Earth Day

Before I post about the wonderful goodies I was able to pick up today, I think it is important to make clear to my readers what I think about Earth Day and other environmental initiatives. Today was the first day/year that I actually "participated" in any Earth Day give-aways. I hadn't avoided it in the past out of any sort of principal, but just because Earth Day was never an important part of my life. The reason for that is because I believe every day ought to be "Earth Day". I don't mean that in some "let's save the planet" sort of thing, but, as Christians I believe that we have a responsibility to take care of the Earth that God created - to tend and to keep it. So though I don't agree with a lot of the ideologies and world views of a lot of the environmental agencies and initiatives, I am grateful that people are starting to really think about how wasteful and careless we've been and trying to come up with economical and resourceful ways to do things. There is a lot to say on this subject, and it may be a little more serious of a subject than I want this blog to take on, so I'll stop with this: I appreciate all the many companies who participated (and will be participating in the next few days) in amazing give-aways - in order to encourage us to use more earthy-friendly products (theirs specifically). Freebies are fun, but I don't ever want to get so caught up in getting free stuff - that it becomes all about how much free stuff I can accumulate and forget the entire point (which is to save, and NOT to just be able to buy more stuff)! So, without further ado - here's what I was able to get today!

Starbucks - Free coffee if you bring in your own travel mug! I thought they were only giving away regular drip coffee. But, I asked the super friendly guy behind the counter what he had in decaf (I'm still nursing, so I'm still on decaf duty :( ...) and he offered to make me a Venti Decaf Iced Americano with cream and a little sweetener! It was so yummy and way more of a treat than I was expecting!!! Caribou Coffee was also offering free coffee, but I didn't make it by there!

Origins - Free trade! Bring in a bottle of your own cosmetic item from home and they'll give you one of theirs FREE! Like Starbucks, this deal was even sweeter than I thought it was. I thought you had to take in a bottle of cleanser in order to get the free bottle, but it was any bottle of skincare items. My sweet husband was with me and willing to fill out his own form for a free cleanser - so we were able to get one of each kind! I had two completely empty bottles of moisturizer that I was just hanging on to for goodness knows why - and they took them - no questions asked! So excited about those!

Lowe's - tomorrow participating Lowe's will be giving away one million free trees on a first-come-first-serve basis. I don't know what kind of trees, but I did call one of the Lowe's here in Charlotte and they are participating. We plan to go tomorrow morning to get one! 

I felt like I got more Earth Day deals, but I guess it was just because I made 6 different stops today for deals - but the only Earth Day related ones are listed above. Here's a short list of what else I was able to pick up:
Walgreens = 1 Gillette Powerglide Razor, 3 Scotch Tape, 1 Aquafresh Children's Toothpaste, 4 Cadburry Cream Eggs for a total of $4.29 out of pocket...and then I got $4 RR - so net spending of $.29! :)
EarthFare = Free dozen eggs
Harris Teeter = $62.54 worth of groceries for $19.96
Target = Ritz Crackerfuls, Lysol Wipes, and Bandaids for a total of $2.73 (I had to make a small haul today because I forgot my binder with Target coupons!!!)

If you missed out on the fun today, there are still things going on through the weekend! You an get a free tree at Lowe's tomorrow, CVS is giving away free reusable bags through Sunday (you purchase it for $.99 and then get $.99 ECB), and there is free entrance into National Parks through Sunday as well. (Thanks to Hollie @ We Love Free for this information!Click here for a link to her blog post that gives you links for more information on these things).