The Water Secret!!!

If you order The Water Secret by Howard Murad, M.D. from any online retailer (I found the best price on amazon.com), you can forward your order confirmation email to TheWaterSecret3@murad.com and they will send you free full size Murad Hydro-Dynamic Ultimate Moisture (a $65 value) - at no cost, not even shipping.  The book is only $12.89, and has been reviewed pretty highly, so this ends up being a really good deal.  Make it better?  Change your swagbucks to Amazon gift cards and use them to pay for the book.  If you choose to go through a different retailer, go through ebates.com (you can get 8% cash back through barnesandnoble.com). 

Sounds too good to be true?  This is not even the best promo they have run for this book.  The last promo was buy the book, forward the order confirmation to them and get $200 worth of Murad products in the mail.  I was not sure it would work, but I received the package in the mail today.  I think the products and the book together will make a really nice Christmas present.  Also, it looks like you can do this one time for every book ordered, so if you think it is a really good deal, buy several books and get several pricey moisturizers (I am kind of kicking myself that I didn't do this with the previous deal). 

Gilt Groupe

Based on the fact that I essentially have no Christmas budget, I have been doing a lot of online research on how to stretch a buck.  The next few posts will be dedicated to some of the great things I have found. 

One thing I have done is sign up for a lot of sites that offer really nice things at a deeply discounted price.  One of the sites I signed up for was the Gilt Groupe (and through the referral link I used I got an automatic $20 credit - I don't know it it is still available).  Well, I almost immediately ordered 2 "Where the Wild Things Are" 15 inch plush characters from Crocodile Creek for two of my nephews.  After using my credit, with shipping I paid $1 OOP. 

The reason I am blogging about this is because I am so impressed with the customer service at Gilt Groupe.  I received an email yesterday saying that they had made an inventory error and one of the plush toys I had ordered (the "Max") had run out of stock.  It went on to say "Your credit card will not be charged for this item, nor will you be charged shipping.  As a token of our sincere apologies, we will be sending you a complimentary set of four, 7" Wild Things (Bernard, Moishe, Max and Sipi) as a gift."  Well, I checked the retail price of this gift and it is almost $50!!!

So I was already getting over $50 worth of merchandise for less than $20 (even if I didn't have the credit), but as it happened, I will be getting half of my credit back (I am still getting the other 15" plush), being credited back my shipping, refunded my $1 OOP, and getting 4 toys free.  Amazing!  Now I just have to figure out which toys to give which nephew!  Needless to say, I will be using Gilt in the future and highly recommend that you join.

ebates

I have neglected to mention this before, but if you shop online and you are not yet a member of ebates, click here to join immediately!  I believe they are still giving you $5 just for joining.  Then, everytime you are going to buy something online, go through the ebates link and you will get a percentage back on your purchase.  Ebates sends out checks quarterly (I believe the one for this quarter will be sent out in February).  This is such an easy way to save money!  I kick myself when I forget to go through ebates before buying something online because it is like throwing money away. 

Examples are 2% cash back from walmart.com, 5% cash back from sephora.com, and (WOW) 40% cash back from Yves Rocher.  The site also contains coupon/promo codes to each of the sites it links to, saving you even more time and money.

Cheap Eggs!

There is currently a printable coupon on smartsource for $.55 off two dozen eggs.  If your store doubles (or triples) coupons, this could score you 24 eggs very cheap!

Amazon Deals

My mom forwarded me an email she received from Amazon, letting her know that they have a program in which you can send in your old DVDs and games and get Amazon gift cards in return.  This program could help declutter your home, recycle unwanted items AND help with your Christmas budget all at once.  Information about this program can be found here.

Also, remember to join Swagbucks - I mentioned last summer that I was trying to see how many swagbucks I could accumulate through not doing anything.  Although I slacked off for several months, just by using the toolbar, I made more than 1500 swagbucks, which I converted into $15 worth of Amazon giftcards (and still have some bucks left over).  I combined this with a daily deal on Amazon and got a bargain on some really cute earrings for my BFF. 

Daily Deal Sites

Now that Christmas is around the corner, I would like to mention again that there are an expanding number of daily deal sites popping up all over the internet.  Here are a few that I recommend:

Groupon (the Columbus deal today is $25 for $50 to American Apparel)

Eversave (I think new subscribers to their newsletter automatically get a $2 credit, making your first purchase an even better deal)

Jasmere (a different concept where the price starts out really good, but continue to drop as more people order - and everyone ends up getting the best price)

Mamapedia (family oriented deals, sign up to recieve their deals and automatically get a $5 credit)

Livingsocial

DailyDealster

Starbucks Holiday Deals!

November 18-21 from 2-5pm, Starbucks is offering BOGO on their holiday drinks.  These include delicious concoctions such as Peppermint Mochas and Gingerbread Lattes, so if you are already a fan of Starbucks, I would highly recommend you take advantage of this deal. 

Also, Starbucks is doing a 12 days of Savings starting December 1st.  Just text 12DAYS to 29943 and you will get one offer via text everyday starting December 1.  Keep in mind that normal texting rates apply.

Black Friday

It has been a while since I have posted since I have had too much on my plate to fit it in.  However, the upcoming biggest shopping day of the year is almost upon us, so I once again feel inspired to write here.  This one is going to be VERY short, just to let you know that you can view many of the black Friday ads here.

In the following week I will post about specific deals that I believe warrant a mention.