It's birthday time!

Yep, it's coming up on my birthday. No, you don't need to know how old I am. I don't tend to dread my birthday each year, I am too focused on what is going to show up in both e-mail and my snail mail box. It is the month of FREEBIES!!! How is that possible? Let me show you the ways....

The first step starts about 2 to 6 months before your birthday. Go to EVERY site for EVERY restaurant, coffee shop, clothing store, and anything else you can think of and sign up for their e-mail lists. Most places that have e-mail lists ask for birthdate, and sometimes an anniversary or other significant date. That means that sometime in the month of your birthday, you will receive an e-mail or a postcard with an offer for your birthday. These offers can range from a free appetizer with an entree purchase, a free entree, a buy one get one free offer, a free dessert, a dollar amount off your purchase, or another offer. So far, I have gotten a free single scoop cone with purchase at Friendly's, a free appetizer with entree purchase at Carrabba's, a free one topping medium pizza at Hungry Howie's, a free grande beverage at Bigby, a $10 off coupon at Victoria's Secret card, and a $10 off coupon at the Express.

The second step is to read the fine print on ALL of your offers. You need to know what conditions have to be met to get your offer. Sometimes they have very limited dates that you can redeem in. Merchandise coupons tend to have restrictions on what you can and can't buy with the card. Sometimes the free item has to come from a certain part of the menu or can't exceed a certain value. Also, I have gotten pizza coupons that require you to pick up your pizza instead of having it delivered. If needed, go through the fine print and highlight the conditions so you don't forget them, or you can ask about them before you start making your purchase.

The third step is to keep your eyes open to maximize your purchases. Here's an example from what I've done so far with this year's freebies. As I said above, I received a $10 off a $10 purchase or more from both Express and Victoria's Secret. I discovered a few years back that the cards you receive from them in snail mail can be used twice - once online and once in the store. However, you do need to make your online purchase FIRST, because the stores take the card from you when you make the in-store purchase. So I found a 5 panties for $15 offer on the Express website, and got a clearance sweater from Victoria's Secret's website for $16.99. $10 off covered the shipping and handling and some off the purchase price. Not bad. Then I went to the stores and got a 5 panties for $26 deal at Victoria's Secret and a nice $19.90 top from Express. I also got the $10 off of those. Best guess, I probably spent about $40 for well over $150 worth of items. My kind of savings.

Long ago I decided that even as I get older, I can really look forward to my birthday because I can really clean up in the freebie department. By the time all my coupons are in, I can probably eat lunch or dinner free for at least a week and a half and get a nice amount of items free or greatly discounted from stores. I end up feeling a bit spoiled by all of it, but I will take it and enjoy a month of stuff just for me. Hope you have fun getting ready for your next birthday!