It’s that magical time of year when my inbox is flooded with free and discount offers because…..it’s my birthday week!.We all know how much I like/am good at getting free things.

Like I’ve said before, if you like a business and visit them frequently, check to see if they have an email mailing list. If you don’t want to use your main email address, just make a new one specifically for these to get sent to. Many of these places send out a really good deal just for joining, either a free item or a buy 1 get 1 free. They also ask when your birthday is, just the day not the year in case you’re worried about that. And more often than not, it’s totally worth it.

There are lots of websites where you can find huge lists of places that do this. I’m just merely talking about my own personal experience this week.

First off, this is not a bragging post by all means. Just wanted to share in all the awesome stuff that’s happened.Some of these were completely free (not even charged for tax!), others required a small purchase.

• Free bakery item (I chose apple pie) from Corner Bakery
• Free burrito (with drink purchase) from Baja Fresh
• Free scoop of ice cream from Baskin Robbins
• Free entree (and coffee!) from First Watch
• Free shake (with entree purchase) from Chee burger Chee burger
• $5 off an entree at Jason’s Deli (I got the salad bar so my total was $3 and some change)

Things I’m going to be redeeming this week:

• Free beverage/food from Starbucks
• Free bowl of noodles from Noodles and Company
• Free sub and drink from Jersey Mike’s
• Free burger from Ruby Tuesday
• Free burger from Red Robin
• Free milkshake from The Counter
• Free smoothie from Tropical Smoothie
• $5 coupon from DSW

Supposedly I should also be getting free makeup from Sephora and Ulta as well as a free movie ticket from the Alamo Drafthouse. I’m also waiting to see if some other companies that have sent things in the past will continue their free birthday offerings.

I’ve been doing this for several years now and it’s interesting to see how some of the restaurants have drastically reduced what they offer. Some places used to offer completely free things and now it’s down to b1g1. Some did the b1g1 and now it’s buy 1 get 1 1/2 off. To me, that really isn’t worth going out for unless you had already planned on it.

One downside is that some places assume that you’ll be celebrating your birthday with other people. While that is most likely true for the majority of people, that’s not always going to happen. Yes, I know businesses want to make more money and birthdays usually mean more than one person is going to come in and buy a meal. But sometimes that just doesn’t happen. I usually avoid the sit down restaurants anyways if I’m eating myself for my birthday. They’re the ones that tend to bring out the song and dance routine and make a big fuss.

Anywho, all this to say that I just wanted to bring attention to the fact that if you like getting free stuff and you like getting free stuff on your birthday, you should take advantage of all this. It’s nice to get something for free simply because you’re turning older.