Freebies and deep discounts?

[daylatedollarshort]

The longer we are off the more freebie things we keep finding. The latest find for us was free concerts in the park. We started going to one series last year, but this year I realized there is one almost every night of the week within 20 minutes of our house at some park or plaza in one of the surrounding communities. Some of the bands are pretty decent local bands. For some of the bands, their tickets would normally cost $25 per person plus service charge to see them at their regular venues plus we'd have to pay for drinks but at the parks / plazas they are free, we can bring our own comfy chairs, BYOB or wine or a picnic dinner.

 

[trapperjohn]

Same here in central Ohio. Every weekend all summer long, and almost every night during the week, there are free concerts, outdoor movies, art or craft fairs, etc. And at the beginning of summer or late spring, several local papers publish the schedules.

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[rodi]

Not much free. We try to buy wisely though.
We saved several thousand buying our flooring and cabinets at Home Depot and Ikea over the border in Vancouver. The exchange rate was on our side.
DW uses coupons extensively.
We buy our gas at Costco here in Bellingham--just like the Canadians do.
We buy large items in sales - tax-free Oregon when practical.
On ce a year we get a companion fare for $99 with Alaska Air.
More economies coming, but nothing free.
Oops, no true. At Starbucks, I get a short drip in a ceramic cup for cheap, then get several free refills. Thinking about abandoning Starbucks because they tightened up their rewards program, eliminating freebie food rewards for me.

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Don't you have to declare stuff you bring across the border? A friend was returning from Italy after 2 years of living there. She had the many cases of wine she'd purchased shipped to Vancouver, where she drove to pick it up. The taxes at the border there at Peace Arch were pretty pricey. She still has some of that wine.... Hmmm, I should take a trip up to B'ham to visit her and help her with it. LOL.

When I lived in Bellingham (early 90's) there were only 2 Starbucks... but 5 or 6 drive through coffee shops. I loved that! What a great town.

 

[Dog]

Just signed up for eRewards surveys. They sent me two surveys I could participate in. I didn't qualify for either . I answered pre-qual questions honestly (we are not big consumers). So, no points/$ for me.
Is there a trick to qualifying for the surveys?


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[sailor]

Just signed up for eRewards surveys. They sent me two surveys I could participate in. I didn't qualify for either . I answered pre-qual questions honestly (we are not big consumers). So, no points/$ for me.
Is there a trick to qualifying for the surveys?
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My "passing rate" is about 25%. I do these during boring conference calls at work.
It's not as good as it was in the past - nowadays it could take 20 questions just to disqualify you - in the past they would tell you after few at most.
Also keep in mind that they "dollar rewards" are really worth only 1/3rd of their nominal value (so $75 of rewards dollars is equal to $25 gift card).
I probably get less than $2 per hour completing these surveys and still doing it, although I have more rewards money that I could redeem (most rewards have redemption limits, like one Best-Buy award per 90 days, etc).
Did some kiva.org rewards.

If you don't mind surveys and want to help charities, typically much shorter surveys are sent as a part of SurveyMonkey Contribute: https://contribute.surveymonkey.com/

 

[Chuckanut]

I did manage to get a 'free' hotel room for one night thanks to points.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Don't you have to declare stuff you bring across the border?

Yup. They even took us inside to check it out. I did my homework and learned that legitimate wood products from approved countries are duty free. (Some of it was from the USA!) IIRC, under $2000 there is no duty anyway. We had to make several trips anyway. The flooring was under $2k per trip.

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

B'ham is still a nice place. People retire here and won't leave and others retire to BH. Housing is very tight these days. A house on our street had multiple offers and sold for $30 over asking...on the day it was listed.

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[Ed_The_Gypsy]

BH is starting to remind me of St. Pete, FL.

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[Sunset]

Just signed up for eRewards surveys. They sent me two surveys I could participate in. I didn't qualify for either . I answered pre-qual questions honestly (we are not big consumers). So, no points/$ for me.
Is there a trick to qualifying for the surveys?....

Yes, Imagine yourself as a big earner, big spender and answer the survey like that.
In other words lie, and think about all the other surveys you have every heard about and how true they might be.

 

[Sunset]

I get free movies and coupons from redbox.

I ended up with 2 accounts, because I used 2 email addresses for 2 different credit cards.
One account, I registered with them online so I could reserve movies from home instead of going to the box to find all the movies I want are gone.
The other account I didn't bother to register it.

Now they send to the non-registered account coupons for $1.25 off each weekend.
So I login using the registered account, pick a movie, apply the coupon and go pick up the movie. After 10 rentals, they give me a freebee.

 

[Dog]

Thanks Sunset. I'll give it a go


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[Amethyst]

I don't know how old you are, but I bet they aren't too interested in over-55 responders, who are stereotyped as not buying much.

Just signed up for eRewards surveys. They sent me two surveys I could participate in. I didn't qualify for either . I answered pre-qual questions honestly (we are not big consumers). So, no points/$ for me.
Is there a trick to qualifying for the surveys?


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[UpAnchor]

I don't know how old you are, but I bet they aren't too interested in over-55 responders, who are stereotyped as not buying much.

Although DW and I scored big time a few years ago due to being over 55 and "looking it". We were in a higher-end furniture store and were lolly-gagging around in no particular hurry. This was a store we'd purchased several pieces from over the years but it's not like we were on a first name basis with the staff. I noticed that one store employee (turned out to be a manager) had appeared to be following us around yet keeping his distance and began to wonder if he thought we were up to something. Finally he approached us and started with some small talk, eventually asking if we'd consider accompanying him to their conference room and giving one of their marketing people our opinion on changes they were considering for their website. We said "sure" and soon discovered that they wanted to test the navigability of their site by older, perhaps less web-savvy, customers. We appeared to fit the bill and is why we were shadowed and finally approached.

After spending somewhere between 30 minutes and an hour providing our input (with detailed documenting of our comments by the marketing guy), we were profusely thanked and handed a substantial store voucher (I believe it was for $250). Then before we left he asked if we'd consider, at some future date, reviewing the revisions based on our comments along with other changes they were considering. Again we said "sure".

Yep, a few weeks later we were contacted and did exactly that. This second time we were handed a $400 voucher. So $650 for well under two hours work (was fun so you could hardly call it work) in a place we like and knew we would purchase again, regardless.

Some days it just pays to be a geezer!

 

[Amethyst]

Good for you, having a thick hide paid off! I would've been insulted.

So, did they figure you'd think Google is actually a person, and all that?

they wanted to test the navigability of their site by older, perhaps less web-savvy, customers. We appeared to fit the bill and is why we were shadowed and finally approached.

!

 

[Walt34]

So $650 for well under two hours work (was fun so you could hardly call it work) in a place we like and knew we would purchase again, regardless.

Not a bad gig at all when you can find it. Nice!