contest

A coupon app and a $2,500 sweepstakes.

by

ImageProxyDon’t want to clip your own coupons? Let the Favado mobile savings app do it for you.

While you’re at it, enter to win the company’s Summer BBQ Savings sweepstakes. (More on that in a minute.)

Favado is a free app that tracks deals in more than 65,000 supermarkets and drugstores across the country. You make a shopping list right on your phone and then the app uses real-time data to match current deals, coupons and even “secret” sales (e.g., in-store promotions) with what you want to buy.

You’ll get automatic notifications when your favorite products go on sale at those stores – and the list includes markets like Whole Foods, Target, Trader Joe’s and Kmart along with merchants like Safeway and Walgreens.

“Want to save on groceries…easily? Get this app,” advises Emily Weinberger of Good Housekeeping magazine.

Read more

I stand (sort of) corrected.

by

th-2When I announced my fifth anniversary giveaway, at least one reader pointed out that it isn’t the anniversary of five years’ worth of writing but rather the fifth birthday of my first-ever post (April 30, 2010).

Duly noted. Sorry about the misstatement.

Now let’s get on with the important part: the fact that you still have time to enter and the fact that the prizes are really swell thanks to some very generous fellow bloggers.

How swell? Glad you asked.

Read more

Want to win a laptop? Sign up by Wednesday.

by

F8C35AV_0ther_PCMAG_513Although I’m neither a contest blogger nor a deal blogger, I do sometimes post  giveaways, TweetChats and other promotions from elsewhere. Occasionally one carries the potential for affiliate income for me, e.g., when someone signs up for a seminar. Mostly, though, I put them up to give readers a chance to win stuff.

The folks at Savings.com are giving away a laptop computer. Specifically, they’re giving away an HP Pavilion 11t-n000 x360 PC (Energy Star).

Edited to add: The giveaway quickly filled up with more than 5,000 entries and closed early. But it has been retooled and is now back in business. You can enter up until 9 p.m. EDT Wednesday, April 30, by going to the Savings.com giveaway page.

Read more

Go win these gift cards.

by

thWhenever I see a chance to win gift cards I tend to enter. Sometimes I even win.

Whenever I see a chance for readers to win gift cards, I tend to share. Here are two chances to win Home Depot and Amazon.com cards. The former is pretty easy; the latter takes a bit of work but there’s a chance at a pretty decent payoff.

Savings.com will be giving away $3,000 worth of Home Depot e-gift cards today through Wednesday. Between 9:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. EDT each day, go to the Home Depot page at Savings.com and enter your e-mail address.

Read more

My minor celebrity moment. What’s yours?

by
Photo courtesy of Free Images (pachd.com)
Photo courtesy of Free Images (pachd.com)

During its musical revues the old Fly By Night Club sometimes included a “Minor Celebrities” bit, inviting audience members to write down their furthest-removed brushes with fame. During intermission the cast would pick what they thought were the best – and again, the more tenuous, the better.

Thus we’d hear things like:

“I take dance class with Michael Jackson’s plastic surgeon’s wife.

“My great-uncle invented Cheez Whiz.”

“I once heard Brian Keith belch when I walked past his house in Hawaii to go surfing.”

“I used to carpool a kid whose mother’s father embalmed Babe Ruth.”

All these snippets led, naturally, to a book. The title: “Elvis Presley’s Pharmacist Was My Sunday-School Teacher.” 

Read more

Some linky bling for your Valentine.

by

Victoria's Secret braceletNow that things are more or less back to normal, it’s time to resume the weekly giveaways. This week’s prize would make a good Valentine’s Day gift, provided the winner answers on time – and provided that the winner’s sweetie likes jewelry.

It’s a bracelet from Victoria’s Secret, made of “rose gold” links with a sparkly angel-wing catch. Well, most people think it’s an angel-wing catch. My 7-year-old nephew spent the day with me yesterday and opined that the catch “looks like a mustache.”

A rhinestone mustache, mind you. (Admit it: The song “Rhinestone Cowboy” will now be stuck in your head all day.)

The giveaway is sponsored by my daughter’s website, I Pick Up Pennies. Hope you’ll give her a visit and browse around a bit.

For a shot at linky bling, enter by:

Read more

Coupons.com wants to give you a $100 Amazon card.

by

XMAS_BLOGGIFT_MOM_FINA couple of dozen bloggers were given the chance to participate in the Coupons.com Holiday Sweepstakes. I’m happy to be among them because of the possibility that one of my readers will be chosen as the winner of a $100 gift card to Amazon.com.

The contest is designed to call attention to the site’s holiday gift guides, which offer ideas for presents for moms, dads, teens and younger kids. This being Coupons.com, online coupon codes are included with each gift idea.

Among the four Coupons.com holiday gift guides, my favorite is – naturally – the mom page. That’s because it includes a class of gifts I hope to see under the tree: skin-care items.

It’s cold and dry here in southcentral Alaska, which is hard on the skin. Looking at the moms’ gift guide I see a three-pack of fragranced body butters from Sephora. The  accompanying coupon codes bring free shipping and a gratis “deluxe sample” item. (Hint: Those small sample items are obviously good for travel but they also make very nice last-minute stocking stuffers.)

Read more

What’s new at MTN, plus a few ways to win.

by

thI’ve had three articles appear at Money Talks News since my last roundup, two of them seasonal and one that might as well be seasonal since it involves your pocketbook:

“Tips to score a year’s worth of gifts at rock-bottom prices” suggests that you use loss leaders and doorbusters to build an evergreen gift closet. A little poking around and you’ll have presents for just about every occasion: birthdays, Valentine’s Day, baby showers, Mother’s and Father’s days, weddings, you name it. It’s particularly useful when your kids blindside you on Friday evening: “I’m invited to Tyler’s birthday party tomorrow.”

“Worried about the size of your…discount? Relax: It’s just deal envy” also bounces off Gray Thursday/Black Friday/Cyber Monday. Some people feel depressed when they find out they missed a chance to save money – and I don’t blame them, which is why the article contains ideas on how to keep costs down.

“The 3 golden rules of loaning to friends and family” is just what it sounds like: tips on whether/when to say “yes” and some ideas on how to say “no” if you must.

In other news:

Read more

Message in a virtual bottle.

by

Message in a virtual bottle.I’m tossing this post out there on faith, because I’m not sure how many people will actually be able to read it. That’s because the site continues to flutter and flicker.

My web goddess is ferreting out the gremlins responsible for the past few days’ worth of aggravation. It’s not an easy task, so please hang in there if you get “site down” or, worse, “fatal error” messages over the next couple of days.

Honest: I’m not quitting the business, even though part of the business quit me (and an unknown number of other writers).

Today I put my final MSN Money post into draft form. After almost seven years of contract work it feels odd to be a free agent once more. Not unpleasantly odd, mind you: I’m looking forward for a clear space in which to breathe.

I’ll still have to work, but I’ve lined up just enough to pay my basic expenses. I don’t want to dip into savings, but neither do I want to go back to being just as busy as I was before.

In other news…

Read more