How To - Get Deals by Doing What You Do Everyday

I've only been doing deals/giveaways for awhile. A few things I've gotten: 50th Anniversary Bottle of sparkling grape juice from R.W. Knudson, a $100 giftcard for Hannaandersson from Savings.com, a $20 giftcard from Uppercase Living Blog, a $25 gift certificate for Restaurant.com from ShopatHome, and a Cocalo bedding set from Totsy.com for being Mom of the Week. I've gotten free movie tickets, a G2 phone, toys, food, lotions, perfumes, skincare, makeup, simulated diamond earrings, shirts, a of paige mens jeans (retail $210), post-it notes, detergents, magazines, $15 border bucks, money, coffee, etc. I've gotten starbucks cards for $1, $30+ retail value lotions 2 for $10, diamond earrings for $5 and so on and so on.... I've done all this with roughly only 4 to 6 hours a day to myself in approximately 60 days. I know there are other blogs that do this all day long as a job and they post for you (some of which I am going to list in here) but I don't have the time to do that on here and also

It does take some time but it doesn't have to take ALL your time. You are never going to catch all the great deals out there no matter what you do so resign yourself to accepting that you'll catch a few here and there in your own time. This is a helpful post on how to find deals while doing exactly what you are already doing not to give you a second job you can't possibly keep up with. There are things people do everyday online: You check your email, you check your Facebook, you shop and you read. These are ways to do /exactly/ what you are already doing just adding a little extra time. I am not going to get into coupon clipping (that takes too much time) and I'm not going to get into shopping store deals (like Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, etc), this is just something to do for a little extra fun in your free time. If you want to know how to do couponing, stockpiling or store deals/coupon matching I put a few blogs at the very end that are really good at that under Giveaways. So... here is how to start.

Setting Up Your Email

You're going to want to set up five email folders and title them: SURVEYS - BLOG / GIVEAWAYS - DEALS. You could put them all into one but it'd get a little confusing. These are to keep your email box free. Sometimes you get a LOT of emails, especially from bloggers, so you want to make sure you set up a folder at least just for them.

DEALS & DEAL SITES

I'm going to give you a list of places that you should sign up, register for or bookmark. These are the top places I get deals, find free stuff, get money back or have great resources and giveaways. I'll put next to them why they're purposeful.

The most resourceful site I'd found for deals during the holidays was SlickDeals. This is the site I'd gotten the free G2 phone for Billie from. You'll get one (maybe very rarely) two emails a day. You can change this to where you get daily, bi-weekly, monthly or no emails at all. I get a daily email and I will say I always get it LATE so it's important to go to the site and check their forums sometimes if you get a minute. The email will have a list of forum updates of deals people have come across, all having been verified and those that are no longer valid they usually state so. Otherwise I've only missed out on a $149 Dell laptop that I'll kick myself forever for and some free Groupon $$. Anyway, sign up for that and when you get the confirmation email make sure you mark the email for all future emails to go into your DEAL folder. This is going to cover a wide variety of deals on the internet for you. I mark this ***** ha!

This is a blog but I love this blog. I think I've gotten some of the best freebies and samples from this one blog alone. It's great. So go register your email with DEALicious Finds. You'll want to mark those emails to all being sent to your DEAL folder also. Like any blog I can't estimate how many emails you are going to receive. If you don't want to get the emails you can always bookmark the site and try to remember to check it in your free time. You can also "Like" them on Facebook, this way when you go to check your facebook you'll also have a chance to see what deals are available. By adding them to Facebook you aren't adding any "time" unless you choose to sign up for something interesting.

Budget Savvy Diva is also a blog and generally does coupon match ups or store deals. However, she also seems to be seriously fast when it comes to finding samples and freebies. Actually out of the ungodly number of blogs I am registered with she is the fastest on Facebook and will generally have the deal first. So you can register on her blog because they're both connected or, like DEALicious, you can just "Like" her on Facebook and spend no more time than you already were on there unless you want to grab something really quick that she's put up, or bookmark the page she has for later.

Nomorerack is hands down the BEST deal site I belong to. I'm so impressed by this place that the fact that deals go so fast doesn't phase me. SIGN UP FOR THIS PLACE, you will not regret it. Deals start at 11am CST and are pretty spent out by 11:30am, I'm not joking. They put up great stuff and it goes fast, fast, fast. However, they do email you the night before (or put on Facebook if you Like them) a sneak peak so you know if you need to set time aside. Then they mail you 15min before hand with the 8 deals going up that day so then you know if you want to even try. If you want to actually get something you have to be on that page at 11am CST and REFRESH the second the clock turns, quickly find your item and click click click. You have 15 min to purchase before it drops from your cart. Get on the item page, whichever item you are wanting, and if it says it's already holding in others carts REFRESH REFRESH REFRESH, I promise you it's going to drop out of someones cart. I've gotten everything I've wanted from that site and haven't lost a deal once. It's a challenge but it's well worth it. This is the place I got the $210 Paige Mens Jeans for free (I did have extra credits). Their customer service is unmatched. Currently if you sign up now you will get a $10 off $20 order. Each item ships for $2 and if you refer your friends through your special link you could receive an awesome prize! Like an iPod or an iPad or even a Macbook if you have that many friends! Anyways, it's awesome and not only because I want you to sign up as my friend. Ha! Nomorerack, love love love them.

Totsy, yes I'm biased. They made me "Mom of the Week"! How could I not be biased. Ha! But seriously, they are a great deal site for childrens clothes, toys, etc. High quality stuff inexpensively, gotta love it. I think the best thing I had gotten was the cardboard cottage from Box Creations for my son Judah for Christmas, he loves it! I got it for less than $30 and that's with shipping. They have a long wait for shipping but it's worth it if you aren't trying to get something on time constraints. Check them out! Also keep an eye on their blog on Monday because I'll be featured for "Mom of the Week"!

Tanga is a deal site I'm relatively new to so I don't know much about it but they did have some amazing deals on magazines there lately so I'm going to go ahead and put them here.

1 Sale A Day looks like an insane crazy site with that weird bee staring at you, but they always have some unbelievable deals. Sometimes even unbelievable for me. After reading a lot of reviews, good and bad, I have made my first purchase from them. The good news is that their jewelry does in fact appraise at the quality they say it does, so you ARE getting one freaking amazing awesome deal on jewelry. However, the bad reviews say it takes forever to get your items. So as long as you know it may take forever and you aren't on time constraints then it's definitely a place you should check out. Sometimes they just give some of that stuff for free, I'm not joking! It's crazy. You just have to pay shipping.

Despite the weird name, Shnoop has some really cool deals also. Just one deal a day and sometimes they go really fast. It's worth checking in on every so often. Also I'll just bunch this one together, Daily Steals does one deal a day and those are sometimes really amazing too.

Swirl, I love Swirl. It's for the fashion diva in you that can't afford to shop at Nordstroms. Over the Holidays they had a coupon code where you could get $20 off any item, crazy! That's where I got Judah's giganto orange jackalope bouncing ball for nothing but the shipping price. He LOVES it. I love it too, it holds up to 400lbs. ^.^ Another few to just tag in here as they are the same kind of deal sites, Ideeli (which I'd love to shop at everyday) Beyond the Rack and Ru La La.

Also, Foxy Freebies will send you a daily email of Freebies... but I've noticed some of them run behind others so I was hesitate to put them on here on first. But if you've missed it from another resource and they still have freebies available then it's worth it to add them as a backup. :)

I can't believe I almost forgot Groupon! It was the first place I'd started out. I don't know what else I can say about them outside of, THEY'RE A MUST HAVE. I mean their local deals are amazing. Stuff for families, singles, food, spas, skydiving? I mean come on, you really need to sign up for this place. You'll get one email a day telling you what's available in your area and that's it. Livingsocial is also a place with daily deals AND vacation deals! Another must have deal place. I got two tickets to Pizzaworld complete with a large pizza and sodas for $9. It's really great to have these sites when you have families. AND Localdeal, you get $5 credit just for signing up with them.

You'll get daily email updates on their sales, specials or coupon code discounts so you'll want to make sure all these are forwarded to your DEAL folder so you can check at your leisure. None but Nomorerack and sometimes the daily deal sites, disappear so quickly.

SURVEYS for $$$

There are /apparently/ lots of survey sites out there that'll make you money. I'm only going to tell you the ones I've used that I've personally gotten things from and one that I'm currently playing with that was recommended to me. How are surveys in the "doing what you normally do" category? Well, think about how much time you sit and do absolutely nothing online and then instead of doing that go do a survey if you are bored, make a dollar. It's not something you have to do all the time so you can keep them in your email and when you get time you can just go check that folder. Sometimes the surveys will expire before you get to them but they'll always have new ones. Make sure you add all these places in your email to your SURVEYS folder.

Dollarsurveys DOES pay you. It pays you exactly what it says, $1 a survey. You can do however many surveys it'll let you for $1 per completed survey and sometimes you can get .50 cents for just a questionnaire. This money is paid directly into your Paypal account so you will have to have one.

E-Rewards DOES pay out, well in it's own way. You use the $$ to purchase things like magazines or frequent flyer miles and hotel points. I used mine for $15 on my Borders card.

Opinion Outpost is in my trial phase. I haven't gotten paid for anything yet and I think 50 points is $5. You request checks to be sent and they take up to 5 weeks. However, I've heard good things! So shall see.

Viewpoints is not a survey site. It is, however, a review site and sometimes they do promotions where you can write 10 qualifying reviews and get $10 Amazon $$. You don't have to add this one if you don't want to but I just like this place.

BLOGS - GIVEAWAYS

Mostly any blog you go to is going to do a giveaway at one time or another. I haven't won too many blog giveaways but many, many people do every day. These can be seriously time consuming and can be very addicting. I'm warning you! So only do these when you have the time, like the surveys. There are always, always going to be hundreds of giveaways and unless it's ending at that very moment it can be placed in a folder in your email titled GIVEAWAYS for when you have time. These are the most popular places I go for giveaways and contests.

Contest Girl - She has a list of every conceivable contest on the internet and a way to create your own profile to keep track of them. You will receive emails from the companies you are entering contests with you can delete them and be surprised if you won something and find out if it's legit hah! You can make a folder like I said and place the confirmations into it so you remember. Or you can become a member and check your contests on the website.

A Review & Giveaway blog seems to be what most of the other blogs are connected to. They also have a Facebook so you can read amidst your daily friend updates. They'll usually know what Giveaways are going on on what blogs so you can just click on whichever one interests you and save it into your bookmarks for when you have more time to enter. I am telling you this and you are saying to yourself, "What takes so long to enter a blog giveaway??" I'll explain: First there is always a mandatory entry and that is generally being a Google Friend and then you have to visit the site and choose some other product by the company sponsoring it and then register your email with the blog, like them, friend them, etc. I could go on, some of them are just out of their minds on how much you have to do so generally unless I really really really want something I do the basics. You'll seriously want to make sure that the emails go into your BLOG-GIVEAWAY folder because you will get tons of emails when you start entering blog giveaways.

Mommy Living the Life of Riley probably has some of the biggest giveaways I've seen and she's always doing giveaways.

Frugal Living and Having Fun is not only an awesome blog, it also has deals AND a tab for Giveaways that links ALL the Giveaways linked to them. So you'll have hundreds without having to go searching for them, also with the dates they expire out!

Flying Giggles and Lollipops is another one of my favorite blogs. She has AMAZING giveaways but hasn't put any new ones up yet. Also is a great read, which is what a blog is for!

Thrifty Wifey does deals and also puts up these once a day giveaway links for places like Toys R Us and All You, etc. They're fun little games that you may or may not win at but I like spinning wheels so what the hell. ;) She also has her own giveaways and is quick on freebies and deals also. One of my favorites I haven't forgotten yet in the midst of all my emails. Plus you can tell she's honest in her posts that have her opinions. I like that. I like blunt honest people. I would have put this on the DEAL place cause she does do lists of deals also but I wanted to stick it in the middle of these other blogs for giveaways.

MnMspecial has a lot of good giveaways too. I hadn't been there for a little bit, I just read the emails and last night was too tired to go through all of them to find the good ones. However! It's a really stylish blog that has some really good giveaways.

Mommy Kat and Kids does a Friday link up of giveaways. Tons of giveaways, also with expiration dates. It's a great resource and plus she has some pretty awesome giveaways of her own.

2 boys 1 girl and a crazy Mom, I'd be crazy too. Ha.  Anyways... she just won a blogger award and is doing an awesome giveaway.  She usually does have some great giveaways you should check her out. 

Stockpiling Moms is not only the best, hands down, place for information on couponing/stockpiling/store deals but also does amazing giveaways! This site is a universal awesome plethora of information on deals, samples and other ways to save money. Defiantly should stop by and read some of their information. Currently they are having a Lia Sophia bracelet giveaway, you just comment however many times you want.

Since I belong to hundreds, probably literally, of blogs that do giveaways and deals it would take me forever to go through them to put up the best ones for you. So I think this is a good start on giveaways and will at least get you linked into them. As you go you'll see other blogs do other link up giveaway days and you'll be swapped in thousands of giveaways. Don't get sucked in! Also READ THE RULES on how to enter. You will generally always have to put your email with each comment (entry) and you will have to make a comment (entry) for each thing you do (subscribe, friend, like, etc).

Now I'll tell you how signing up for all these things (or just the ones you want to do) makes it possible for you to get a deal while doing what you do everyday. As I said, every day you check your email. You'll get emails about deals every day (hopefully you took my advice about folders) that you can choose to do. Some will say **HOT** which means it's going to go fast or limited time and only so many (it'll have a #). An example is Coastal Contacts is giving away 5000 free prescription glasses on January 12th at 11am Central. You'll see it in one of the deal emails or if you "Like them on Facebook". Then you can pick and choose, delete as you will or save for when you have time. Or add it to your calendar to remember to do on the date. I missed out on some free Nike shoes once because I forgot what time it was on and that sucked. The point is you are going to read your email you might as well get a few extra emails that may get you something neat.

You are going to check your Facebook every day, it's impossible not to. If you like some of these blogs and some companies you'll have a chance at some great giveaways and freebies. This is how I got all kinds of lotions and perfumes, etc just by liking people. It's worth the time and if the deal goes away and you don't want to like them anymore then don't, or hide, it's up to you.

You are going to surf the web when you are bored, or you always take the time to read so why not do a survey and get a $1. It takes about 5-10 min per survey. Or sign up for a giveaway and maybe you'll win something.

You shop online, who doesn't shop online? So for my last big shabang I am going to tell you how you can make money shopping online. Go sign up for Shop at Home. They're awesome. I also won $25 gift card from them so they're super awesome. You get a percentage of the money you spend at places back and when that reaches $25 you get a check. You can sign up friends and get $5 and they also have coupon codes for the businesses already there amongst regular coupons you can print out. It's a really great site and I'm happy to see I'm almost at a point where I can cash out for my first check. =) Here is a button for you. If you are going to shop, get paid back to shop and also they have some cool things every once in awhile for extra stuff.

There is also Ebates! I just haven't used them so I have no personal experience. =/ However, after looking at them they do a higher percentage back at some of the stores. You can check them out too!

It's a lot in the beginning so you can do a few things at a time to see how much you can fit into your tight schedules. Don't go overboard unless you have the time to! Just do what you normally do and see what happens. A few extra emails and a few extra friends on Facebook doesn't hurt, after all you can't receive anything in life unless you are willing to give in a little. I'll put up a notice whenever we get our fan page up and then it might be smart to "like" us too. I always toss up the freebies or almost freebies on my personal Facebook page and will eventually put them there along with updates on why I haven't done another Provocative Dialog yet, or where is that update on the Cult mess and why did you stop putting up recipes. All of which I'll get to writing once I get my house back in order from the Holiday craze. Till then...

.... an ending note. If you want to read one of the funniest Mommy blogs I've ever read you should go subscribe to I'm a Lazy Mom. She sometimes puts up deals, generally on her Facebook which is just as humorous. She's funny and smart and I can't help but love reading her. You will to. No, she has no idea I'm writing this so it's not an endorsement. Ha!