Tip of the Week- How You Can Get FREE Birthday Gifts & Awesome Coupons Online

If you are new to We Live Inspired, one of the things I do here is share tips on how I save money and also get FREE stuff.  Today’s topic is on how I get things Free or heavily discounted during the month of my birthday.  We will focus on Free gifts from stores & online retailers today (plus a site where you can get awesome coupons like I do). Tomorrow’s focus will be Free meals & Food items.  This article is chock full of tips from top to bottom, so for best results make sure not to miss anything!

Tip #1:  You will need to sign up to be on the mailing lists of these companies. This is the only way you will be able to get these deals and it also ensures  you won’t miss any of the current coupons and Free gift opportunities.  There is no cost to sign up for any of these.
I would also like to mention that most of these companies give a free gift, discount, or some other type of benefit upon sign up as well.

**If you are concerned with having a cluttered inbox, you can create a folder in your email account (i.e. “Coupons and Freebies”) to store your coupons in, or create a separate email just for this purpose.  For the main coupon sites and stores I use, I have them go to my regular email.

The Top 8 Places I Receive Free Birthday Gifts From (Click on the website names to be taken directly to each site for Free sign up):
 

1. 1-800-Flowers- For 2 yrs. now I have received a Free $10 gift card (no min. purchase required) via email just for being on their mailing list.  Tip #2: You don’t have to use your gift card for flowers.  Although the gift card comes from 1-800-Flowers, they are linked with the following other stores- 1-800-Baskets, Fruit Bouquets.com, Cheryl’s Cookies, Fannie May Chocolates, and the Popcorn Factory.  You may want to go directly to one of these sites and not through the 1-800-Flowers site for the best deals.  Last year I used my $10 to get Chocolates.  I combined that with a BOGO coupon offer for a box of chocolate and ended up getting a Valentine gift for Matt last year, plus a Free box of chocolate for myself, all for $19 when using my gift card (the boxes of chocolate were good sized).  If you wanted to get a completely free gift, it is possible to find an item for the cost of your gift card (esp. with a coupon). One nice thing about the Free card from 1-800-Flowers is that you have a couple months to use it.  You will want to make the most of your gift card to get stuff as Free as possible, and you will need to use coupons for that.  I will be using THIS coupon place along with my gift card this year.  (see bottom of post for more info on this cool coupon site)
2. Victoria’s Secret– Free $10 Gift card for your birthday (no min. purchase required).  You will need to sign up for the Angel Card for this one.  Before I got their card, I did sometimes get free emails for $10 off a $10 purchase, but at random.  You also get other perks for having an angel card, like free underwear ( I have received many Free pairs) for example.  This year I used my $10 gift card , plus online coupons to get a FREE bathing suit top that was on clearance (was $52!) Tip #3:They let you combine 3 coupon codes for orders (I even got a free little perfume with my suit top!)
3. Philosophy Beauty– Free gift upon email sign up.  I signed up years ago, so it may be different now, but I got a Free $15 size bottle of perfume.  Their birthday gifts are great! This year I am getting a Free bottle of vanilla birthday cake shower gel with a Free Raspberry sorbet lip gloss (with a $25 purchase).  Their packaging is part of what makes this company fun.  They come in cool gift boxes and every product has an inspirational quote or recipe on it (so the cake shower gel will have a cake recipe-how cute is that?)  You also get to choose free samples with every order.
4. Aveda-Free gifts upon sign up and for your birthday, but they do require a min. purchase.  The offers they emailed me included Free stress relief hand cream, Free shipping with a $30 order, 3 Free product samples, and the Birthday email was for a Free surprise gift with a $25 order
5. Sephora– 3 Free samples of your choice with every order and you get to choose your Free birthday gift- Benefit’s They’re Real Mascara & Watt’s Up Highlighter duo, 2 Lip Treatments From “Fresh Sugar” (1 tinted, 1 un-tinted), or a deluxe Men’s shaving cream.  They have lots of sales too, so if you are a makeup/beauty junkie, you will love this website for top brands.
6. Smashbox Cosmetics– Free Surprise Birthday gift with a $35 purchase (mine is a mascara) plus you always get Free samples and Free shipping with any size order.  You will also get other Free product with purchase emails each week.
7. Ojon (email sign up top right corner)– Free birthday gift with no min. purchase.  I hear it’s some deluxe size Hair Care samples and Free shipping.  They seem to offer Free samples all of the time (not just birthday).
8. American Eagle– While I didn’t get a free gift, I did get awesome discounts.  For my birthday they emailed me a 15% off code.  Tip #4: I made this stretch by waiting until they had one of their big sales of an extra 40% off(no promo code needed) already marked down clearance items plus Free shipping with no min.purchase.  Combine the 40% off with my 15% off b-day coupon and I was able to get Socks, Hats, and Gloves for $2-5 each! (retail on hats were between $30-40)

 Tip #5:  You don’t have to use all of these freebies and discounts on yourself.  If you want to be a savvy shopper and plan ahead, you can always take advantage of these deals and turn them in to free or discounted gifts for others on your holiday/birthday shopping lists.  That is what I do when my budget is tight!

Tip # 6: I can’t stress the importance of online coupons/promo codes enough.  To maximize your savings, you will need to use an online coupon place like I do to get Free Shipping Codes, and other Discounts and Freebies.  Save1 (www.save1.com) is an awesome one to go with.  They make it easy to find the best coupons, as they provide a “Today’s Best Deals” page on their site. They are with over 5,000 retail stores, including some mentioned above. It’s a smart practice to get in the habit of always checking for a coupon before completing your purchase anywhere online. Bonus Fact- Every time you go through Save 1 to get a coupon , they will provide a Free meal to a hungry child in need!  You can make a difference in the world just by doing something you already do (and saving money in the process!)- How cool is that? I have not seen another coupon place like it.

Save 1 will also donate a Free meal when you sign up via email to receive top deals and money saving tips (or when following via Facebook & Twitter).  You can click the link above or the banner below to Save money and make a difference while you shop. If you would like to help provide more meals to needy children, you can help by sharing the site with your friends & family too.

Hopefully this article will inspire you to take advantage of the awesome deals out there. Have fun with your discounts and freebies! 😀 ~ Rebekah
 
 

Disclosure:  This article was written based on my personal experience with money saving and shopping discounts/freebies for the benefit of my readers.  All opinions are 100% my own and this money saving post was pre-planned before being sponsored by save1.  Links provided for this purpose are not my personal affiliate links.  Usage of coupons at save1 will benefit a starving child.

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