Free

Before a trip, I spend hours poring over sites like Yelp and TripAdvisor and asking friends for the best places to go. It's always the advice from locals that's the most valuable, but that can be hard to find. However, there is a new way for you to meet your own local tour guide when you're traveling on Tripping.com, a social media site that hooks up travelers with native residents who will share a meal with you, teach you their language, show you around, or even offer their home for you to stay in. The best part is, the service is free of charge, and as you probably know, we do love freebies here at SavvySugar!

Of course, there are safety concerns, which the website says is helped by Tripping's reference, rating, and validation system. Tripping has to verify you are who you say you are via a Skype interview, and you can read testimonials and ratings of Tripping users for more security. What do you think — is this a service you would use on your travels?

This post comes from reader Becca84 in our Thrifty Tips group.

There are several things that make me so thankful lately. Here are a few:

• The Library. It's amazing that people can spend so much money renting movies, buying new books and magazines. Don't get me wrong. I am a magazine addict. I love new magazines and I love cutting them up and making fantasy collages of expensive clothes, shoes, accessories and beauty products that I cannot afford. However, all of these little cut out scraps get put into a binder that I tell myself I will come back to for inspiration and, most of the time, never do. And it baffles my husband, which is understandable. My beef with subscribing to magazines is the fleeting gratification they provide. One comes every 30 days. I look at it for one hour and it gets shelved or thrown away. What a waste. Same for buying them at the store, except it's like 500% more in price. Go to the library, however, and you can check out as many magazines as you want, flip through them, take notes of anything you want and return it for someone else to love. The only downfall: magazines available for checkout tend to be 2-3 months old. This is the same with books and movies, and it's all FREE!

For more of life's sweet frugal delights, read on!

Best Buy's Free Phone Fridays promotion was a big hit earlier this year, and today, the retail giant announced that it would be continuing the free-phone madness through December, but with a little extra kick.

Starting today, and running through the end of the month, Best Buy will be offering up at least four free phones (one from each of the four major carriers — T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T) every single day. Find out more about the promotion after the break.

The holidays are coming early for the millions of customers who patronize Starbucks each day. Starting today through Sunday, the coffee chain is offering a buy-one-get-one-free deal on holiday drinks. From the hours of 2 to 5 p.m. on Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, customers who buy a caramel brulée latte, peppermint mocha, peppermint white chocolate mocha, gingerbread latte, eggnog latte, caramel brulée Frappuccino, or peppermint mocha Frappuccino will get one of equal value gratis on the house. For those who shun caffeine, the deal includes the company's peppermint hot chocolate, too.

Now I have a legitimate excuse to order that peppermint mocha I've been denying myself this week. Will you do the same?

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Hoping for a little something to brighten up the beginning of the week? Tomorrow is free pastry day at Starbucks. From opening until 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, print or show this coupon on your mobile device at any participating US location, and you'll get a free pastry of your choice with the purchase of a beverage.

This promotion — which includes just about everything except wraps and sandwiches, oatmeal, and desserts — is only good while supplies last, so be sure to head over for coffee early in the morning. I suppose I'll be forced to decide between my favorite morning bun and swirl pound cake. What will your free pastry be?

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Did you have a chance to score big with free Denny's Grand Slams earlier this month? Don't worry if you didn't, because you've got another free breakfast waiting for you. Tomorrow, Denny's rival IHOP will be giving out free short stacks of pancakes. In observance of the momentous occurrence known as National Pancake Day, the beacon of all things breakfast will be doling out three free buttermilk pancakes to dine-in guests who eat between 7 a.m. and 10 p.m. tomorrow — no purchase necessary. In return, the breakfast house asks that you consider donating to its charity Children's Miracle Network, or any other local charitable organization. Are you marking your calendar?

Now that Jamba Juice's $1 oatmeal deal has ended, hungry diners will need to look elsewhere for breakfast on a budget. Thankfully, Denny's has stepped in with a promotion that's too good to pass up. Tomorrow, the casual dining chain will offer its Original Grand Slam for free from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. News of the free breakfast combo (two eggs, two sausages, two bacon strips, and two pancakes) debuted during a Super Bowl spot yesterday. To see the humorous commercial and get more details, keep reading.