fairy dust

I have an affinity towards free stuff. Free is like a magical salsa or fairy dust; you sprinkle it on anything and it instantly becomes awesome. A lot of times all you have to do to get free stuff is ask. Once at a Wendy's outside Magic Mountain in CA, we got free burgers, fries, and drinks for our party of four, just by asking. Well, a wink and a smile might have helped that one along. Other times, you have to learn to work the system. I recently found a coupon for $10 off a purchase of at least $10 from Pier1 imports. Translation: I can walk in and walk out with $10 worth of wares sans cost. However, I've been down this road before. I had a similar coupon for Khol's once and couldn't find anything that I wanted for free. I'm wiser now, the magic fairy dust of free can make even mundane items awesome. Long story short, I wrangled $30 worth of wares gratis. Although, I could have gone bigger. There are two locations within 5 miles of my house. I could have quadrupled my "winnings" by visiting both locations twice daily, at opening and closing. Lesson learned, go big or go home.