IKEA BYOF (Bring Your Own Friends) giveaways, free food, more.

IKEA is trying out something new next Saturday, Jan. 14. It's called BYOF (Bring Your Own Friends) and they're doing all kinds of free goodies and giveaways when you RSVP on Facebook.

RSVP to get a coupon for a free small breakfast before 11:00 a.m., a free blue tote bag, and BOGO free entree between 11am-4pm. They’re also going to be doing gift card giveaways and more.

Sounds like a full day of IKEA fun!

Dec. 16 is Free Shipping Day!

Otherwise known as Oh Crap It's 9 Days Till Xmas Day, today is Free Shipping Day! Get free shipping from almost 2,600 online merchants. You can use the Free Shipping Day website to browse participating merchants, search for a specific one, and score promo codes for free shipping and discounts.

There's a wide variety of participating stores, so don't panic!

Check out Frugal Living NW for your couponing pleasure.

I just read about a fellow freebie blog based in the Pacific Northwest, called Frugal Living NW. It's more coupon-based than straight-up freebies, which I personally am too lazy for, but if you like the thrill of matching discounts to coupons to make items free, this is a good resource for that.

They also list highlights of local grocery stores' weekly sales, which is a helpful feature if you as as lazy as I am.

Pier 1: $10 off any purchase of $10 or more.

Pier 1 has a pretty good online coupon: $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Looks like there's no minimum purchase, so you could theoretically get $10.01 worth of stuff and get out of there for a penny. It's up to you whether you want to be charitable and throw them a bone by buying a few extra bucks' worth of stuff.

Etsy + Groupon = Heartsy.

Have you guys heard about Heartsy yet? It was described to me as "Etsy meets Groupon," which pretty much sums it up: each day there are a few featured sellers, and you can buy discounted gift certificates to their Etsy stores. You can sign up for a daily notification email that shows you who's featured — so far, I've seen a mix each day of bath products, art & photography, jewelry, vintage items, and more (about4-5 each day).

You can also vote on the upcoming sellers and help decide who gets featured next! But I have to warn you, it can be kind of hypnotic clicking through one after another and voting, voting, voting...

(Plus, if you sign up and make a purchase using my referral link, we both get $5, so that's a fun bonus.)

Target: Free reusable shopping tote on April 17 w/any purchase.

Target is jumping into the Earth Day fray with its own eco-freebie: get a cute messenger-style tote bag free with any purchase on April 17. Here's a fun fact I learned: "When you use a reusable bag ten times, you’ll keep 25 plastic bags out of landfills." I've had my reusable totes for years now and have probably kept hundreds of plastic bags from ever being born. Take that, unnecessary plastic!

They're giving away 1 million of these bags (limit 1 per person), but before you send each member of your family to a different checkout line with one item each, please think carefully about whether you really NEED one. It's green to get a reusable tote, but it's even more green to use what you have until it's no longer good.

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!

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.

Making the best of those unwanted gift cards.

In this modern age, it's hard to get through a holiday season without receiving at least one gift card (I got four myself). But do you know all the applicable federal and state laws surrounding gift cards? Of course not, and that's why this handy state-by-state guide to gift card law is so awesome. For example, here in Washington state, gift cards are redeemable for cash if the value is $5.00 or less - good to know if you assumed you HAD to spend down to the last penny (and end up spending your own money to cover the difference on that last purchase).

Lifehacker has a good article on ways to make sure you use your gift cards to their fullest, including electronic reminders when you're close to an expiration date.

And if you have a dog of a gift card that you know you'll never, ever use in a million years, consider using a trade-in site like Plastic Jungle to exchange it for one you actually will. Yeah, you'll lose a bit of value on that card, but you'll end up with something you'll really use.

Today is Free Shipping Day - WITH guaranteed Xmas delivery.

Now, of course I'm not talking about you here, but if you have a friend who maybe hasn't gotten all their holiday shopping quite done yet, they'll be glad to know that today is Free Shipping Day. Over 1,000 merchants have joined in a mighty fellowship, making a sacred pact to offer free shipping AND guaranteed Xmas Day delivery if you order today.

Some stores are offering this deal for all orders; some require a minimum purchase; and some are offering discounts and sales on top of the free-shipping offer, so you should browse the list of merchants and check out your options. Just don't take too long, because that's what got your friend into this mess in the first place.

(Courtesy of Hey It's Free)

Consumerist: U.S. Xmas shipping deadlines.

Here's some handy info compiled by the peeps at Consumerist to help you figure out the last possible moment you can procrastinate on your holiday shopping and still get it there by the 25th.

Having logged some time at the post office a couple of days this week already, I encourage you to get your holiday mail out ASAP!

Sears: $10 off $20, Dec. 15 and 16.

Sears has a pretty good coupon for later this week... receive $10 off your $20 in-store purchase on apparel and accessories. Good Dec. 15-16, and of course some restrictions apply, so check out the coupon before you go.

Information: Secrets of online "dynamic pricing."

If you've ever put something in your online shopping cart at one price, only to come back a day later and see that it's mysteriously gone up a few bucks, you'll be interested in this Slate article on dynamic pricing. We all know that online travel booking sites do this - you can select tickets at one price only to see it go up by the time you finish checking out - but I didn't know that retailers like Amazon, Pottery Barn, and Zappos also do it, as well as banks and credit card companies.

The article has some interesting tips on juggling browsers and clearing cookies to help compare your options and choose the best deal. Of course, you should also search online for low prices, check for promo codes and special offers on deal-sharing sites like the HTN, and use those cash-back rebate portal sites for any online purchase anyway. How do you outsmart retailers to get the best online deals?

Cost Plus: Get 7 bags of coffee for the price of 3!

Ready to knock out a holiday season's worth of hostess gifts, office gifts, or stocking stuffers in one fell swoop? Then check out this deal at Cost Plus, where you can get 7 bags of coffee for the price of 3.

Here's how it works: first, join the World Market Explorer rewards program online, and you'll be eligible for their buy-six-bags-of-coffee-get-one-free program. Then, go to Cost Plus tomorrow, Dec. 1, when you'll get BOGO bags of coffee AND double points on your purchases (you get double points every Wednesday, too). Buy three bags of coffee, and you'll get three BOGO bags free, PLUS the double points on the three bags gets you enough points for a free bag (they'll send you an email with the free coupon)!

Cost Plus coffee runs from $6-9 for a 12 oz bag, and it comes in tasty holiday flavors like pumpkin spice, eggnog, marzipan, and peppermint chocolate. There are plenty of other blends if those holiday flavors don't float your boat, of course, but at these prices you can afford to branch out and try some new ones!

Eddie Bauer: 30% off sitewide + free shipping.

The next Cyber Monday offer is for Eddie Bauer: get 30% off everything AND free shipping, no minimum purchase required. Use promo code CYBERDAY to get this offer.

Looks like it's good all day, but I'm sure the good stuff will go fast...

Borders: 33% off one item.

Another (short) week, another 33% off coupon from Borders. Personally, I hit the Friends of the Library sale over the weekend and stocked up on some fabulous book and holiday-gift deals for next to nothing, but I suppose I could force myself to go take a look and see if there's anything else I might want to purchase. If I had to, I mean.

Nov. 27 is Small Business Saturday; get $25 credit from American Express!

I just heard about Small Business Saturday, which is sandwiched between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. It's an alternative to doorbusting super-sale madness, with an emphasis on supporting your local community by choosing to shop at small businesses in your area.

Join the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook and you can get a $25 credit on your American Express card! Register your card before Nov. 27, then spend $25 or more at a participating small-business store (i.e., one that accepts American Express) and you'll receive a $25 credit on your statement. Pretty sweet, huh?

Also, American Express will donate $1 to Girls, Inc., for every person who "likes" the Small Business Saturday page on Facebook, so you can do good even if you don't do any shopping over Thanksgiving weekend.

Seattle: Friends of the Library book sale, Nov. 20.

OK, I know this is WAY advance notice, but I want you to have plenty of time to put this on your calendar! The Friends of the Seattle Library are having a holiday book sale on Sat., November 20, at Warren G. Magnuson Park, Building 30 Workshop, 7400 Sand Point Way NE.


More than 10,000 items, including holiday books, CDs, gift books, a general selection of fiction and non-fiction books, as well as a large selection of quality children's books — most for $1.


The Friends holiday sale is open to the public; you do not need to be a member to attend. Proceeds benefit the Seattle Public Library.


For more info, see http://www.friendsofspl.org/.  

Seattle: Glitter Sale jitters? Read the Glitter Sale Insider!

Seattleites will know all about the amazing Goodwill Glitter Sale that happens every November at the main Dearborn Goodwill. But did you know that the sale has its very own blog? The Glitter Sale Insider shows you extra-special vintage treasures that they're setting aside for the sale, interviews with local designers who give you thrifting tips, and more.

This year's Glitter Sale is Nov. 13-14, and people really get into it! Shoppers line up outside the doors as early as 6:00 am with coffee and donuts, and some people come from out of state JUST to shop this amazing glittertacular. I myself have found many a sequined prize there (though I tend to go in the afternoon when the madness calms down a bit). Mark your calendars and stock up on sparkles for the holidays!

Free reusable tote from A Little Bit of Philly.

Everyone can use another reusable tote bag, can't they?  I mean, you ARE using these for your groceries and other shopping, rather than strangling the earth with hundreds of plastic bags... right?

Of course you are.  But you can always use another one!