Savings Opportunities This Week: Free Book from Amazon

Did you know that Amazon has thousands of items that are sporting their "4-for-3" offer?  After exploring second-hand options (which are usually my first choice cost-wise and environmentally), I decided to put my Swagbucks to use this weekend at Amazon.  Between the 4-for-3 promotion, free shipping, and my Swagbucks gift cards, I can receive a book I've been wanting for a long time for free!

We also needed to replace our tea kettle and a saucepan; these were my original shopping impetus and they helped qualify the order for free shipping.  Here's how the savings added up:

1 Tea kettle
1 Sauce pan
Trees in the Pavement book
Preschooler's Busy Book
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Total before discounts: $60.43 + 9.92 for shipping = $70.35

Discounts: -7.99 (4-for-3 promotion)
                -9.92 (free super saver shipping)
               -15.00 (Swagbucks Amazon gift codes)

Total out-of-pocket expense:  $37.44, which is a savings of up to 47%!

Discovering that this Amazon promotion includes Jennifer Grosser's Trees In the Pavement made me gleeful.  The author and I were actually college contemporaries, acquainted through singing in a choir together.  From the alumni grapevine, I learned that she published this book last year.  Since then, I have been eager to delve into her insights about immigrant perceptions of a new land.

Thus, although I did once say I'd "leave deal blogging to the pros", I do make rare exceptions.  Whether it is a book or Band-aids, getting free items that I will use is a blessing.  Nonetheless, I want to guard against encouraging myself or others toward the wanton pursuit of more stuff. To consume less and leave a smaller ecological impact in our wake are still important considerations.