Tip: Color-coded bread bag ties tell you what day your bread was baked.

Here's a fun little bit of info that I sort of knew but had forgotten (and certainly never memorized the actual days of). Consumerist.com reports that the little poky plastic tabs that come on bread bags to hold them shut aren't just randomly colored by fun-loving factory workers, they actually have a coded meaning telling you which day of the week the bread was baked.

I've often noticed when I do Sunday shopping that most of the loaves have white plastic ties, so I guess that's pretty good. What color are your bread bag ties? Go check right now!

Facebook: Free Secret Natural Mineral Deodorant sample.

This Facebook offer seems to be up and down, so if you hurry, you might be able to catch it before it dies again. "Like" Secret deodorant and you can get a free sample of their natural mineral deodorant.

I have to say, I haven't bought travel-size deodorant for a long time now — Secret keeps me well supplied. This scent is new, so I'll give it a try...

Borders: 33% off coupon.

Just in time for your weekend, a 33% off coupon at Borders. If you're going to get snowed in, you might as well have something good to read, right?

Also, Seattleites, that store closing sale up at the Lynnwood Borders is still going, but the discounts are still 20-40% off everything. I think they can do better, so I'm holding out for 50% off or more.

Nordstrom: Free Clinique Lip Smoothie & Moisture Surge w/consultation, through today.

Today's the last day for this Clinique free sample event. Go to any Clinique counter inside a Nordstrom, get a free makeup consultation, and receive a 10-day supply of Vitamin C Lip Smoothie in your choice of colors, plus a 6-week supply of Moisture Surge Extended Thirst Relief.

No purchase necessary, so don't let them guilt you into buying a $20 lipstick unless you really want one.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf: Free iced teas on Mar. 1, 4-7 pm.

It may be freezing cold outside with snow on the ground, but the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf doesn't want to hear any of that. Instead, they're offering a springtastic FREE 12 oz beverage on Friday, Mar. 1, from 4 to 7 pm. Your choice of Spring Peach Tea Latte, Spring Peach Iced Tea Latte, or Peach FruTea, whatever that is.

It doesn't sound like you need a coupon or anything, so just drop on by! If you live in CA or AZ, that is.

Waffle House: Free hash browns.

I could really go for a free order of hash browns on a freezing-cold, grey day like today... but alas, we don't have any Waffle Houses here in WA. If you're lucky enough to have one, print the coupon and prepare for a hot, steaming plateful of starchy goodness.

Good through March 10.

L.A.: Free Metro 3-day bus pass.

Here's a nice freebie if you live in Los Angeles or if you plan to be visiting in the near future: an offer for a free 3-day Metro pass. Just fill out the form and they'll send you a pass in 3-4 weeks. That includes free travel on nearly 200 bus and train lines all over LA County, so it could be a good excuse to see more of the city, too.

Facebook: Free sample of Biolage hydratherapie Aqua Immersion Creme Masque.

Yikes, I had to check the spelling of that about four times and I'm still not sure I got it right. Get yourself a free sample of Biolage hydratherapie creme masque face junk when you "like" them on Facebook and fill out the form. I'm guessing it will probably remove all your wrinkles and de-puff your eyes and probably cut you down a dress size or two as well, so it's probably a good idea to try it...

Restaurant.com certificates 80% off.

Restaurant.com is running a special on its dining certificates now through Feb. 28 — 80% off the regular price, which brings a $25 certificate down to about $2 and $10 certificates under $1. Use promo code DINE to get the discounted price at checkout.

If you've never given them a try, read this to learn the basics. And, as always, it's a good idea to call ahead to confirm that there will be no problem with them accepting the certificate on the day you choose to dine.

Borders: 33% off one item.

Well, even if you didn't make it up to Lynnwood to check out the Borders store-closing sale, you can get almost as good of a discount with this 33% off coupon, good through Feb. 24.

 I think I'll wait until the discounts are at least 50% off everything in stock before I bother making the trek all the way up there. I guess this nonstop parade of coupons has spoiled me.

Costco: Free sample of Kirkland Signature 'poo and conditioner.

Seems like it's been a while since we had a 'poo sample offer, doesn't it? This one is from Costco, but you don't have to be a member — it's open to everyone. Get a free sample of Kirkland Signature 'poo and conditioner when you fill out the form. Who knows, maybe it will inspire you to become a member so you can stock up on 5-gallon tubs of the stuff!

Facebook: Free Ocean Spray Sparkling Juice Drinks sample.

This one kept breaking, so I didn't post it at first, but it looks like things are working smoothly, so head on over to Facebook and "like" Ocean Spray to get a free sample of their new sparkling juice drinks. 

My main interest in cranberry juice is when it's mixed with vodka, and I have a feeling that sparkling cranberry juice would taste even better...

Free sample of Miracle Whip.

Strangely enough, this isn't the first mayonnaise freebie I've seen in my day, although having a sample offer for two mayonnaise packets seems a little sad (haven't we all gotten one of those in a deli sandwich or packed lunch and thrown it in the garbage?). But I digress. FREE MIRACLE WHIP PACKETS!

You may have noticed that I've been a little slow on the posts today, and that's because I'm honoring our founding fathers by lazing around on my holiday. Hopefully free mayo makes up for it, though.

Seattle: Lynnwood Borders closing sale starts Sat. 2/19.

Okay, shizz is getting real... the Lynnwood Borders store is closing and their liquidation sale starts Saturday, 2/19. That's like right now! It's 20—40% off everything in there: books, CDs, DVDs, and more. I think I know where I'm headed this weekend!

Borders: 33% off coupon.

Well, declaring bankruptcy hasn't changed Borders' commitment to issuing 33% off coupons, I have to give them that.

There are some tantalizing rumors floating around about bargain-packed liquidation sales at the 200 stores they are closing, but according to what I've read, nothing is settled. They may ship the inventory from the closing stores to their higher-performing stores to sell there, or they may even ship underperforming and bargain books from regular stores to the closing stores in order to hawk them to the cheapskates. Stay tuned!

Tanga: 1-year GQ subscription, $4.

Here's another Tanga deal today... just $4 gets you a one-year subscription to GQ. Use coupon code GQ to make it happen.

Perfect for the dapper yet cost-conscious gentleman in your life!

Tanga: 1-year subscription to Rolling Stone, $4.

Tanga is back with another subscription deal on Rolling Stone - $4 for a one-year subscription. Use code STONE to get the discounted price at checkout. And you can buy up to 3 years at this price, which is a whole lot of pop-culture journalism, if you think about it.

Information: Why retailers give out free in-store samples.

Here's an interesting article from TheStreet.com about the economics behind those free samples skewered on toothpicks that get handed out at your local grocery or big-box store. Could be those samples represent about-to-expire product that they'd otherwise be throwing in the dumpsters out back... or the retailers may have given the store hundreds of dollars for the privilege of handing you squares of freezer pizza. And yet, it seems to be worth it for those food companies just to get you to try their product. Read more about it.

Amazon: 2 magazine subscriptions for $15.

Amazon's 2-subscriptions-for-$15 offer rolls on through Feb. 28, but it seems to me that they've added some titles, so I thought I'd post it again. I mean, I don't remember Urban Farm, Reptiles Magazine, or Horse Illustrated on there, but I could be wrong.

Delight your favorite urban equestrian snake breeder with a brace of subscriptions today!

Borders: BOGO 50% off paperbacks.

Borders has a paperback coupon this week — buy one paperback, get the second for 50% off. This isn't a huge incentive for me, since I'm not a big paperback buyer or reader, plus I'm waiting for their bankruptcy to become official, when everything will be BOGO.

If that's wrong, then I don't want to be right.

Valentine's Day magazine sale.

Yeah, that's kind of a weak tie-in, but let's just say that your idea of romance is a year-long magazine subscription... pick from a selection of Hearst magazines, all for $6 per subscription. Titles include O Magazine, Esquire, Marie Claire, Cosmo, and more!

Endless: 20% off almost everything.

I don't normally post plain old online-shopping discounts, but this one is kind of special because I rarely see sitewide discounts for Endless.com, and they're one of my favorite online shoe/accessory stores. Through Feb. 16, get 20% off your entire order* using promo code THANKU20.

The fine print! *Offer ends Wednesday, February 16th, at 11:59 p.m. PST and excludes styles by ASICS, Caravelle by Bulova, Callaway, Brooks, Bulova, Citizen, Dansko, ECCO, EMU Australia, FitFlop, Fossil, Frye, KEEN, Vicini, Hunter, Australia Luxe Collective, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Mizuno, MICHAEL Michael Kors, Movado, ESQ by Movado, New Balance, Patagonia , Polo Ralph Lauren, Prince, Pulsar, Reebok, Bearpaw, Seiko, Sperry Top-Sider, Stuart Weitzman, To Boot New York, The North Face.

IHOP: BOGO entrees on Valentine's Day.

As if the BOGO Qdoba offer weren't romantic enough, now you can also score a BOGO entree at IHOP on Valentine's Day when you print the coupon and bring it in. That's at least two meals out of the day covered... now we just have to find a dinner deal and maybe some chocolate and flowers, and it's a full day of cheapskate romance.

Maybe if you ask nicely, they'll make you heart-shaped pancakes!

Borders: 40% off one item.

Well, nevermind, Borders has proved me wrong - they're not done putting out 40% off coupons after all! Just in time to snap up the perfect how-to romance guide, a book of love poetry, or maybe an extra-naughty bodice-ripper. They sell chocolate, too... just saying.

Qdoba: BOGO entrees for a kiss on Feb. 14.

Here's one of the more unusual Valentine's Day promotions I've seen: Qdoba is offering a BOGO entree deal on Feb. 14 when you publicly smooch someone in front of your voyeuristic cashier. (So you probably can't just walk in there and get 2-for-1 by your lonesome... unless you're willing to kiss the fry cook.)

Fortunately, you don't have to smooch your companion after eating a big ol' plate of oniony cheez nachos.

Burt's Bees: $25 grab bag, free moisturizing kit with $30 purchase.

Burt's Bees is still running their half-off grab bag special — get a random assortment of 12 products, a $50 value, for $25. Plus, with promo code MOISTURE, you can also get a free moisturizing kit with a $30 purchase, so you just need to add on $5 more.

This Overnight Bee-uty Bag fits the bill, at $6 (originally $15), a cute little makeup bag stuffed with travel-size beauty products. Or this Purse Pack, for $7.50, which comes stuffed with your choice of four lip balms.

Valentine's Day is coming, and what better gift than keeping your loved one's lips smoochably soft?

(Thanks, Mom!)

Borders: 33% off coupon, sneaky Rewards Plus trick.

I got a Borders coupon yesterday, and I'm seeing a disturbing trend. It looks like the golden era of the 40% rewards coupon is over — at least for us free-member peons. Now, it looks like the new regime involves a 33% coupon for Rewards (free) members, while the 40% off coupon is only for Rewards Plus paid members.

The Rewards Plus program is $20/year, and they usually offer some sort of incentive like $10 back in store credit to offset the cost, but given that they're having trouble paying the bills, a year-long paid rewards membership is probably not a wise investment. There are also rumors that Borders has been leaning on its employees to push these memberships, which is why we're all getting the hard sell now. RESIST!

Restaurant.com certificates 80% off.

Restaurant.com certificates are 80% off again, making the $25-off coupons just $2 and the $10-off coupons about $0.80. Use promo code LOVE through 2/14 to get the discount at checkout. (If you're not familiar with how this works, read this.)

In case you were planning to impress your thrifty valentine with your coupon savvy, though, please remember to check with the restaurant first to ensure that they'll accept the certificate on holidays. I got burned this way with a Restaurant.com certificate, even though there was nothing in the fine print about blackout dates, so call ahead to confirm.

Buy one Land o' Lakes Butter with Olive Oil, get a coupon for a free package by mail.

Land o' Lakes wants you to try their olive-oil-enhanced butter. How much do they want you to give it a whirl? So much that they're offering a coupon for a free second package by mail when you send in your receipt! BOGO your butter today...

BUY: One package of Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil



SEND: The original official mail-in offer form; and the original retail store cash register receipt dated between 02/06/11 and 04/30/11 with Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil. Postmark date must be on or before 05/31/11.


RECEIVE: A coupon by mail for FREE Land O Lakes® Butter with Olive Oil (maximum value $2.99).

Groupon: Donate $15 to Greenpeace, get $15 in Groupon Bucks.

Groupon has been running some interesting offers lately, like this one, which allows you to donate to a nonprofit AND get something for yourself. When you donate $15 to Greenpeace through today's deal, you'll get $15 in Groupon Bucks back! Or rather, the first 6,667 will (says the fine print). The Groupon Bucks won't be available till April 15, so you have to have a little patience on this one, but think of the karma! And the whales!

Here's what Groupon says about why they're doing this: "While Groupon would love to match contributions for this campaign, we can’t because Greenpeace does not accept corporate donations of any kind, we’re counting on you to donate twice as much to make up the difference."

Zatarain's: Free Mardi Gras house party kit.

So I wasn't selected for the big fancy-pants Coffee-mate Free Flavor Friday party kit (not that I'm bitter about it). But it turns out that other companies have similar offers all the time: they'll send you a party kit full of supplies in order to have a themed party, and hopefully get some good word-of-mouth going if the party is a success.

Zatarain's (which makes New Orleans-style food mixes) is doing just that right now with a Mardi Gras party offer. The kit contains Zatarain's products, coupons, tote bags, beads and masks, and other fun stuff. Sounds like it could be a good start to a fun party, so get your bon temps over to the signup page if you're interested.

Facebook: Free bottle of Coffee-mate creamer.

UPDATE: Not surprisingly, the page has crashed. Coffee-mate says they are working to get it back online, so check in periodically if you want your free creamer.

All right, the much-hyped FREE FLAVOR FRIDAY is finally here... are you ready? Starting at 9:00 am PST (in just a minute), 100,000 of us will rush Facebook and mass-"like" Coffee-mate, in order to fill out the form for our free bottle of Coffee-mate creamer.



Click the "Free Flavor Friday" tab when you get there, and prepare for a flavor onslaught like you've never imagined.

Groupon: $10 for $20 at Barnes & Noble.

Perhaps inspired by Amazon's monster Groupon deal a couple of weeks ago, Barnes & Noble is doing the same thing today: $10 gets you $20 credit at Barnes & Noble, either in-store or online. (The deal is out of Chicago, but you can see in the fine print that it's valid anywhere.)

There's a limited number of coupons available and the deadline to buy is Feb. 7, so don't wait too long! You have until April 11 to use the full $20 and after that it goes down to the $10 purchase price, so time is of the essence with this deal.

Seattle: Book swap tonight at Hugo House.

Seattleites, this sounds like a great event and I wish I could go! Looking for something new to read, and/or want to make some space on your double-parked bookshelves? Hugo House is holding a book swap tonight from 5:30 to 8:00 pm.

The deal is, you bring two books and put them in the pool, and that entitles you to pick out one book and take it home. Everybody wins! Extra books left over at the end of the night will be donated to Friends of the Seattle Public Library (most likely to be sold in their fundraising semi-annual sales), so they win too.

This is a nice little free social mixer thing for Hugo House to be doing, so consider buying a happy hour drink while you're there to support them, too.

Waffle House: Free slice of pie.

I keep posting these Waffle House freebies even though we don't have any in Washington... isn't that sad? I guess I'm just mesmerized by the endless parade of free hash browns, waffles, OJ, coffee, and now pie that they represent.

Print your coupon and cash it in for a free slice of pie through Feb. 16. No purchase necessary.

Tanga: Shape subscription for $3.

Tanga's back with another hot deal on a magazine subscription... just $3 buys you a whole year of Shape magazine. Use top-secret promo code SHAPE to get the discount when you check out. Granted, an entire magazine devoted to health issues may not sound all that great, but a friend of mine has been a long-time subscriber and she swears by it, so who knows, maybe just signing up for it will make you lose 10 lbs. Couldn't hurt to try!

Seattle: Free Zumba classes in February.

I've been hearing a lot about this Zumba craze that's sweeping the nation, and it kind of sounds fun. An hour-long dance party that magically burns away the calories? Sign me up!

Of course, all these exercise class memberships can be expensive, and it's a big commitment when you don't even know that you'll like it. So I was happy to see that Seattle's Dance Underground is offering free Zumba classes every Saturday in February. No registration is required — it's a drop-in class, first come first serve. They just ask that you fill out a health release form and bring it in to expedite things. JAZZ HANDS!

Borders: 33% off coupon, free shipping online.

Borders has some exciting deals today, whether you're shopping online or in-store. There's a 33% coupon like always, and they're also offering free shipping with no minimum purchase (through Feb. 3). Use promo code SNOWGO for regular shipping, or SNOWBOX if you're shipping to a P.O. box.

Apparently Borders has opted not to pay its landlords and vendors for the second month in a row, though, so if you've got a gift card, RIGHT NOW would be a good time to use it.

Facebook: Free pack of Stride Upgrade gum.

Stride Gum is offering another free pack when you "like" them on Facebook and fill out the form.  It looks pretty extreme to me! If you can handle it, I think you should sign up for a sample pack.

Amazon magazines: Spend $20, get $10.

Amazon has another magazine promotion this week: when you spend $20 in their Magazine Store, you'll get a bonus $10 store credit good through Mar. 4. And it's not like you can't find something to buy on there between now and then, right?

To help you hit your spending goal, they have a selection of 2 for $15 and 2 for $20 subscriptions on sale now. Here's the fine print, but it seems pretty straightforward; looks like you can even combine multiple orders to qualify. If your mailbox has been feeling a little lonely, there's nothing like some fun magazines to cheer it up and give it a sense of purpose...