PennySaverUSA.com Blog – The Best Resource for Online Classifieds, Coupons, and Online Contests!

The creativity of our readers never ceases to amaze us. The sheer volume of incredibly artistic and beautiful holiday crafts entered into the PennySaverUSA.com and MOGASA Craftmas contest was a testament to just how much talent is possessed by the PennySaverUSA community.

The only downside to having so many fantastic submissions is that it made it so difficult on the judges to pick a winner. It was a long, arduous process, but in the end the judges came to a unanimous decision.

Without any further ado, it’s time to announce the Craftmas champion – Sheila and Laura R.! They created an adorable miniature Christmas scene complete with stockings, tree, fireplace, sofa, pets, wreath, cookies and, of course, gifts.

While Sheila and Laura R. took home the cash prize, the judges did want to at least give an honorable mention to three other contestants, whose crafts you can see on the image to the right below the winner’s craft:

• Nancy L.
• Veronica F.
• Tricia F.

Please visit the PennySaverUSA Facebook gallery to see all the entries, or click on the image to the right.

If you didn’t win this PennySaverUSA.com contest, we will be launching a new one next week, so please come back to the blog to get the details.

Happy Holidays everyone!

A lot happened in 2011 for PennySaverUSA, but perhaps what we will remember most fondly is the launch of Free Friday! We delight in providing you outstanding offers for free stuff each week.

The final Free Friday of the year is heavy on beauty products, but contains a variety of other free stuff as well. Enjoy …

Aquafresh toothpaste has a $1 off coupon.

The most popular Free Friday item we’ve highlighted this year is toothpaste, so it’s natural to give top billing to Aquafresh. They have an online coupon available for $1 off any Aquafresh Extreme Clean product, and as the Savings Blogger mentions, you can get the travel size for 97 cents at Walmart or Target, making it free! (Thanks Savings Blogger for the great tip)

Next we have an offer for free stuff from Nordstrom. The upscale department store chain is giving away a free sample of Lancôme Rénergie Lift Volumetry Night Cream at its stores this Saturday. Get their early, however, so you don’t miss out before they run out of samples.

Luxury brand Escada, meanwhile, is also joining the Free Friday party. If you fill out a short form with your name and address, they will mail you out a free perfume sample.

Alright, time for a beauty product that men can use. Palmer’s has a Facebook promotion right now, where if you “Like” their page and provide them your name and address, they will send you out a free sample of their Cocoa Butter lotion for men. (Thanks Eeendeavors for the great tip)

Get a free 7-day pass on Free Friday!

Okay, enough already with the beauty products. It’s time for some free food this Free Friday! Buffalo Wings and Rings is handing out an online coupon for five free wings if you “Like” their Facebook page and send the offer to one of your friends. Yummy!

The ying to free wings’ yang is free fitness, and 24 Hour Fitness delivers. They are currently giving away free 7-day passes to any of their locations. If that doesn’t scream Free Friday, nothing does. (Thanks My Good Cents for the great tip)

And the honor of the final Free Friday free stuff offer of 2011 goes to none other than … Walgreens! In order to help you relive all the memories of this past year, they are offering 25 free 4×6 prints if you use the code: PRINTNOW at checkout. Bear in mind, this offer is only valid through 2011 (or in other words Saturday at 11:59 p.m.).

Thanks everyone for an amazing year and we can’t wait to see what free stuff awaits us in 2012.

The last Steals of the Week installment of 2011 is dedicated to all the parents or soon-to-be parents of young children out there. The focus is on discounted kid stuff.

Traditionally, we highlight five PennySaverUSA online classifieds ads in Steals of the Week, but this time around we are going to blend three amazing offers for kid stuff from our daily deal site SaverTime.com, with two online classified ads.

Leading off Steals of the Week is a truly unique and memorable SaverTime offer from a company in Tustin, CA. Bundle of Joy 3D-4D Ultrasound Services is offering a package deal that includes a 45-minute ultrasound session, 10 black and white 2D photos, 6 3D color pictures, gender determination (if you wish), baby heartbeat listening, a CD with up to 80 pictures in 2D & 3D, and 30-minute DVD set to music for only $100. That’s a 50% off discount from the regular price!

The next Steals of the Week kid stuff entry is also via SaverTime and comes from a company called Rockabye. For only $35, you can get a $100 gift certificate to use towards any of the 15 different adorable children’s rockers they have for sale. Even better: This is an online deal, so it’s available to anyone nationwide.

SaverTime’s third Steals of the Week kid stuff offer is provided by Bungalow Bebe Inc. With this SaverTime deal, you can get $60 worth of organic cotton children’s clothing for only $30. Your baby deserves only the finest materials, after all. This deal is also available nationwide.

We now transition back to PennySaverUSA online classifieds for our final two Steals of the Week kid stuff items. The first one is an Eddie Bauer Travel System  stroller and car seat set for sale in Sun City, CA for only $100 (or best offer). The seller claims it is very clean and was barely used.

Steals of the Week concludes with none other than an oversized Elmo doll. It’s soft, plush, authentic and adorable says the seller from Palmdale, CA and it can be had for only $20!

Have you seen any awesome Steals of the Week recently? Please let us know in the comments.

What better way to start off the New Year than by rescuing one of the sweetest puppies you’ll ever come across! PennySaverUSA’s final 2011 Pet of the Week up for adoption comes to us from Stockton, CA.

Call the Stockton Animal Shelter to adopt Rudy today!

Rudy is his name, and he’s a male Schnauzer, who arrived at the shelter with his mother. Both would love nothing more than to celebrate watching the ball drop with you and your family!

While he may not have a red nose like his famous reindeer namesake, Rudy is a magical pet in his own right, with the ability to light up a room with his smile.

He and his mom are available for adoption at the Stockton Animal Shelter, located at 1575 S. Lincoln St. in Stockton, CA.

The shelter is open from 12-5 p.m. Monday-Friday or 12-3 p.m. on Saturday. The number to dial if you are interested in giving Rudy a home is 209-937-8274 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 209-937-8274 end_of_the_skype_highlighting, or you can visit their web site at www.stocktongov.com.

Happy Holidays!

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Our last user-submitted Pet of the Week this year is named Sable from the bright lights of Hollywood, CA. The founder of the must-read blog That’s IT Mommy was kind enough to share her story via a tweet to @PennySaverUSA. Here handle is @ThatsITMommy.

Sable came to us with that name and it’s a perfect fit.

Her soft coat has a purpley-brown hue to it in the sun. We adopted her eight years ago when my husband, our Yorkshire Terrier and I moved to Southern California.

The rescue agency didn’t know much about Sable. The former owner kept her confined in their garage and she had a few siblings. Apparently, the owner’s daughter was “allergic” to Sable. We were told that she was about 12 weeks old. Our vet thought she was closer to seven weeks.

Leave her a comment about Sable on That's It Mommy's blog.

Sable suffered with separation anxiety and actually chewed her way through a door when we went out one day! I attribute her anxiety to her being separated from her mom at such a young age and isolated in a garage. She’s part terrier, part Affenpinscher (monkey-dog in German) and part psycho!

Sable is 10 pounds with a big personality. She’s quite the character with a loveable under-bite and Igor-esque eyeballs (think Marty Feldman).

Agility is her middle name. Her jumping and walking on hind legs definitely remind us she is a “monkey-dog”! She’s one of the few dogs who keep up with the mini greyhounds at the dog park. Sable has been a challenge but we love her.

She is definitely an alpha-type and sometimes has problems “meeting” other dogs when walking in our neighborhood. She’s unconditionally loyal, especially to my husband.

She has boundless energy and has no problem going on 5-mile runs with him. We were very lucky to find and adopt such a sweet, loving, yet crazy-cool dog.

Twas the eve before Craftmas eve and Penny the Pig’s face was filled with glee … PennySaverUSA’s online contest had so many incredible entries for him to see!

The quality of the submissions has truly made the PennySaverUSA staff proud and in awe of the amazing talent displayed by our readers.

Visit the PennySaverUSA Facebook page to see all the entries.

So far, over 150 entries have been collected and the task of picking the winner will be extremely difficult. But we only expect the job of the judges to get harder over the next two days. That’s because the Craftmas online contest doesn’t end until Dec. 29!

Yep, you heard right, you have until Dec. 29 to submit a photo of your holiday craft. The prize for the winner is $250 – unless you have downloaded our free mobile garage sale app MOGASA on your iPhone or Android. If you are a MOGASA user, you will receive a $300 cash prize.

With the competition so tough right now, your best bet is to make a very unique holiday craft. Not to say that the multitude of wreaths, snowmen and gingerbread houses we’ve received aren’t awesome, because they are, but the more original the idea, the more it will stand out.

Don’t forget to post your seasonal craft photo on the PennySaverUSA Facebook wall and view all the entries on the PennySaverUSA Facebook page photos tab.

To put it simply, this was the word that came to mind when all of us here at PennySaver USA saw the latest Pet of the Week up for adoption: Beautiful!

But that’s not actually her name. Her real name is Lonnie. She is a sweet girl who loves everyone she meets. She likes to be the center of attention and be a part of all the family’s fun and activities. She loves to play with other dogs and would make a great doggie companion for another dog.

Call 760-753-6413 to adopt Lonnie from the Rancho Coastal Humane Society today!

She’s a 1 year-old, 45 pound, spayed hound mix.

Lonnie came to Rancho Coastal Humane Society through our FOCAS second chance program all the way from a rescue in Mississippi! For the holidays, all Lonnie wants is to be southern girl who can now live the SO CAL dream and have a family to call her own.

Remember that pets are not gifts…but if you’re thinking about adding a pet to your home this holiday season, consider making Lonnie a member of your family.

The $125 adoption fee for Lonnie includes medical exam, spay, up to date vaccinations, and microchip identification.

For more information about Lonnie and other dogs, cats, and rabbits that need families call 760-753-6413, log on to www.sdpets.org, or visit Rancho Coastal Humane Society at 389 Requeza Street in Encinitas. Kennels are open 11 to 5, Wednesday through Monday.

We don’t have any user-submitted pet adoption stories this week, and are looking for more user-submitted stories. Please email jfeller@pennysaverusa.com if you’ve ever adopted a pet.

With Hanukkah starting tonight and Christmas just five days away, all of us here at PennySaverUSA.com (see the staff pictured on the right) figured it was the perfect time to show appreciation for some of the amazing partners we’ve worked with this year and provide them the present of publicity!

Happy Holidays from the PennySaverUSA.com staff!

Below is a list of sites that have helped PennySaverUSA.com to its best year ever along with a description of the site and what makes them such a great partner.

The Reali$tic Couponers: Coupon alerts, giveaways and freebies are the primary forte of this site.

What makes it so wonderful; however, is the variety of the content. The site’s main purveyor, Brandi, does a fantastic job of providing an interesting blend of posts. Take today for example: She’s got up a personal reflection of the holidays called “The Spirit of the Season”, a coupon alert for glimmer and fake tattoos, a deal alert for diapers and a recipe for Sticky Buns.

Free Sample Momma: Freebies and coupons are what this site specializes in.

The great thing about Free Sample Momma is that she focuses on free stuff that is good for a general audience. Whether it be Target, Walmart or Amazon; Free Sample Momma is always on top of all the current offers from the biggest chains and stores.

Nifty Mom: A site that concentrates mainly on the 4 Cs: Couponing, crafting, cooking and critiquing.

In addition to having excellent content, the strength of this site is its easy-to-read layout. Anyone interested in getting to know more about any of the 4 Cs should definitely check this site out as she does a good job of balancing her content between each C.

“The” Cents’Able Shoppin: Frugal living and couponing for everyday folk is what this site is all about.

A recent redesign has added some creative flair to what has always been an outstanding resource for coupons, deals and freebies. For any aspiring couponer, this site is a must-read and it rarely strays from its focus of announcing newsworthy coupons and deals.

Just Married With Coupons: Count on plenty of reviews, giveaways, and yes, coupons from this site.

Though the site is called Just Married With Coupons, we actually believe its best content comes from its reviews and giveaways, which are prevalent and very high quality. The site itself is also extremely visually appealing, and they actually provide design services at a good price, if you are interested in starting your own blog.

If you have a site or blog and would like to partner with us, please email jfeller@pennysaverusa.com.