More Clearing out of 2009

In my mission to wrap of the year I’m getting rid of stuff. We’ve all got a lot of stuff cluttering up our lives. Either you look at it thinking that it is treasure and you’ll use it someday or you think that it’s junk and no one would want it. Either way it’s a shame to just toss it in the trash. So enters into my life Freecylce.

Freecycle really proves that one person’s trash is another’s treasure. I know people who find great stuff given away on Freecycle. Meanwhile I look and only see junk. The other day someone was giving away a torn and worn twin size comforter. It was taken within minutes. I’ve also seen people request old toilets, scrap wood and opened paint with which they’ve remodeled their homes just by re-using free stuff.

So in my clearing out 2009 I’m gathering broken electronics, like a TV and monitors, and other miscellaneous stuff for Freecyle. Freecylce listings are localized and require you to join the local Yahoo group. Between this and Craigslist I hope to have no problem clearing out.

Free Mocha! No, Thank You?

I've been thinking of trying McDonald's new coffee drinks all summer. Why not? But I never go to McDonald's not because I'm too good for them. I'm a gluten-free vegetarian, there is no reason for me to go there. Not only that but there isn't one that's convenient to my travel patterns around town. So I haven't gone.

Then I saw this on the Consumerist.

Mocha Mondays At McDonald's Until August 3
By Meg Marco, 3:14 PM on Mon Jul 27 2009, 2,909 views
On Mondays through August 3, between 7am and 7pm get a free sample (7 oz. cold or 8 oz hot) of the McCafe Mocha — an espresso with steamed milk, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream with a chocolate drizzle.
Our own Phil Villarreal, expert in getting things for free, offers his review:
Even more tasty than McDonald's other free drink, Cup of Icewater. Boring coffee-like substance on top of a fantabulous gloop of chocolate blob at the bottom, with two dime-thin slices of ice buried within.

Somewhere in the back of my small brain I remember hearing about Mocha Mondays. Now next Monday is my last chance to try it for free. But after the above review I don't think I'll bother. I don't even like mocha anyway?? What was I thinking? ...Free and Cheap?

If you've tried these are they really as bad as the Consumerist says? Or what about the latte, or iced coffee?

Free Chocolate!

Don't you deserve a little chocolate treat today?

The Mars candy company is giving away free chocolate every Friday until 9/25/09. Log on to RealChocolate.com at 9am ET each Friday to get one of 250,000 coupons for a free candy bar. The coupons are good for M&Ms, Snickers, Twix, Dove Bar, 3 Musketeers, and Milky Way. Limit one (1) Coupon per email address per Friday and four (4) Coupons per household during the Offer Period.

Mars is calling the promotion the Real Chocolate Relief Act. They saying its their way of helping everyone during tough times (cough! promotion. cough!). They also want to point out that their chocolate is made with real chocolate.

Oh and the best thing about free chocolate--no calories! That's right, free food is guilt free too. At least that's what I tell myself.

Free and Almost Free

The Internet is a fantastic resource for bargain hunters, but some are a little more obscure than others. Here are few that I stumbled across this week mostly thanks to other bloggers.

Dining Discounts: Local TV stations sometimes barter air time with restaurants in exchange for gift certificates. This is done through an advertising company called Incentrev. The business gets PR, then the station sells the gift certificates to consumers who get a bargain. Everybody is happy.

You'll find deals in nearly every city. So keep this in mind when you are travelling too. Just go online and use the call letters of the local new and add ".incentrev.com" to the end. So in for Denver's Fox news, for example, you would type http://kdvr.incentrev.com/ into the address line. I guess not all stations are connected with the program though since I couldn't find anything for other Denver channels.

Free Software: GiveawayOfTheDay.com offers free fully-licensed, no-trial, no-shareware professional software. You have to check the site frequently since the free download is only available for one day. And you must download and activate the software on you computer that same day. Oh, and it's only for PCs, no MAC software is featured.

In this case the developer of the software gets advertising and feedback on their product. What's in it for you is that this is usually high-quality and tested software. You're less likely to get junk or viruses--though I won't go as far as to personal guarantee that. You probably won’t find something useful every day, but it’s worth adding the feed to your RSS reader.

The best things in life are free this Thursday!

Need some cheering up? On Thursday September 25th Cold Stone Creamery is hosting the World's Largest Ice Cream Social at every location. This is the 7th year for the event that benefits Make-a-Wish, but it seems I've missed it before. On Thursday from 5:00 - 8:00PM, Cold Stone will serve free 3 oz. servings of two special flavors created by Make-a-Wish kids.

Jack's Creation - Marshmallow ice cream with OREO® Cookies, Chocolate Chips and Fudge
Emily's Creation - Nutter Butter® ice cream with White Chocolate Chips, Kit Kat® and Yellow Cake

No donation or other purchase is required, but you can in turn help out Make-a-Wish with the purchase of a paper star for $1 or a donation to the organization.

Something Free for Your Wednesday

All the focus on recession and foreclosures is a huge downer. So today I thought I'd give you a gift.

Now I'm sure I could put some kind of spin on this to make it seem more relevant. I could go on about our general mistrust of anything with the word "free" attached. Or as I've seen some bloggers do, I could relate this to using YouTube for viral marketing. But I won't. Just click, play and enjoy without further comment. Oh, and if you've seen this before I don't apologize. Nobody can get too many hugs.