Win Free Stuff by Entering Online Contests

Everything is better when it is free, and you would be surprised at what you can enter to win online. No matter what your interests are, chances are that the sites you visit daily offer some sort of contest.

Enjoy reading magazines? Many magazine sites offer various sweepstakes and contests:

• Better Homes and Gardens (http://www.bhg.com/free-stuff/) has a listing of several sweepstakes, including shopping sprees and home makeovers, that you can enter daily. They also include great deals and coupons from their sponsors on the same page.
• Likewise, Ladies Home Journal is part of the same publishing network, and offer many of the same sweepstakes. You can enter daily through this portal as well. (http://www.lhj.com/free-stuff/)
• Another one of my favorites is Allure, which, along with some great beauty and health tips and articles, has great offers to win free items. (http://www.allure.com/freestuff) 

Books more your thing? Many publishers likewise have contests to win their books, usually via Twitter:

• @fluxbooks generally does a contest once a month, where you can win one of their new releases. This publisher is great for bibliophiles in general, especially those with young adult readers.
• @chelseagreen used to do a contest a week via Twitter; I don't know if they still hold contests so frequently, but they are still a good publisher to keep an eye on (for nothing other than great books). 

Don't forget television networks!

• It seems like twice a year HGTV offers their Dream Home Sweepstakes, where they give away a fabulous new home, a new car, and $500,000 cash (which you will likely need to pay the energy bill for your ginormous new home, but still....). You can enter once daily on the HGTV site and once daily on FrontDoor. (http://www.hgtv.com/dream-home/index.html) 
• Recently (December 2010) Conan O'Brien gave away 20 pine-scented air fresheners...that happened to be attached to 20 Chevy Cruze cars. Don't be passive while watching TV—you never know what you might discover! (http://teamcoco.com/chevycruze) 

Even vacations can be won for free. Just yesterday I entered to win a weekend getaway for my husband and me from Cragun's Resort, and when I just navigated over to their site to get the URL for this post I found another contest to enter, this one for an iPad. (http://www.craguns.com/)

Moral of the story? Keep your eyes peeled. Many sites offer giveaways and sweepstakes as incentives to gain traffic, and it works. And after you enter their contest, you will likely find other fun and valuable info to keep you on the site. And be persistent; it takes but seconds each day to enter. Maybe choose one or two contests that you'd really like to win, and make a note on your calendar reminding you to enter daily. While your chances of winning may not be that great, your chances of winning the lottery are so slim as to be nearly nonexistent, and that rarely deters us from buying lottery tickets, now does it? Besides, how great would it be to explain to your neighbors that your new car cost you not a penny?

Workplace Free Tables

Prior to beginning work at my current company, I had never been introduced to the concept of the "Free Table." This is a great way to clean your house of any junk you might have lying around, while at the same time reusing and reducing waste that might otherwise have gone to landfills.

If your place of work does not already have one, institute one! The free table works like this: a spot is designated (for us, a table, in case you had not already guessed). If you have any items that you no longer have need for (anything—within reason—goes: books, movies, mittens, clothing, lotion, coffee mugs, vases, ornaments, a computer keyboard), bring them in and leave them. It is then first come, first serve for picking. Finder's keepers! Any items left on the table for a week or more are then donated to Goodwill (or another charity of your choice).

The beauty is that you've now created a giant swap meet—for free! Items are given new homes, you can pick up things that interest you for which you either didn't have the money or on which you did not want to spend the money, and not a dime leaves your pocket.

I will freely admit that I am a Free Table whore (I keep an eye on ours several times daily—you never know when that special item will appear!). My favorite finds so far have been winter boots that I've worn daily for two years now (I felt like Cinderella when I slipped them on, since I'd been looking for a pair and these fit like a glove) and the pink wireless mouse that I use every day at work.

My favorite Free Table finds (and yes, someone put an almost full 12-pack
of Diet Coke on the Free Table this morning—a fabulous find!)

The Heat Wave's Calling Your Name

So today is 75 and sunny, and I am so desperately wanting this warm, sunny weather to stick around. I'm sitting at my desk, daydreaming of driving down the freeway with all of the windows open and the stereo as ear-bleedingly loud as it will go. So, I did what any rational, sane (right? right??) person would do: I made a new mix cd, the perfect soundtrack for the days in the coming weeks that I will finally get to fulfill my fantasies of sunshine-filled driving bliss.

1. M. Ward, "Four Hours in Washington"
2. Beck, "Girl"
3. Boat People, "The Awkward Orchid Orchard"
4. LCD Soundsystem, "Time to Get Away"
5. Papas Fritas, "Way You Walk"
6. RJD2, "Never Had It So Good"
7. Beck, "Gamma Ray"
8. Smoosh, "Rock Song"
9. Spoon, "You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb"
10. Patrick Park, "Your Smile is a Drug"
11. Maria Taylor, "Time Lapse Lifeline"
12. Komeda, "It's Alright, Baby"
13. Graham Coxon, "You & I"
14. Tom Petty, "You Wreck Me"
15. Bleu, "Get Up"
16. BTK, "Peppyrock"
17. RIlo Kiley, "Breakin' Up"
18. The Vines, "Ride"
19. The Pernice Brothers, "Somerville"