Beauty on the Cheap: Free Make-Up Sample

Okay, I’m not much of a make-up person. (My attempts at “high glam” come off as “Happy the Clown,” so I stuck with the natural look.) But I love Bare Escentuals, with their simple application process, their natural coverage (no more clown face!) and the lightness of their foundation – no heavy mask feel! And for a limited time (until they run out, natch), you can pick up a free sample of bareMinerals Matte SPF 15 Foundation & a free brush. It’s a cheap way to try out their make-up – or to stock up before your tan fades and you really need it!

Of course, there’s a catch – you can’t use this offer online. So head on over to a BareEscentuals boutique and put your best face forward! Click here to find a location in our area.

Music on the Mall – Free this Thursday

Music on the Mall, the city’s free summer concert series, which runs the first Thursday of each month, concludes this week with a special presentation of World Music on August 6. The event will feature the stylings of Paprika, a Brazilian-influenced girl group, from 6 to 7 pm and Casplash, a Carribean band, from 7 to 8. So put on your boogie shoes and come on out to Independence Mall.

And save this date – on September 3, the series will close out the season with a “Battle of the School Bands” right before the first bell rings. Find more info here.

Read All About It – Free Books from Random

Wanna read a book hot off the presses? Wanna read it for free? Well, then, check out the “Read it forward” program, offered by Random House (Crown Publishing division). The publisher is giving away copies of three new titles – complete with author signatures! To get yours, use this link to request one via email .

Current selections include:

• Something Missing by Matthew Dicks
• The Crying Tree by Naseem Rakha
• Where the River Ends by Charles Martin

Just one per email address, please. After all, we’re bookworms – not freebie hogs!

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.

Fast Five for Free Friday

Hey you guys!

Since we’re now headed into the summer and good weather, I know you’ll want to be out and about more. How can you do that and keep a reign on your cash flow?

Well, let me present the OnTheCheap solution for this common dilemma – the Fast Five For Free Friday. (See, Mrs. Ackerman, I wasn’t sleeping through that lesson on alliteration!) Every Friday I’ll shoot off a quick list of things you can do that weekend for free…so just check back when you have some time on your hands, m’kay?

Without further ado, here’s the first list of Five For Free.  And according to the Weather Channel, all signals point to a beautiful weekend. Go enjoy – without busting the budget.

*Speaking of Peace: A Festival of the Arts – What’s so funny about peace, love and understanding? Find out through the photo essays, storytelling and music at this festival, presented by the Frazer Mennonite Church
in Frazer, PA. Tomorrow, 1-7 pm. Call 610-644-3397 or check the web site for details.

* Ruby’s Walk Across America – Reality star Ruby Gettinger’s anti-obesity walk kicks off in Philly (just in time for swimsuit season, eh?).  Meet Ruby and the other walkers at Lloyd Hall, One Boathouse Row, from 8 am to 2 pm.

* Lincoln High School Glory Days – Ah, nostalgia! Apparently Lincoln High School is scheduled for demolition – but not before one last blow-out celebration. Flea markets, music, tours, games and memorabilia will mark the goodbyes from 8 am to 2 pm tomorrow. 3201 Ryan Avenue; 215-335-5653.

* ARTspiration! – Billed as a free community arts festival for the whole family, this event will be held at the Fleisher Art Memorial from 10-4 on Sunday. Check out the arts and crafts, book sale, bake sale and free performances at the nation’s oldest tuition-free art school. Tip: don’t miss the “Play With Your Food” booth.

* And, for those headed to the shore – the Boardwalk Spring Family Fun Fest will be going on all weekend in Ocean City. Face painters, bands, pony rides and a juried art show are some of the featured attractions on the boards from 9-6. Call 609-457-1151 for info.

Bowl Free and “Spare” Your Wallet

Ah, spring break is over, and we’re just a couple of months away from that all-too-familiar sound of summer: “Mom, I’m so bored!”

Well, this summer some local bowling alleys are coming to the rescue. Register online at KidsBowlFree.com, and your kids can bowl two games every day for free at participating bowling centers across the U.S. through the duration of the program. TWO GAMES EVERY DAY! How can you beat that?

If you want to bowl as a family, you can buy a Family Pass for just $23.95, which is good for two games per person per day for up to four adult family members all summer long.

You’ll register on your local bowling center’s website, so check the fine print for any age limits or restrictions on the time of day passes can be used. Right now there’s just one Philly alley and one South Jersey alley participating, but centers are being added all the time, so keep checking in. And don’t forget to take pics of your kids in those silly shoes….good blackmail material, doncha know?

Contest: Win Tickets to the Greatest Show on Earth

“Come to the circus,everyone loves the circus,
And that includes the merry Mouseketeers…”

Okay, so I’m dating myself. But let’s face it – everyone does love the circus. I mean, what’s not to love? The elephant parade, the dancing bears, the smell of the popcorn and the sticky sweet cotton candy….everything that adds up to making some special memories.

It’s the truth: I can still remember my mom and grandmom dressing the four of us up and taking us on the train to New York City, where we were treated to the big Kahuna of circuses – the Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey three ring show at Madison Square Garden. I remember the animals, the crazy clowns squeezed into a tiny car, the beautiful ladies swinging on trapeze overhead and, most impressively, the man who was shot out of a cannon. Ah, good times.

But you don’t have to go all the way to NYC to catch the latest and greatest in circus shows. Next month, Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey will bring its latest offering, Zing Zang Zoom to our very own Wachovia Spectrum. And these circus giants have teamed up with the great folks at Mom Central to bring a very special deal to you (think CircusOnTheCheap!).

You can get a family four pack of tickets for just $44 by logging onto Comcast Tickets and using the coupon code MOM. That’s good for any performance (see schedule below).

And thanks to Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey and their partnership with Mom Central, you may be able your brood to opening night for free! One lucky reader will win a Family Fourpack just by sharing a favorite circus memory in the comment section below. All comments including a memory will be entered into our handy dandy random number generator, which will select a winner. Contest opens now and will run through April 15. Winner will be announced on April 16.

But don’t forget – using the coupon code MOM, everyone is a winner. The circus opens on May 13 and runs through May 25. Shows are as follows: Wednesday, May 13 at 7; Thursday, May 14 at 7; Friday, May 15 at 10:30 am and 7 pm; Saturday, May 16 at 11 am, 3 and 7 pm; Sunday May 17 at 1 and 5; Wednesday, May 20 at 7;Thursday, May 21 at 10:30 am and 7 pm; Friday, May 22 at 10:30 am and 7 pm;Saturday, May 23 at 11 am and 3 and 7 pm; Sunday, May 24 at 1 and 5; and closing Monday, May 25 at 1.

Plenty of time to check out all the fun….so enter our giveaway now, or grab your trapeze and swing on over to Comcast Tickets. Don’t forget to use code MOM….and save me a seat under the big top!

(Oh, and just so you know, I only know that Mouseketeer song because of reruns. Honest.)

Free Double Check for Your Tax Return

No joke – tax time is approaching. If you’ve already finished filing (I’m SO jealous), you can still find money with a second look from our buddies at H&R Block…for free!  Read all about it in this post from the CitiesOnTheCheap main site:

“If you’ve already completed your taxes & would like a professional to look it over & make sure you didn’t miss anything, take advantage of this deal at participating H&R Block locations: On April 3, 4, & 5, you can get a free second opinion from a tax professional.

Don’t think you missed anything? Don’t be too sure. Common errors are cost taxpayers millions of dollars: H&R Block found $1.8 million in errors on Friday, March 27, alone, and the company claims to find errors on 4 out of 5 tax returns they review. “

Hey, Wimpy, Here’s A Burger Deal For Ya!

Mosey your way over to Ted’s Montana Grill (260 South Broad) for some tasty burgers.  No kidding – you can choose between beef and bison.  Either way, you’re bound to become fanatic about these fresh (nothing frozen or microwaved here!) and juicy burgers.

And speaking of FANatics, we know Philly’s filled with them. So now’s the time to show your creative side.  Just go to the web site for  Ted’s Montana Grill and check out the contest looking for their biggest fans. You can write a poem, compose a song, draw a mural, whatever best expresses your feelings for the great burgers at Ted’s.

What’s in it for you? Well, there are a bunch of big prizes nation wide, but fitting with our theme is this – everyone who enters gets a free burger. So forget paying us Tuesday for a hamburger today. Just sing for your supper…and good luck!

Philly in the News (and Cheap, Too!)

The Detroit Free Press had an interesting article about doing Philly on the cheap yesterday.  (Actually, it was written by Associated Press writer Randy Pennell, so it was probably printed all over the place, though I saw it here.)

Anyway, I wanted to share a couple of  highlights for you guys.  Of course, these are directed towards the touristy types, but hey, you locals can take advantage too (especially in the age of Staycations…):

• Transportation – ours is a bargain. Subways, buses and trolleys can get you around for $2 a ride, which is lots cheaper than parking. Regional rail (to get to the edges of our fair city) won’t cost more than $5. Save gas, go green, take public transport, peoples!
• The Big Purple Bus – the writer reccomends the Phlash bus as the best way to get around.  Again, it’s $2 a ride or $5 for an all-day pass, but the 21 scheduled stops take you all over the historic districts and museums. Runs seasonally, May through November (and may I add looks way fun, too!)
• Free(dom) Rings – as the locals all know, the major historic sites in the city – those being the Liberty Bell and Independence Mall - don’t cost a dime. They’re located right next door to each other and pretty impressive symbols of what this country was (and is) all about.
• If museums are more your thing, the Rodin Museum is just down the Parkway and is home to the most Rodins you’ll find outside of France. They suggest a $3 donation.