CompUSA Special on Netgear USB print server ($19.99) and coupon code

CompUSA is offering the Netgear USB Mini Print Server for $19.99. This price applies after the $50 mail in rebate is applied. If you order from CompUSA's website, you can also get free shipping by using the CompUSA coupon code: Shipitfree.

You can find this special deal at:
http://www.compusa.com/products/product_info.asp?product_code=311487&cmid=dsr&ref=dsr&cm_ven=Performics&cm_cat=**Slick%20Deals**&cm_pla=General&cm_ite=generic%20120gb

Exclusive Coupons for Zellers, Roots, Empire Theaters, and Best Buy Canada

Canadian shoppers might want to check out the coupons offered by TD Money Lounge,
which is the promotional site created by TD Bank (Toronto Dominion bank in canada).
These coupons are available only to web surfers who subscribe to TD's Money Lounge user group on Facebook. However, you can bypass signing up on the Facebook group by viewing the coupons directly at https://www.tdmoneylounge.com/fb/tdfb_coupons.pdf

The coupons include the following discounts:

$10 Off purchase of $40 or more at Roots stores

10% off any Xbox 360, PS3 or Wii Games at Canadian Best Buy locations

20% off music CD's at Canadian Best Buy stores

Combo pack off regular popcorn, soft drink, and movie admission at Empire Theatres (this offer valid for students only)

And Save $10 on $50 Purchases at Zellers (good until Oct. 15, 2007)

My personal favourite is the Zellers coupon because I can buy groceries, clothing and all sorts of electronics at Zellers. Hhmmm, maybe I should buy that new iPod Nano with this coupon.

Coupon for Netflix Users

Netflix has a Limited Time Offer with a 20% off coupon: D80015436 The coupon Expires 10/31/07. This coupon is only valid for new customers or canceled accounts. This looks like a great opportunity to try out Netflix. More info at http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?threadid=608425

Local Dining on a Shoestring: Blackberries

Recently, we had friends visiting from Hong Kong. While walking through the park one day, one of our visitors named Ellen, pointed out a blackberry bush. She had never seen it before. My mother mentioned that the fruits were edible. Ellen proceeded to pick them and start eating. I had not eaten blackberries in years and I proceed to munch on a few as well.

It's incredible that so many Vancouverites walk by so many blackberry bushes and not eat any of the fruit. Blackberry plants grow like weeds along highways, parks, and train tracks throughout Vancouver. The berries are free for the picking, but hardly anyone bothers to pick them. I have seen local grocers sell small baskets of blackberries for $4 and up. When I pass by some of these blackberry bushes, I could easily pick more than $20 worth of blackberries in one occasion.

The secret to finding good blackberries are color and size. You want to find larger sized blackberries (they are about twice the size of a regular raspberry) and you should pick black ones because only black ones are ripe. The larger sized, good blackberries are sweet instead of sour.

I have also started a new trend in my household by making "blackberry smoothies". They are easy to make. Take one cup of blackberries, rinse them well in tap water. The 1 cup of blackberries should be mixed with 2 cups of water and about 4 tablespoons of liquid sugar. Combine all of these ingredients into a blender and you will have one of the best smoothies ever. It is truly delicious and better than any smoothies that you can buy at a restaurant.

This blog's mission is to help readers unearth freebies and hot deals in their communities and on the web. I truly believe that local blackberries are one of the hidden treasures of my community and a true bona-fide freebie!! Picking blackberries in your neighbourhood will save money in your grocery shopping bill and you'll be helping the environment by reducing greenhouse gases because you're buying local berries instead of fruits shipped from far away places. Blackberries are found throughout most parts of Canada and the USA and the fruits are found in abundance until early October.

A Secret Way to Getting Free Credits on Your Starbucks Card

If you're a Starbucks regular, there is a neat trick to getting a free $5 credit (or more) from Starbucks. Here is the story of how my friend Richard received his free credits from Starbucks.

Richard and I were both using Starbucks gift cards while we were at a conference in New York City. Initially Richard added $10 to the card, registered it online at http://www.starbucks.com/card/registerinfo.asp and then he used up the $10. Then he added another $10. Because he was a repeat customer, Starbucks then awarded him $5 as a surprise credit and emailed him to inform him. Later, they added an additional $7.50 onto the card in cooperation with a Paypal survey. In total, he received $12.50 in free store credits from Starbucks.

REMEMBER: The key to getting the free credits is registering your starbucks card on the website link listed above. If you don't register the card online, you won't receive any promotional credits. It looks like Starbucks is very keen to reward repeat customers and keen to encourage repeat use of their gift cards. If you like using their gift cards (hey, it's a great way of not having to carrying change with you when you buy that latte), you might find this trick useful.

Memolink Promises Free Gift Certificates but It Is Time Consuming

Recently, I signed up for Memolink http://www.memolink.com - a rewards program that promises gift certificates if I complete enough surveys and purchase enough stuff from affiliate sites. This website also sends me email and if I click on the email link I earn additional points. As of last count, I racked up 3285 points but it says that I still need 7915 points in order to qualify for a prize. That being said, most of the good minimum rewards are $10 in value, such as $10 gift certificates from Amazon.com or from Best Buy, and each of these requires 19,200 points.

The reason that it's taking me a while to amass the points is because I want to earn the points the free way. This means that I have to fill out the online surveys and wait for the points to get creditted to my account. Each survey is tedious and takes 30 to 60 minutes to complete and the survey only pays between 600 and 1200 points. As you can imagine, this is more of a hobby than a serious way to earn money or earn free gift cards.

The other way to earn points faster on memolink is to buy stuff from Memolink partners but I have avoided this route because 1) I buy most of my stuff in real world stores and 2) I wanted to earn the points free by doing surveys. I'm one sixth of the way to getting 19,200 points so I still have a ways to go. I might just start buying stuff from affiliates such as JC Penney and Target in order to speed up my points accumulation.

Memolink is quite popular and I'm told that many college students use it. However, I see it more as an amusement (it sends me "read for points" email daily) than a serious money-making venture. However, if you do a lot of online shopping at JC Penney, Overstock.com and other big online e-tailers, Memolink is a great way for you to earn extra gift certificates while you shop.

Free Google Adwords Voucher Credits

Recently, I have been fiddling around with Google's Adwords voucher. I got £30 worth of google adwords credit by signing up at

http://services.google.com/marketing/links/aw-vouchertry
(By the way, this is a great deal as Google is still giving away these free credits).

I found the user interface to be easy to use and you can set your cost per click (CPC) and set a monthly budget as well. Overall, Adwords is a great product that is very easy to use and a powerful marketing force. Adwords demonstrates why Google is the search leader: its search marketing services work really well.