Get a free bottle of Diet Dr Pepper

I was flipping channels on TV the other day and came across this add for a free bottle of Diet Dr Pepper. It was broadcast on TBS a couple of times that day and seemed like quite a legitimate ad. So I decided to check it out for myself.

All you need to do to receive your free bottle of Diet Dr Pepper is to log on to the following website: http://www.freedietdrpepper.com/

Then choose the size of bottle you prefer, fill out the form with you name and shipping address and that’s it. The website says that in about 4-6 weeks after submitting the form, you should be receiving a coupon for a free bottle of diet Dr Pepper in the size that you had chosen. But HURRY UP! It also says that the contest is open only to the first 2 million people who register. It also limits the free drink to one per person.

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Saving on toll-money using your GPS

An increasing number of people are becoming GPS owners these days. I still remember the time I bought my first GPS unit in summer 2005. A lot of my friends were amazed by the utility of the little device back then. Today it is almost like a must-own for a car-owner and is probably as common as owning an iPod.

Like me, if you have ever spent some time taking a look at the various settings of a GPS device, you probably know that most devices out there have an ‘Avoid Toll-roads’ feature that I sometimes find particularly useful. Most GPS maps these days (depending on how up-to-date they are) have detailed information on which highways have toll-booths and at what locations. Based on this information, if you set the device to avoid toll-roads, it can successfully take you around the toll, thereby saving you some money. However a couple of points to keep in mind when using this feature:

1. Most of the times, the detour is longer or takes more time to cover than taking the toll-road. What I do in most cases is to check the route plan before and after I turn on the ‘Avoid Toll-roads’ setting, and if avoiding the toll-road is going to increase my journey time or distance considerably, then I choose to just take the toll-road instead.
2. Weigh the amount of money you would save on tolls versus the amount you would spend on the additional gas to take the (usually longer) detour. Avoid the toll-road only if the numbers make sense.
3. Sometimes it may not even be about the money. It may just be that there are extremely long queues at the toll-booths, especially during rush hour. In such cases, if time is of the essence, then avoiding the toll-roads may make more sense.
4. Make sure you turn the ‘Avoid Toll-road’ setting off after you are done with you journey. Some devices like mine, have this setting at the global level and if I leave this setting on, all routes that I calculate on this device will try to avoid toll-roads, until I turn the setting off. This may not be a concern for devices where this can be set for each route that is calculated.
5. There may not always be a way around the tolls and if this is the case, your device will tell you so.

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Make a quick $10 with this FREE Facecard offer

Here’s a quick way of making $10 for FREE that I came across recently. I am writing about this only after trying it myself, so rest assured that it works as of the time that this post was published. I’m not sure if there is an expiration date on this offer. Here are the details on how to get it:

For this offer, you will need to sign up for a pre-paid card called the “Facecard”. It is like a pre-paid gift card that you would buy from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, etc. with the difference that you can use this card anywhere. You need to load this card with cash from you bank account before you can use it. So it is considered safer than a credit card because nobody can use it unless there is cash pre-loaded onto it. But you can read details of it on the website. You don’t necessarily need to use the card or load cash on it. Just sign up for it using this link and put in the promo code below to get the free $10. After that it is your choice whether to keep using the card or not. Below are the steps:

1. Go to: https://members.facecard.com/get.php
2. On the second page of the form at the bottom, enter referral code: fst
3. If you don’t enter the code above, you won’t get the $10.
4. Make sure you enter a valid email id, as you will be notified via email regarding your card mailing, activation and $10 deposit.
5. Because it’s a mastercard it requires your SS#, but it’s legit and ran by a bank called MetaBank
6. Once you receive the card via mail (within 7-10 business days after signing up), you need to call the number listed or go to the website to activate the card.
7. Within 3-5 business days of activating the card, the $10 will appear in your account.

I have done this myself and it works. A couple of additional tips:

1. If you have multiple people living in the same household, you can all sign up individually. So I signed up for my wife as well, and we now have a free $20 to spend.
2. Make sure to glance over the Terms and Conditions of the card after you receive it via mail. One of them states that there is an inactivity fee for not using the card for something like 60 or 90 days. So if you intend to not use the card beyond the $10 that you received as a gift, I would recommend calling Customer service and canceling the card after you spend your initial $10.

If you have any questions/comments, feel free to post in the comments section below. Enjoy your free $10 !!

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