In honor of cautious parents and the current swine flu panic, here are our tips for sanitizing all kinds of toys.

Take it from a parent. Buying toys for your kids can get expensive quickly. Luckily, there is a known fact about children – they outgrow their toys quickly. So what should you do with all of those outgrown Koozy Coupes and stuffed Elmo’s? Sell then online at TheFreeWay.com or in a yard sale of course! There are tons of thrifty parents out there looking for toys that still have hours of joy left to give their children. Many parents are leery of taking other children’s toys for fear of the previous owner’s germs. So in honor of those cautious parents and the current swine flu panic, here are our tips for sanitizing all kinds of toys.

• Small Plastic Toys – There are two great methods for sanitizing small plastic toys like blocks, shape sorters, action figures, etc. First you can create a sanitizing solution of ¼ cup of household bleach to 1 gallon of water. Place this solution in a bucket or container large enough to hold the items and dip them inside. Place the items on a rack to air dry. You can also place many plastic items in your dishwasher to clean them. The dishwasher does a great job of sanitizing items, but make sure that the items aren’t small enough to fall through the racks to the bottom of the machine.
• Large Plastic Toys – Large toys like ride-on toys, exersaucers, walkers and others can sometimes be forgotten, but they can be just as germy as the smaller toys. Taking them outside to be washed with a hose and soapy water will remove most of the unseen grime and a quick spray with a bleach-based sanitizing spray, like Clorox Anywhere Hard Surface Sanitizing Spray will zap the remaining germs and viruses.
• Stuffed Animals and other soft toys – Some stuffed animals can be run through the washing machine to clean them up, but be sure to use the gentle cycle and warm water for the best results. If the stuffed toy can’t be washed, place the toy inside a pillowcase and place it in the dryer on high for 15 minutes. If the toy is battery operated, make sure to remove the batteries before placing it in the dryer. This will help to reduce the number of possible pathogens on the toy.
• Battery operated toys – These toys can be the most difficult to get completely clean, but a spray with a bleach-based sanitizing spray like the one mentioned above is your best bet to achieve sanitation.

What to do with your stuff when the yard sale is over.

You’re reducing prices like crazy.  Haggling has become your middle name.  Now it’s just too hot and you’re ready to sip cold lemonade on the couch.  It’s all FREE!  And just like that your yard sale is over.

Now what?

Still couldn’t get rid of some of your games?  Just couldn’t bear to let someone walk out with your favorite chair for only $10?  Great. You had a yard sale to get rid of this stuff and now it’s going to hang around like glitter after a kindergarten party.

Most people decided to de-clutter by taking their left over items to the thrift store. This is a great idea to get rid of things that you know you aren’t going to use.  Think about things like clothing or kitchen utensils.  If you haven’t used these things in a couple of years, odds are you won’t use them for the next couple of years.  Giving your left over yard sale items to a thrift store is a great way to give back to the community and is a nice way to get a tax deduction too!

But what about the items that you think are worth something more.  If you feel that your items have value and you don’t want to part with them for nothing, then try selling them online.  Take a few pictures after the yard sale and upload them to TheFreeWay.com .  You don’t have to settle for $5 when you know your item is worth $50. 

The easiest way to post your items online is to invite us to your yard sale. We’ll bring coffee, doughnuts, and a camera.  We’ll take pictures of your stuff and help you put them online instantly.  Don’t stress about not being able to sell your stuff in one day.  With our help, you can post your ad online for free and get the right buyer and the right price.

The classifieds are a great way to boost your sales.

I found a great article today on LivePR about how the free classifieds are still a great way to promote your business.  Whether you own your own business or are just looking for some extra sales, the free classifieds is a cheap way to get your message seen by thousands of potential customers.

“You can do a number of different things with classified ads. Maybe you are trying to sell a product. Perhaps you are trying to sell a service. Similarly, perhaps you are looking for a product or service. Some people even sell themselves - i.e., they will use the classifieds to get traffic to their web sites. This is good for product and service web sites and even blog sites. The benefit here is that the ad is free, so the income generated from the extra traffic is all yours,” says the article. 
Click here to read more.

If you are looking to boost your sales, try placing an ad on TheFreeWay today!

Protect yourself when using online coupon sites.

In our post last week, we wrote about new trends and consumer behavior with online coupons. As with anything that is gaining popularity online, it is only a matter of time before those unscrupulous spammers are out looking for unsuspecting victims to take advantage of online.

Analysts at the University of Alabama at Birmingham have uncovered a new online scam targeting those who are trying to save money by using online coupons. According to UAB researchers, the spammers are using the classic e-card bait-and-switch with a fake link to a coupon site. The site then downloads malware onto your computer.

TheFreeWay.com is here to help keep you safe when using online coupons with these 5 tips to protect yourself from coupon spammers:

• Always be wary of e-mails from people you don’t know and e-mails from generic e-mail addresses. Trusting unknowns on the internet is like asking a stranger to hold your wallet at the mall – be careful out there.
• Always make sure that the URL of the site matches up with the content of the site. E-mail spammers frequently use false URLs to mask their true identities online.
• Keep your antivirus software up to date. While it takes some time for antivirus software to catch up with new trends in malware, not updating your software is a guarantee for infection.
• Download with caution. Nearly all reputable online coupon sites do not require you to download anything to receive coupons. While registration may be required, be wary of any site that asks you to download coupons to your computer.
• Don’t be afraid to save. There are hundreds of online coupon sites that are completely legitimate out there. Don’t be afraid to use them to save a lot of money in your budget. Sites like TheFreeWay.com and Dealtaker.com are here to help our customers save money and do so safely.
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Coupon clipping is a thing of the past.  Online coupons are a thing of the fast.

In the past I’ve looked at people who used coupons with envy.  Two for one!  FREE!  Who doesn’t like hearing that?  (I’d like to also point out that I like to swipe my Kroger card at the very last minute so I can see my total shrink all at once and see how much I saved. Ah, simple pleasures.)  Sometimes I would watch the man or woman’s total in front of me drop drastically after the coupons.  I never understood it.  Where did they find these deals?  How did they have time to look for them?

Lately my wallet has felt a considerable pinch.  I now look through the paper to find good coupons, but I have found that printing coupons offline usually works the best for me. Finding coupons also helps me plan my meals better.  Instead of just throwing things into my grocery cart when I get to the store, I make a list and know what I will need for the week and then search online for the coupons accordingly.  I even have a Couponizer that organizes them for me!

And it’s not just me.  Coupons printed from websites are growing in popularity.  Here is an excerpt from a great article in the Wall Street Journal I found today about online coupons and how they can help you save a ton of green!

“Conditions what they are, more shoppers are using coupons to stretch their grocery budgets. In the past four months, coupon usage has surged about 10%, according to Inmar Inc., a coupon-processing agent. And increasingly, shoppers are skipping the scissors and getting coupons online or having discounts sent to their smart phones and rewards cards.”

Keep checking our coupons page to print out some great coupons or find deals around town!  Or subscribe to our “Deals” feed to get deals sent to you instantly!  Everyone deserves a treat.