Download Jillian Michaels Workouts – Free

Part of the success of “The Biggest Loser” is that, well, the contestants lose – and big. Yes, they have trainers and food gurus and all the tools they need to work off the weight, but you can get yourself one of their secret weapons: Jillian Michaels.

For those of you who don’t know (hell-o?), Michaels is the personal trainer responsible for thousands of inches lost and tons of fat pounds being replaced by actual muscle. Wanna know how? The Exercise TV store is giving away free downloads of 15 of Jillian Michael’s Mini-Workouts. No word on how long the download will be available, so if you want it, run run run (or click click click) your way over there.

After all, no pain, no gain….but if it’s no money, every loser wins!

Free Donut Tomorrow from Dunkin Donuts

A confession: I love Dunkin’ Donuts. I particularly like the sour cream donuts and the hot caramel lite latte, but heck, I even like the Rachael Ray commercials. The John Goodman ones are pretty good, too.  But I digress.

Tomorrow, June 5, in honor of National Donut Day, you can get a free donut of your choice with the purchase of any beverage at participating Dunkin’ Donuts.  Limit one per customer (after all, bathing suit season doth approach!).                                                                                                     
Also on National Donut Day, Dunkin’ Donuts will announce the winner of its first-ever “Create Dunkin’s Next Donut” contest. From nearly 130,000 donut contest creations submitted online, one of 12 finalists will win a $12,000 grand prize and have their winning donuts sold in Dunkin’ Donuts locations throughout the country. I can’t wait to see what wins – but they’ll be hard-pressed to come up with something more delicious than that sour cream donut.

Mother’s Day Gift Guide: Day 5 -The Pursekeeper

Keep your purses, your closet and your life organized with these handy keepers.

Let’s face it, we like to have a purse for every occasion. After all, we can’t carry that big, quilted back pack-ish model we lug our lives around in to a special dinner. It just doesn’t go with the stilettos. So we need a whole wardrobe of handbags – from the small clutch that barely fits a comb and a lipstick to the chunky shoulder bag that carries everything else.

But, since we only use one purse at a time, it’s easy to lose track of where that little clutch is – until now. Now, thanks to the masterminds of Gutzees, we can find our purses with ease using the clear Pursekeeper. Simply store your purse in its own plastic pouch – and find it easily each time you need it.

And we all know how much mom likes things to be neat and clean. The Pursekeeper will protect your pocketbooks from the ravages of dust bunnies and the other menaces at the bottom of the closet…and the cleverly designed Stuffer (included in the cost) will help your purse maintain its shape while stored. (That’s a green move – mom will never have to stuff a purse with tissue paper again!)

If mom’s not a purse person (say that two times twice), she could use the Pursekeeper to store belts, scarfs – even her baseball caps. In three sizes and ranging in price from $14.99 to $29.99, there’s one for every budget – and for every mom!

PAWS/John DeBella Dog Walk April 26

Remember the good old days, when John DeBella was our favorite Zoomaster and every year we celebrated…well, anything…with the “Louie Louie” parade?  Remember Mark the Shark, Clay Heery (who?) and all those darn kazoos? Ah, good times.

But it seems the old Kingsmen tome has been replaced with “Who Let The Dogs Out?” as DeBella hosts his 7th annual John DeBella Dog Walk in Green Lane Park on Sunday, April 26 from 10 to 2. The zookeeper’s still hanging with the animals, but these are the four footed variety, so come on out and learn how to adopt cats and dogs from PAWS.

And if the parade is anything like last week’s Doo Dah extravaganza, you’re in for a good time. So grab your pup and head on down! More info here.

Free Music Festival Tomorrow

Forget “American Idol.” If you really want to catch tomorrow’s stars today, you can do it right here in Philly – on the cheap.

The Annual All Philadelphia High School Music Festival will be presented on Thursday, April 16, at The Kimmel Center for Performing Arts Verizon Hall at 7:30 pm. The Festival, which features the all-city band, orchestra and choir, is a free event sponsored by the School District of Philadelphia and the Office of Teaching and Learning. Get ticket information by calling 215-400-5974.

Ya think Anthony Fedorov got his start this way?

Sweet Tax Day Freebie at Cinnabon

I don’t know about you guys, but the tax season has really got me stressed. I mean, I did my son’s taxes, my daughter’s taxes, my ex’s taxes (don’t ask) and, of course, my own taxes (which includes the headache of my freelance income and my hubby’s two W2’s and an unemployment income form).  My shoulders are up past my ears!

(And an aside – I was nice enough to work on all these people’s forms for free. So how come they’re all getting refunds….and I owe the state of NJ over a grand? Life just ain’t fair, lemme tell ya!)

But our good friends at Cinnabon are sympathetic. That’s why on Tax Day (April 15, for those of you living in Siberia) they’re treating us all to a free CinnaBite. Just line up at your closest location (check that out here) between 5 and 7 pm tomorrow for that reminder that, despite the taxman, life can indeed be sweet. (Take that, IRS!)

Hello world!

Cheap suit. Cheap sunglasses. Cheap cheap. (Yeah, I’m singing like the birdies.)

It used to be that “cheap” was a dirty word, almost as dirty as “Cowboys.” But it’s just not that way any more. In fact, in today’s economy, cheap is just another way of saying smart.

So let’s do Philly on the Smart together. This site will have tips, bargains, some special deals, some touristy things and some evergreens for the regular crew. ‘Cause we’re all in this together, so we may as well do it cheap smart.