Ways to give in November: donate PJs!

Yesterday, I posted about some hot deals on holiday PJs right now (check out this post here for the details)!  If you’re looking for a way to give, consider donating some pajamas to needy children.  The Pajama Program delivers warm sleepwear and books to children in needYou can donate your new (tags must be attached) pajamas via the Great Sprout Tuck-In.  If you don’t have actual cash to spend on new pajamas, but you have Amazon gift cards you’ve earned through Swagbucks, you can purchase pajamas that will be shipped directly to The Pajama Program here on Amazon.

For other ideas on ways to give in November, click here.

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

More Toys ‘R Us deals!

Even though I was a bit disappointed that Toys ‘R Us chose to sell Toy Story 3 at the “list” price of $34.99, I’m still loving all of their deals this week!

I posted my Toy Story 3 scenario here yesterday.
 
Here’s another scenario you might want to consider:

Buy Toy Story 3 – $34.99
Buy Mater’s Tall Tales – $17.99 for DVD, $24.99 for Blu Ray
Buy Disney Cars toy – $5.99
Buy Toy Story 3 clock ($14.99, free with Toy Story 3 purchase)
Buy Toy Story popcorn tin (free with Toy Story purchase of $30 or more)
Buy Cars carrying case ($12.99, free with Cars purchase of $30 or more)


Use $8 Toy Story 3 printable coupon

Spend $57.97 out of pocket, get a $10 TRU gift card back PLUS 10% cash back if you are a Rewards ‘R Us member (basically, you’re getting about $100 worth of stuff for about half the price)
**Don’t forget about the two Toy Story 3 rebates here!

So…after the gift card, cash back, and rebates, it ends up being $32.17 for everything!

(Thanks Babies and Bargains!)

Then, if you need some games for your game closet, you might want to check out this deal!  When you buy select games priced at $10.99, you get a FREE Chocolate Monopoly or Chocolate Scrabble game.  The participating games are: Monopoly, Life, Guess Who?, Battleship, Sorry, Scrabble, Twister, Operation, Trouble, and Connect 4.

THEN, there is an unadvertised gift card deal where you get a $10 TRU gift card when you purchase two of the following games:  Scrabble, Connect 4, Battleship, Sorry, or Monopoly.

PLUS, there are rebate forms in store where you can submit for a $3 rebate for EACH of the games that are a part of this promotion.

So, here’s a scenario for you:
Buy Battleship – $10.99
Buy Sorry – $10.99
Buy Chocolate Monopoly – free with purchase of Battleship
Buy Chocolate Scrabble – free with purchase of Sorry

Use $10 gift card from the Disney movies promotion

Spend $11.98 out of pocket, get a $10 gift card back – plus get 10% cash back from ‘R Us Rewards!**Then, submit for the rebates and get $6 back (you can only submit one rebate form per household and the rebate is valid through 12/31/10, so you may want to wait to see if there are any other “game” deals you’ll be taking advantage of before submitting the rebate – make sure you keep your receipt!!)

Even if you don’t need these games for your own game closet, this is a great price to keep them on hand for last minute gifts or you could donate them to your child’s school (ours is always looking for games for days when they have to do “indoor recess”) or to Toys for Tots!

(Thanks Hip2Save!)

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

Survey sites that really pay: Opinion Outpost!

I just finished my “end of month cash-out” from Opinion Outpost and ended up with another $14.30 in Amazon gift cards.  When you cash out and choose Amazon gift cards as your option, you get your code instantly!  I have earned $219 total from this site since I joined in march.

If you are not familiar with Opinion Outpost, here’s some more information about it:

How it Works

Once you register, you will receive e-mails about potential surveys you may qualify for.  When you click on the link, you will have to answer a few quick “screener” questions.  If you qualify for the survey, you will then be directed to the survey.  If you don’t qualify for the survey, sometimes they will ask you if you want to see if you qualify for any other surveys.  Other times, you will be directed to a link where you can enter an instant win game to win $50.

As you complete surveys, you get a certain amount of reward points.  These points correlate to dollar amounts.  For example, 10 points is equal to one dollar.  From my experience, most surveys range from 10 to 30 points each, but I have completed a few 50 point surveys, an 85 point survey, and a 100 point survey.

To ensure that you qualify for more surveys, I recommend filling out all of the information in the “Member Profiles” section.  There are ten different areas – consumer, general, health, household technology, leisure & activities, personal finance, personal vehicles, professional, shopping, and travel.

Cashing Out

To “cash out” click on the “Rewards” link on the left of the page.  This will show you what your current accumulated award balance is.  Once you accumulate $5, you are eligible to cash out.  This is a much lower threshold than other companies require for cashing out.  You can cash out for a check, an Amazon.com code (sent instantly to your e-mail address), or a Citi gift card (virtual or physical).  The Amazon.com and Citi card options are new for me!!

If you haven’t checked out Opinion Outpost yet, you really should!

If you are looking for other reputable survey sites that pay, make sure you check out:

E-poll
My Survey

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

Toy Story 3 movie deals!

Today is the release date for Toy Story 3!  My kids are so excited!  If you haven’t already, make sure you visit your Disney Movie Rewards account here and print off the coupon for $8 off the Toy Story 3 Blu Ray/DVD comboIf you don’t have a Disney Movie Rewards account yet, registration is completely free!

Here’s a round-up of the Toy Story 3 movie deals:

Amazon – currently available for $24.99 (you can’t use coupons, but you can use gift cards you’ve earned from Swagbucks!)

Best Buy – 24.99, so $16.99 after coupon

Target – $24.99, so $16.99 after coupon

Toys ‘R Us – $34.99, so $26.99 after coupon (see more on this deal below)
**They have a promotion where you get a free Toy Story 3 wall clock with the purchase of Toy Story 3 and a free popcorn tin with a Toy Story purchase of $30 or more.  Plus you get a $10 TRU gift card when you spend $40 or more on Disney movies!

Walmart – $24.98, so $16.98 after coupon

Here’s my plan:
Buy Toy Story 3 – $34.99
Buy Disney Sing Along DVD – $9.99
Buy Toy Story 3 wall clock (free w/ purchase)
Buy Toy Story 3 popcorn tin (free w/ purchase)

-$5 (deposit pre-order of Toy Story 3)
-$8 (Toy Story 3 coupon)
-$7.99 (TRU gift card from Tinkerbell promotion)

Spend $23.99 OOP, get a $10 TRU gift card (plus I’ll get $2.40 cash back from ‘R Rewards and then I’ll submit for the rebate offers below, which means my total OOP will be $3.99 after rebates and gift card!)

Don’t miss out on these rebate offers:

Buy 3 Campbell’s Condensed soups or Spaghetti-Os and Beauty and the Beast or Toy Story 3 Blu Ray/DVD combo pack, get $5 back

**Use the $1/3 Campbell’s soups coupon here to lower your out of pocket!

NOTE:  If you already submitted this rebate for the purchase of Beauty and the Beast, you won’t be able to do it again!

Buy 2 Rayovac Alkaline batteries (AA/AAA 12 pack, C/D 4 pack, or 9 volt 2 pack) and Toy Story 3 Blu Ray/DVD combo pack, get $5 back

**Use the $1/1 printable coupon here or the $1/1 coupon from the 10-31 SS to lower your out of pocket!

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.

Ways to Give in November: Operation Christmas Child

As Thanksgiving approaches (and it’s hard for me to believe that it’s November considering our “high” temps here are supposed to be in the 80s today!), I want to focus this month not only for the things that I am grateful for, but also on ways that we can give to others.  I’ll be sharing an idea each day of something that you can do to give to others.  Some of the ideas are very simple and others are a bit more involved.  I’m looking forward to sharing these activities with my family, too.

Today I’ll be focusing on Operation Christmas Child.  I first heard about this program two years ago. My two children are one of my greatest blessings, and I always sad this time of year as I think about all of the children who have so little, including the basics.  Samaritan’s Purse via Operation Christmas Child provided shoe boxes with gifts to 8 million children last year!  The concept of Operation Christmas Child is a simple one:  all you do is pack a shoebox to send to a child in need.  You can choose to send a box to a child within the following age groups:  2-4, 5-9, and 10-14.  We’ll be doing a box for a 2-4 year old boy since my son falls in that age group, a 5-9 year old girl since my daughter falls in that age group, and then my husband and I will fill a box for a 10-14 year old (haven’t decided yet if that one will be a boy or a girl). 

There are gift ideas provided here on the site.  You may have a number of the items in your stockpile already (hygiene items such as toothbrushes and toothpaste, school supplies such as crayons, pens, pencils, and pencil sharpeners, and small toys). I plan to give each of my children some money so that they can pick out a few items themselves to include in the box for their child.  You can also include letters and/or pictures.  They also ask for a $7 donation per box to cover the cost of shipping.  You can drop off your donations the week of November 15th-22nd.  You can find donation locations here.

If this sounds like a fun project for your family, you can find all the details about Operation Christmas Child here.

Let me know if your family decides to participate!  Please feel free to share other ways your family is giving this month, too!

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please refer to my disclosure policy for more information.