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Previous Update - March 27, 2006

March 27, 2006 - A "Kick" in the Mouth After a few days of having received nothing, we have one response today to kick off our week... Riceland (#54) sent over three coupons good for free and discounted rice. In my letter to Riceland, I told them that I was sick of plain white rice and wanted something a little more "kicked-up". Riceland obliged and sent over a few coupons good for any variety of their rice as well as a letter informing me of some of the more exotic flavors of their rice. Thanks to Riceland for the flavorful, long-grained kick in the mouth. CNN in a Nutshell Back on Saturday (the 25th), I was live on CNN Saturday in the morning talking about The $39 Experiment — for a whopping five minutes. A lot of people have e-mailed me to tell me that they thought the interview was great. To everyone who's written in with positive comments, thank you. A few people, however, have told me that the interview "sucked". I was told that the interview was "lacking useful information" and was "just terrible". To those folks, let me just say this... When you're sitting in a small room with the door closed, your hands on your anxiously jittering knees, a limited range of motion due to a microphone up your shirt and an ear piece sitting in your ear (as you nervously listen for your cue) only to be reminded of the millions of people watching you just minutes before you go live, staring into a camera, unable to see yourself or the person talking to you... Five minutes seems like an eternity. And as for "lacking useful information"... I answered the questions that I was asked. What else was I supposed to do? Tattoo the web address onto my forehead? I'm sure all of the people who took the liberty to tell me that I sucked have been on CNN dozens of times and are naturals, so I can understand why they'd want to knock me. Oh well... Freebies Summary Who? What? approx. $ Fellowes Four cans of compressed air $32.00 Carma Labs One jar of Carmex $1.29 Stash Tea Nine teabags $1.80 White Castle 19 burgers, 2 breakfast sandwiches, 2 orders of Chicken Rings $12.37 Airborne One free tube of Airborne $5.99 Reynolds Two 50-cent coupons $1.00 S.C. Johnson One free ($3 max.) Skintimate coupon $3.00 Church & Dwight Two $1 Arm & Hammer coupons $2.00 Pfizer Three 50-cent Purell coupons $1.50 Pepsi Pepsi pen, pencil, stickers, and gift catalog N/A Biotene Free samples of gum, toothpaste, and mouthwash N/A Burt's Bees Free stick of Burt's Bees $1.87 Dunkin Donuts Book of five $1 gift checks $5.00 Mercedes Benz Mercedes keychain $30.00 Eden Foods Pasta, tea, soymilk $9.54 Chicken of the Sea Two $2 coupons, one 25-cent coupon $4.25 Sanford Four pens $5.00 Gatorade (aka Pepsi) Three 60-cent coupons for Propel $1.80 Nestle Two coupons for Nestle candy $1.00 Max and Erma's A hat and travel cup $15.00 Dairy Queen Three $1 gift certificates $3.00 Del Monte Five coupons for dog snacks $5.25 Celestial Seasonings Three sample teabags, three coupons $5.60 Boston Market 33% of $50 coupon book $16.67 Campbell's Four 50-cent coupons $2.00 Energizer Three $1 coupons $3.00 Frito Lay Two 55-cent coupons $1.10 Nylabone A "Double Action Chew" with "Minty Fresh Center" (wolf size) $9.33 Brownberry Three $1 coupons $3.00 Riceland Three coupons $2.70 30 companies $186.06 Riceland