gift card

Giveaway: FinCon24 swag + gift card.

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FinCon24 is in the books, and I’ve decided to go back to a tradition that fell by the wayside: giving away conference tchotchkes. Because who doesn’t need more reusable shopping bags or a new T-shirt for when it’s time to paint the kitchen?

This giveaway is a little different, though, because it will also contain a gift card.

For the uninitiated, FinCon is a professional conference for those who write, podcast, advise or are otherwise affiliated with personal finance. There’s always an expo hall for sponsors and vendors to show attendees what they do.

Two things get our attention – and it isn’t signage or name recognition. No, it’s candy and swag.

The swag is what I’m giving away, because I’m still nibbling on the fun-size candy bars and soft peppermints. But it’s useful swag. Most of it has some kind of corporate branding, but heck, as a nation we’ve been conditioned to pay for the privilege of advertising someone else’s business. (Lookin’ at you, Nike swoosh.)

Here’s what the winner will get: 

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Giveaway: $25 Amazon card.

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A $25 Amazon card means different things to different people. Summer is winding down, so for some it’s time to buy crayons or school clothes. The child-free might be pricing new winter accessories, or restocking hobby supplies.

Gardeners could be on the lookout for canning supplies. Thrifty folks may be doing a little early holiday shopping (if they aren’t already done). And since summer’s not completely over, possibly you’re in the market for sunscreen or new flip-flops or a good beach read.

Whatever you want, my latest giveaway will fund the first $25 worth. 

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Support the reader economy: Giveaway #4.

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I hesitated to post another “Support the Reader Economy” giveaway so soon after my most recent giveaway, which was a $15 Starbucks gift card on June 20. Then I realized:

(a) That was several weeks ago (so easy to lose track of time during an Alaska summer), and also

(b) People are being slammed by inflation, so why not offer a little help right now instead of waiting?

In the grand scheme of things that help is rather small: A $25 gift card to the winner’s retailer of choice. On the other hand, it’s always fun to win things – and even though $25 is chump change these days, in some cases it could make a big difference.

For example:

You’re coming off a spell of unemployment and playing catch-up.

You’re in the middle of a spell of underemployment, and have more month than money.

You’re having one of those years where everything that can go wrong did go wrong, from major repair bills to high medical co-pays.

Will $25 fix any of those situations for good? Of course not. But it might provide gas to get to work, some Payless Shoe Source sneakers for your fast-growing youngest kid, or some milk and bananas to balance out this month’s food-bank offerings.

The giveaway was never meant to be a solution to a major problem. It’s more like a slice of serendipity, an e-hug from me to the winner to encourage them to keep fighting.

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Giveaway: $15 Starbucks gift card.

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It’s darned hot in the Lower 48 right now. Anyone up for a cold drink? I’m giving away a $15 Starbucks gift card.

What you use it for is up to you, of course. Maybe a mango dragonfruit lemonade, or a caramel ribbon crunch Frappucino, or a chocolate cream cold brew.

Those all sound like desserts to me, but hey, whatever floats your boat. And cools you down. It’s punishingly hot down in the States, and in Hawaii, so let me buy you a Starbucks beverage.

Maybe you’ll go for an iced Americano, an iced toasted vanilla oatmilk shaken espresso, an iced cinnamon dolce latte or an iced caramel macchiato.

Whew. Complicated! 

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Support the reader economy: Giveaway #3.

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It’s Friday the 13th, but maybe this will be your lucky day: Time for another giveaway in my “Support the Reader Economy” series. 

Longtime readers know I’ve been giving things away since I started this site* back in May 2010.  Often the giveaways are things like books, gift cards, fun stuff from the Financial Blogger Conference, or combos that I make up, such as the “Coffeehouse Cliche Giveaway” (a fancy notebook and a Starbucks gift card, so you can be one of those folks writing the Great American Novel in a coffeehouse.

More recently I’ve been focusing a lot more on giveaway prizes made in Alaska, in an effort to support our local economy. But with inflation nibbling (or gobbling) at people’s financial well-being, I decided to create the Support the Reader Economy giveaway series.

The prize is a $15 gift card of the winner’s choosing. That could be a physical or virtual card, depending on your preference.

Sure, $15 won’t do much. But sometimes it’s fun to have $15 to play with – or to use to put a few gallons of gas in the car until payday. 

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Win a $100 Macy’s gift card.

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Win a $100 e-gift card from Macy's.

I didn’t set out to be a giveaway site, and thus try not to post too many “win this” articles in a row. Right now I have the Alaskan art jewelry giveaway* going, so this will make the second post in a row that lets you enter to win a prize. But the holidays approach, and I would like for readers to have a chance to win a $100 Macy’s gift card from Savings.com. which is giving away five of them. So here we are.

Macy’s has a wide variety of products, from toys to toasters, to go along with its clothing items. Having a $100 head start on your holiday shopping could be a nice boost to your budget. So what are you waiting for?

Not shopping for the holidays? Already finished your buying? Well, then, you could spend the money on warm items to take to a shelter. If you’re in a warm climate, use it to buy necessities like socks and underwear because I think most (if not all) shelters can never have enough of such things.

Spend it all on playthings to donate to a toy drive. Contact a nursing home to see if you could play Secret Santa to someone who has no family; a hundred dollars could let you buy slippers, PJs, comfortable loungewear for someone who otherwise would not be remembered on the holiday. 

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Win a $100 Walmart gift card.

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Win a $100 e-gift card from Walmart.

Sorry to have maintained radio silence since Oct. 23, but I’m on vacation in Phoenix. More about that below, however, because I want to focus on the topic at hand: Why five of you should win a $100 Walmart card.

My old pals at Savings.com are giving away five $100 e-gift cards in what they’re calling the #LiveWellWithWalmart giveaway. I see no reason that all five shouldn’t be won by readers of this site.

After all, the holidays are upon us and due to supply-chain and pandemic-related issues, there’s no time like the present to start looking for your presents.

(Disclosure: I get a small affiliate fee for each click on the links in this piece.)

And if you’re in a position where all your needs are currently covered? Consider entering anyway, and then using the $100 to do some good. Buy diapers and donate them to a diaper bank. Purchase gloves, hats and wool socks and drop them off at a shelter; if you live in a temperate climate, then substitute cotton socks and maybe some underwear.

Buy pet food for a no-kill rescue group. Choose some puzzles and stuffed animals to help out your local Toys for Tots drive. Get a hundred bucks’ worth of coffee and tea and deliver it to the senior center. 

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Giveaway: $30 Netflix gift card.

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In this unusually hot summer weather, it can be hard to muster the enthusiasm to do, well, anything.

Hikes? Sure, if you want to drown in your own sweat. Visit to the community pool? Loud and crowded. Gardening? Early morning hours only, please, lest you dry up along with those bean vines that are fading despite regular irrigation.

Proximity to air conditioning is ideal. If you don’t have AC, then spritz yourself with ice water and sit down close to the fan with “Anna Karenina,” “Pride and Prejudice,” “The Grapes of Wrath” or any other Great Work you’d been meaning to read since forever.

And if you don’t have a reading list, or if you’ve read yourself blurry-eyed and can no longer face the printed page? Go ahead. Give in. Turn on the television. Let art, or something quite like it, just wash over you while you drink iced tea by the gallon and subsist on cold melon slices and bowls of sherbet.

And let me help you pay for some of it. This week’s giveaway is a $30 Netflix gift card. Who’s interested? 

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