Something for nothing...

I enter the reward points on my lean cuisine boxes.  I tear apart the kitty litter boxes to get to the "paw points" reward codes  It may seem like a waste of time but I have gotten some pretty great stuff over the years and it has all been for free!  I haven't gotten to that weird, extreme couponing state where I am digging through neighbors' trashcans for their lean cuisine boxes to get the codes so I can get to 2000 points and finally get that cute serving bowl set (pictured above)... at least I haven't dug around in daylight yet.  I kid, I kid. Or do I?? 

Seriously though, over the last few years I have gotten two one-year magazine subscriptions to Martha Stewart Living, a kitty litter catcher pad thingee to catch the litter my cats kick out of their box and some cat toys.  These were all (free!) rewards for taking about 2 minutes, a few times a month, to enter some codes on a box of kitty litter... not too bad!  I am kicking myself for not starting to enter lean cuisine codes sooner because I have been eating them for years at work... but better late than never.  Only a couple more months until I get my serving bowls... or only a couple more weeks if my neighbors can keep their trashcans stocked for me.


Some other tips for getting something for nothing....

Call or email a company if you want to try their product!  Now, I don't have much experience here and I'm sure extreme couponers and other super thrifty people would have much better advice but I will still share my experiences. 

When Josh and I got married we had a lot of family coming from out of town and we wanted to put together some welcome bags to leave at the hotel... but we were on a really tight budget.  So I emailed McCormick Spices (the company that makes Old Bay Seasoning) and told them that we were putting together "Baltimore themed" welcome bags for our wedding guests and asked if they had any samples of Old Bay to send us.  A week later, we received about a hundred sample sized packets of Old Bay Seasoning in the mail!  We attached my mom's recipe for crab cakes and, voila, a cute and free addition to our welcome bags!

I also called the National Bohemian store to see if they would be willing to give me anything. Natty Boh is a pretty popular beer around these parts because it was previously brewed here in Baltimore and there is a store in Fells Point which sells all kinds of Natty Boh goods.  They were really nice and ended up giving me about 40 temporary tattoos of the Natty Boh guy (on the beer in the picture above) and about 100 postcards, some with pictures of crabs and some of a Baltimore skyline which read "Welcome to Boh-timore." 


I know the stuff I get from entering reward codes isn't too exciting.  And who cares that I got some free postcards and sample spice packs?  Well.... I do!  I love when I can save money and still have something to show for it!  So if you are putting together an event and can think of a company that might be able to contribute something, why not call?  You might be pleasantly surprised with the results!


* I was seriously kidding about picking through my neighborhood trashcans... but I promise to update you if it gets to that point.