5 Faves: Birthday Freebies (That Are Actually Free)

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a freebie-hunter? (Um, most likely.) A motto from my days in AmeriCorps was, "If it's free, it's for me!"

So of course I sign up for the inbox freebies from every company under the sun. I have a 'spam' email account set up specifically for all this junk. My birthday was the beginning of this month, and here are my top 5 birthday freebies that DON'T require you to make a purchase. Just walk in and receive!

ProTip: Don't let them guilt you into buying extras. That's what the other 364 days of the year are for. Just go by yourself (or with your twin?), leave the wallet in the car, and enjoy!

1.

Firehouse Subs

This is the only one that doesn't require a coupon, but it's the only one you HAVE to do on your actual birthday. Just walk in and show your ID, and get a free sub! Hooray!

2.

Baskin Robbins

Free ice cream. Cone or a cup (I always go cone.) Yum! Sign up for the Birthday Club here.

3.

Noodles & Co.

I decided on Pad Thai with shrimp this year, but I highly recommend the Mac & Cheese!

I hadn't heard of this place before we moved to Indiana, but turns out it's an actual chain, and it's quickly becoming a favorite of mine. And it's probably one of my fave birthday freebies because it's a free meal (up to $9 worth!) that easily feeds me for TWO meals. Join the EClub here.

4.

IHOP

Free Rooty Tooty Fresh n' Fruity pancakes. I learned from my stingy husband that the best way to do this is as a to-go order. Feel free to tip if you want, but I didn't. You can even check this one out early since they send you the same offer just for signing up! Join the eClub here

5.

CVS

Okay, this one is a little wonky, but bear with me. It's not good enough to just sign up for CVS ExtraCare. You have to sign up for the CVS Beauty Club as well. But once you do, you get a birthday coupon in your email for $3 off $3 for anything in the store. I usually buy candy, but this year I did popsicles. In the interest of full disclosure, I usually do pay a few cents toward my purchase on this deal. 50 cents for this year, but I think that's been my biggest. Join the ExtraCare Beauty Club here.

Honorable mentions: 

• Culver's - free sundae (wasn't sure how large this chain was since I had never seen it before we moved north, but looks like it's in about 22 states now!). Sign up for the eClub here. 
• Starbucks - free drink; have to register a gift card online, so it technically costs money. Register a card here.
• Moe's - free entree requires drink purchase ($2.15 here incl. tax), but I love Moe's and that giant burrito served me 2 meals. Join the Moe's eWorld here.

Linking up with #5Faves at Call Her Happy

5 Favorites: Free Printables

I'll be back with the birth story for Miss Audrey later, but the tl;dr version is: 41+5, induction, epidural, standard delivery. Overall, it was good, and we're doing good.

I yanked this one out of my posts drafts that I hadn't gotten around to. A themed 5 Favorites. I do love me some free printables.

1.

Recipe card

And by 'card,' I mean an entire sheet of paper that goes in a sheet protector in my recipe binder. I love that these are editable pdf's so you can copy/paste and don't even have to wade through rushed handwriting.

This one from DomestiFluff is what I used 5 years ago for my sister's bridal shower cookbook.

I think this one here can actually hold more text on it for those longer recipes.

2.

Notes for the babysitter

You can find all sorts of these all over Pinterest, but I found 3 faves.

The one shown is from here. Another nice one is over here. And lastly, this one. Oh wait, there's also this adorable one that is specifically for infants. So. Many. Options.

3.

Yearly kid's birthday interview

Also an editable pdf, which I started this year at age 3. I'm sure my daughter's answers changed the next day, but I tucked what I got into her baby book anyway.

There's also a blue/green version, and both can be found right here.

4.

Anything from Kendra at CatholicAllYear

Especially these lovelies:

I highly recommend reading the blog post that goes along with the Solemnities one, as well as her 10 Baby Steps to Living the Liturgical Year post. Both are full of win.

For all of Kendra's printables, check out her Pinterest board

5.

Handwriting practice sheets

Full confession: if it weren't for Cora's daycare, I would have never known about this one. But to watch your 3-year-old write her name? Jaw-droppingly awesome.

This was all her, no help.

Fully customizable and free at handwritingpractice.net


For some other awesome free printables that may or may not fit your life, check out freeprintablesonline.com and Thirty Handmade Days and Real Life at Home

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Linking this one up with Call Her Happy's 5 Faves, hosted this week at Efficient Momma

5 Favorites: Intangibles

Many of these are digital, all are awesome.

1.

Dropbox

I love this for easily getting my pictures and videos from phone to computer. I like filing them off into their correct folder (all of my pictures are arranged by monthly folders on my computer), so I go through my phone about once a week and just do a big dump to Dropbox.

2.

YNAB (You Need a Budget)

This is the most awesome and easy budgeting software around. We used mint.com (and still do), but that was a more reactive look at what we had spent. With YNAB, it's more proactive in telling our money where to go. It also has an app in which I can just enter my purchases on my phone and it syncs up to the YNAB on my computer. Super cool.

YNAB usually sells for $60, but they run specials sometimes. Twice a year they'll usually offer it on Steam for $15, and that's how I got ours. You can also just try it out for a month for free.

Oh, and good news for the college kids out there: yesterday YNAB announced that college students can get it for free!!

3.

Single-stream Curbside Recycling

I uploaded this crappy picture with Dropbox, see?

This is obviously not digital, and it is kind of tangible but not really. After years of living in apartment complexes that refused to have recycling bins, this is a godsend. I used to collect our recyclables and take them somewhere in town (and in this town, you had to sort them at the site in the cold). But now we live in  house and have a HUGE bin that's the size of our actual trash can, and pick-up is every other week. It's beautiful. We usually have at least 2x the amount of recyclables as we do trash.

4.

ACPL Mobile

Yep, another app, this time for our public library system here! I pretty much never have late fees any more because it notifies me on my phone a day or 2 before something is due, and then I can just hit a few buttons and renew it if need be. It's super user-friendly, which is exactly what I need.

5.

Earth Hour

This is a yearly thing where you shut off all your lights for one hour. This year's event is this Saturday, Mar. 29 at 8:30-9:30pm your local time. I've participated in years past, then forgot about it for a few years, but I am ready to do this again! Here's a handy FAQ if you want to know more.


Check out Hallie's blog for more faves.