9/23/11: Friday Roundup: Links I Loved (and Shared) This Week

Every Friday features a roundup of links that I've found during the week and that I'm loving! These links are generally frugal in nature, but they will also be eco-friendly and just generally fun. Check back each Friday for that week's batch of great links.

• Who can't resist a free ebook? Download Mama Does Time by Deborah Sharp for free at Amazon.com, now through the end of September.
• Originally from Good Housekeeping, this article from MSN discusses how you can Live Well for Less.
• Even though it's been six years since I graduated from college, I still have a lot of student debt (and I know many, many others do as well). Here are 8 Ways to Pay Down Student Loan Debt.
• Every thrifty-thinking person knows that household objects can be used for much more than their intended purpose. Popular Science gives us a giggle and a look back at 11 old (and actually published!) Alternate Uses for Household Items.
• Marie Claire has teamed up with a new site, www.solesociety.com, to offer the chance to win free shoes for a year! Simply sign up and take the quiz to enter.
• Last but not least, enter every day during the month of September to win free stuff from Burt's Bees!

Be sure to check back next Friday for another great batch of links. Have a great (and safe!) weekend, everyone!

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?