novathrifty

Here are some of the best Cyber Monday deals I’ve seen:

Gap, Banana Republic, Old Navy, Piperlime, and Athleta are offering 20% off your entire purchase, plus free shipping.  Enter code MONDAY at checkout.  Valid today (11/30) only.

The Limited is offering 40% off of everything, plus free shipping.  If you spend $50 or more you’ll get a free scarf.  The discount is reflected in the sale price.  Valid today (11/30) only.

New York & Co is offering 50% off all online purchases.  You can get free shipping also with coupon code 4041.  Valid today (11/30) only.

Get 40% off at Reebok with code CYBER40.  Free shipping also.  Some exclusions apply, but it does include clearance items.  Valid today (11/30) only.

DON’T FORGET to shop through Ebates for cash back on all these purchases!  Many stores are offering extra cash back (like up to 10-15%) today only!

Happy Cyber Monday!  Amazon has an awesome deal going on: $5 for a bunch of magazines, including my personal favorite, Real Simple.  One issue costs around $4.95 on the newsstand, so you’re basically getting a subscription for the price of one magazine.

Other magazines that are included in the $5 sale:

Smart Money

Sports Illustrated Kids

Southern Living (another of my favorites – has the best recipes!)

Travel & Leisure

Food & Wine

People Style Watch

Popular Science

House Beautiful

Cosmopolitan

These deals are good through tomorrow (Dec 1), so hurry and knock a bunch of people off of your holiday shopping list!

Also be sure to check out the full list of Amazon’s Cyber Monday deals.  Lots of good electronics, DVDs, books, and more, with new deals popping up every half-hour.

Happy shopping!

If you’re planning to do some online shopping for Black Friday, make sure you’ve signed up with Ebates so that you can receive cash back for your purchases!  You can read my review of the site here.

You can get prepared by checking out Black Friday ads for a bunch of different stores at this site.  Happy shopping!

Amazon.com is offering 3 free MP3 downloads with the coupon code MP34FREE.  It looks like you can use it for any songs you want.

Decisions, decisions . . .

Via Hey It’s Free.

Today through Wednesday, take 25% off regularly priced merchandise at Gap.com with coupon code SAVE25.  It’s also good at Gap Kids, Baby Gap, and Gap Maternity.

Amazon.com has an excellent deal going on InStyle magazine: one year (13 issues) for only $5!  I love clothes, and InStyle is one of my favorite reads for airplanes, waiting rooms, etc.  It’s all clothes without a lot of junk to wade through!

The regular price is somewhere around $4 per issue, so $5 for a year is really a bargain.  And it counts toward Super Saver shipping, so it’s a great small item to get your order up to $25.  It’s also a great use for a $5 Amazon gift card from Swagbucks!

If you’re a bargain-hunter who has—or is expecting—a little one, you’ll definitely want to consider joining Freepeats.  It’s a great site, run by Angie of the wildly popular Baby Cheapskate, that allows you to list gently used baby, children’s, or maternity items to give away for FREE to others in your city.  There’s also a “Wish List” that allows you to ask for items that you need.

A lifetime membership to Freepeats would usually run you $4.95 (already a bargain) but during September, anyone can join for free.  So sign up, and tell your friends—let’s work to build the DC area community!

I recently started a series of posts on ways that I save and make money online.  A couple of weeks ago I shared about how I get Amazon.com gift certificates with Swagbucks, and today I’m going to rave about another of my favorite money-saving websites: Ebates.

Ebates is a site that pays you cash rebates for many purchases that you make online.  And it’s very easy to use.  You simply visit the Ebates website, search through hundreds of online merchants like Macys, J.C. Penny, Expedia, Target, Wal-Mart, and Dell, and make your purchases as your normally would.  A percentage of your purchase (usually 2-4%) will be credited to your Ebates account.

Every quarter, if your Ebates balance is greater than $5 (mine always is!), you will receive a check in the mail.  It’s that simple.  If your balance is less than $5, it carries over until the next quarter.

And to make the deal even sweeter, you will get a $5 bonus just for signing up for Ebates!  And you can get another $5 for each friend that you refer who makes a purchase.  That money adds up quickly!

If you sign up TODAY (July 23), you can take advantage of a great deal from Avon.  Ebates is offering a special one-day 10% rebate on purchases from Avon. And Avon is running a buy-one-get-one free sale on Lip, Liner, and Lashes products.  That means that–today only–you will get 60% off on participating eye and lip products!  Not a bad deal.  Just make sure to shop through the Ebates portal to get the 10% back.

Happy Shopping!

A couple of weeks ago I shared a post about how I earn Amazon gift certificates with Swagbucks.  The short story: Swagbucks is a search engine that allows you to earn points (or “Swagbucks”) by searching that can be redeemed for prizes, including $5 gift certificates to Amazon.com.  It’s totally free to join and easy to use!

Swagbucks is once again offering 5 Swagbucks for new members.  Just register with the promo code “NEWBIE” and you will start off with 5 Swagbucks.  The code expires on Friday and is good for new subscribers only.  You can sign up through the banner below:

Amazon.com has an excellent deal on one of my favorite magazines: a one-year subscription to Real Simple for only $5.  I love this magazine—it has great recipes and tips, and it sends me into an organizational frenzy each month when it arrives.

Real Simple costs $4.99 per issue if you buy it on the newsstand, so $5 is like 12 magazines for the price of one!

I have been meaning to draft some posts for a while now to share some simple ways that I make and save money online.  While you won’t likely get rich from any of my suggestions, they are all easy ways to pick up a little extra cash from home, with your laptop, in your pajamas, while watching TV.  So why not try them out?

So I’m starting today with Swagbucks.  This is a search engine—powered by Google and Ask.com—that allows you to win points (or “Swagbucks”) by searching the internet.  You can redeem these points for prizes, gift cards, and cash.  The best prize (in my opinion) is a $5 Amazon.com gift certificate—I earn several of these each month, and almost never pay full price at Amazon anymore.

If you use Internet Explorer or Firefox, you can install a Swagbucks search box in your toolbar that makes searching easy and convenient.  And by following Swagbucks on Twitter, becoming a fan on Facebook, or subscribing to the monthly newsletter, you will get access to periodic “Swagcodes” put out by the Swagbucks team that allow you to rack up points even more quickly!

If you’ve been waiting to try Swagbucks out, now is the time!  If you register with the promo code CASHISKING (case sensitive), they will you will start out with 5 Swagbucks.  The code expires July 6 at 12PM PST (or 3PM here on the East Coast), and works for new subscribers only.  You can click the banner below to sign up:

Sign up for Self Magazine’s 2009 SELF Challenge and they will send you a coupon good for a free full-sized hand cream (worth $7) from Crabtree & Evelyn.  You’ll also have access to free workouts, meal plans, and easy-to-use logs that will help you with your fitness and weight-loss goals.

The offer is good TODAY (6/11) only so sign up now!

TODAY ONLY (June 8), you can send any Hallmark premium E-card for FREE!  You can choose from a huge variety of cards, including cards with songs, TV and movie scenes, and favorite characters.

You can order these cards to be sent sometime in the future, so go ahead and order now for Father’s Day, upcoming birthdays, or just because!

Also in the “Last Call” category: There are only a few days left to save $5 on magazine subscriptions at Amazon.  If you don’t already, I highly recommend subscribing to All You magazine.  It is chock-full of coupons every month, and at $10/year, you will easily make your money back.  It also has great recipes and articles on simplifying your life and saving money.

This is also a great time to start thinking about Father’s Day. You can get Car and Driver for $6.97, Popular Mechanics for $5, GQ for $6, or Sports Illustrated (56 issues) for $28.95.

You can see a complete list of the magazines with special offers here.  The sale ends May 31, so buy today!

Here is a coupon (from Oprah) for a free reusable lunch-sized bag from Whole Foods.  It’s good through 4/26.  Find your nearest Whole Foods here.  Thanks Money Saving Mom!

Reynolds Wrap is giving away its 100% recycled aluminum foil free with a rebate.  You can download the rebate form here, but only today.  You have to make the purchase by May 4 and send in the form by May 29.

Bring three empty plastic bottles to a Disney Store and they will give you a free gift. Details and store locater here.

Walgreens is giving away a free reusable tote (and a discount on other items) with this coupon.  Find your nearest store here.  Thanks Faithful Provisions!

I know that there are many other great freebies and deals going on today!  If you know of any, please share them in the comments.

Planning a long car trip?  Barnes and Noble is offering 9 free audiobook MP3s, instantly downloadable to any device. The selection includes short stories from Kurt Vonnegut, Junot Diaz, and Alice Munro, as well as The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain. The offer can be redeemed once per customer and ends on May 16, 2009.

Origins is offering a free full-sized cleanser ($18.50 value) with any order.  You choose one of five cleansers at checkout.  They are also offering free standard shipping with any $50 order.  But order now, because the deal is good today only!

Thanks Hip2Save!

Here are a few fun freebies that I saw today:

Free Audiobook: Audible.com is offering a free audiobook download of Marley & Me. Definitely read the book before seeing the movie, which is freshly out on DVD.  Thanks Freebies4Mom!

Free Denny’s Grand Slamwich: Tomorrow morning (April 8) from 6AM to 2PM, Denny’s is offering a free Grand Slamwich when you buy a Grand Slam Breakfast.  Find your nearest Denny’s here.  Thanks Erica!

Free Coupons: Sign up here for a coupon booklet with $10 in savings on ConAgra products like Hunts, Orville Redenbacher, and Chef Boyardee, including a free 24 oz bottle of Hunts Ketchup.  Thanks Deal Seeking Mom!

I love eating out, and I recently discovered Go Out 2 Eat, a website that offers deals at restaurants in the greater DC area.  To find the deals, go to the site, browse restaurants in Virginia, DC, or Maryland, then click on the restaurant’s name for coupons that you can take in for discounts.  The list of restaurants in Virginia includes some of my favorites – Aladdin’s Eatery, Duangrat’s Thai, Jaleo Arlington, and zPizza Falls Church.  There’s also a coupon for a free delivery from Dr. Delivery.

During the Cherry Blossom Festival (now until April 12), Go Out 2 Eat is running a special promotion featuring 31 “Cherry Picks” restaurants.  Each of these restaurants is offering a special free drink, appetizer, or dessert with a coupon.  These tend to skew a bit more upscale, like Morrison House or Zengo, but if you’ve been dying to try one of them, this would be a good time to do it.

One caveat: many of the coupons offered on the site are valid only Sunday through Thursday or have other restrictions, and some of the deals are certainly better than others.  But if you’re planning to go out, it is definitely worth a look!

Here are a few fun freebies that I saw today:

Free Origins Sample: Starting this week, you can bring your used cosmetics containers, regardless of brand, to an Origins retail store or skincare counter and receive a FREE sample of one of origins high-performance skincare products.  Thanks Frugal Coupon Living!

Free Hallmark Card:  Hallmark is offering a FREE personalized greeting card.  Sign in (or sign up), pick the card on their website, personalize it, and they will send it for you—even postage.  Use the promo code TRIAL.  Thanks Hip 2 Save!

Free Aveeno Shampoo:  Get a free (apparently full-sized) sample of Aveeno shampoo. Just fill out the form, but hurry—this one will probably go fast!  Thanks Freebies 4 Mom!