 issue of Ok! magazine
• Jan. 3 – Jan. 9, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine
• Jan. 10 – Jan. 16, 2011 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek magazine

I liked how the Tom’s Shoes bracelet was hand packaged. Not enough freebies are scotch taped to notebook paper these days.

It’s time for everybody’s favorite pastime that I just made up! That’s right, we’re playing Guess That Disney Movie Rewards Free Code! Everybody grab a sheet of paper and … go! Ten seconds left!

Okay, pencils down. If you guessed T5WM52PA7L, then please, see a medical professional. I believe you’re having a stroke.

[thanks to Erin for posting this on HIF's Facebook page!]

EDIT: These are no longer available.

Phew. I sure am glad Crest put the word “white” in the title of this free 3D White Whitestrips Advanced Seal offer. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have been able to figure out what color these were.

Another popular favorite freebie from last year was the five free Nescafe Taster’s Choice single-serving coffee packs offer. And wouldn’t you know it’s back! I find that kind of nifty. It’s almost as if we used our collective subconscious to make this freebie become a reality. So let’s all try a little experiment. Think about me getting a writing job for The Colbert Report.

*checks voicemail and email*

Drat.

Ewwww. I don’t care how famous John Frieda is, I don’t want any of his hair, no matter how free it is. What’s that? It’s for hair products, not his actual hair? Well that makes a little more sense.

Whatever nimrod set up this campaign annoyingly made different links for different states. Hopefully your state is listed below and you can figure out what to do. Seriously, it’s not that hard.

• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – AL, AR, GA, IL, IN, KY, LA, MI, MS, MO, NC, OH, SC, TN, TX, VA, and WV
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – CO and WY
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – CA
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – AK, AZ, and ID
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – OR and WA
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – AK, CA, ID, OR, and UT
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – CA, IL, IN, and NE
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – MO
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – NE
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – AK, KS, MO, and OK
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – MT, NV, NM, UT, and WY
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – IN
• Free John Frieda Hair Sample – CO, NM, UT, and WY

Well that wasn’t unnecessarily complicated, now was it?

I read all 1,482 entries to the latest $50 gift card contest (I only counted entries submitted by the deadline) while watching football this weekeend. There were some pretty funny answers and Hiffer Ines’ unique freebie rendition of O’ Christmas Tree was pretty awesome as well. In fact, there were so many good answers that I wanted to add three addendums to the Top 10 Freebies List. How I forgot about these three awesome freebies is beyond me.

#11 – Mrs. Fields cookie tin – These were downright delicious. I polished the tin off a littler quicker than I should have, but on the bright side I got my months worth of calcium in only a day!

#12 – Amazon Prime Membership – This badboy saved me during the holidays. It’s actually still available through Amazon Mom!

#13 – Picaboo Photo Book – This took me a little while to design, but it was so worth it. It was one of those freebies that was so nice that I would have easily felt comfortable giving it away as a gift or putting on my coffee table.

I’m extremely jealous of everyone who got their Newcastle Brown Ale beer glass too. I’m left drinking my brews out of the free sippy cup I got.

Oh yeah, the contest winner! It was comment #775 authored by Shell H. Thanks to everybody who entered and the next contest starts later today!