Freebies and free stuff

THANK GOODNESS! Every time I visit home, I bring along any Box Tops For Education I’ve recently collected. Yet every time I go to pack them, I notice that only a quarter made it in the Ziploc bag I use while the rest are scattered throughout my junk drawer. Heck, whenever I’m digging through my tupperware cabinet (which is underneath my junk drawer), I find five or six freaking box tops codes. I don’t even know how they get down there or what my siblings’ schools use these for, but now there’s a free collection bin that I can sign up for in exchange for joining their newsletter.

This free Subway Teacher’s Kit is only available for subway riders…wait, that doesn’t sound right…

Ah, yes, teachers can sign up for the free kit which comes with “tools they need to bring fitness and nutrition education into the classroom.” I haven’t been able to find out what exactly is in the kit, but then again I’m not a teacher. The state still won’t certify my license even though I teacher people how to get freebies every day!

EDIT: To get the wipes, you must be a teacher. They only have a certain number each day and today’s amount is exhausted now.

As a kid, I used to always wish I’d get sick so that I could stay home from school. What was the worst that could happen to me back then? Strep throat? Possibly a stomach bug? Now my siblings have to worry about freaking Swine Flu! Maybe these free Clorox Disinfecting Wipes for teachers will help keep them healthy and out of my hair for six hours a day.

While at the beach this summer, I could have used this free Ready to Read bookmark. After finishing a chapter, I wanted to go take a dip in the ocean but didn’t have a bookmark. I started to dog ear the page, but then came up the ingenious plan to make a bookmark! I grabbed a handful of sand, mashed it together tightly, and stuck it in the book.

Yeah, that didn’t work.

You’ll want to click “Online Order Form” at the bottom of the page and then simply enter your info. There are some extra fields on the form that aren’t necessary, so don’t fret.

The U.S. State Department is giving away free Diplomatic History videos and that sound you just heard was me screaming in excitement. Folks, I’m a history and international relations nerd, there’s just no way to hide it. I’m on vacation and what am I reading for pleasure? The Guns of August, a 550 page tome about the events leading up to and the first month of World War I. You know, just a little light reading about death and destruction.

In fact, it’s the type of books I read to my siblings for bedtime stories. I’m starting to understand why they have so many nightmares now…

It’s technically not Monday anymore, but I’m still awake (why?!) and finishing up this week’s school supply deals. As always, I probably missed a few, so if you know of any good sales or discounts going on, chime away in the comments.

$0.01 – $0.20 Items
$0.01 – Spiral one-subject notebooks, 70 sheet (limit 3)
$0.05 – 12″ ruler (limit 3)
$0.10 – Dixon #2 pencils, 10 pack (limit 3)
$0.20 – Crayola crayons, 24 pack (limit 3)

Staples has a $5/$50 coupon in their weekly ad, so make sure to pick up a copy if you’re going to do some heavy shopping.

$0.00 Items!
Casio handheld label maker, free after $15 rebate (limit 1)
Staples Slim-line pencil sharpener, free after $10 rebate (limit 1)
Handy-lines dry-erase makers, 3 pack and free after $3.99 rebate (limit 1)
Norton Internet Security 2009, free after $40 & $20 rebates

$0.01 Items!
Staples wire-bound notebooks, 70 sheet (limit 6)

$0.00 Items!
Free Tug backpacks with a $10 puchase (limit 2)
Also, if you buy the Crayola Conical Tip Markers for $1.99, you can get a free pack of 24 Crayola crayons.

$0.01 – $0.49 Items
$0.05 – Office Depot School Grade portfolios (limit 5)
$0.25 – Scissors, 2 pack (limit 3)
$0.40 – Office Depot acrylic ruler
$0.49 – Scholastic Glue Stick

$0.50 – $0.99 Items
$0.50 – Wilson Jones binders (limit 5)
$0.75 – Paper Mate pink pearl erasers, 3 pack
$0.99 – Office Depot Value notebook paper, 150 pack
$0.99 – Office Depot Value mechanical pencils, 6 pack

It took me 24 hours to realize I’d uploaded the wrong Sharpie coupon to the School Supply Deals post I made yesterday. My bad, folks! They don’t call me Goob for nothing.

The proper offer is a $0.01 Single Sharpies coupon from Office Max that is available until August 8th, 2009

EDIT: I mistakenly uploaded the wrong Sharpie coupon for the Office Max deal. The proper coupon is now uploaded and is available until August 8! Thanks to Sara and everybody in the comments for pointing out the mistake.

It turns out that a decent number of new visitors come to HIF in search of “free school supplies” every day. That’s great until you realize that we don’t have that many free school supplies here. In fact, the post that seems to attract the most attention is almost three years old, which of course make it invalid.

So from now until school starts, I’ll try and post weekly school supply deals each week! Also, note that Office Max, Staples, and Office Depot all price match competitor ads. If you happen to have all three in close vicinity, you could probably create some even better deals.

OfficeMax has some great deals available, including the following:

$0.01 Items!
2-Pocket Basic or Prong Folders (limit 6)
12″ Wood Rule (limit 3)
*NEW* All Sharpie and Sharpie Accent singesl w/ coupon (limit 3)

$0.10 Items
OfficeMax #2 Pencils, 12-pack (limit 3)
OfficeMax Filler Paper (limit 3)

$0.50 Item
Composition Book (limit 6)

Staples has the following freebies available this week:

$0.01 Items!
Staples filler paper, 120 sheets (limit 5) (Mon-Wed only!)

$0.75 Item
Accel 1-subject notebook, 100 sheets (limit 3)

$1.00 Items
Foohy Petz assorted monkey head cap erasers, 10 pack (limit 2)
Staples Delta Elite retractable gel pens, 2 pack (limit 2)
Westcott 7″ bent handle scissors (limit 2)
Zebra Z-Grip retractable ballpoint pens, 7 pack (limit 2)
Staples clear glue sticks, 4 pack (limit 2)
Paper Mate Sharpwriter mechanical pencils, 5 pack (limit 2)
Staples photo glossy paper, 60 pack (limit 2) Retail is $9.99 with $8.99 easy rebate.
RoseArt washable watercolors, 8 pack (limit 2)
Staples 3-hole punch (limit 2)

They also have quite a few $2 items, including white out, scotch tape, and more. I’m not sure if they’re enough of a deal or not to include.

Also, note that they have a $10 Staples Gift Card offer when you spend $50. If you have a larger purchase to make this week, such as some printer ink, it might be worthwhile going there.

Now for Office Depot.

$0.00 Items!
Free Resume Printing (limit 25)
Free Scholastic 4 oz. School Glue w/ $5 min. purchase

$0.05 Item
Office Depot Pencil Pouch (limit unknown)

$0.10 Item
Tug Pencil Sharpener (limit 3)

$0.25 Item
Papermate #2 Pencils, 10 pack (limit 3)

$0.50 Item
Office Depot Notebook Filler Paper, 150 pack (limit unknown)

$1.00 Items
Office Depot 12″ Acrylic Ruler
Sharpie Accent Pocket Highlighters, 6 pack
Office Depot Marble Composition Book, 100 pages
Liquid Paper Smooth Coverage White Out
PaperMate Write Bros Ballpoint Pens, 10 pack
Office Depot Paper Clips, 100 pack
*Expo White Board Cleaner or Eraser $1.99 w/ $1 coupon

*Not sure if this will work, as the coupon is for any “Expo Click” item, but it’s worth a shot.

And finally, if you happen to shop at Kmart, they have a deal where you can get a specific freebie each week if you spend $15. This week’s freebie is free 70-page theme book, whatever that is.

If you happen to be one of the legions of underpaid and under appreciated teachers out there, then perhaps this free gift bag at Staples as part of a Teacher Appreciate Event will help in the smallest way possible. Simply plug in your info to find out when your local Staples is holding their event (some are soon, most are in Aug.) and then be one of the first 100 teachers to show up on the special day to snag a bag.

I one time thought about becoming a teacher and thus long-term substituted for a while. Then I realized I wasn’t good at…uh…explaining things. Apparently one of the requirements to being a good teacher is that you have to be able to teach! Who would have thunk it?

EDIT: This is no longer available.

This free Science and Technology of WWII poster is only available for teachers, but it’s the best freebie I’ve found so far today. You might be able to request one even if you’re not a teacher though and then maybe send it with your kid to school in the fall? Hopefully they have a picture of a Spitfire on here because it’s by far one of the coolest plane ever. How can you not love a plane with a name as awesome as that? In fact, I don’t care what my future wife says, I’ve just decided on the name of my first born. Aren’t I a catch, ladies?

Growing up, I probably spent 50% of my free time playing with LEGOs. The other half was equally divided between Micro Machines, Ninja Turtles, and Ghostbusters. But LEGOs reigned supreme in my life, which is why I got quite excited when I saw this free LEGO education kit offer. It looks like a bag of random pieces and yet I just spent twenty minutes squinting at them and trying to image what I’ll build.

At the very least, you can stack all the pieces together and throw it at people. I like to call that creation an AOP – Attention Obtaining Projectile.

EDIT: This is no longer available.

From what I can tell, this free Post-It pop-up notes offer is over a year old, but it doesn’t expire until June so there’s hope. I’m actually in dire need of some more post-it notes because I used my last one this morning. I wonder what I wrote on it…I should probably put up another note to check that out. *reaches for post-it* Ah, dang it!

When signing up, use the code n8r4ry and you should be good to go.

Also, I’ve noticed that most comments are going straight to moderation instead of being posted to HIF. I’m looking into the reason why and should have it fixed shortly.

EDIT: Wow, we Hiffed the living daylights out of that one. I don’t know whether to be proud or sad.

Well I’ve already botched posting one freebie today, so let’s see if I can get one of these right. Phaidon Press is giving away a free Nicholas Club membership packet, which is basically a small pencil case with a few items in it (pencil, ruler, eraser, stickers, etc.) To get the freebie, click on the “How to join my club” balloon near the upper left on their site.

I like the drawings all over the site, especially the ones on the main page of the little character. One of the drawings has a massive frown on his face and is looking right at the balloon leading to the freebie. I’m guessing he’s the guy in charge of finances. The dude with the top hat is easily the smart one and the guy crying is me after mistakenly posting a freebie this morning that wasn’t going to come. Whoops!

Speaking of my childhood and thinking back on last night, I never was much of a runner. I just couldn’t bring myself to do the mile run for the President’s fitness challenge very fast at all. Probably that was because I didn’t have something like this free Hershey’s Track and Field kit to motivate me with its all-star trading cards and DVD.

That, but probably also because I was too young to worry about the zombie apocalypse.

[via the forums]

Inspiration and creativity is something that I don’t really think we’re lacking here around the HIF crew. Between Goob’s evil geniusness, Shaynon’s craft and baking skills, and the musical ground that I cover, we’re fairly well endowed… artistically speaking.

But the National Endowment for the Arts want to help future kids grow up to be artistically inclined and are offering this free Introducing Children to the Arts booklet. And there’s a nice bonus to this freebie: if you’re too impatient to wait on your arts endowment? You can just download the PDF right from their site today and get started!

[via the forums]