Want a $50 head start on home improvement or summer fun? Of course you do.

The folks at the Savings.com deal site are giving away $500 worth of Home Depot gift cards this week.

Ten winners will each receive $50 worth of purchasing power at the home improvement center, just in time for summer building projects, garden add-ons, or fun stuff like a wine-bottle cooler or charcoal grill (see deal list, below).

My dad gives me a Home Depot card every year for Christmas. He knows that DF and I will use it for compost, peat pots and other items for our vegetable and flower gardening projects. The Home Depot has everything we want for summer. The retailer was also a big help to my daughter and me as we cleaned up her rental unit after her in-laws moved out. (You’ll love the before-and-after photos, although a couple of them might make you queasy.)

 

The giveaway ends at 11:59 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, April 17. Sign up here; one entry per household.

To go along with the giveaway, Savings.com has curated a Home Depot deal list:

 

 

April cash-back shopping benefits autism group

 

For the month of April, the Dollar Dig cash-back shopping site will once again donate half of all net profits to a nonprofit that helps families experiencing autism.

The money will go to POAC Autism Services, a New Jersey organization that offers education, support, training and family activities. If you’re shopping online anyway, why not go through a cash-back site? You get a rebate and, in this case, a nonprofit group benefits.

For those unfamiliar with cash-back shopping: You start your search at a site like Dollar Dig, which gets an affiliate fee for sending buyers to retailers. A portion of those fees returns to us, the consumers.

When you sign up at Dollar Dig you’ll get a $5 head start. After you earn an additional $20 in rebates, you can ask for a check.

Note: If you sign up at Dollar Dig, or enter to win a Home Depot card or buy anything from the deal list, I will receive a small finder’s fee. These sponsored giveaways are one more way to keep the blog lights on – and as I never tire of pointing out, a solvent blogger is a happy blogger.