List of Pizza Chain Deals & Sales

Free Pizza Restaurant Coupons

I don’t think it’s any great secret that pizza is delicious. Even those disgraced with pineapples! But do you know what makes pizza even better – when you get a deal on it! When I first authored this list in 2008, printable coupons were the norm. It was also common …

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Fake Freebie Site Alert

Fake Freebie Alert – Smplit is a Scam Site

I’m on a bit of a fake freebie bender. Last month I discovered the high probability of Samplesso being a fake freebie site. Today, once again, I believe I’ve discovered that Smplit[.]com is also a fake freebie site. Before I show my work, I once again want to ask – …

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Scam Alert Fake Freebie

Fake Freebie Alert – Samplesso is a Scam Site

So the headline pretty much sums up my thoughts here. After digging into their website this week, I believe Samplesso[.]com is a scam site that only intends to harvest our information in order to resell it. I recently posted my findings to Reddit, but I wanted to repost them here …

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Get a FREE Letter of Congratulations from your Senators!

How to Get a FREE Congratulatory Letter from US Senators!

Politics aside, did you know most US Senators send out free congratulatory letters and all you have to do is ask?! These letters of recognition come on official letterhead and make for unique keepsakes to memorialize important milestones in your life. Senators will only send letters to their own state …

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Top 25 Best Free Birthday Stuff

Top 25 Best Birthday Freebies Available Each Year!

Our massive, weekly updated list of free stuff on your birthday is quickly approaching hundreds of unique freebies & discounts! With so many freebies available around the country, there's something for everyone. But I was recently wondering: what are the best birthday freebies?

For starters, just in case you don't know, there are over 300 places that will give you a free gift on you birthday. Free appetizers, drinks, actual meals, ice cream, steak dinners, chocolate pies, fries and sides and oh my. There's just so much!

Thus began my month-long journey to rank the hundreds of birthday club freebies and find the top 25 places where to get free stuff on your birthday! The first part was easy – I joined hundreds of restaurant rewards programs and and email club.

But how can we possibly rank hundreds of offers to find the top free things on your birthday? What an excellent question; your head is in the right place. It probably won't surprise you when I say I created a spreadsheet with way too much data!

These are the criteria I created to narrow down the list.

  • Cost – How valuable is the free birthday offer? We're not putting on pants and leaving the house just for a $1 trinket, no siree! 1 point per dollar, no maximum.
  • Availability – How long are we able to get our free birthday food? 1 point per month, up to 12.
  • Coverage – We want offers that anybody can get coast to coast! It does us no good if a great freebie is only available at a single location in Kalamazoo. 1 point per state, up to 50.
  • Longevity – Bonus points are awarded to birthday freebies with a long track record. 1 point per year, up to 10.
  • No Purchase Necessary – 5 bonus points if no extra purchase is required. The less we have to pay, the better.
  • Deliciousness – Only the most tasty need apply. 1 to 10 points maximum.

From there, I created a points system and tallied up the results to find the best free birthday stuff!

Birthday Freebies Tip!

If you want to follow in my footsteps, you should register ahead of time to make sure you get your free birthday stuff! I suggest signing up at least a month before your birthday.

The Best Birthday Freebie by Score

Honorable Mention Free Birthday Gifts

Before I get to the award winners, I'd be remiss if I didn't recognize the honorable mentions. There are a ton of solid birthday freebie offers that, while great, just didn't manage to crack the top birthday freebies. While they didn't rank, I would be happy to have any and all free birthday treats from Applebee's, Arby's, Auntie Anne's Pretzels, Baskin-Robbins, Benihana, Buffalo Wild Wings, Del Taco, Dairy Queen, Famous Dave's, Firehouse Subs, Petco, Red Lobster, and Sprinkles.

Top #11-#25 Birthday Freebies

These 15 runner-ups were close, but their free birthday gift just barely missed out on making the final Top 10!

  1. Twin Peaks – Free birthday meal from soups, salads, wings, bites, hot dishes, handhelds, or sweets.
  2. Cici's – Free adult pizza buffet
  3. Houlihan's – Free entrée, valued up to $15
  4. Au Bon Pain (Free coffee and pastry) – This is a great freebie that'd rank higher if only it was available nationwide.
  5. Planet Smoothie – Free 22oz smoothie
  6. Buca di Beppo – colossal brownie sundae (feeds 4 people!) or a double dark chocolate cake.
  7. Perkins – Free Magnificent Seven breakfast meal
  8. Marco's Pizza – Free small 1-topping pizza
  9. Hooters – 10 free boneless wings
  10. Chipotle – Free chips & guacamole during your birthday month with a $5+ purchase
  11. TGI Fridays – Free dessert, snack, or kids item
  12. Dunkin' – Free medium beverage
  13. P.F. Chang's – Free appetizer or dessert, valued up to $12.50
  14. Krispy Kreme – Free dozen original glazed doughnuts
  15. Moe's Southwest Grill – Free burrito

Top 10 Birthday Freebies

Panera Bread Free Birthday Treat

#10 Panera

76.75 points Free pastry or sweet

Cost: 4.5
Availability: 0.25
Coverage: 48
Longevity: 9
No Purchase Necessary: ✅
Deliciousness: 10

Starting us off is Panera Bread's birthday offer of a free pastry or sweet. Who doesn't love a tasty, sugary treat every hour of every day now and again?

They're almost available nationwide and don't require any additional purchase. The coupon for a free coffee, tea, soda, pastry, or sweet will load to your account on your birthday and is valid for 7 days.

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Free Baby Stuff Samples and Freebies

🤰 Ultimate Guide to Baby Samples, Freebies, & Discounts! 👶

I'm going to come right out and admit it: I've never had a child. But I did grow up in a household full of kids. And I have tons of friends with one kid to … like, seven? 😬 I can't even begin to imagine the amount of work, time, energy, and money it takes to have a baby. Diaper a child costs approximately $1,000 a year! Show me a parent who doesn't want free diapers and I'll show you a liar!

That's why I put together this huge list of baby freebies. You can get free baby stuff from dozens of places just by asking or signing up.

I've grouped all the free baby stuff by categories and how you get them. Most of these free samples come by mail, but a few require you to pick up your freebie at a local store.

Free Baby Samples

First up are the straight up free baby samples. No, not samples of babies, but samples for babies.

Enfamil

Their free Family Beginnings program offers up to $400 in free gifts! The free gifts for you and your baby are spread throughout your pregnancy, baby's first year and into toddlerhood. Freebies include belly badges to share special moments and formula samples.

As I've written about before, you can also get free Enfagrow Toddler Formula nutritional drink samples. Enfamil will also send you up to $130 in coupon, samples, tips for cow's milk allergy management and more.

Lastly, Enfamil will also send $400+ in general coupons for free just by signing up here.

Gerber

Signup for a free MyGerber account and they'll send baby discounts and free products throughout the year. Each year they also send out occasional items like free coupons, baby food, and other cool stuff like free bibs!

Gerber also has a cool baby AI chat named Dotti available 24/7. It won't replace the advice of professionals, but I've known a few first time parents who needed some reassuring help from time to time. When one of my best friends had his first child, he texted me asking if he should be worried that his baby's vomit smelled weird. 🤣 Turns out, he was just sleep deprived.

Similac Formula

If free baby formula sounds good to you, then sign up for Similac's StrongMoms Rewards program. They'll send out free formula samples and baby formula coupons with up to $400 in savings.


Baby Registry Freebies

Multiple big box retailers have baby registries on their websites. When expecting mothers or fathers create a free registry, they'll receive stuff like free diapers, tons of baby product samples, and unique high value coupons not found anywhere else.

Free Amazon Baby Box

  • Free Welcome Box with $35 worth of samples for both the baby and the parents.
  • 10% off registry items, 15% off for Prime members.
  • Full 1-year return window on all items purchased from your registry.
  • Universal Registry means you can add any item from any website to your list!

Amazon's baby registry starts us off with their free welcome box for Prime members. In order to receive this freebie, you'll need to purchase at least $10 worth of items from your registry. You can purchase the items yourself or have others buy them, either way works.

If you're not a Prime member, you won't be able to get the free welcome box. However, you'll still qualify for the free discounts, extended return window, and bonus diaper discounts.


Free Target Baby Kit

Target is next up with their free baby welcome kit packed with over $120 worth of coupons and samples. This is by far the highest-value baby welcome kit I found, but you will have to pick it up in-store.

Target also has a baby items clearance page with frequently updated discounted baby deals.

  • Free Welcome Kit with $120 worth of products and savings.
  • 15% discount on any items left in your registry, 8 weeks before the baby's expected arrival.
  • Universal Registry means you can add any item from any website to your list!
  • Easy gift tracking to see who gave you what and who you've already thanked.

Free Bed, Bath, Beyond Baby Goody Bag

Bed, Bath & Beyond give away free baby goody bags with samples, coupons, and a copy of their Registry guide. It's for pick up in stores after you create a registry and you get a 10% completion discount off your unpurchased registry items.

Free Walmart Baby Box

Our final Big Box Store offer comes from Walmart. Their bundle of baby essentials contains $40 worth of samples and freebies.

  • Free Baby Welcome Box worth $40 in savings.
  • Full 1 year return window on registry items.

Signing up is easy. All you need to do is head here and create a free baby registry. Then reload that page and look for the “FREE Welcome Box” image. Click it, fill out your info, and your free baby box will arrive in the mail in 4-6 weeks.

Free buybuy BABY Baby Bag

If you thought the baby registry freebies were finished, think again! buybuy BABY also has a free baby goody bag with samples, coupons, and a complimentary registry guide. Similar to Target's offer, the buybuy BABY goody bag is only available in-store.

Free Motherhood Baby Pack

Last up is Motherhood Maternity's baby registry. They give out sample products & exclusive offers from Motherhood, A Pea in the Pod, Destination Maternity, and other partners.

  • Up to $1500 in savings over 12 months.

From what I gather, Kohl's used to have an in-house baby registry program that offered a free kit. However, they've since discontinued their entire baby registry program.

Are you aware of any major baby registry freebies I missed? Please let me know in the comments or by email!


Free Baby Products

Free Breast Pump

One of the provisions under the Affordable Care Act requires all health insurance plans to cover the cost of a breast pump. It can either be via a rental unit or one you keep, but either way your insurance company is legally required to provide it.

If you're already paying for your free breast pump in month premiums, then be sure to get it!

Many health insurance companies offer either the Medela Pump In Style or Ameda Purely Yours pump. Be sure to check your health coverage plan and call your insurance company to find out which free breast pump you qualify for.


Free Birth Announcements

Unfortunately, while free birth announcements were once a common staple in the freebie world, they've dropped off a cliff recently.

One frugal idea is to use the frequent custom photo print freebies to make your own free announcements. These are regularly given away each month.

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Free Magazine Subscriptions Available to Signup Today

All Active Freebies Still Available to Request!

One of the hardest aspects of running HIF isn’t finding freebies, it’s keeping up with freebies. If there’s a free sample out in the wild, I’ll find it without a problem. But once published, it’s hard to know what’s still alive and what’s dead. And this can be even harder …

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Best Rated Survey Sites Earn Money

The Best Survey Sites for Free Money

SiteHighlights & RatingPayouts

BBB Rating: A+

  • Offers increase in value as you go.
  • Tons of different earning methods.
  • 💲5 signup bonus.
$30
$30
$30

BBB Rating: A

  • Unique and numbers ways to rack up cash.
  • Paid out over $200 million back to users.
  • Another 💲5 signup bonus!
$5
$10
$15

BBB Rating: A+

  • Lowest payout threshold means you get your 💵 quicker!
  • Nielsen backed, therefore more offers & trials.
$3
$3

In 2005, when HIF was only a figment of my imagination, I was heavily into the “make money online for free” scene. It's actually what I considered making HIF about until I got into freebies!

Most of the offers involved paying a little money and getting little more back via a check in 10-18 weeks. There were scams and you had to stay on top of things, but if you were diligent and read the fine print, it was a cool little world where you could make some side money.

One of the popular methods were survey sites. They paid less than the big offers, but you could make a quick buck today versus waiting 18 weeks for a bigger check.

Flash forward to earlier this summer. I heard the term beermoney and began looking into it. Turns out, that's what the free money online scene had evolved into! As in you won't get rich, but you'll earn a little extra beer money. 😄 🍺

As I read more about beermoney, I started recognizing names from 15 years ago. With times still tough for so many, I figured why not put together a list of the best survey sites that legitimately pay out in 2021.

There are 3 simple rules when it comes to the best survey sites.

Important Survey Rules!

  1. Use a new email for surveys only.
  2. Don't give out your personal phone number.
  3. If it's too good to be true…

If you follow these rules, you're golden!

For starters, make a new email account and only use it for survey sites. I prefer Gmail, but any free email service will work. The goal is making sure your personal or work email doesn't get slammed with survey offers.

Next, you'll want to get a free Google Voice phone number. This way if a legit survey company is ever acquired by a shaddy company, they can't sell your phone number to spammers!

Last, if it sounds too good to be true, then I promise it is. Make sure not to waste your time on any site that promises big, huge paydays. I participated on these sites during my downtime – watching TV at night, waiting for my girlfriend to get ready, sitting on the subway, etc.

Over the course of a month, casually taking surveys, I made enough to buy a few rounds at the bar this weekend. I could have made a little more if I spent less time watching The Expanse!

Key Survey Tips I've Learned

On top of those Rules, I picked up two key tips to maximizing my time and keeping my sanity on beermoney sites.

  • You can always give fake info or choose not answer.
  • Shop around – different sites want different people!

Always remember you can give fake info or select the “don't want to answer” option. There's no law against telling somebody on the Internet that you're Bob T. Bobbertson III from Tucson, AZ, a 90 year old Southern Baptist worth a million bucks. Perhaps while answering some questions, Mr. Bobbertson's eyes frequently slip to the screen as the Mariners continue their date with destiny. Who knows what he might have clicked!

Though be warned – the more inconsistent answers you give, the less surveys you may qualify for. That's why I always pick the “choose not to answer” option if I don't feel like giving away my personal info.

Finally, shop around! Each of these sites are running surveys or studies for specific brands or products. That means one site might want a single guy taking their surveys while another wants married moms. After joining multiple sites, you'll quickly notice which sites are giving you the most opportunities.

Armed with these tips, you can make money during your free time starting today!

Stuck Signing Up?

Some signup processes make it seem like there's nothing more to do after you join. Simply go back to the homepage and log-in with the account you just created. You'll then find the main user area!

3 Best Survey Sites

Without further ado, let's get to the best survey sites!

Earn Cash from Home Surveys

Inbox Dollars

Inbox Dollars is a platform run by Cotter Web Enterprises, a company with an A+ BBB rating. They pays users cash for participating in polls, taking surveys, playing games, watching videos, and reading emails. They're not only one of the oldest sites on this list (up there with HIF in total age!), but they're also routinely rated as one of the top survey sites.

One reason users tend to love InboxDollars is the more you use their features, the more opportunities you're given to make money. For example, those who read the paid emails every day will continue to regularly receive them. However, if you don't read the emails or delete them without opening, InboxDollars will skip days and email you less. However, if surveys are your jam and you keep taking them, InboxDollars will start offering you more of them. They basically let you choose how you want to earn money.

Hands down one of the best bonuses offered on this list is InboxDollars gives all new users $5! Seriously, just for joining, you get $5 added to your account.

Payout for offers range from $.50 all the way up to $50. Most emailed offers are super easy to complete, though the higher paying offers tend to take at least 5 minutes. There are also high-paying offers that require you to sign up for other products or trials, but I personally skip all of them. My research shows those offers typically are approved within two days.

One wrinkle is their high minimum threshold required to cash out, which is $30. They also don't offer PayPal, but they do allow for Prepaid Visa cards (which have no fee) or you can get a physical check via snail mail with a $3 processing fee.

InboxDollars ultimately is an excellent platform for making a little extra money on the side. I give it based on their longevity, BBB rating, awesome signup bonus, amount of offers, and ease of use! If their payout methods weren't stuck in 2002, I'd bump them up to 5 stars.

Earn Money with Inbox Dollars

Create an account today and get your free $5 signup bonus!


Swagbucks

Swagbucks Surveys for Free Money

Swagbucks is another tremendous money-making option run by Prodege, an A rated BBB company. Not only that, but I've written about Swagbucks frequently and many Hiffers have been earning rewards with them for over a decade!

Swagbucks' two biggest perks are their numerous ways to earn rewards and money along with their extensive history of paying out rewards. In September 2017, they hit a milestone of paying back $200 million to their users!

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Angry Couponing

5 Fool-Proof Fixes to Handle Coupon Rejection!

We’ve all been there. You’re checking out with a million items, the kids are fighting over Frosted Chocolate Flakes or Cocoa Sugar Squares, and is there even a bottle of wine left in the rack at home? Then what happens when you get ready to pay? The dang register rejects …

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Holiday gift ideas for men, dads, and guys

2022 Holiday Gift Ideas for Guys

Chances are HIF isn’t the only freebie site you traffic. One obvious difference you’ve probably noticed is that I hardly ever publish deals. I don’t even think I mentioned Black Friday or Cyber Monday this year and I’ve never been big on posting HOT coupons or SUPER deals because…ugh. That’s …

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