Freebies and free stuff

If you signed up for the free Marlboro t-shirt offer a few weeks back, I’ve got good news – my shirt arrived this weekend, so be on the lookout for yours. For everybody else, I’ve got even better news! Marlboro is giving away $1,000,000 to charities that help preserve the environment and if you vote for your charity of choice, you’ll get a free portable litter device that looks as if it’s for cigarettes. Now I don’t smoke and yes, since this is a tobacco company giving away the freebie, you’ll have to sign up for an account using your driver’s license info. However, I’m all for keeping cigarette butts off the side of the road, so it’s a HIF endorsed freebie.

If you’re having trouble finding it, click on “stand for your brand,” then “make it count,” before finally selecting a cause to support. The litter device offer will then be displayed.

It’s almost winter, which means it’s grilling time! Wait, what? Don’t most people grill during the summer? I don’t even check my mail during the months of December-February because it’s too cold outside. If you’re looking to save a little money this winter, I highly recommend doing the same. Your power bill will be slashed to zero when the power gets cut off in mid-January!

Anyway, to get your free A1 Steakhouse Recipe Book, simply call 1-888-217-8325 and then press 2. The automated system will then ask for your address and that’s it!

In honor of National Parks Day and the new Ken Burns film that start this weekend, the National Park Service is offering free admission to all 391 national parks this Saturday, September 26. I probably won’t be able to participate, but I did the next best thing last night; I spent an hour on the NPS site and read about a few dozen parks. Sure, it’s not the same as actually visiting, but it has significantly fewer mosquitoes and poison ivy patches.

If you’re not sure where your nearest park is, then this might help.

[via the forums]

I act big and tough, but anybody who gets this free youth hunting license from Meijer could probably kick my butt. I one time accidentally killed a fish and spent months in therapy. If I was ever transported back in time to a hunter-gatherer society, I’d last approximately 8.4 seconds before being eaten by a bear.

The coupon is valid until September 26 and says there’s a maximum value of $15, which is…good? Bad? I have no idea how much hunting licenses cost and a Google search produced a picture of a dead moose, which brought on the waterworks. Uh-oh, here they come again just thinking about it. I need to get away from my laptop before it gets wet!

This free travel guides website looks sort of promising in that many of the travel guides are sent directly to you while others are available for immediate download. I still can’t find any hard information on if these are heavy in ads or if they come with coupons, but the shipping’s free and you might find a destination for your next getaway. I mean a personal getaway too, as I always seem to need a vacation after getting home from a family vacation.

Uh-oh. They read this site. What I meant to say was hey guys, this vacation rocks! [/sarcasm]¹

1. Just kidding about the sarcasm, let’s go ride some more waves and enjoy delicious beverages! [↩]

Don’t forget that this weekend is the final free National Parks Admission deal of the summer. This is a great chance to take the family out for a little fresh air and sunshine before ultimately getting into a fight about why you can’t start the campfire and whose fault it is the tents got left behind. Then little Johnny will go play in poison ivy and little Betty will start eating the “mud cake” she made and OKAY, WHOSE IDEA WAS IT TO LEAVE THE HOUSE THIS WEEKEND?!

Ah, family outings!

[via the freebie calendar]

So who forgot that this Saturday and Sunday is the second free National Park Admission weekend of the summer? Well after reading the previous sentence, hopefully none of you. If you’re forgetting something mere seconds after reading about it, you’re either the main character of Memento or simply the most forgetful person ever. Either way, you probably have no idea what you’re doing here by now, huh? Well this is a site about freebies. Wait, you probably just forgot that. Let’s try again. This is a site about freebies…

…I honestly could go on like this for hours. If my parents ask you why I’ve been so unproductive with my life, do me a favor and hide this post from them.

These free Sundiwear stickers are pretty darn cool. You wear them outside and then they turn red after a certain amount of sunlight has hit them, thus letting you know it’s probably time to seek out shade or sunscreen. Too bad these things weren’t around when I was kid as I have a feeling they’re a bit more helpful than the method I always used. I’d spend a day outside playing with my friends and then wake up the next morning and go “huh, I got sunburned!”

[via Laurie - thanks!]

Last summer, a few forum users and myself put the finishing touches on our massive free Museum Admissions page. Look at that sucker! It literally took us a few months to put together and I was in no hurry to start another list soon thereafter, but I recently decided to start another project. After thinking it over, I settled on compiling a list of the 244 National Parks that offer free admission on a regular basis. Yet as luck would have it, today I read that the National Park Service is throwing open the gates to the other 147 National Parks that charge money, thus giving free admission to all 391 parks on June 20-21, July 18-19, and August 15-16.

Talk about making my job obsolete. It’s only a matter of time before a company in Japan develops a freebie-finding robot who can do my job 24/7 and for half the price. And I work for free!

Alex’s Lemonade Stand is a non-profit dedicated to fighting cancer in children and now they’re offering a free lemonade stand kit to ideally be used during Lemonade Days on June 12th to June 14th. In addition, they have printable resources for how best to run a lemonade stand and help donate the money to worthy causes. I forwarded this to my little sister and she’s already signed up and looking forward to helping raise some money, so you might want to consider using this as a fun summertime activity!

For more information on the freebie and the charity in general, check out this page.

I have a feeling this free golf putter grip will do absolutely nothing to improve my game. Some might argue that’s because my golf skills are on par with a drunken monkey’s, but those people only see the glass as being half empty. I like to instead focus on all the improvements I’ve made over the years. For instance, I no longer try to run over my friends with the golf cart and I can now say “who invented this fraking sport” in twelve different languages!

Progress is a beautiful thing, my friends.

EDIT: I just realized that Adam posted this a few weeks back. My bad! I know today was kind of crummy freebie-wise, but I’ve got a post in the works for later tonight that should make up for it!

Campbell’s soup is giving away free tomato seeds to anybody who has purchased some condensed soup recently. All you have to do is type in the code on the bottom of the can and they’ll send you the seeds. If you don’t have any Campbell’s lying around, try the codes below as they might work. I found the site to be a tad glitchy – I had to type in my code two or three times before it was finally accepted.

• Code1: XD Code2: 01 Type: Tomato
• Code1: CU Code2: 01 Type: Tomato
• Code1: CT Code2: 26 Type: Cream of Mushroom
• Code1: P5 Code2: 03 Type: Cream of Chicken

If none of the codes above work, you might want to pick up a can the next time you’re at the store and have a look at the code since this offer is valid for a few more months Also, note that the codes are case sensitive. These darn seeds better be worth it!

[via Michele - thanks!]

EDIT: Looks like they’re all out!

Any time I’ve ever tried to start a garden, I’ve either A) forgotten about it, B) forgotten about it, or C) What was I talking about again? That won’t stop me from trying to use Earthbound Farm’s free organic lettuce seeds to grow a mini-garden out back.

I really shouldn’t even bother though, I’m about as nourishing as the surface of Pluto. I’m pretty sure there’s a clause buried in Obama’s recent stimulus plan about me being banned from ever having children.

You know what’s going to be here before we even know it? Travel time! I was reminded by this fact when I saw a California state tourism commercial last night and that got me to wondering what each state offers in the way of free state maps and travel guides. Coupled with our free museum admissions list (which is actually fully completed now!), your summer trips might now be a bit more fun and free!

I linked to the official travel guide for each state below. As a fail-safe, I then provided a link to each state’s DOT page if their travel guide didn’t explicitly say it came with a highway map. Here’s to never getting lost again!

Free Alabama State Map – This is the first .travel website I’ve ever seen. Cool.

Free Alaska State Map – Here’s the first case of “so, does this come with a map?” (dot map)

Free Arizona State Map – What exactly is Old West activities? Like riding around on a horse and shooting pistols in the air? Arizona, here I come!

Free Arkansas State Map – They have a plethora of travel guides and kits, including golfing, hiking, and fishing guides, calendar of events, and even a Living in Arkansas guide for those considering moving there. Wait, where are you going?

Free California State Map – I would have been ticked had they not offered some free maps, considering the fact that I see their freaking tourism commercial every 10 minutes.

Free Colorado State Map – Colorado’s official state slogan: Let’s Talk. Aw crap, they’re breaking up with us!

(more…)

EDIT: So I see Adam beat me to this one yesterday. My bad!

This free Hershy’s Fastrack to Sports kit is designed to be used as a motivational tool to get kids up and moving. It comes with a DVD, starter guide, and some legends of Track & Field trading cards that might be helpful to some of you parents or teachers out there. I haven’t the slightest idea how at age 25 I’m about to utter these words, but in my day being active was never a problem! Sure we had home movies and video games too, but easily 90% of my childhood memories are of me and my buddy Alex getting into trouble outside.

In fact, I think I should be the next spokesman for any DVD encouraging kids to play outside. Some of the activities I could demonstrate include throwing water balloons into open bedroom windows, chopping down trees to make bridges across creeks, and my personal favorite of building snowballs so big, they take up the entire road! Hollywood, my agent is awaiting your call.

[via the forums]