Giveaway: The medium flat-rate box of FinCon19 swag.

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I’ve been home from the 2019 Financial Blogger Conference for weeks now, and for weeks a medium-flat-rate-box-sized heap of Expo Hall swag has sat on my desk, taunting me.

What’s up for grabs this year? All sorts of goodies, many of which make primo stocking stuffers.

I haven’t catalogued and boxed it up yet because Reasons. Now it’s done, and one lucky person is going to get a large selection of offbeat items courtesy of the expo hall at the annual financial writers’ conference.

Exhibitors lure you to their tables by putting out things like T-shirts, candy, reusable shopping bags and the like. And who doesn’t need a spare box of matches, or a bottle opener, or a little bag of custom M&Ms?

Plenty of people, I know. But again, some of these things are giftable as heck. In fact, I kept a few of them back for the annual shoebox Christmas giveaway organized by a local charity. You fill a shoebox with items homeless people have requested, then wrap it with Christmas paper and drop it off at the Tastee-Freez.

This year my shoebox will include hand sanitizer, lip balm, and a notebook and pens from the expo hall, in addition to the other stuff I bought. And here are the things that this year’s box-of-FinCon-swag winner will receive:

 

 

A reusable drinking straw, made of stainless steel and packaged with its own cleaning brush, from AARP. This is my favorite item in this year’s batch.

A cooling towel, also from AARP, that’s ostensibly for hot flashes but anyone who lives in a warm climate could also wet ’n’ wear this light polyester scarf.

Reusable shopping tote, advertising AARP’s new Sisters website. These totes are great if you live in an area that banned plastic grocery bags and charges you for the paper ones (Anchorage just did this), or if you just want to use fewer grocery bags whether they’re legal or not.

Insulated lunch bag, from SmartPath.com, a financial coaching website. This bright-yellow bag is big enough to hold a six-pack. But I hope you pack a better lunch than that.

Sunglasses, also from SmartPath. These will come in handy if your future’s so bright, you’ve gotta wear shades.

 

 

Still more swag!

 

A fidget spinner, from the credit-builder loan issuer Credit Strong. If you have a cat or dog, prepare to freak them out with the little whirly device.

Another reusable shopping tote, a natural linen color with the phrase “Totes prepared,” from Haven Life, an online life insurance company.

Two bars of dark chocolate, also from Haven Life, which is apparently “deliciously simple.”

A dark purple T-shirt (size XL) with the slogan “Invest in yourself,” from Ally Financial Inc., which offers online banking, investing, and home and auto loans. I keep a big chunk of my savings at Ally, including the “saved savings” account that I hope will pay for most or all of a trip to London.

Yet another reusable shopping tote, this one from Apartments.com.

Tiny bottle of hand sanitizer, from an online life insurance company called Bestow. It’s refillable, and very useful during the cold and flu season.

A trio of little travel bags, small ones designed to hold toiletries or medications or other keep-’em-together items, from the military financial services agency called USAA.

A blank book, with lined pages, suitable for diary or essay writing or planning your financial future. You can thank Debt.com for this one.

A combination mini-flashlight and bottle opener, from the loan comparison website Credible. And no, I am not making up that combo.

Two little bags of M&Ms, blue and white and bearing the logo of Finder, a site that lets you compare credit card offers, various loans and other money stuff.

More sweets, a motley assortment, from various tables. No logos except for the single Ally cookie, a confection so popular among PF bloggers that it practically has its own Facebook page.

Two boxes of wooden matches from Truebill.com, a site that negotiates bills with providers such as Comcast, AT&T, DirecTV, Fios and SiriusXM. The logo: “Burn this. Not your money.”

Very small Rubik’s cube keychain. It works. No idea who gave it out, though. Shame on me.

To enter the giveaway:

Be sure to leave a separate comment for each entry (e.g., “Subscribed via e-mail” or “Follow you on Twitter”).

The deadline to enter is 7 p.m. PDT Wednesday, Oct. 23. If I don’t hear back from the winners by 7 p.m. PDT Thursday, Oct. 24, I’ll have the random number generator pull a new name.

Note: Due to the high cost of international shipping, this giveaway is open only to residents of the United States.

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124 thoughts on “Giveaway: The medium flat-rate box of FinCon19 swag.”

  8. the conferences you attend give away great swag. I am currently using a pen I found in my holder in the dark from Poly from a cyber-conference. It writes exceptional well. You can never have enough reusable bags, I’m stashing them everywhere, since plastic costs around 50 cents here. Though they are to be reused as our municipal garbage bags.

    Reply

  9. Here I am again Donna, trying to win your swag box…..every year I enter with hope! 🙂 Maybe it’s my year, cooling towel and extra shades come in VERY handy down here..it’s only going up to 85 today, I’m thrilled!
    Thank you for gathering the goods, and toting them all the way back with you..and then offering them up for grabs 🙂
    Will be much appreciated by whomever wins – I hope its me 🙂

    Reply

  17. I subscribe to your email – a posting is a gift when I see it in my in box.

    These items could make an entire stocking for my college daughter.

    Thank you for offering these goodies!

    Reply

  20. I would love to win your FinCon loot because: I always try to use reusable bags, I could really use that lunchbox, I LOVE purple, a bottle opener is always a good thing to have handy, I’ve been traveling a lot and have a trip coming up, and I’m pretty fond of sweets too. Thanks for the opportunity.

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  34. I wear my sunglasses at night…

    This sounds like a generous haul! Please enter me in the draw, and thanks for the opportunity!

    Reply

  39. I enjoy reading your articles and have learned so much from you and your daughter that helps in retirement to stretch each dollar. 💸

    Reply

  40. I don’t subscribe to any of these things, you kindly send them to my email. Thank you very much, I always look forward to your thoughts.

    Reply

  79. We got a piece of swag once that was a combination mini flashlight, bottle opener, AND retractable tape measure. It was shaped like a small person, with the bottle open as the head, the flashlight in one foot, and the tape measure in the other foot. My gadget-loving son claimed it immediately.

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  80. I was thinking I should contact AARP and ask for my own box of goodies from them. I’ve been a member for 17 years now!

    Reply

  88. Sounds like you got a lot of great stuff! I’m most interested in the purple ally bank t-shirt since I have an ally account and love purple.

    Reply

  115. All of the above mentioned items would be greatly appreciated by my kiddos @ Compassion Project DR702 — Santo Domingo. Glad I made it back from there in time for this give away.

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  118. Sooo many things that my kiddos in the Dominican Republic could use. I follow you through email (or are we following each other)? Whether I win or not, I thank you for the crayons, which I was able to see in use last week!

    Reply

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