Mail Time!

Yay for freebies in the mail! The latest PinchMe box came today with all the items I chose. Getting the shampoo samples in the package isn't too big of a deal, but I like that they put all 3 Garnier samples in each box. I like that I can try the exfoliator without having to purchase it. I'm loving the St. Ives scrubs lately (the pink grapefruit one and the green tea one!), and know I won't buy the Neutrogena pink grapefruit anymore because it's so drying. If I had the opportunity to try St. Ives sooner, I might not have bought the Neutrogena  scrubs all those times.

The Tom's deodorant is a nice full-size, and it'll be nice to try that too. I used to use Secret when I was younger before I tried Dove and loved it so much more. This will also give me the opportunity to test out a new brand especially one that seems to be better for you with nothing artificial in it according to the packaging. 

Of course, the thing I'm most excited about is the Sinful Colors nail polish! I've mentioned before that the formula is usually a little thinner than what I like, but I'm not one to pass up free polish especially in colors I don't already have. Strangely, I really should only have 3 from PinchMe. The third one was in my box even though I only had the option to pick the Skinny Girl bar, which was amazingly tasty by the way. I have no problems with the random bottle in the box!

So far I've only used Ablaze, but I will use the others also when I'm in the mood. I don't think I've ever worn an orange color before. The most recent one I chose was Tantalize because I don't have any silvery gray. We'll see how it looks on my skin tone.

It's so much fun getting stuff in the mail! Speaking of getting stuff in the mail, I really have to get better with mailing cards out to people just to say hello or that I'm missing them. Hopefully, I can make a bunch of cards that are fairly simple so that I can have them throughout the year. Okay, gonna get on that instead of continuing this nail polish chatter!

Freebies Make Me Smile

Here are two of the recent extra-special freebies I've gotten in the mail lately! First, Howard and I tried entering the sponge giveaway on the Libman Company Facebook site as many times as we could remember. We both won a free sponge from that! It's strange, but I got so excited about it (I actually posted it here when I got the notification that I was an instant winner) because living on our own means having to buy consumables like sponges. Getting two of them for free while being able to test out a company we've never tried before is definitely a fun win.

I was also able to get one item for my PinchMe box the last time free samples were offered. They had a few colors of Sinful Colors nail polish, but by the time I got through (I was subbing that day), there were only a few options left. I chose Anemone, and was happy with it since I don't think I have any other shade like this. It's kind of coral, but it leans more toward the orange side as opposed to the pink side. I was able to get a free sample box today as well when the items were offered at 12pm EST. I only got two, but one of them included another bottle of Sinful Colors in Ablaze, which looks somewhat similar to my wedding color but a little bit more watermelon than raspberry based on the few swatches I saw online.

This is an older freebie offered by Bath & Body Works. Back in March, I signed up for a free soap offer by giving my email address and the email address of a friend, so I sent it to my mom, my cousin, and of course, Howard. Once we got the bar code emailed to us, Howard and I picked them up at the store! I was able to get 3 total because I had actually gone by myself the day before and used the email I had sent to my junk email account. B&BW is notorious for not always sending emails out to all who sign up (I had to contact them via direct message on Facebook to finally get on the emailing list), so that's why I had it sent to my other account as well. These are their new formulas without the "antibacterial" part in it since people were complaining that their soap had triclosan in it, so they did eventually remove it. I guess they wanted everyone to give the new formula a try by giving soap away for free!

Lastly, this is also an older freebie. Whenever there are offers for dog food samples and other pet-related items, I request them for my sister-in-law. I don't know what her dog Smaugie eats, but I figure if it's free, I should just get them anyway and give them to her! I do the same for baby-related things as well since her due date is so soon!

Clearly you can see that it pays to follow the freebies sites online to actually get these items in the mail! Sure, there are a few that never came through, but based on the amount I actually request, I get the majority of them sent to me. Yay for fun mail!

Here's the Mail It Never Fails ...

With all the freebies I request online, getting the mail can be really exciting! Today was a fun day as I got my box from Sample Source, which included a pack of Eight O'Clock coffee, a sampling of Garnier shampoo, a Breathe Right strip, a Colgate toothbrush, and two kinds of Tums. I've mentioned it before, but I really enjoy trying new items through samples because I'm responsible for purchasing items like these for the two of us. Getting to test things out before shelling out any money makes it a lot easier to make the decision to buy later on. And of course, even if there are a lot of items that are similar, I am more willing to buy the one I had already tried so it's a smart move on the manufacturer's part!

This other freebie was really exciting! On National Pretzel Day, Auntie Anne's had an offer on their Facebook page. I just happened to wake up from a nap on that Saturday in time to sign up with my account and on Howard's Facebook account. Yay for two coupons for FREE pretzels! 

I wonder what will come in the mail tomorrow!

Oh, How I Love the Word FREE!

When I was still living at home, my younger brother used to be able to order things from Amazon, which really weirded my parents and me out because um, he didn't have a credit card. How in the world was he able to get items if he had no way to charge his purchases? He told us that he was able to get free gift cards online, I think, from Swagbucks. Stupidly, I didn't jump on the Swagbucks bandwagon until recently.

A crafting/couponing friend had mentioned that she prints out her coupons through Swagbucks since it's the same ones that are offered via coupons.com. I looked into it and figured that I might as well get some SB since I use coupons. Then I saw that I could answer a Daily Poll question for another and input codes to get a few more. It wasn't really a big thing, but I thought that eventually the SB might build up.

When I finally realized how easy it was to really rack them just by watching videos on my computer and on my phone, I started accumulating them so much faster. Within a short period of time, I had 2500 SB, which meant I could exchange it for a $25 gift card or gift code. I could have chosen a reward much sooner than that, but I had one thing in mind. Initially, I was going to get some CVS gift cards to help with couponing, but then I ended up getting super stocked up with non-perishables, so I didn't need it anymore. Instead, I wanted an iTunes gift card to purchase a season of Top Chef! I got the code 7 days after I requested (they may take up to 10 days), and I just input the code into my account and was able to purchase Top Chef season 4! Howard and I definitely enjoy watching it as we already have the first 3 seasons after using gift cards from my students and actually paying out of pocket. Now that we have bills to pay, it just didn't make sense to pay that much for something we didn't need, so SB was definitely the way to go.

Within a month, I earned another 2500 to request yet another iTunes gift card! I'm currently waiting for the code to get another season of Top Chef. After watching the episodes with hubs, I like turning them on in the background as I do dishes, hang up laundry, or cook dinner. I just enjoy them so much, so I definitely watch them over and over to make it worth it.

The more practical thing would be to actually get Target gift cards so I can purchase groceries or restaurant ones so that Howard and I can have a date night or something. There are just so many options! I mean, they even offer Bath & Body Works gift cards, so I could definitely get some more candles if I wanted to, haha. I know there are people who actually use their codes for PayPal and use it to pay their bills! I mean, here are just SOME of the options for gift cards, and they're offered in different denominations too.

I went into all of this for two reasons:

1. I think it's worth it for you to join and earn SB even if it takes you a bit longer to accumulate them. Of course, I'm home now so I can actually leave my home computer on and my phone on to have videos playing so that's probably why I can get them so quickly. Whether you use the SB to get gift cards for necessities or use it for fun things like gifts for others or even yourself, why not get them? I use other apps on my iPhone that I've mentioned before like Ibotta, shopkick, and Receipt Hog, but this is the one that works faster in getting rewards. 
2. Clearly, there's a benefit for me if you sign up now using my referral code below. Swagbucks is offering new members 50 extra SBs if they input the code "FreeGiftCards," but I would also hugely benefit. If anyone signs up from January 21 through February 25 this year using my referral link below, I get 10% of most of what you earn for life. Howard finally signed up, and so far I've been getting an extra 10-15 SB a day because of what he earns. 

Whether you've heard about it before or this is your first time reading about it, consider signing up even out of curiosity to see what it's all about. If you want, I can email you and let you know what I focus on to earn on average 150 SB per day. Even if you only earned 50 per day as you first start out just from letting Swagbucks TV Mobile run on your phone, in just a little over a week, you'd have enough to get a $5 gift card to Target, and with all the craziness going on there with personal information being stolen, paying in gift cards seems like the way to go! I think once you have enough for one card, you'll be hooked just like I am.

swagbucks.com/refer/RachelNinja

I know that it sounds too good to be true, and I just wasn't really into it when I first heard about it. Now that I actually got a gift card from it and used it, I can't help but think, "It's essentially FREE!" so of course I want it, haha. Remember my "It's free; I can't leave it in the store!" policy? It applies for things online too!

Disney Mail

In the past few months, I've signed up for so many freebies that I get really excited when Howard comes home and brings the mail upstairs. I've gotten free personal care items like makeup, deodorant, and razors as well as free household supplies like Lysol wipes and detergent packets. The ones that are sometimes more fun are the food samples like chocolate, cereal, and chips because you know how much I love food! Whatever it is, it's exciting to get something with my name on it that I get to open. Maria von Trapp was entirely right in listing "brown paper packages tied up with string" as one of her favorite things because it's definitely a favorite of mine!

Our most recent superbly thrilling item we got in the mail was DISNEY MAIL! Disney mail is incredibly exciting. When we had our annual passes during our honeymoon year, we both got the Mickey Monitor. Offers to return also put a smile on my face although I do also have a little bit of a disappointed expression because we know we can't make a visit back. As huge fans of WDW as our repeated vacation spot, getting Disney mail can be such an uplifter after a day of work.

Well, want to know what made us jump around last week? We got our customized Magic Bands! Yes, we are going back!

I held back from posting it on Facebook and Instagram because I didn't want to read the "You're going back again?" comments that people might leave. I did, however, share my excitement on the FB page of my Disney friends because they share the same sentiments as we do! This was such a randomly planned trip; it really did just come out of nowhere.

We actually were planning on going with my cousins Danielle and Nikki last year, but we decided against it because of financial reasons at the time. As the window for this year opened up, we considered it again, but financial issues are still present because we're adults with other responsibilities! I'm not currently working, Danielle is saving money to release an EP, and Nikki is getting married this year! It didn't seem possible for us to go back unless Howard and I made another trip with my parents. But then hubs got a JetBlue email about inexpensive flights that could actually be covered by his points! We already have our "no expiration" tickets, so no money would be spent on that. The only issue would be the cost of the resort.

We quickly browsed the prices of Art of Animation and Pop Century because they are both value resorts. Then we did something unusual. I decided to contact my DISboards friend Jennifer because she is a travel agent for WDW. I figured if we were going to book anything, we might as well do it through her so that she could benefit. She sent us information back that showed there was a percent off deal at Pop that we could snag, and after a few days of thinking it over, we jumped on it!  It's close enough to Howard's birthday for us to consider it his birthday trip!  

This will be a trip of new experience for us since it'll be off peak season when we're typically used to President's Week, Easter break, and Christmas!  It'll also be nice because our last trip with my parents and brother was in June, and we had to find ways to stay cool.  I'm hoping that this trip won't be as cold as our FREEZING Christmas 2012 trip!  It's also going to be strange not having the paper FastPass option.  I can't believe they are phasing it out and calling the original FP system the "legacy FastPass."  Instead of using that system (that I definitely mastered, if I do say so myself), we have Magic Bands that utilize RFID technology to hold your information so you can scan in for your FP+ reservation.  The downside is that you can only make 3 reservations at a park, and they also cluster some rides together so you can only choose one.  For example, you can only choose to make a FP+ reservation for either Soarin' or Test Track.  I personally think that that's ridiculous!  Hopefully, the low crowds and the overall experience using MagicBands will change my outlook.    

My Disney friend Emma posted an update about her experience with MagicBands on her blog called "A Pinch of Pixie Dust" that I thought was much more interesting and informative than anything Disney has released. Click here for that post and to see what she thought about the whole experience.

A few days after we got our MagicBands, we got more Disney mail! Jennifer had sent our Magical Express booklet and our luggage tags to us once she got them from Disney. We'll be arriving in the early afternoon, so we can actually take advantage of the fact that we can bypass the luggage carousel and head straight to the bus. This envelope was even better with the addition of a $25 gift card! As an incentive to book with her, Jennifer gives a gift card too, so that means we have some more food money. Hooray! She works through Playtime Vacations. You can find her Facebook page here even if you just want to get a no-obligation quote!

The last bit of fun mail is "free sample" related and Disney-related.  Some of the things I've signed up for in the past few months have been magazine subscriptions.  I think it's amazing that they just give these things away, but I guess they're trying to get people hooked on the magazines.  Howard has been receiving Wired and Popular Science for free for quite some time already.  I've gotten two of them already: Martha Stewart Living and Shape.  This will be great to have on the plane because I've brought my nook before, but I can never get into reading a novel.  It's just easier on my mind to flip through the pages of a magazine.  Of course, I'm almost done reading Mindy Kaling's book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns), and something like that would be perfect on the plane too.

This Disney mail is even better than other mail because it means our trip is coming up!  So when are we going?  Um, today.  By the time this posts, we should actually be IN Disney already.  We're going to be enjoying Florida's (hopefully) beautiful weather for a week!  Haha, toodles NYCers!