Thrifty Mommy » Deals on the Web

A Round-Up of Sales

Karen Weideman — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:54:20 +0000

My email inbox is always filled with sales and deals so I decided to pass some of these on to you. I hope you’ll find something in here you can use to save money.

Get the FamilyFun Activity Calendar for only $5.99 with free shipping and handling. It’s chock full of creative crafts, instant boredom busters, holiday recipes, and entertaining activities for each month of the year.

Gilden Tree is having a sale on gift certificates. From now until Christmas, order an email gift certificate for $50 or more and receive a $10 gift certificate for yourself; $100 or more and receive a $20 gift certificate for yourself. Enter code GIFTPROMO at checkout. They will email the first certificate right away and send a separate email with the free certificate. Gilden Tree specializes in natural, organic foot and body care. This sale ends December 25, 2009.

Save 80% at Restaurant.com. Get $25 gift certificates for only $2. Simply enter the discount code SANTA at the checkout and hit apply. This sale ends December 25, 2009.

Save 30% off everything at Avenue. Excludes clearance. Online shoppers use code AV91172. Valid through Monday, December 21, 2009. Shop Sunday and get a free Bedford shirt or cosmetic bag slipper set with any purchase when you use this printable coupon.

Receive $5 off your online Sears purchase of $50 or more with coupon code SEARS5OFF50. Expires December 24, 2009. Some restrictions apply.

Belk is having a big sale (you can read about it in my previous post). They also have some printable coupons for $10 off a $50 purchase, $20 off a $100 purchase, and $30 off a $150 purchase. The coupons are good on sale or regular priced merchandise. Online coupon codes can be used.

What deals have you found lately?

image (c) Karen Weideman

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Biggest December Sale Ever at Toys R Us

Karen Weideman — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 04:49:52 +0000

Toys “R” Us is having some big sales in December. They’re advertising this month’s deals as the “Biggest December Sale Ever at Toys ‘R’ Us”. Since there are less than 20 days remaining until Christmas, I thought you all might want to know about these deals.

Toys “R” Us has introduced a new catalog filled with 40 pages of deals on hundreds of the season’s hottest toys. The special offers continue throughout December with the company’s in-store “Deal of the Day,” which provides exceptional discounts on specific products, as well as entire product categories. To make holiday shopping even more convenient and savings more accessible, Toys“R”Us stores are opening earlier and closing later to accommodate early birds and night owls alike. For those who choose to shop around the clock, the world’s largest online toy store, ToysRUs.com, is always open and currently features free shipping on thousands of items.

Through December 12th, you can find:

$3,000 in savings on hundreds of the season’s hottest toys, including brands such as Barbie, V-Tech, Fisher Price, Disney Pricess, and Playskool
Over 20 free toy, accessory, and gift cards offers with purchase
An additional four pages filled with nearly 40 extra two-day bonus buys
First-to-market arrivals of 2010 products so LEGO enthusiasts can ring in the New Year early with a free snoman or Chirstmas tree holiday set with purchase of any lego building item
Brand new hot toys such as the Zhu Zhu Pets Giant Hampster Playset available only at Toys “R” Us.

Additional Biggest December Sale Ever catalog highlights, which kick off the Decmber of savings at Toys “R” Us, include:

Buy 1 get 1 50% off on all video games and cds
Free Radio Control Corvette ($14.99 value) with any Barbie doll or playset purchase of $100 or more
Free New Moon bracelet ($9.99 value) wtih any New Moon purchase of $25 or more
Free $25 Toys “R” Us gift card with the purchase of any iPod touch
Free Harumike Deluxe Style Accents ($9.99 value) with any Harumike purchase of $25 or more
Buy 2 get the third set free on ALL Totally Me! craft sets ($1.48=44.99 value)
30% off select games during the Big Game sale
20% off any V-Tech purchase of $75 or more
25% off all Wii Fit, Nintendo DS Lite and Ninetendo DSi Accessories (Two-day bonus buy)

Also, shop online and get free shipping on thousands of items with purchases of $49 or more at ToysRUs.com until Sunday, December 20.

Toys ‘R Us is offering an in-store ”Deal of the Day” through December 24. Each day, customers who visit Toys R Us Deal of the Day can click on “Get Deal of the Day” or “Get Tomorrow’s Deal of the Day” for a sneak peek of the following day’s eal, and access downloadable, printable coupons to use in store.

. Today’s deal offers shoppers a coupon to save 50% on the Barbie Storyteller Clock Radio, Barbie MP3 Player, Barbie Portable CD Bloombox, Hot Wheels CD Player and Hot Wheels Alarm Clock Radio*. To make accessing these deals even more convenient, customers can sign up for alerts to receive the “Deal of the Day” via e-mail when they visit Toysrus.com/DealoftheDay.

Enjoy the savings!

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Limit SPAM when buying online

Jennifer Chait — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 14:56:45 +0000

You can score tons of great deals online, but along with those deals can come a heaping helping of spam. Yuck right?

You don’t need to put up with spam though. Try this…

Set up a couple email addresses – one for personal use – i.e pals, work stuff, official business, and other important issues. Set up a second that you only use when you buy stuff online. Most online companies will add you to email lists, spam mailings, and more (even if they say they don’t) and you don’t need this junk coming to your personal email.

Sign up for better email – big ticket email providers have much better spam protection. For example, Gmail or Yahoo have better email filters that some lesser known email providers.

Use decent virus protection – decent virus protection usually has email functions that block spam. I like Trend Micro Internet Security but there are lots of virus and email protection options available.

Buy from reputable online companies - this sort of goes without saying but buying products from a shady looking site is iffy for many reasons. Excess spam and people sharing your email address with others is more likely as well. Read Online Shopping Tips: E-Commerce and You.

Keep your email private – meaning, don’t give out any of your emails at places like forums. If you do post your email in public, write it out like this ihatespam (at) soandso.com.

When you buy online, how do you keep yourself protected by excess spam.

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Get a Free or Cheap DVD from Blockbuster

Katelyn Thomas — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 17:30:08 +0000

I got an email about this offer a bit ago and didn’t get around to it today. Blockbuster is giving $10 off $10 and free shipping for previously viewed or new DVDs when you use the code augappreciation through the end of August. If the DVD is under $10, the code is not valid, so you may have to spend a few dollars to find one that works with the code. I bought a cute children’s DVD to add to my Christmas gift pile for $3.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Let FREEdom Ring!

kadi — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 16:07:47 +0000

In honor of the Fourth Of July, I have put together a small list of sites that offer free stuff. Enjoy!

Free Grants For All

Free Samples

Free Ice Cream

Free Virtual Hair Styles

Free Fruitista Freeze

Free Wilson Golf Balls

Free Giveaways For Cool Mommy Gear

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

It’s Not a Bargain if the Shipping Charges are Inflated

Deborah Ng — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 11:30:36 +0000

Yesterday I was shopping around online for a book I’d like to read. I’m in the process of catching up with all my work after the holidays, so I’d rather not have to go to the mall for one book. The library has a long waiting list. I checked Amazon, Ebay,and the usual suspects and found a couple of second hand books with very reasonable prices. Then I spied the shipping charge. The book had prices ranging from $3.50 to $7.99 with shipping charges ranging from $7.00 to $15.00.

Pay $10 to $23 for a $7.00 book? I don’t think so.

I used to love Amazon, mostly for the convenience. Now it’s become a marketplace for inflated shipping prices. Ebay is even worse. I know that by looking at the package, many people are looking to make a profit on the shipping charges. Sometimes a huge, hefty profit.

Now I always ask myself, is it worth the convenience for me to pay the inflated shipping charges for this product? In this case, I just put my name on the library’s waiting list.

Image by Matthew Hull via Morgue File.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Coupons…we have coupons

Deborah Ng — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 00:41:27 +0000

Here are few of the cool coupons being offered around the web these days:

Minute Maid Frozen Novelties
Bounce Roller – $1 off
$3 off Iams cat food
Colgate & Listerine coupons and rebate
Nature Made Supplements - $10 in coupons

Have fun!

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Old Navy Coupon Code – 10% off

Deborah Ng — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 09:20:32 +0000

Just in time for back to school: Thrifty Mommy, Kelly Saunders, has a Coupon Code up good for 10% off at Old Navy. I can’t tell you how disappointed I am to see this code today! I just finished a major back to school shopping frenzy and a 10% coupon would have helped a great deal.

Visit the Thrifty Mommy blog for the code. Thanks Kelly!

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

When free stuff isn’t free

Deborah Ng — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:34:08 +0000

Years ago, when I worked a boring office job, I spent a lot of lunch hours surfing the web. Even then, I was looking for ways to save money and find bargains and free stuff. 7, 8, even 10 years ago, free stuff on the web was really cool. I used to get nice sized samples of makeup, jewelry, office supplies and food just for the asking. Nowadays, the free stuff isn’t always free, and the samples aren’t always worth the effort.

Once I had a child and started working at home, I didn’t have as much time to surf for free stuff. Then a couple of years ago, I started looking again. Most of my favorite free stuff sites were still there, but the freebies weren’t as easy to come by. To get the really good ones, I would have to complete several “offers”. This can be anything from opening up a credit card to requesting information from an online learning institution. Many times, the offers require some sort of payment, usually for shipping or opening an account.

Now, I’m not saying everyone has to give away something for nothing, but if you’re offering something for free, then it shouldn’t require an investment on my part. If you’re promoting a product and you want me to try it, I shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to get it, after all, I’m the one doing you the favor. I know there are people who don’t mind going through 40 pages of offers to reach the prize, I’m not one of them. If the product isn’t free, just say so.

Then there are the scam freebies. I hear about them all the time. The freebie hunter signs up for an offer, say a trial pack of diet supplements. That person is taken to a sign up page and she eagerly does so and parts with her credit card number so she can be charged $4.99 for shipping. Come next month, and she has a $155 charge on her bill because the link she clicked conveniently bypassed the page saying she would be automatically enrolled in their subscription program to receive supplements each month. Since she only expected to receive a small sample, chances are she threw away the sales letter letting her know she’ll be charged each month.

I’m not saying there aren’t some great freebie and freebie sites out there, but there are plenty of places that advertise products as being free, when in reality they are not. Read all the fine print. Determine whether or not filling out offers and paying all of the shipping charges is worth your time, effort and money. Free samples shouldn’t be so difficult to obtain. Skip the places that make it difficult for you and find the ones that make it worth your while.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy

Is Free Internet Access Worth It?

Deborah Ng — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 11:33:18 +0000

Is it worth it to enroll in a plan offering free or very low cost Internet access? While your wallet says “yes” many people who use these services say “no.”

Most free Internet plans are for dialup access. The reason they’re free is because they want you to view advertisements. So while you’re typing or surfing, ads are flashing all around you. It’s rather annoying. You can turn off the advertisements, but after a certain period of time, you’ll be booted off the network.

If money is an issue, sure, you can enjoy limited access with a free Internet connection. If you can get away with it, you might want to spend a few dollars a month for a dialup service without advertisements. Don’t just choose the cheapest, however. Research. Read the reviews. Learn which programs offers you the best option for your money.

If you only use the Internet for email and occasional surfing, a free Internet services with advertisements might be the way to go. If you’re a little more hardcore, it’s good to keep in mind you do get what you pay for.

Post from: Thrifty Mommy