MattandSally.com

Where do I begin? I guess I should start with what happened a week ago today.

I’ll make it short and sweet. Francis accidently spilled her milk on our relatively new (6 month old) Apple ibook. I tried to save it, but failed. Took it to Apple, paid a lot, and got a call today saying it’s ready to be picked up. It sucked. It was expensive. Fortunately they recovered all data. And life goes on… To add to our no good day, Matt and I sat down feeling quite defeated about the laptop and decided to watch a movie. “What? We accidently sent our wedding video to Netflix? Never to be returned?! Ugh!” That day had officially gone from bad to worse. Again, it all worked out. We called our wonderful videographers a few days later and they are providing us with another copy for less than we paid originally. So that’s a relief.

Then our brand new minivan didn’t start… who knows why. That’s still to be determined. Van is going to shop tomorrow.

Just when I thought the Guldes had lost their magic touch, Matt sent me an email with this link.

It’s a site that explains how a guy got a FREE 15″ APPLE PROBOOK just for signing up for 18 stupid offers – stuff like BMG music, Columbia House DVD and Blockbuster online. And it appears as though it actually freakin’ worked. The process is a bit painful (canceling and tracking all your signups), but this guy, Josh Clark, provides a downloadable Excel tracking document that you can edit with your own info. (And hey, for a $2000 dream computer. I can make the 18+ phonecalls to these companies.) In addition to the information he provides, showing everything he did, you can also read the 300+ comments from other people who are at various stages in the process. Very trustworthy sources have confirmed that this offer is not a hoax.

So as you may have already guessed, I did it. After 3-4 hours of carefully and painstakingly reading through all of the comments and “Terms and Conditions,” I was finished choosing my 18 offers. Until this evening, I’d been waiting for all of my “credits” to come through, but now it’s official. I’m now in the “Verification” stage and soon … FREE laptop, baby! Well, “free” is not exactly correct. After I cancel the 18 different things I’ve signed up for and send back every DVD language tape known to man. I estimate my new $2000 Apple laptop will have cost me approx. $50. If you’re not a Mac person and want a PC, you’re even luckier: I had to sign up for 18 offers, but if you want a PC laptopyou only have to sign up for 10. What a deal.

If you’re interested in doing this, keep reading. If not, ignore everything below and begin crossing your fingers for me. I will be sure to update everyone if and when I actually get my hands on this computer.

Alright, Back to business…Here’s my formula:

First, read Josh’s site. He suggests things like starting a new free email account to use solely for this project. (You’ll definitely want to do that!) and like I said, he has an excel document for tracking everything. After you’ve done that and are ready to take the plunge, read everything below:

Here’s what I’ve learned to get fast/almost immediate credit and get your laptop for about $20, plus the cost of shipping the junk back.

First, make sure you sign up backwards..starting with page 3 then 2 then 1.

Page 3:
Video Professor $6.95
Pitney Bowes $30.00
Onlingo x2 (buy two languages) $6.95 x2
Advantage Language $6.95
Blockbuster $9.95
Sirius Radio Offer (don’t use safari) $0
Auction Toolkit $39.95

Total Cost (after refunds)= $9.95 plus cost to ship junk back

Page 2:
Simply You* $1
GreatFun $1
DisneyBooks $3.95 got total refund
ValueMax* $1
Cosmetique $5.95

*In the fine print you also subscribe yourself to a company called Savingsmart. Be sure to cancel that subscription as well. It is also a $1 (x2).

Total Cost (after refunds): $10.95 plus cost to ship junk back

Page 1:
Completehome.com $1
Emusic.com $0
EverydayValuesClub $1

Total Cost (after refunds): $2

If a www.mattandsally.com reader actually decides to do this, 1) I promise nothing. I don’t have a computer in my hands so I can’t guarantee anything and 2) please call me and I’ll walk you through the process. I think I can save you the hours of reading all of the terms and conditions that I had to do.

Good Luck and Enjoy!