How I got over $300 worth of Christmas gifts for FREE!

Its been a fun holiday season filled with freebies, including clothes, toys, the hit Disney/Pixar new release, Cars 2, computer software and accessories! Here's how I got over $300 worth of Christmas gifts for free (well, sort of, keep reading):

Everything in this picture was free (and there is one item that is not pictured.)

The first set of items I received for free were from Cafe Press:

• Cars 2 Adventure Hut $20
• Cars Deluxe 10 Car Figurine Play Set $20
• Rocky Balboa Movie $1
• 2 USB Wall Chargers $10 ($5 each)
• USB Car Charger $5

Cafe Press, a leading T-shirt retailer online, didn't exactly give me these gifts directly. I had to do a little work, but not much. Cafe Press has a program for T-shirt designers where the designer creates and uploads a T-shirt design to their site and every time that design sells, the designer gets a commission. There are no costs to the designer. I have uploaded about 20 designs to Cafe Press and received my first commission transfer to PayPal previous to Thanksgiving. I considered this free money because receiving commissions from Cafe Press is a form of passive income. Once the designs are uploaded, they are available in the Cafe Press marketplace for anyone to purchase at any time. I do nothing to sell them. Cafe Press does all the work of selling, printing the shirt, packing it, and shipping it to the customer. I also used completely free resources to create the designs that I submitted, including free graphics that did not violate copyrights or trademarks. It just took a little time to create the designs and upload them to Cafe Press (certainly less than an hour per design), and they now continue to make money for me. I've even seen an increase in sales between Black Friday and the time this article was posted. For more information on making money by creating T-shirt designs, read the Design and Sell T-Shirts page. You'll also find a directory of resources to help you create your designs.

All the items above sell at retail for higher prices than those listed. They were all on sale for Black Friday. The Cars 2 adventure hut was purchased at Wal-Mart. The 10 piece Cars 2 deluxe figurine set was purchased at the Disney Store Online with free shipping. The USB wall chargers and car charger were purchased from Newegg.com, and the $1 Rocky Balboa movie (not in the second picture) was purchased at Best Buy online. I probably would not have purchased the movie if it had cost any more than $1, but I figured I would have rented it from RedBox for $1.20 so I might as well own it for less. All items ordered online had free shipping.

The next set of items were all Free After Rebate (FAR) from Fry's Electronics and Newegg.com. I also got the Cars 2 DVD/Blue Ray combo pack for free after rebate from newspaper coupon inserts (I don't recall if it was Red Plum or SmartSource, but the rebates were also available online).

• AVG Anti-Virus (the paid version, not the Free Version) $40
• Digital TV for PC 2 $25
• Corel PDF Fusion $40
• WordPerfect Office X5 $50
• Electronic Cleaning Wipes pack of 2 $5
• USB 4 port Hub $4
• Samsung Bluetooth headset $20
• HDMI Cables $1.50
• Ergonomic Wireless Optical Mouse $10
• Laptop Cooling Fan $10
• Cars 2 DVD/Blue Ray combo $10

Fry's Electronics and Newegg.com have become my favorite retailers this season. Week after week and often on the weekends they have had sale after sale which have included free after rebate deals. All of these items were purchased on Black Friday, but I could have purchased many, many more for FAR. The items purchased from Newegg.com could only be purchased online since Newegg is an online-only store; but they all came with free shipping. Fry's Electronics also only has limited locations in select states. I just happen to live by one. I am still waiting for the rebates in the mail since they take 6-8 weeks to arrive, though I've received many notifications by email that they are being processed.

These items were all free after rebate, but I actually ended up paying between $10-$15 when combining sales tax, envelopes and postage (Items purchased at Newegg didn't have sales tax, since I don't reside in the same state where Newegg operates). Also some of the rebates will come in the form of a Visa gift card which has some restrictions and even fees if not used within the first 6 months. I'm hoping/guessing, that I can use them for gas or groceries. One of the points I make with any promotion is to be sure the promotion isn't tricking the customer into spending more money. These were all items I needed or wanted before the FAR promotion and the Visa gift card(s) will be used on items I plan to pay for in my regular monthly budget. For more tips on benefiting from FAR deals and avoiding unwanted costs, read the Free After Rebate page.

If you couldn't tell already, my son loves Pixar Cars. The Cars 2 DVD/Blue Ray combo (not seen in the first picture) also wasn't actually free after rebate. I bought it for $10 at Wal-Mart by price matching with a Sam's Club Black Friday ad. That alone was a steal since a Disney/Pixar new release DVD/Blue Ray combo pack usually sells for $25-$30. There were/are at least three rebate offers available with this item.

The rebate my wife and I used was good for $10 when the movie combo pack and $20-worth of Kimberly-Clark products were purchased. We happened to have already purchased $19 worth of diapers, so all we had to do was purchase a Kleenex box at the dollar store to make up the difference. I considered the movie to be free since I got it for $10 and the rebate was worth $10; and the other products I had to purchase were purchased anyway. It was at least a freebie for my Christmas budget, even though it wasn't completely free for my grocery budget. Again, this promotion did not trick me into spending more money. Even the Kleenex box for $1 was a good deal and something we needed.

As a bonus, I could still possibly take advantage of the other two rebates because the Cars 2 combo pack has 3 proofs of purchase including the bar code. Rebate forms require that the proof of purchase be included and products usually only have 1 proof of purchase. Since the movie has another two proofs of purchase and I know of at least two other rebate offers, I can still possibly get some more freebies. If I'm able to find a sale of Rayovac 10 pack batteries for $5 or less, and Johnson & Johnson products for $10, then I will consider those to be freebies for my grocery budget. For more grocery rebates and deals, read the Free With Coupons page.

On a side note: Blockbuster video is giving away a pack of 2 Rayovac batteries (either AA or AAA) on Christmas day. So if you want to interrupt your regular Christmas routine to get some free batteries, you can. Additional 2-packs are available for 99 cents each. However this may not help much for the rebate offer that I'm trying to complete. I'll have to review the terms of the rebate again.

The last set of freebies were received from Sears Outlet on Free Apparel Tuesdays.

• Dress shirt $10
• T-shirt $7
• Shorts $10

These three items of clothing were given to me by Sears Outlet free of charge; they didn't even charge sales tax. Sears Outlet is/was having a promotion where rewards members could pick one free article of clothing every Tuesday in December. It was free to join the rewards program. One point I make with rewards programs is to avoid getting multiple credit cards since that can affect your credit score. This is a simple rewards program without a credit card. For more tips on rewards programs read the Rewards Programs page.

The Free Apparel Tuesdays promotion was/is only available at Sears Clothing Outlets, not Sears, Sears Appliance Outlets, K-mart or other Sears-owned stores. Sears Clothing Outlets are limited in number and locations. I just happen to drive close enough to one in my daily commute to work. Unfortunately, it's too far away from where I live to make the trip worth it for my wife to go. Otherwise we would have received 6 articles of clothing. The Tuesday after Christmas we will both be close to a Sears Outlet when visiting family. So between the two of us we will get another 2 articles of clothing. The promotion doesn't include outerwear, coats or Levi jeans, but I still could have picked clothing that was worth more. This just happened to be what I needed. I was cautious not to buy any sweaters because one little defect in the knitting would mean a quick end to the sweater. Clothes outlets are usually filled with cast-off clothing, off season items, and clothes with defects in the sewing. I had to sift through a lot of these to find clothes that I liked, but every time I was able to find at least 6 articles of clothing that were acceptable. This promotion almost tricked me into spending money that I would not have spent otherwise, but I resisted.

(Update: It turns out that the Sears Outlet by our relative's home is a Sears Appliance Outlet, not a Sears Clothing Outlet, so my wife and I won't be getting any free clothing this Tuesday. I was thoroughly bummed to find this out)

When you add the prices of all items above they come out to $298.50. These were all sale prices so I think it's safe to assume that they are worth over $300. They may have been worth close to $500 in retail or more. There were a couple items that I tried to get but wasn't able to. Fry's Electronics had a 10 piece USB adapter set that sold out before I got there. Victoria Secret was also giving away a free pair of panties which sold out before my wife got there (not for me to wear but definitely for me to enjoy, if you know what I mean. I wouldn't go into any more details since this is a family friendly site. Part of me is actually glad we didn't get that freebie because I think Victoria Secret is contributing to the moral decay of our society with excessive, open, inappropriate advertising in public places and on TV time slots that are seen too often by kids, teens, and men who should keep their eyes on the prize of their own wives. Wow, way off the topic of freebies).

If I had decided to be really ambitious, I could have received over $1,000 or more in products this Christmas season. There were many other free samples, free services, and free products after rebate that were available. I didn't take advantage of them because I didn't need them. But if I had made the effort to get them, I could have sold them online for a significant profit. The most notable deals were for free after rebate software and computer accessories at Fry's Electronics and Newegg.com. Those who are interested in software and computer accessories should continue to pay attention to these stores (as well as Office Depot and Staples) well into January, since I understand computers and electronics have better sales after Christmas. I expect that rebate offers will continue to be made available.