Do-Gooding the Broke Way: 7th Generation Opportunity!!

Check out the newest "frugal donation" opportunity I've found... 7th Generation is currently donating $1 to the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund for each new member who registers on their website. If you're familiar with 7th Generation, then I don't have to tell you that they're one of the leading manufacturers of environmentally friendly household cleaners and are vocal advocates for change and large-scale health and environmental responsibility. They've recently branched out into organic feminine hygiene products, and are taking this opportunity to spread awareness about ovarian cancer. Registering on their site will also give you access to lots of coupons for their products, so it helps you out too! And even better it will benefit a cause that even the He-Man-Woman-Haters will have to applaud, even if it's just out of practicality! :P

Even when you're flat broke, you can still help out others! Donating time is of course the most valuable thing you can do, but if you're short on cash and on time, then here are some other ways to "do good" right here and now. :)
1

Mambo Sprouts grand prize winner!!

And late but not forgotten... we have a grand prize winner!! The random.org number generator produced a 6, which happened to be Keri who blogs over at One Mama's Daily Drama. Congratulations Keri!! In addition to your Mambo Sprout coupon booklet, you also won a coupon for $3 off Kashi (basically, free cereal) and a coupon for a Free Star Olive Oil. :) I'll be sending Mambo Sprouts booklets to the runners-up as well, so hurry and check your inbox for an email from me if you entered the giveaway!! And everyone who missed out should make sure to get on the Mambo Sprouts mailing list and have all that amazing organic/natural money-savingness delivered straight to your door in the future.

Be watching for another exciting giveaway here in the days to come! I'm brainstorming up what it should be even as we speak... err type. And, read. But yeah, stay tuned! :)
0

Friday Frivolity: Freebies and Samples, aka, everyone loves mail!!

My blogger buddy Melissa over at Coupons and Coffee has pretty much the best freebies/sample listing around, so for this Friday Frivolity I asked her to guest post for us with her most recent compilation. I can tell you now... this list is a guaranteed party in your mailbox. Check out her blog for frequent deal updates, and don't miss the Yoplait giveaway she hosting right now! Thanks for awesome scoop on freebies Melissa!!

Free Samples:

Abuelita Granulado from Nestle

Always Infinity

Always Thin Flexi-Style liner

Aquafresh Extreme Clean (will let you print 2 coupons)

Aveeno Nourish+ hair care

Beinggirl sample kit (from Always and Tampx)

BOSS Orange

Burt's Bees natural acne solutions (You have to qualify for this one.)

Carefree liners

Dove heat defense therapy or intense damage therapy

Dunkin’ Donuts coffee sample

Enfamil A.R.

GoodNites

Huggies Pure and Natural diapers (includes coupons)

Kashi TLC Chewy Granola Bar

Kotex Ultra Thin Overnight with wings and here

Lacoste perfume sample (Challenge, Touch of Pink, or Love of Pink)

L'Oreal EverPure Color Care (You have to register to request this sample.)

Nature Valley nut clusters and trail mix bar

NicoDerm CQ (Non-medicated patch and $7 coupon)

OB Tampons (includes cute travel case)

Pamper's Extra Protection

Parent's Choice Immune Support Baby Formula

Philosophy Unconditional Love (must log in to Facebook to request)

Poise sample kit

Playtex Sport tampons and here

Prilosec OTC

Rachael Ray Nutrish dog food

Splenda sweetener

Stayfree overnight ultra thin pads

True Lemon, True Lime, and True Orange


Samples currently available from Walmart

Samples currently available from P&G Brand Sampler


Free magazine subscriptions:

American Cheerleader (1 year)

Autoweek (1 year)

Business Week (1 year)

CBS Watch! (1 year)

Field & Stream (1 year)

Four Wheeler (1 year)

Golf Digest (1 year)

Islands (1 year)

JET magazine (1 year)

Marie Claire (digital - 1 year)

Road & Track (1 year)

Seventeen (digital - 1 year)

SKI (digital - 1 year)

Tennis (2 years)

Town&Country (3 years)


Other freebies:

Beech-Nut Starter Kit

CVS Photo: 50 FREE 4x6 prints when you register and link your ExtraCare card

Downy Wrinkle Release (Submit a photo for a FREE travel-size bottle.)

Enfamil First Visit Nutrition Gift

Ensure (links to coupon request form)

Home Made Simple coupon book and here

Nursery Water bag tag (They give away 100 each day, and there's a counter that tells you how many are left.)

PRVCY Breast Cancer Awareness bracelet

Water bottle from Juicy Juice

My name is Melissa. I'm 24 years old. I have one dog, a chiweenie (miniature daschund/chihuahua mix), named Maddie. I have a master's in advertising and public relations. I'm currently working as a freelance graphic designer/copywriter.
1
Hell0 fellow music lovers! I'm in the middle of putting together this week's Free-and-Legal MP3 Madness, but since I recently compiled all the MP3s still available from past posts I thought I'd go ahead and share them with you now so that you can still snag any you might have missed. Check back tomorrow for a completely fresh listing!!

Pop & Easy Listening (aka, hard to categorize...):

Carly Simon (via artist's website)
Jer Coons (via Muruch)
Kate and Kacey, Crosby Loggins (via Campbell's Labels for Education site)
Shanna Crooks (via Clean and Clear website)
A Fine Frenzy (via artist's website)
Taylor Swift (via LEI)
Anya Marina (via Daytrotter)
Plain White T's (via Daytrotter)
Fiction Family (via artists' website)

Indie Rock:
Josh Ritter (via artist's website)
John Vanderslice (via Paste Magazine)
Los Campesinos! (via Fingertips)
God Help the Girl (via Fingertips)
Caroline Smith and the Goodnight Sleeps (via Daytrotter)
Jolie Holland (via Daytrotter)
M. Ward (live concert recording, via NPR)
Hardly Art Label Sampler 2009 (via Amazon, 15 tracks)
Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, The Donnas, et al (sampler via Amazon, 9 tracks)
Lisa Hannigan, et al (Austin City Limits concert sampler, 17 tracks)
The Clientele (via Fingertips)

Alternative and Classic Rock:
Nirvana (via Paste Magazine)
Tom Waits (via artist's website, 8 tracks)
Radiohead (via artist's website)
Ravonettes (via Amazon)
Nine Inch Nails (via artist's website, full album)
Dead By Sunrise (via Warner Bros website)

Jazz & Blues:
Ella Fitzgerald, Billie Holiday, Astrud Gilberto, et al (Verve Vaults sampler, via Amazon)
Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Doc Watson, Peter Case, et al (Vanguard Visionaries Sampler, via Amazon)
Dean Marcellana Latin Jazz Trio (via Meijer)

R&B and Rap:
K'naan, et al (Austin City Limits sampler, 17 tracks)
The Cool Kids (via Green Label Sound)
Izza Kizza (via 2K Sports)
Donnie Bravo (via 2K Sports)
Ke$ha (via artist's website)

Country:
Dierks Bentley (via CMT site)
Patty Loveless, Easton Corbin, et al (via People magazine, 10 tracks)
Summer Schappell, Michael David, Jason Crabb, et al (Country Weekly, 6 tracks)
Drew Copeland (via Cheap Chick's Ray of Sunshine)

Gospel and CCM:
Audra Lynn (via Forerunner site)
Ted Winn (via Amazon)
B. Reith (via Amazon, multiple tracks. Very fun upbeat style!)
Barlow Girl (via Amazon)
Jars of Clay, Thousand Foot Krutch, et al (via Creation Fest site, 10 tracks)
International House of Prayer worship album (via Forerunner site, 13 tracks)

Folk:
A Mourning Rain: Sea Song (via Muruch)
Jennie DeVoe (via Meijer)
Greensky Bluegrass (via Meijer)
Will Hoge (via Amazon

Dance/Electronica:
Seepeoples: Apocalypse Cow Volume II (via artists' website, full CD)
Holy Ghost! (via Green Label Sound)
Flosstradamus with Caroline Polachek (via Green Label Sound)

Classical/Instrumental:
Direct Aid Iraq sampler Under the Rose
Phillip Glass sampler album (via Amazon)
Best of the Most Relaxing Classical Music in the Universe (via Amazon)
Italian band Ronin (via Muruch)
A Place of Quiet Rest ~ Instrumental piano (via the artist's website, full CD)

Kids/Family:
Kenny Loggins All Join In (via artist's website)
Music for Little People (multiple downloads, via store site)
They Might Be Giants "I am a Paleontologist" (via Paste Magazine)
0

I explore the adventurous world of surveys... Opportunity report: Surveyhead

Over the past year or so I've read a good bit from different bloggers discussing how taking online surveys can be a decent source of extra vacation or Christmas money. My budget is quite tight currently and I have a hankering for a wii, so when it occurred to me that I could save up amazon credits towards buying one...! I started signing up for survey sites that very day. I figured I'd pass along some of my trial and error thus far to my fellow Boredom Devastators, so to that end I'll be highlighting a survey site a week for a while -- both the good and the bad -- and maybe we can all keep each other company while earning a few extra bucks!

We'll start with the site Surveyhead. Unsurprisingly, surveyhead was initially appealing to me because of the $5 sign-up bonus they offer to all new clients -- wooo free money! Another huge plus is that Surveyhead places within the top 10 of the survey site ranking done by Survey Police, an awesome resource that independently verifies the legitimacy of survey sites based on their privacy policy, compensation record, etc, and allows for extensive client-comments and peer-monitoring as well.

My personal experience with Surveyhead has been quite positive so far. They frequently have new studies available, and I qualify regularly. My favorite was a product trial that provided me two weeks worth of chewing gum and compensated $10 for my feedback... sweet! Right now I'm only $2.75 away from the cash-out point of $25, and I started taking surveys with the company less than six weeks ago! Once I hit that $25 goal and my survey credit is approved I'll have my choice of several redemption methods, including amazon credit and paypal.

Which leads me to my only caveat... up to this point Surveyhead has been a little slow in processing my survey credit. I understand why, since surveys usually state that they will verify the data to weed out anyone who answers inconsistently or "flatlines" (checks the same answers across the board without even reading the questions), but at the same time Surveyhead seems to take the longest to do so of any of the companies I'm working with. And impatient Sarah Eliza is impatient! ;P The other thing is that Surveyhead doesn't email you when new survey opportunities come available, so you'll want to just get in the habit of logging in daily to check for them. Besides that though, the site is great, and I'm psyched to already be so close to earning my first reward. I'll keep y'all posted as to how much longer it takes to get there!

Note: I had been planning to do this survey post series for a while, but I chose Surveyhead to review first because it is currently one of my advertising affiliates via Logical Media. I want to be perfectly clear about that because I resent when bloggers seem to be pretending that their paid advertisements are unique, unsponsored content. Your clicks here will indeed benefit me, but I would have written this exact same post regardless. We good here? Excellent. Also, if you have a favorite survey site that you would like to refer me to, let me know about it! I'd love for you to benefit in return. :)
1

Wallet-Friendly Ways to Make a Difference TODAY, aka "Broke" and "Charitable" can still go hand-in-hand! ;P

Edit:  Since this post is a little out of date now, be sure to click here to view more current opportunities.  :)

Money vs compassion. Meeting your budget vs making a difference. Tight finances vs a generous heart. Unfortunately, it often feels like lack of funds equals lack of impact, even when you care deeply about issues involved and very much want to be a part of change and progress.

So what can we to do when money is tight but we still want to make a difference? Yes, time is the most generous gift of all, which makes volunteer efforts and opportunities huge... but what about in addition to that? I'll be making this a more regular posting topic in the future, but here are a few of the best I've found lately. Drumroll please!

Free Rice
This hugely addictive "quiz" game has been a favorite of mine for a while. You can play with vocabulary, math and chemistry facts, geography, even art if you like, but regardless of which you choose each correct answer will result in 10 grains of rice being donated to the UN World Food program. I went over there just now to grab the link, and only managed to get off of the site 860 grains of rice later. Like I said... hugely addictive. The money for the rice is donated by the advertisers whose banners you'll see underneath the game play section... or if your computer screen is small like me, the banners you won't see underneath the game play section. It's a fun and simple way to make a contribution and brush up on material from college courses that are being forgotten all too quickly. My best level so far on English vocabulary is 48. What about you?? No cheating allowed!!

The Hunger Site.
This site is similar to Free Rice just because the funds you're "donating" are provided by the sponsors whose ads are visible. Unlike Free Rice there's a daily limit on how much you can participate, but since all it takes is a click it's even more straight-forward. Make sure to tab through the list of charities at the top, so that you can make the most of your clicking. In the few seconds I was on the site, I donated .6 bowls of food to rescued animals, 1.1 cups of food to end hunger, and saved 11.4 square feet of rainforest, among other things. Slick, huh? ;P

Duracell: Hours of Power program.
A click on the Duracell site will donate 100 hours of power (in the form of flashlights, batteries, generators, etc) to first responders in American cities troubled by weather related power outages. As a resident of a city that recently suffered a great deal with uncharacteristically bad rain and flooding issues, this one feels a little more pertinent to me all the sudden... I'm all about making sure that emergency personnel have sufficient resources to do their jobs well, and if a click will help that make that more possible, then I say click away!

Pantene: Beautiful Lengths program. Throughout the end of 2009, for each person who becomes a fan of Pantene on facebook, the company will donate .10 to their Beautiful Lengths program, which funds wigs for women who have lost their hair due to cancer. You can also donate hair through Beautiful Lengths (it takes six ponytails to make a wig!) just like you can through Locks of Love, a similar program aimed at providing wigs specifically to disadvantaged children who have lost their hair due to a medical condition. Both programs are awesome, highly personal ways to make a difference. I donated 10+ inches to Locks of Love myself about four years ago, and found the experience both meaningful and freeing... but if you aren't ready to cut all your hair off, or are inches away from even having that option, then becoming a facebook fan of Pantene is a very simple way to benefit a great cause.

Red Cross blood donation.
This one isn't online of course, but since I was just discussing "highly personal" ways of making a difference, it still seemed like an important one to mention. Donating blood will cost you nothing but a half hour or so of your time, and can make a huge difference in the lives of up to 6 people. The need for blood donation is more pressing than you might think, as currently only 3 in 100 Americans give blood. To add to the urgency even further, check out the little "__ people have needed blood since you arrived at this site" counter at the bottom of the webpage. Um, just a leeeetle sobering.

Coffee-Mate: Make Every Cup Count program.
Coffee-Mate has a great program currently to help women who are struggling in today's job market, with a goal to donate up to $150,000 to help them "dress for success" and prepare for their job search. Take a moment to stop by their site and write an encouraging note for one of the women participating in the program, and they'll donate another .50 towards that goal. They'll also give you a printable coupon for $1/1 Coffee-Mate creamer, which is a generous perk for you too!

Lunchables: Lunch Note Promise program.
In return for a pledge to leave a surprise note in your child's lunch, Lunchables will donate a meal to a child in need through Feeding America. For some reason I think this is one of my favorite opportunities available right now... maybe because I remember how special I felt when I found notes from my mom in my lunch as a kid. You can also find fun lunch note downloads here as well, for a little added pizzaz.

One of the best parts of these sites and opportunities is that you can fit them into your busy schedule now. You can take advantage of them now, while eating lunch, or waiting for that slow site to load, or that person to email you back... and if you're lucky enough to own a smart phone you can use them while sitting on the train on the way to work, or in that waiting room, or wherever you have a moment. Am I saying that these sites can replace more traditional volunteer and donation opportunities? Not a chance. But these sites are an easy, affordable way to supplement your other giving, especially when funds or time are particularly tight at the moment... a state of things that many of us wish wasn't quite so common these days. Don't let your slim wallet keep you from helping out someone who has even less than you! Take advantage of every opportunity to give back. :) It definitely works for me, and I hope it does for you too!

This post is part of Works for Me Wednesday, over at We are THAT Family. Check out the site for lots more great thoughts and ideas!
7

Mambo Sprouts coupon booklet giveaway!! Nom nom natural and organic (and affordable!) food!!

Excitingly enough, once again Mambo Sprouts has kindly sent a huge stack of coupon booklets my way, to shower upon the eager organic-and-natural-food-devouring, budget-aware, gorgeous-and-savvy Boredom Devastators who read my blog. ;P This installment of the Mambo Sprouts coupon book line includes coupons for Clif Kids, Rice Select, Ian's, Organic Valley, Country Choice, Florida Crystals, and a ton of others. (!!) I'm trying to play it cool, but the combination of "organic" and "coupons" has been known to make me a little giddy... Mambo Sprouts is well-worth checking out! Don't forget that in addition to signing up to receive a coupon booklet mailed several times a year direct to your door, you can also print out coupons on their site for everything from 7th Generation cleaning products to organic cocktail mixers.

You can find a lot of other fun stuff on the Mambo Sprouts website, including interactive contests with great prizes like a spa getaway or organic Halloween treats, and information on the Go Mambo! tour currently visiting Whole Food markets around the country with free samples and goodies. I'm actually a little miffed that Go Mambo! won't be visiting me down South, so I don't care to discuss that event much further (HINT HINT Mambo Sprouts, HINT HINT). However they're currently touring the mid-Atlantic region so check that out if you're in the area.

And now drumroll please... Mambo Sprouts has kindly provided me with 10 booklets to give away! There will also be a Grand Prize winner who will also receive a $3/1 Kashi cereal coupon and a coupon for any FREE Star Fine Product (yayyyyy free cereal and olive oil!!). Here's how you can enter:

1) Leave a comment expressing how much you like coupons, or organic stuff, or just feeling the glow of satisfaction that comes from winning something. :P You also must be subscribed to my blog, either via email or an RSS reader, so mention that as well please.
2) Follow me on twitter @REALsaraheliza. Be sure to say hey! If we're already twitter buddies, that counts too.
3) Follow @MamboSprouts on twitter. Say hi to them to for good measure. And again, if you already follow them then that counts too.

This coupon giveaway will end in one week, next Monday the 26th, and winner will be chosen by a random number generator. Make sure to leave some way for me to contact you in your comments so that I can get in touch with you if you win. And with so many booklets to be given away, I have to say your odds are good! ;P

NOTE: If you try to comment and it doesn't go through, please email me and let me know! I'll make sure you get entered, and hopefully I can figure out what's creating the problem in the first place. :) Thanks!!
11
Back to Top