Red Cross Racing

Two things about me... 

1. I love Nascar and Greg Biffle is my favorite driver. 

2. I am blood type O+ and donate blood as often as I am eligible.

Did you ever honestly think that those two things could combine into something fabulously cheap and free? Well, they have. The Red Cross sponsors Greg Biffle, so Red Cross started a program where you can earn points to redeem for merchandise by donating blood. I've been saving up my points and today I redeemed my points and I can't wait to get my prizes. Here's what is coming my way: 2 1:24 Die Cast Cars, 1 T-shirt, 1 Koozie, and 1 pin. Pretty sweet, huh? The points will be resetting themselves soon, so let's see what awesomeness I can earn next year.

More Deals at Brixx

OK, OK, I know that I write about Brixx a lot, but there are truly some fantastic deals to be had at Brixx. I got an email from fellow cheap-and-free-er Courtney Disposti that there was a Brixx coupon in the back of the phone book, and you know how much I love a coupon. Sure enough, buy one get one free pizza right there in the back of the phone book. Thanks for the tip, Courtney! Of course, we went on a Monday, the best night of the week because of the $1.95 Domestic Drafts. Now, here's where the deals got awesome. So, while we were there, Buddy reached the point on his MBA Card where he had drank enough beers to earn a free pizza. Our fantastic server let us use the coupon from the phone book and redeem the MBA free pizza. So, the grand total for 5 awesome beers and 2 pizzas was $10.55. And that fantastic server? He earned himself a $10 tip that night! Remember cheap-and-free-ers, always tip your servers well!

So, no blogs for awhile...

I'll give a little Christmas apology to my dear readers, I've been in Oregon visiting family and still am, so, needless to say, I haven't been doing anything cheap and free in Charlotte. And, disappointingly enough, I had planned on doing a special Cheap and Free in Portland blog while I was here as an homage to this city out here that I love so much, but, would you believe it, we've been pretty much snowed in! I will advise all of you to check out the after Christmas sales, whatever city you are in. The deals are supposed to be just amazing! Let's all really stretch that Christmas money in this yucky economic time. Merry Christmas to everyone! This is my favorite time of year and I'm just going to savor it for a bit longer before it's gone for another year. When I get back into town on Monday, I promise to do a Charlotte blog and I'm also going to be posting a New Years Eve guide. Enjoy!

Outlet Shopping

So, the Gaffney outlets aren't in Charlotte, but they are our closest (other than Concord Mills, which I'm not all that convinced is truly that awesome of an outlet, it's more of a shopping plaza in my mind). I had to travel to a meeting Gaffney for work and was busy in the early morning and in the later afternoon, so what's a girl to do? Shop, and get some incredible deals. I was really in need of some new work clothes, so I headed to Ann Taylor first. All of their clearance was an additional 40% off, I mean, are you kidding me? That's awesome! I did the math when I got home and everything that I bought there would have been $571 at full price. Do you want to know what I spent? $143, unbelievable! I also got a deal on some great Aerosoles tall black boots, had been $90, I paid $30. This is my kind of shopping. I like to look good, but just can't bring myself to fork out the kind of funds to do this all in full price mode. And, really, why should I when these amazing deals are out there! Make the drive down to Gaffney, it's totally worth it!

So, I got these antlers at the Santa's Link to Kids Drop-Off Party

Every year my office does some sort of holiday charity giving, and, as the un-official organizer, I think we have found our annual event. 107.9 The Link sponsors Santa's Link to Kids. The police department identifies kids for them who maybe won't be getting a visit from Santa Claus, and then the listeners have the opportunity to adopt them. My office adopted 3 kids and we had a ton of fun with it and got them some really great presents. Our adopted kiddos are having a merry Christmas this year. Another awesome thing about Santa's Link is the drop-off parties. They host 2 of them. The one tonight was at the Arboretum Shopping Center. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there, pony rides, singing, sleigh rides, and, of course, lots of cookies and hot chocolate. Did I mention that 107.9 brought fake snow. You should have seen the kids dancing underneath it. It was awesome. The Christmas Spirit was alive and well at this event. Merry Christmas everyone!

*OK, then I went home and put the antlers that I got at the drop-off party on my dog, Mandy. She's such a good sport*

Christmas Tree Lighting at Freedom Park

I can walk to Freedom Park, so when I passed the sign that said there was a Christmas Tree Lighing Celebration there, I was totally in. There was a really great band there playing Christmas songs all rocked out, my favorite way. As an aside, if you've never heard the Sister Hazel Christmas album, it's awesome... anyway... A group was there collecting coats, hats & gloves for the homeless, and, I guess they are the ones who sponsored the band. They are trying to get one of each for every homeless person in Charlotte, so if you can help, they will continue the collecting at any Omega Sports location, I believe until December 21st. Santa, of course, was at the tree lighting, and a radio station sponsor. It was a great little Christmas spirit kind of event, I'm pretty big into having the Christmas spirit. The best part is that the park looks great! There are beautiful lights going around the lake, so if you need to catch a little bit of the spirit, take a fun jaunt around the lake. You'll be hearing subtle "Ho, Ho, Ho"s in your ears before you know it.

Bargain Book Sale at Joseph Beth

So, I got my Gives Back card, right? Well, now I'm finding out about all of these other great perks to having that card. Awesome, huh? Joseph Beth is having their Bargain Books sale, so the books are already cheap, but as a Gives Back member, when I buy 3, I get 2 more for free. How awesome of a deal is that. Now, my office has adopted 3 kids from the Santa's Link to Kids and one of them is a 7-year-old little girl who loves to read. Perfect! Plus, I got this great coupon book that is only good for Gives Back members and in it is a coupon for $15 off the perfect cookbook Christmas gift for my mother-in-law (no specifics sorry, she may be reading the blog). So, for roughly $40, I got the cookbook, 4 books for the Santa's Link little girl, and 1 for myself. Not a bad Saturday afternoon of bargain shopping if you ask me. I'm telling you, the Christmas season can be cheap and free and fabulous! 

Let the Troops know that you care this holiday season

Xerox is doing a really great thing for our troops right now, and I urge all of you to participate. It won't cost you a thing and it will take you less than 2 minutes. Go to www.LetsSayThanks.com, there you can pick out a card and a greeting and it will be sent to a soldier who is serving overseas. No matter your opinion of this war, these are men and women just like you and me who are far away from their homes and their families. Just take a small amount of time and make a huge difference in their lives.

Free Pie!

I'm not sure how I got so lucky, but I got a coupon from Earth Fare a few days ago for a free pie and a free pint of ice cream. No minimum purchase or anything like that, just free. I'm so all about that. I can't eat ice cream and neither can buddy (it's OK, you can laugh, we do), so I gave away the ice cream, but the pie is delicious. I had a yummy piece of apple pie for dessert this evening, and, of course, free food tastes better. I like to also think that free food has no calories. Shhh... let me be lost in my delusions...

Second String Santa

Second String Santa is seriously one of my favorite events all year in Charlotte. Have you been? It's a fantastic kick-off to the holiday season. Here's the deal, for $20 and a toy donation or $40 you get admission and then all you can eat and all you can drink wine, beer, and soda. It's a formal event, which I love. It's great to get those dresses out of the closet that there is never any reason to wear. 

It's a pretty good deal as is, but this year I discovered a way to make it even sweeter. I volunteered, for 1 hour of toy collecting, I didn't have to pay cover. That's a $20 an hour gig, pretty awesome. Plus, collecting toys was a great amount of fun. I love chatting with people, so it was the perfect job for me. 

After my volunteering, then it was time to party. I pretty much danced the night away with my girls, and we had a blast. 

Now, here are some amazing Second String Santa statistics: 4000 people attended, 3000 toys (including 3 bikes) and $54,000 were collected. There are a lot of kiddos who are going to have great Christmases because of the attendees and everyone involved with Second String Santa. Now, that's a great event. It's a good time, a good deal and a fabulous cause.