Sitter City: Free trial

Click on the banner and sign up to get a free 7-day trial membership in Sitter City, a service that matches parents and babysitters. The service allows you to run background checks, check references, and conduct interviews. (They have babysitters, nannies, senior caregivers, pet caregivers, house sitters, and tutors.) Baby Cheapskate wrote a review last January.

If you know that you definitely want to sign up for a paid membership with Sitter City, you can earn a $25 cash back rebate through shopping portal Cashbaq. I've yet to review Cashbaq for Chief Family Officer, but I've using it for a few months now and have been satisfied with it (it works a lot like Ebates). If you're new to Cashbaq, I'd appreciate it if you'd sign up through my referral link (you'll get a $5 sign up bonus and I'll get a small percentage of your rebate) - thank you!

Disclosure: The banner link is served by MySavings.com, and CFO is a MySavings.com affiliate.

Free Sample: Kotex Overnight

Click on the banner to sign up for a FREE sample pack including Kotex® Ultra Overnight Pads with Wings. I got my sample a while back and really liked it, especially the way it was narrower at the front than the back.

Disclosure: This link is served by MySavings.com, and CFO is a MySavings.com affiliate.

Two word movie review: Star Trek

Totally awesome.




Oh, you were hoping for more.

Okay.

As a long-time Star Trek fan, I waited more than a month for my chance to finally see the new movie with my darling husband. I spent the last month avoiding learning any details about the movie, and that was worth it too. I knew Leonard Nimoy was in it, but I thought it would just be a cameo, not that he'd be central to the plot. I spent the first few minutes thinking, What just happened? George Kirk doesn't die when Jim is born, Jim Kirk totally knew his dad.

And then: Amanda Grayson doesn't die like this. Spock's mom dies of old age. Oh my God, did they just obliterate Vulcan? Side note: A.C. Crispin's novel about Spock's dad, Sarek,is one of my very favorite Star Trek novels (and yes, I've read many).

So I was absolutely thrilled that they so cleverly created an alternate universe for this generation of characters. They won't be tied down by the stories that have already come to pass - which, I've heard, really hampered the writers for the more recent television series because they'd hear back, We already did that back in Episode 113, or, That conflicts with Episode 25 of the other series.

Plus, except for Uhura, the characters were perfectly cast. (There wasn't anything wrong with her, and she has a great look - although her similarity to Jada Pinkett Smith kind of bothered me - but her performance was very blah compared to the rest of the cast.) There were many laugh-out-loud moments, although if I had to pick a favorite scene, it would be when Bones is chasing Kirk around injecting him with various antidotes.

It really was a great movie - non-Star Trek fans got to see a great action film, while die-hard fans got a movie that stayed true to the things we love dearly but that was also fresh and exciting and new at the same time. So I'll say it again:

Totally awesome.

Free iTunes downloads for Facebook fans

Fans of iTunes on Facebook in the U.S. get a 10-song download that includes "two exclusive songs from Dave Matthews Band." (Exclusive to iTunes? I'm not sure.) Go to the "Featured" tab to get a free download of Depeche Mode's new song, "Wrong."

Via My Good Cents.

Free Burt's Bees lip balm

Burt's Bees is giving away 25,000 free lip balms – 1,000 every day for 25 days. It started a few days ago, but I wanted to wait to post this until I saw how it was working out – all too often, these free offers seem to run into snags (like the Oprah-affiliated free KFC promotion a few weeks ago).

The giveaway is between 9 a.m. to noon EDT every day through June 22, 2009. They've set it up to start at a random time during that window, so you'll just have to keep checking the site in the morning. I had some trouble getting it to load properly, probably because thousands of other people were also trying to do the exact same thing. I found it worked best to go to this page on the Burt's Bees site, and then periodically click the "sign up now" button on the bottom left until the form loaded.

Via Freebies4Mom. Congratulations to Heather, who is going to be on tomorrow's Tyra Banks show!

(Although, I must admit, I can't take Tyra seriously anymore after watching The Soup.)

Free subscription to CBS Watch! Magazine

The first 50,000 to sign up here get a free 2-year subscription to CBS Watch! Magazine. I've become a huge CSI:NY fan (thanks to the reruns on Spike, which were on when I was making dinner until just the other week), so I signed up immediately and am looking forward to getting my first issue!

Free Nexcare bandage sample

Nexcare is giving away free bandage samples to encourage the donation of blood. A limited number of samples are given away each day, so you can always try again the next day if the samples are gone.

Via A Full Cup.

Free Coldplay live album download

Starting today, you can download Coldplay's live album, Left Right Left Right Left, for free at Coldplay.com. It appears the download will be available for the rest of their tour, which to me looks like it ends on September 19 (but don't quote me on that). The album will also be given away at the remaining live shows starting today.

You can see a list of songs on the album, and yes, it does include "Viva la Vida" (yay!).

Note: The site is working beautifully for me right now (I've got 2 minutes remaining in my download) but it wasn't loading right an hour ago, so just be patient if it seems slow!

Free 8x10 at Walgreens - May 6 only

Get a free 8x10 from Walgreens Photo with code MOTHER. Select in-store pickup and get it totally free because you don't have to pay for shipping!

Free lifetime membership to Freepeats - today only

Freepeats is a site where you can swap baby gear with other local moms. Lifetime membership usually costs $4.95, but today only, you can join any of the groups for free!

One more Earth Day freebie: Reusable tote + 15% off at Walgreens

There's a Walgreens printable coupon good today only for a free reusable tote bag plus 15% off most items in the store (and 20% off store brand products). Happy Earth Day!

Via Common Sense with Money.

Previously: Earth Day Freebies
Previously at Chief Family Officer: The Drugstore Game: A Primer

More free stuff today & tomorrow

You can get free ice cream at Ben & Jerry's today from noon to 8 p.m. Via The Bargain Jargon.

This next one might be a regional deal because I can't find anything about it at the Starbucks web site, but a quick Swag Bucks search showed that it's in more than one place: Get free coffee at Starbucks when you bring in your own cup on Earth Day (tomorrow). Although if you're in Atlanta like Ebay Selling Coach, you might be able to get free coffee all week!

Previously: Earth Day Freebies
Previously at Chief Family Officer: About Swag Bucks

Free 2-year subscription to Parents Magazine

Rewards Gold is offering a free 2-year subscription to Parents Magazine.

Via Bargain Briana.

Earth Day Freebies

Earth Day is April 22, and there are deals galore. I'm sure more will appear in the coming week, but here are a few to start with:

Get a free Mickey totebag from The Disney Store when you bring in 3 plastic bottles on April 22 - click through for a picture, it's a pretty cute bag. I think I'll be doing this one. (Via The Bargain Jargon.) - Update 4/20 from The Bargain Jargon: The free item is actually a water bottle. Thanks for the clarification, Christy!

Get a free box of recycled Reynolds Wrap Foil after mail-in rebate. The rebate form will be downloadable on April 22 only and quantities will be limited. You can sign up for an email reminder when you click through. (Via Common Sense with Money.)

Get a free CFL bulb from Home Depot on April 19 (note: not actually Earth Day). In store only. (Via Bargain Briana.)

Free MP3 of Dave Matthews Band's new single

Enter your email address to download the new single from Dave Matthews Band, Funny The Way It Is.

Via FatWallet.

Free Precious Places (Princess) DVD

Fisher Price is giving away free Precious Places DVDs. Having boys who love trucks, I've never heard of Precious Places, which appears to be a princess-themed line of toys.

Via Bargain Briana.

Free Miley Cyrus poster

Make your tween's day and get a free Miley Cyrus poster from Glamour (first 15,000).

Via My Good Cents.

Free Kotex + overage at Ralphs

At my local Ralphs, the 22-count box of Kotex Lightdays liners are $1.49. There was a 75-cents off coupon for Kotex liners in yesterday's newspaper, and there's a $1 off any Kotex electronic coupon at Cellfire.com. The newspaper coupon doubles to $1, so you get a total of $2 off, resulting in 51 cents overage.

If the Cellfire coupon is no longer available, or if you have more than one newspaper coupon, just be patient. The Kotex coupon has been available more than once on Cellfire - hopefully they'll have it again when they next add more coupons (which should be in a week or two).

66 free kids' music downloads

Megabloks is offering six kids' music albums for free download. And if you click the link at the bottom of the box, it looks like you can download the French version of all of the albums as well.

Via Coupon Cravings.

Free 5x7 card from Hallmark

Get a free 5x7 folded card at Hallmark.com by using promotion code TRIAL at checkout. You must be a registered at Hallmark.com to use the code.

Offer valid in USA only through 4/12/09; includes postage and taxes. Free card must be sent directly to the recipient.