12 Freebies You Can Get From Amazon: Music, Books and More

Every time a box from Amazon shows up on the front porch, I get excited. For many people, especially those of us who live in rural communities, Amazon offers an easy way to get what we need, from clothing to electronics to groceries. And no matter where you live, it’s pretty cool to be able to simply order what you need and have it arrive on your doorstep a few days later.

But no matter how awesome it is to save money shopping on Amazon, getting stuff for free is even better.

Here are 12 freebies you can get from the online retailer. Who doesn’t love free stuff?

1. Free Albums

If you love music, check out the free album listings on Amazon. Simply sort the list by price, making sure to select the “low to high” ranking feature, and you’ll see all the free options first. You’ll see music from all genres, so you can find something to enjoy no matter your taste, from Christmas collections to metal albums.

2. Free MP3 Singles

Enjoy a huge library of free, downloadable MP3 singles. When we checked, there was everything from Blondie to She & Him to the Tbilisi Symphony Orchestra.

If you subscribe to Amazon Prime, you’ll find even more songs you can download for free!

3. Free or Low-Cost Music From New Artists

If you’re at the cutting edge of the music scene (or want to be), check out the deals offered under “Artists to Watch.” Amazon editors select a number of albums they think are likely to be big this year. Current selections include Royal Blood, ODESZA, The 1975, KONGOS, and more.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member (or enjoying a 30-day free trial), you can score these albums for free. Otherwise, you can get them at a special discount from their regular price.

4. Free Movies and TV Shows

Once you pay for your Amazon prime membership (or snag a 30-day free trial), you can watch more than 40,000 free movies and TV shows via Amazon Instant Video.

5. Free Kindle Ebooks

Grab something new to read or take a chance on a new author. Every day, new freebies pop up in the listings. Some are permanently free ebooks, which the author offers in hopes that you’ll buy the next book in the series, while others are limited-time deals.

Check out the top 100 free ebooks or sort ebooks in any category from “low” to “high” prices to see what’s available. You’ll see tons of options, from books of vegetarian slow cooker recipes to romance novels to career planning books to mysteries.

6. Free Kindle Lending Library

Another perk of Amazon Prime membership (or again, the free trial) is that you can borrow one new book each month out of the 800,000 in the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library.

And it’s not just a collection of unpopular books that don’t sell. The library includes more than 100 bestsellers; for example, it has the full collection of Harry Potter books.

7. Borrow a Book from a Friend

Just as you can borrow or lend a paperback book to a friend, you can also lend an ebook. This little-known service allows you to share a Kindle ebook purchased from Amazon with a friend for 14 days. The borrower doesn’t even need to have a Kindle, they just need to download a free Kindle reading app.

To loan your book, go to the product page from your Amazon purchase and select the “loan” option. Once it’s loaned to a friend, just like a regular book, you’ll be unable to read it until it’s returned. You can only loan each book once, so think about who you’d most like to share it with!

8. Free Shipping

When you order physical products, you generally want to receive them cheaply and quickly as possible. If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you’ll get free two-day shipping on every order. Even if you’re not a Prime member, just bundle your orders so they add up to more than $35, and Amazon will give you free regular shipping.

9. Free Stuff With Points

You can redeem credit card points from a number of different cards (including Amazon.com Rewards Visa Card, Citi ThankYou Rewards, American Express Membership Rewards, Cashback Bonus from Discover and Chase Ultimate Rewards) right on Amazon.

Simply select “points” as a payment method when you check out. You don’t need enough points to pay for your full order; if you only want to use points to cover a portion, you can specify that option.

Keep in mind that points cannot be used for all products on Amazon. Kindle downloads, AmazonFresh, Subscribe and Save and pre-orders are all exempt. But if you do a lot of shopping on Amazon, you might prefer to earn credit card rewards you can redeem there!

10. Amazon Student Benefits

In college? Sign up for Amazon Student to enjoy great benefits only available to students. You can try the program for six months for free, and then it becomes a half-price Amazon Prime membership. You’ll get free two-day shipping, photo storage, streaming TV, movies, music, and other benefits (though not all benefits apply during the six-month trial period — music, movie and TV benefits are excluded).

Another cool benefit? You’ll get $10 for every other student who signs up using your link!

11. Free Photo Storage

Enjoy a three-month free trial of Amazon Cloud Drive‘s unlimited storage plans for your photos, videos and files. You can also share photos a number of different ways, including Facebook, email and other options.

If you’re a Prime member, you’ll get unlimited free photo storage as well as 5GB of storage for videos and other files.

12. Amazon Storyteller

This free tool lets you upload a script you’ve written and bring it to life. You can create a storyboard or video and use Amazon’s pre-designed characters, props and backgrounds to illustrate your story. You can even incorporate music and sounds from their free library!

Once you’re done, you can upload your creation to Amazon Studios which will eventually allow sharing options as well. Here’s the FAQ and tutorial to get you started.

Your Turn: Which is your favorite Amazon freebie? Did we miss one you enjoy?

Disclosure: We have a serious Taco Bell addiction around here. The affiliate links in this post help us order off the dollar menu. Thanks for your support!

Kristen Pope is a freelance writer and editor in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

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Ride & Drive: 2015 Jaguar F-Type Convertible

QUESTION I’M MOST FREQUENTLY ASKED: If you could own any car that you have driven, which one would you pick?ANSWER: The Jaguar F-Type Convertible.I had a meeting at the Chamber of Commerce earlier this week. When I walked into the meeting room, a lady walked up to me and asked, “Neal, did I see you drive up in a Maserati convertible?”I smiled and shook my head.“No. I’m driving the new Jaguar F-Type Convertible. It’s [...]

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How to Get Your First 1000 Facebook Fans

Have you ever wondered how you can get your Facebook fan page going? It used to be easy years ago, but now ad costs are rising, and you have to make sure you avoid fake fans or those that don’t engage.

So, what are the right steps you need to take to grow your Facebook fan base? Well, to guide you in accomplishing this goal, I’ve created an infographic that outlines those steps.

Click on the image below to see a larger view:

Click here to view an enlarged version of this infographic.

Conclusion

If you don’t have a Facebook fan page, you should consider creating one. It’s one of the main ways I am growing NutritionSecrets.com as well as the Quick Sprout and NeilPatel.com blog.

The longer you wait, the harder it will become to penetrate Facebook. So, start following the steps above, and you’ll quickly reach 1,000 real fans.

How else can you grow your fan base?

Embed This Image On Your Site (copy code below):

Courtesy of: Quick Sprout

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The Social Cost of Frugality

Tom writes:

I’m curious to see what the Simple Dollar’s opinion is on the social cost of purchasing cheap items.

I tend to be rather frugal in my purchase of everyday goods, including clothing, electronics, food, etc. This usually means I buy the cheapest of whatever item is available. That’s normally a good thing, right?

Except I then hear stories about worker and child exploitation, and the poor working and living conditions of the people that actually MAKE those goods. We hear stories of worker exploitation and human trafficking in companies like Patagonia (http://ift.tt/1Jq8PtO), the use of sweatshops by Gap and Nike in the 90s, and even stories of garment factories collapsing (http://ift.tt/1PzXxDw).

I’m wondering what your thoughts are on what happens when the pursuit of frugality has a possible negative effect on the livelihood of those which produce those goods purchased with frugality in mind.

First of all, I feel it’s necessary to point out that for me, frugality doesn’t usually equate to buying cheap stuff, it equates to buying less stuff.

I don’t shop at “dollar stores” for much of anything, for example. I buy most of my food from a local discount grocer (Fareway, usually). I buy a lot of my clothing secondhand or directly from retailers with a reputation for lasting quality (like Land’s End or Darn Tough Socks).

The only items in my home that would keep me from living in a 400 square foot apartment are my board games, and even that collection takes up fifteen square feet or less (it’s just the shelves would make a tiny apartment feel crowded). Aside from that, I could pretty easily compress my belongings to fit into a couple of duffel bags.

Having said that, you’re absolutely correct in identifying a connection between cheap goods and worker exploitation.

It is a problem, and it’s one that people overlook for several reasons. It’s convenient not to think about it. It’s often easy to be completely unaware of it in the store. It’s seen as part of the “cost” of buying a cheap item and is accepted on some level.

Here’s the problem: higher social standards have a cost that’s reflected in the sticker price of an item, whether you find value in that sticker price or not.

It costs more to have an item made in the USA, where there are lots of worker protections and a relatively high minimum wage law. That cost is reflected in the sticker price of the item.

It costs more to have your produce grown organically or to have your eggs come from a farm that uses ethical practices for raising livestock because those facilities simply have a lot more expense. That cost is reflected in the sticker price of the item.

It costs more to guarantee that the full supply chain that makes up the item you’re buying is compensated fairly for their materials and their efforts, such as fair trade coffee. That cost is reflected in the sticker price of the item.

In the end, the consumer in the store has a choice. They can pay more money for the ethically produced item or pay less for the item that was partially or wholly produced in a sweatshop or came from a factory farm.

It is up to the person making that purchase to decide which one is the right choice for that person’s situation.

This isn’t a new dilemma, either. Bad working conditions have been with us since the dawn of the industrial revolution. Bad food production practices have been with us since food production moved to a mass scale.

Why do these things occur? Companies have a profit motive, and as long as you can find just a person or two who believes that the profit motive is worth doing things like running a sweatshop or mistreating workers or animals, you’re going to have situations like this.

The real question, I suppose, is how can frugal people avoid this without spending a mint? Here are the strategies I use to try to make my purchases more ethical.

Research What You Buy

If you’re considering making a purchase, take the time to find out more about that purchase. Where was it made? How was it made?

Obviously, this is more worthwhile for some purchases than others. It can be really hard to do this when looking at a random food item at the grocery store, for example, and it’s probably not worth it for that kind of small purchase unless it’s something you buy over and over again.

On the other hand, it’s well worth it for larger purchases or for consistent repeated purchases. If it’s something you’re sinking significant money on, it’s worthwhile to learn how it was made and whether that process is something you’re okay with.

Over time, Sarah and I have moved toward buying many of our items locally. We participate in a CSA and buy most of our dairy items and eggs from local sources. We’ve been to those places and have seen how they operate.

Grow and Raise Your Own Food When Possible

If you have a garden, you know the food from your garden was raised ethically. We fertilize our garden with compost, actively weed it with our own hands, and use fences and natural sprays to keep pests and animals that would eat our vegetables out of the garden.

If you have a chicken coop, you know those chickens are treated well and you can enjoy the eggs they produce and the meat that comes from those chickens. You control the ethical choices.

Yes, it’s a lot of work, but it can save you money and can ensure that your items are produced in a way that’s up to your ethical standards.

Don’t Buy Useless Stuff, Especially Mass-Produced Stuff

Just be selective with what you buy. With every purchase you make, ask yourself whether you really need this. Is it something that really serves a purpose in your life? Or is it likely to just sit on a shelf or in your closet in a month or so?

Decorate your home with items that are actually meaningful to you. Instead of buying something “cute” from an unknown manufacturer, buy vintage items that reflect your interests, photographs and art made by friends and family and known craftspeople, and so on. You can carry this to a lot of your possessions – for example, our dinner plates and bowls were made by a local potter.

If something goes into your home, make sure it’s useful to you and meaningful to you. If it’s not, why are you buying it?

Buy Secondhand Items

Rather than heading to the store to buy a new version of an item that you need, start at a secondhand store for most things. The shirt and (I think) the jeans I’m wearing as I write this came from a secondhand store and they basically looked new when I brought them home. The slow cooker we used for many years came from a secondhand store, as did our first batch of dinner plates and bowls. There are many other items around our home that started off at a secondhand store. (The only items I won’t buy at a secondhand store are mattresses and electronics.)

If you buy a secondhand item, you aren’t supporting questionable supply chains in any way. Instead, you’re adding to the lifespan of a product that’s already been purchased and essentially discarded by the original owner.

Buying secondhand doesn’t mean you can’t have a discriminating eye. Be picky. The thing is, the more you look, the more items you’ll find that meet whatever standards you have.

Buy Long-Lasting Items

If you’re going to buy a particular item (and you can’t find it at a secondhand store), buy something that’s going to last. This, of course, means that you’re going to do some research into the item, which will tell you many things about how and where it’s made, but it will also tell you whether the item will last for a long time.

If you buy an item that lasts, you won’t be replacing it anytime soon, which means that there is less opportunity to put your money into unethical products. It also means that, over the long haul, you’ll be spending less on that particular type of item in total. You’re also (usually) supporting manufacturers and craftspeople with ethical and high quality manufacturing and supply chain practices.

Over the years, Sarah and I have gradually been filling our home with items built to last for years and years and years, replacing the cheaper versions we bought earlier in life.

Is This Necessary?

The question that many people will ask is whether such concerns are really necessary. Does a person need to worry about where the stuff at the dollar store came from? Does a person need to worry about where their food items came from?

The answer is easy: it’s up to you. Maybe you care about such things, and maybe you do not. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer here.

Having said that, it is something that I care about and something that Tom cares about as well. If it’s something that you care about, then use smarter practices. Those practices will not only ensure that the stuff you buy and own was ethically made, but they can also save you money over the long haul.

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Tracey Hill named first-ever Best Personal Finance Teacher

Laura Whitcombe

PFteacher2015.jpg

Tracey Hill from William Broward School in Brampton, Cumbria, has been named Moneywise's first-ever Best Personal Finance Teacher in Britain.

Tracey Hill from William Broward School in Brampton, Cumbria, has been named Moneywise's first-ever Best Personal Finance Teacher in Britain.

Having demonstrated a steely commitment to educating young people about the importance of making responsible financial decisions from an early age, she has won a £5,000 cash prize for her secondary school.

Tracey Hill named first-ever Best Personal Finance Teacher

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Tracey Hill from William Broward School in Brampton, Cumbria, has been named Moneywise's first-ever Best Personal Finance Teacher in Britain. Having demonstrated a steely commitment to educating young people about the importance of making responsible financial decisions from an early age, she has won a £5,000 cash prize for her secondary school. Tracey, economic wellbeing coordinator at William Broward, plans to use the money to further inspire her students to adopt good financial habits by giving her most 'Moneywise' pupil in each of the coming five years £1,000 to save in a cash Isa. Engaging teaching methods Moneywise, and our competition sponsor Gocompare.com – which helped us judge the shortlisted entries – are hugely impressed with Tracey's engaging teaching methods. Matt Sanders, banking spokesperson at Gocompare.com, said: "Tracey's award submission displayed an impressive range of techniques for making the topic of money management both fun and engaging. The activities, workbooks and projects thoroughly covered all aspects of budgeting, and the value of money was clearly at the heart of the exercises. "It was also apparent that Tracey focuses on preparing students for the real-world financial decisions they will soon have to make. For example, finding credit cards and other financial products by looking beyond giveaways and attractive marketing messages to unearth real value, based on individual needs and circumstances." He added: "It's important that students understand the basic differences between credit and debit, but also the application of each in real life situations, and we felt that Tracey's personal finance curriculum did this and more. Tracey is the worthy winner of the Moneywise Personal Finance Teacher of the Year title." All of the competition entries demonstrated a real commitment to helping their students understand the world of money. Our runner-up is Wayne Cartmel, mathematics and business teacher at Barnfield South Academy in Luton. Sanders said: "The learning materials submitted by Wayne were really impressive, and in our view should be shared amongst other teachers as a solid grounding for financial education. There was a particular focus forward planning, encouraging pupils to consider the extended or annual costs of the simplest of things. This is a key lesson in making savings decisions and is hugely important to budgeting."

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Are You Undercharging for Your Freelance Work? Here’s How to Raise Your Rates

“What should I charge for my work?”

For freelancers, this is the million dollar question. It’s also the most-confusing question. But if you can figure out the answer, you can actually make a living (and a really good one) working for yourself.

And when I was finally able to answer this question for myself and raise my rates, I ended up earning $12,605 more for doing the same work.

The good news? You can do the same. Here’s how to figure out what your work is worth and raise your rates in just three hours of work spread over a couple of weeks.

From Undercharging to Raising My Rates

In my first year as an entrepreneur, I watched myself underprice my work over and over again. I knew I could be charging more, but I wasn’t. But I didn’t know how to stop low-balling myself.

So I went on a mission to figure out why I kept undercharging. I started digging into articles, research and the psychology around pricing and money. And as I dug deeper, I realized there was a major concern buried in the freelance pricing question:

“What should I charge for this… so I can avoid rejection?”

Wow. That explained why I kept undercharging myself. Packed in that one little question about price was a lot of self-doubt and insecurity around avoiding “no’s” from clients and feeling like a failure.

It was a heavy realization. But once I knew the emotions behind my question of what to charge, I knew I could change how I approached it. Now it wasn’t just about raising my rates. I wanted to raise my rates with confidence. And I wanted to change what my work was worth.

So I came up with a process and a formula that helped me double my rates and earn $12,000 more last year. And it’s not hard to fit it into your busy schedule — the process only takes about three hours total, spread out over a few weeks.

How to Start Charging What Your Work Is Worth

It’s time your rates reflect the true value of your services.

1. Calculate Your Work’s True Value: 1 Hour

Google what to charge for a project will give you some ideas, but it will never share an accurate estimate of what your work is worth.

So what does your value depend on? Here’s the value formula I came up with to price my own work and to help other entrepreneurs do the same:

Your work’s value =
Your unique skills (A) and experience (B) +
Your client seeing, wanting and being willing to invest in (A) & (B)

Your unique skills and experience: The combination of your skills and experience is something no one else can bring to the table. It’s totally unique to you, which is why you can’t look to anyone else to put a price on what you offer.

Ask yourself: If you were in a room with your “competition,” what would make you instantly more valuable than that other person? What value do you bring to the table beyond the service you’re providing? When you take the time to articulate this piece of your value, it’s easy for others to see it too.

Your client seeing and wanting your unique skills and experience: Your next job is to narrow down the type of clients you want to work with, the “golden client” who really wants what you’ve got. Be specific — maybe you’re a chef who cooks for new moms who don’t have time to cook for themselves, or maybe you’re a copywriter who helps entrepreneurs write amazing Kickstarter pages.

When you can identify those ideal clients, you can better figure out how to find them and how to show them your true value, because you know what they really want — to have a week’s worth of meals ready to pop in the oven, or to get their crowdfunding campaign to its goal.

Your client’s willingness to invest in your unique skills and experience: This is where the rubber hits the road. The last step is helping your client feel that you’re worth an investment. You and your client should feel so confident in your value that the financial investment isn’t even a question.

A willing client is one who has probably paid for this service (or a similar service) in the past. Be ready to articulate the return on the client’s investment — have a plan to explain what they’ll get by working with you.

This formula helps me calculate my work’s value and remember that it’s tied to what I have to offer and how I present my services, not what others are charging. But more importantly, the formula helps me decide what to charge. Pricing your work is both an art and a science. But if you understand the value of your work, it’s easier to price your services.

Spend an hour working through all the pieces of this value formula to help you come up with a list of all the skills and experience you bring to the table and create a plan to get the right clients to see, want and invest in what you do.

2. Revise Your Pitch: 1 Hour

Are your clients 100% clear on the value you’re offering? Do they know what they’ll get out of working with you? Do they recognize and value the unique combination of skills, experience and perspective that you bring to the table?

Take a look at your “hire me” page, the proposal or pitch you send potential clients, or even the words you use when you meet a prospect in person. Does it fully reflect your value formula?

Spend an hour hour reviewing how you pitch yourself. Better yet, ask three friends to read over your language and make suggestions for edits. You want your clients to be crystal clear on what you’re offering, and it helps to have an outsider’s perspective. Experiment, edit and tweak your pitch until it showcases your work’s value to your ideal client.

3. Gather 3 Strong Testimonials: 1 Hour

Ask a few clients for written or video testimonials describing your work and how you helped them. Showcase these testimonials on your website or share with prospective clients to demonstrate the value of your work.

In addition, they’re great confidence boosters, and can be fantastic reminders that what you offer is valued by others.

Raise Your Rates

After you’ve done all that work, there’s only one thing left to do: Put your plan into action.

Push yourself to set a rate that’s a little higher than normal with your next client. Let your existing clients know you’re increasing your prices.

By doing the exercises above, I felt so much more confident telling my existing clients I was raising my rates and pitching a higher rate to new ones. I understood — finally — what my work was worth, and I started charging it.

Remember, you’re the only one in charge of what you charge. Take just a few hours today to make sure you’re charging what your work is worth.

Your Turn: If you’ve successfully raised your rates as a freelancer, how did you do it?

Stephanie Halligan is the make-more-money creator and coach at You Deserve More, a 7-day course to help entrepreneurs charge what they’re worth. Get her free 6-lesson mini course and free scripts for raising your rates at YouDeserveMore.co

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