My mother and her roommate are moving this weekend, and did a little bit of destashing to avoid packing and transporting things they hadn't used in a while and likely wouldn't use again. I got to enjoy their clearing out a little bit, and I now have five new board games: Trivial Pursuit, Trivial Pursuit TV edition (from the very early 90s, and I'm lucky if I can answer one question every 10 cards), Battleship, a Lord of the Rings trivia game (this had never been used at all, as all of the question cards were still wrapped in plastic and the cardboard pieces hadn't been punched out), and one of the CSI board games.
I enjoy board games more than a lot of people these days, the downside to which is that few people ever want to play them with me. But I'm fortunate to have a couple of friends (including my roommate) who enjoy a good board game every once in a while, so this is going to give us even more ways to enjoy our time together.
Playing Trivial Pursuit is rather fun, since half the time if we don't know the answer we just give some sarcastic pat answer that doesn't make any sense in relation to the question. I try to have one sarcastic answer that I use all the time, which gets some really funny reactions sometimes.
I'm really looking forward to playing the Lord of the Rings trivia game most of all, though, but it'll be a while before I do. All of the questions are in relation to the books, which I don't know quite as well as the movies, so I want to read the books once more (and make sure my friends have read them) before we play. This'll undoubtedly save a lot of annoyance on all sides.
It really is great to get things like these games. I didn't spend any money getting them, have additional entertainment for when I'm bored, and in a way, helped my mother with moving, since she didn't have to pack these and cart them halfway across the city.
On a similar note, this is also why I love Value Village. They often have a lot of board games and puzzles for low prices, usually $2-5. Puzzles are a real hit-or-miss thing there, since there's never any guarantee that all the pieces are in the box, but sometimes you can tell right away if all the pieces of a game are there, making it easier to choose which to buy. I stood in line behind a family once who bought 7-10 games and puzzles around Christmas last year, as gifts for family, and I know some people who go there to buy new games for when they go away on a camping vacation, to help keep the kids amused. It's amazing the amount of entertainment you can get practically for a song!
Hmmm, now if only I could really sing for my games. That would be cheaper still!
Showing posts with label freebies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label freebies. Show all posts
Friday, January 29, 2010
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Contests ahoy!
Zach Ahoy is holding a contest at the moment for a free product from Scratch & Sol. Not a contest I can enter, since it's for a children's item and I have no children (unless my cats count), but I figured I'd pass along the good word.
Homemade Serenity is also hosting a contest draw for a set of handfelted wool hearts and a paper lantern. I adore those lanterns!
I've thought about using this blog to host a content or a draw or two, but at the moment, it just isn't feasible. For starters, I haven't exactly shown off any crafts that I make to pique any interest. Secondly, this blog is too new and has too low a readership at the moment to really make it fair. It might be a contest between all of two people!
Also, I have nothing in the way of spare cash right now to cover shipping charges.
But maybe in a month or two, when this place has more content, crafty pictures, and a higher readership. Maybe then I can do a draw for a set of embroidered bookmarks or something like that.
Speaking of crafts, though, I really should get a move on with a shawl that I'm supposed to be knitting for somebody. I joined a shawl trade a while back on Ravelry, and it isn't finished yet. I still have over a month to finish it, but there's no time like the present, after all!
Homemade Serenity is also hosting a contest draw for a set of handfelted wool hearts and a paper lantern. I adore those lanterns!
I've thought about using this blog to host a content or a draw or two, but at the moment, it just isn't feasible. For starters, I haven't exactly shown off any crafts that I make to pique any interest. Secondly, this blog is too new and has too low a readership at the moment to really make it fair. It might be a contest between all of two people!
Also, I have nothing in the way of spare cash right now to cover shipping charges.
But maybe in a month or two, when this place has more content, crafty pictures, and a higher readership. Maybe then I can do a draw for a set of embroidered bookmarks or something like that.
Speaking of crafts, though, I really should get a move on with a shawl that I'm supposed to be knitting for somebody. I joined a shawl trade a while back on Ravelry, and it isn't finished yet. I still have over a month to finish it, but there's no time like the present, after all!
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Free online TV in Canada.
So I promised a post earlier last week about free online TV for Canadians. Most of the free online TV channels that gets mentioned a lot are, sadly, for Americans only, which means that even though Canada gets American stations, we can't watch them for free online.
I can see some degree of sense in that. After all, most of the free channels a person can get are local anyway, and another country's stations don't count as local. We'd pay to get access to them. So I can see why official sites and the like wouldn't give free online TV to Canada.
But there are plenty of unofficial sites that host TV shows that don't have a TV station that one would pay for anyway, and yet will only broadcast if it detects that you have an American IP address. Meaning that great sites like Hulu are out if you happen to live in the frigid north.
We do have our options, though, limited though they may be. And I'm not just talking about sites like YouTube or GoogleVideo or other such sites. They're great, and I use them all the time, but for those concerned about doing things the legal way, the TV shows you watch on those sites are often uploaded illegally, without copyright holder consent. It's a risk you have to take when watching shows on sites like that.
(For those that don't mind dubious legality, though, you can always use SurfTheChannel to find TV shows, movies, documentaries, and so on, that have been uploaded to free video sites.)
But as for the legal stuff...
Global has videos for a lot of the most recent primetime shows. Downside is that if you happen to be interested in a show but haven't seen it from the beginning, you're out of luck, since they don't keep man back episodes on hand to watch.
The Comedy Network is great... if you're into comedy and/or watch every single episode of South Park. (For some shows, you'll have to install SilverLight, a new Microsoft media product. It's not harmful or annoying in itself, but I hate having to download programs that I'll only use to watch one of two things on one site.)
CTV isn't bad, but it's much like Global in that you'd better only want the most recent episodes, or at best the most recent season.
The Discovery Channel seems to, thankfully, have a few more options for back episodes, and is great if your tastes tend towards educational as well as entertaining. Even if you can't access entire back seasons, though, you're not likely to start watching halfway through a story arc of some kind, which makes this a bit more tolerable than on other stations.
Really, aside from news channels, that pretty much cover the big-name stations that give us some online show access. But still, considering it's free and actually accessible in Canada, I can't complain too much. I don't watch much TV as it is, but it's nice to know that if the mood takes me, I can watch a little without paying extra for it, even if my choices are limited if I don't want to come into something halfway through Season 4.
I can see some degree of sense in that. After all, most of the free channels a person can get are local anyway, and another country's stations don't count as local. We'd pay to get access to them. So I can see why official sites and the like wouldn't give free online TV to Canada.
But there are plenty of unofficial sites that host TV shows that don't have a TV station that one would pay for anyway, and yet will only broadcast if it detects that you have an American IP address. Meaning that great sites like Hulu are out if you happen to live in the frigid north.
We do have our options, though, limited though they may be. And I'm not just talking about sites like YouTube or GoogleVideo or other such sites. They're great, and I use them all the time, but for those concerned about doing things the legal way, the TV shows you watch on those sites are often uploaded illegally, without copyright holder consent. It's a risk you have to take when watching shows on sites like that.
(For those that don't mind dubious legality, though, you can always use SurfTheChannel to find TV shows, movies, documentaries, and so on, that have been uploaded to free video sites.)
But as for the legal stuff...
Global has videos for a lot of the most recent primetime shows. Downside is that if you happen to be interested in a show but haven't seen it from the beginning, you're out of luck, since they don't keep man back episodes on hand to watch.
The Comedy Network is great... if you're into comedy and/or watch every single episode of South Park. (For some shows, you'll have to install SilverLight, a new Microsoft media product. It's not harmful or annoying in itself, but I hate having to download programs that I'll only use to watch one of two things on one site.)
CTV isn't bad, but it's much like Global in that you'd better only want the most recent episodes, or at best the most recent season.
The Discovery Channel seems to, thankfully, have a few more options for back episodes, and is great if your tastes tend towards educational as well as entertaining. Even if you can't access entire back seasons, though, you're not likely to start watching halfway through a story arc of some kind, which makes this a bit more tolerable than on other stations.
Really, aside from news channels, that pretty much cover the big-name stations that give us some online show access. But still, considering it's free and actually accessible in Canada, I can't complain too much. I don't watch much TV as it is, but it's nice to know that if the mood takes me, I can watch a little without paying extra for it, even if my choices are limited if I don't want to come into something halfway through Season 4.
Friday, January 8, 2010
Free books at your fingertips.
When it comes to free books, most people will advise that you go to the library, and this isn't a bad suggestion. Your local library's bound to have a ton of interesting books for you to peruse and read through, after all.
But if you're like me, there are going to be times where you wake up at 2 AM and can't get back to sleep, and you'll want to read some book you read a few weeks ago but had only borrowed, so it's not in your possession anymore. Waiting until the library opens to go and borrow it again isn't always the most convenient thing when we have jobs, families, any number of obligations that come before enjoyment.
To help combat this, I've turned to free books online. It's not the best solution ever, but it gives me great access to a lot of books without even having to leave the apartment. And best of all, because they're free and easily accessible, if I want to read them again at 2 in the morning, nothing stops me!
The Baen Free Library hosts a small (but still decently-sized) collection of fantasy and science fiction books published by Baen that are available to read for free online, or for personal download. I've made use of this site many times.
I'm sure most people have heard of Project Gutenberg by now, the site devoted to creating free online books that have an expired copyright. The expired copyright means that essentially the books are in the public domain, and Project Gutenberg is collecting them all to make them more public than antique stores and libraries can manage. Thise is a great site if you like the classics, or, like me, are interested in historical books or all kinds, since the expired copyright often means they're old and obscure.
Questia has a similar online free library of books with expired copyrights.
FullBooks.com is a site I only recently discovered, but it seems to have great potential. I found the autobiography of Helen Keller on here, and that's definitely been added to my "To Read" list!
WikiBooks is a compilation of open-source textbooks, and so if you trust open-source content (and/or can take it with a grain of salt if things don't seem to be adding up), then this can be a wonderful resource for anyone interested in continued learning. Very handy, I must say!
OnlineNovels.net is a site for authors to host their own novels and short stories and the like. You may be taking a chance on quality, but remember that not even unpublished author is unpublished because they can't write well.
If romance is your thing, why not try Public Bookshelf?
Literature Master has a lot more expired copyright books, though these are a bit easier to search through than Project Gutenberg, and are more likely to be ones you've heard of before.
This article has a listing of even more free online book services. Just in case the ones I listed aren't quite enough to keep you going!
If you prefer audiobooks, then why not give Podiobooks a shot? These are serialized audiobooks, often written by new and up-and-coming authors, and there are some wonderful things to keep you entertained here no matter what your preferred genre is!
Librivox is like a cross between Podiobooks and Project Gutenberg. They take books that are in the public domain and turn them into audiobooks for your listening pleasure.
Still prefer the feeling of a good old-fashioned book in your hands? Then maybe Paperback Swap is right for you. List the books you have that you no longer want, and mail it to whoever requests it. In return, you can do the same for the hundreds of books listed to trade across the site. This not only helps you cut down a bit on clutter, but can also act much as a library does, only by delivering the books right to your door instead of having to go out and get them. And unlike the library, if you really like the book and want to keep it, you're not under obligation to return it!
The downside to Paperback Swap is that it's useless to people who live outside the United States. Go figure. Someday people will remember that Canada exists, I swear!
Tomorrow, I'll go over some free online TV sites that are actually available to Canadians! Yes, they really do exist!
But if you're like me, there are going to be times where you wake up at 2 AM and can't get back to sleep, and you'll want to read some book you read a few weeks ago but had only borrowed, so it's not in your possession anymore. Waiting until the library opens to go and borrow it again isn't always the most convenient thing when we have jobs, families, any number of obligations that come before enjoyment.
To help combat this, I've turned to free books online. It's not the best solution ever, but it gives me great access to a lot of books without even having to leave the apartment. And best of all, because they're free and easily accessible, if I want to read them again at 2 in the morning, nothing stops me!
The Baen Free Library hosts a small (but still decently-sized) collection of fantasy and science fiction books published by Baen that are available to read for free online, or for personal download. I've made use of this site many times.
I'm sure most people have heard of Project Gutenberg by now, the site devoted to creating free online books that have an expired copyright. The expired copyright means that essentially the books are in the public domain, and Project Gutenberg is collecting them all to make them more public than antique stores and libraries can manage. Thise is a great site if you like the classics, or, like me, are interested in historical books or all kinds, since the expired copyright often means they're old and obscure.
Questia has a similar online free library of books with expired copyrights.
FullBooks.com is a site I only recently discovered, but it seems to have great potential. I found the autobiography of Helen Keller on here, and that's definitely been added to my "To Read" list!
WikiBooks is a compilation of open-source textbooks, and so if you trust open-source content (and/or can take it with a grain of salt if things don't seem to be adding up), then this can be a wonderful resource for anyone interested in continued learning. Very handy, I must say!
OnlineNovels.net is a site for authors to host their own novels and short stories and the like. You may be taking a chance on quality, but remember that not even unpublished author is unpublished because they can't write well.
If romance is your thing, why not try Public Bookshelf?
Literature Master has a lot more expired copyright books, though these are a bit easier to search through than Project Gutenberg, and are more likely to be ones you've heard of before.
This article has a listing of even more free online book services. Just in case the ones I listed aren't quite enough to keep you going!
If you prefer audiobooks, then why not give Podiobooks a shot? These are serialized audiobooks, often written by new and up-and-coming authors, and there are some wonderful things to keep you entertained here no matter what your preferred genre is!
Librivox is like a cross between Podiobooks and Project Gutenberg. They take books that are in the public domain and turn them into audiobooks for your listening pleasure.
Still prefer the feeling of a good old-fashioned book in your hands? Then maybe Paperback Swap is right for you. List the books you have that you no longer want, and mail it to whoever requests it. In return, you can do the same for the hundreds of books listed to trade across the site. This not only helps you cut down a bit on clutter, but can also act much as a library does, only by delivering the books right to your door instead of having to go out and get them. And unlike the library, if you really like the book and want to keep it, you're not under obligation to return it!
The downside to Paperback Swap is that it's useless to people who live outside the United States. Go figure. Someday people will remember that Canada exists, I swear!
Tomorrow, I'll go over some free online TV sites that are actually available to Canadians! Yes, they really do exist!
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Freebies and samples and giveaways, oh my!
Progressive Pioneer is giving people the chance to win a set of essential oils! 9 oils, $150 value, and a chance to try them out for free. Can't complain about that!
This is one of the things I've come to love about reading frugal/simple living blogs. People are all about giveaways, chances to try things out for free, passing on the good word. And not just passing on the word that large companies are offering free samples, either. I've seen a lot of blogs that have giveaways for crafts, foods, all kinds of things that are made by the blogger themselves. There seems to be a big "share and share alike" attitude running through, making a community out of people who haven't ever met each other but who all have similar goals.
It's a very encouraging feeling.
I'm definitely a fan of getting things for free, even if those things are small. Free-Samples.ca is pretty decent, sending me email newsletters with links to offers and free sample giveaways. FreeSamplesCanada.net and SamplesGalore.ca aren't bad either. Even if the samples are small, every little bit helps. Whether it's a single-use pouch of moisturizing cream or a box of hot chocolate mix, if it's something I'll use I'll sign up and send away for it. This habit I learned from my parents, who stocked a fair number of treats and other niceties we wouldn't normally buy, all through free samples.
I'm also a member of Swagbucks, which I have come to love. In a nutshell, it's a search engine, almost as good as Google.com, that gives you a chance to win points whenever you search for something. You save up the points and enchange them for prizes. You can get anything from magazine subscriptions to giftcards, and even get $5 deposited right into your PayPal account! For any referrals you get under your account name, the site will also match point for point what those people earn, up to 100 points. Not too shabby a way to get rewarded just for searching stuff online!
And every link on here except for the Swagbucks link is not going to benefit me by some referral bonus. I'm passing along these links for the benefit of people (especially Canadians) who want to take advantage of a few free offers.
Do you have any freebie sites that you recommend?
This is one of the things I've come to love about reading frugal/simple living blogs. People are all about giveaways, chances to try things out for free, passing on the good word. And not just passing on the word that large companies are offering free samples, either. I've seen a lot of blogs that have giveaways for crafts, foods, all kinds of things that are made by the blogger themselves. There seems to be a big "share and share alike" attitude running through, making a community out of people who haven't ever met each other but who all have similar goals.
It's a very encouraging feeling.
I'm definitely a fan of getting things for free, even if those things are small. Free-Samples.ca is pretty decent, sending me email newsletters with links to offers and free sample giveaways. FreeSamplesCanada.net and SamplesGalore.ca aren't bad either. Even if the samples are small, every little bit helps. Whether it's a single-use pouch of moisturizing cream or a box of hot chocolate mix, if it's something I'll use I'll sign up and send away for it. This habit I learned from my parents, who stocked a fair number of treats and other niceties we wouldn't normally buy, all through free samples.
I'm also a member of Swagbucks, which I have come to love. In a nutshell, it's a search engine, almost as good as Google.com, that gives you a chance to win points whenever you search for something. You save up the points and enchange them for prizes. You can get anything from magazine subscriptions to giftcards, and even get $5 deposited right into your PayPal account! For any referrals you get under your account name, the site will also match point for point what those people earn, up to 100 points. Not too shabby a way to get rewarded just for searching stuff online!
And every link on here except for the Swagbucks link is not going to benefit me by some referral bonus. I'm passing along these links for the benefit of people (especially Canadians) who want to take advantage of a few free offers.
Do you have any freebie sites that you recommend?
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