Friday Freebies, Samples, & MP3s 9-3-10
It’s almost the weekend, and for my readers in the US, it’s Labor Day weekend. It’s such a bittersweet weekend because even though it is a 3 day weekend, it’s the unofficial end to summer.
(Also, since it’s a long weekend and we have family in town, there will most likely be a delay in the patio garden post next week, so don’t expect it on Monday. Probably Tuesday.)
Let’s not think about impending cold weather and instead think about all of the free things we’re going to sign up for today.
Freebies and Samples
- Always & Tampax Sample Pack (7 items)
- Garnier Wrinkle Test
- Kashi Snack (Cereal Bar, Granola Bar, or Crackers)
- Shout Color Catcher
- Playtex Sport Tampons
- Garnier Moisture Rescue Facial Gel
- John Frieda Root Awakening
- Nicorette Mini Lozenges
- Crystal Light (Canada Only)
- John Frieda Luxurious Volume (Canada Only)
- Always & Tampax Sample Kit (Canada Only)
- Sunrise Tofu Stir-Fry Tofu N’ Sauce (Canada Only, Free with Coupon)
- Herbamare Sea Salt (Canada Only)
- Johnson’s Daily Essentials (UK Only)
- Radiance by Britney Spears (UK Only)
Free Music & MP3 Downloads
Keeping Clean and Saving Money
When looking for ways to reduce your budget and save money, the first things to cut are the luxury items like entertainment and other non-necessities. There are also ways to save money on the “must haves” in your budget.
Good hygiene is a definite must have, not only for social reasons but also for general health and well being. Even though soap and toothpaste can’t be eliminated from your budget, there are simple ways to save money and still stay clean and healthy.
Reduce Water Consumption
It’s easy to get some relief on your water bill (and help the planet) just by using less water. Anyone can do it.
Turn the water off. The faucet doesn’t need to run while you’re brushing your teeth. In the shower, turn off the water while you’re lathering and only turn it on to rinse. I turn it off while I shave my legs and just use a cup of warm water to rinse of the razor.
Install a low flow shower head. The average shower head uses 2.2 gallons of water per minute. Low flow shower heads and faucets reduce the amount of water used, saving money on water and the energy to heat it.
Don’t Take Baths. As luxurious and relaxing as they can be, opt for a shower whenever you can. The average bathtub holds 24 gallons of water. That can add up very quickly.
Shower With a Buddy. Showering with your significant other isn’t only fun, it saves water as well. One person can lather while the other person rinses and cut the time the shower runs in half. (And if things get a little frisky, make sure to turn the water off.)
(Check out 25 Ways to Save Water in the Home and Yard.)
Free Samples
You know those free samples I post every week. A lot of them are shampoo, conditioner, toothpaste, etc. Each of those samples can last anywhere from a couple days to over a week, depending on their size. Though you probably can’t collect enough to last you the entire year, you’re saving money by using those freebies.
If you travel a lot and stay at hotels, feel free to take along with you the little soaps and shampoos they offer there, especially if you’ve used part of them. Housekeeping is going to throw them away anyway, so you might as well take them with you.
Play the Drugstore Game
I haven’t paid for toothpaste at all this year and that’s because I play the drugstore game. By matching coupons with sales and cash back opportunities, I stock up on toothpaste when I can get it for free. I’m not expert when it comes to saving at the drugstore, so I recommend reading Money Saving Mom’s post on the drugstore game.
Use Less Product
My boyfriend has short hair (less than an inch). He fills almost his entire palm with shampoo. My hair is thick and below my shoulders, but I only use a dollop of shampoo a little bigger than a quarter, which is enough to get my hair clean. One of us is probably using way more shampoo than we need to.
I recommend reducing the amount of product you use, whether it be shampoo or toothpaste (or even other household products like laundry detergent) and experimenting to find what’s the smallest amount you can use to get the job done. A pea sized blob of toothpaste works as well as an inch long strip and will help your tube of paste last at least twice as long.
Make use of what you paid for. Make sure you squeeze every last drop out of that tube and fill your shampoo bottle up with a little bit of water to get the last bits of soap.
Try Baking Soda Instead of Toothpaste or Shampoo
A box of baking soda costs under 50 cents, and that white powder is amazing. Besides being used in recipes and to clean around the house, it can also be a replacement for toothpaste and shampoo.
I’ve never tried it, but other bloggers have dared to try it as a toothpaste and shampoo alternative. Or you can just try no shampoo at all.
These are just a few tips for how you can save money while staying clean. What ways do you save money in your daily hygiene routine?
Patio Gardening Week 20: Red Spider Mites Take Over
The garden is not doing so hot. Those red spider mites I discovered last week are taking over. They seem to be affecting all the tomato plants and some of the peppers, and I’ve seen their webs on the squash/zucchini plants, and what’s left on the bean plants.
Some of our tomato plants look absolutely sickly and we’re unsure at this point if they’ll survive.
As far as treating the problem, we really haven’t been that diligent. I’ve tried to keep the plants well watered and spray the plants with water to keep them wet and discourage the mites, but it’s been very hot lately and there’s been distractions, so this treatment has not been very effective.
We intend to buy some neem oil to fight these little buggers, but haven’t had the time to go and buy some. Hopefully this week… It’s a shame how life gets in the way.
Despite the red spider mites, our tomato plants continue to produce (though obviously less) and the baby peppers are getting bigger.
Our basil is unaffected and unfazed by everything and continues to grow big and beautiful.
Everything else in the garden is sort of at a sickly stand still. It really is a pathetic sight, which I can’t seem to effectively capture with my camera.
No video this week so far. There may be one, there may not. If there is I will post it separately, otherwise we’ll get one up next week.
For those who are new, this year the boyfriend and I are doing a little container gardening experiment where we are trying to grow various herbs and vegetables on our patio. We live in the city of Chicago, so traditional gardening is out of the question. You can subscribe to the RSS feed to instantly receive the posts each week and also check out our previous posts. Feel free to subscribe to our Youtube channel as well.
Absolute Chaos
Well, there was no garden post today and the video is not up. That’s because everything has been pretty chaotic for the past couple of days.
First of all, my fixed camera was supposed to be delivered last Wednesday, but for whatever reason the UPS man decided not to ring to our apartment and thus we missed all 3 of his delivery attempts. So now we have to travel an hour to the UPS distribution center to pick it up.
Secondly, I had some health problems the past couple days that have left me with little energy, which prevented me from completing the third thing.
The third thing is we had to clean and rearrange the whole apartment to prepare for the boyfriend’s parents coming to visit us for a week.
Today as I was preparing the patio garden post our router stopped working unexpectedly so I had no internet access until tonight when we were able to get a new power chord and fix the problem.
As I finished cleaning up the house today, the parents arrived early and I’ve been playing host to them ever since.
Since the parents are in town I don’t know how much time I’ll have for the blog this week. The boyfriend couldn’t take any time off from work, and since I’m unemployed and home all day I get to play tour guide with them, which is fine, but I don’t know how much me time I’ll have.
I will try to get the patio garden post up as soon as I can. The boyfriend lent out his camera for the weekend, so we haven’t filmed a video yet. I don’t know if/when we’ll do a video this week, so I apologize for that.
Like I said, chaos.
Hopefully I can get back to regular posting soon.
Friday Freebies, Samples, & MP3 Downloads 8-27-10
First, I want to apologize for the fact that the site was completely inaccessible yesterday. We don’t know why that was, but the boyfriend rebooted the server this morning and everything seems to be fine. Since the site was down, I couldn’t post yesterday, so I apologize for that as well.
But luckily for all of us, this site is back up for the Friday Freebie post, yay!
On the last freebie post, Sylvia commented that since she’s in Canada she cannot sign-up for the majority of the freebies post. I’d like to apologize to Sylvia and any of my non-US readers for that.
Since I live in the US and most of my readers are in the US, I didn’t really think much about it. From now on what I’ll do is try to seek out freebies and samples and such for other countries as well and will indicate them as such. Sylvia also recommends Canadian Free Stuff for those of you north of the border who need a freebie fix.
Okay, no more apologies. Here are the freebies!
Samples & Freebies
- U by Kotex
- All Bran Promise Pack
- Camocare Organics Anti-Aging Skincare
- Biotrue Contact Solution (Coupon for free trial size)
- Oxy Clinical
- Smead Fast Tab Folder Sample (US & Canada)
- Healthy Environs Soap or Body Butter (US & Canada)
- Love Moon Feminine Pad Sample (Canada Only)
- John Frieda Root Awakening (Canada Only)
- Stayfree Ultra Thin with Wings (Canada Only. Coupon for free box)
- Free Box Brit & Tang Tea (UK Only)
- Olay Total Effects Wake Up Wonder Moisturizer (UK Only)
- Twinings Tea Sample (UK Only)
- Free Bag of MyLollies (Australia Only)
Music & MP3 Downloads
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About Tiffany
I'm a 20-something living in the big expensive city of Chicago. I'm post-college and bouncing between underemployment and unemployment, while trying my best to be thrifty, save money, pay off my 6 digit student loan debt, and still have fun and enjoy life. I live with my boyfriend, a rabbit, and a chinchilla. Read more.
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