Work is dragging. You’ve got an event coming up. The kids are outgrowing everything from toys to socks. NCAA March Madness is your inspiration to get a new TV. All the spring magazines have you itching to update your wardrobe. And please, anything to not see Charlie Sheen on a headline!

Time to find an exciting sale. Cheap shoes, Michigan sweatshirts, HDTVs, and sale clothes are just a click away. And remember, you can add to your savings by purchasing a discounted gift card to pay for your hot sale finds.

Our first stop would be Sale.com, whose home page is a shopping addict’s crack, compiling some of the best apparel discounts on the web. Enter the retailer you’d love to see a sale from, ie Abercrombie, and voila, the site’s sale page pops in, along with a list of promotions and offers. Sign up for Sale.com alerts to get first crack at fresh promotions, coupons, deals, and sale merchandise.

Sales on Now around the Web:

Nordstrom:

Get Women’s Coats on sale for up to 40% off.

Shop Nordstrom’s Shoe Clearance – hurry, this is a hot one and the best brands and styles sell out fast.

Shop Nordstrom’s Designer Collection Sale for quality-made on-trend brands and looks.

Aeropostale:

Save big with Aeropostale’s Spring Break Sale featuring $9 Camis and Graphic T-shirts for girls and guys.

Best Buy:

Act now to save 5%-15% on a wide selection of HDTVs on brands including RCA, Philips, Samsung, LG, and Panasonic.

JCPenney:

Time to freshen up the house with JCP’s Spring Home Sale, where you’ll save 30-60% off housewares, linens, and more.

Shop deep discounts on JCP’s Clearance page, with final markdowns at up to 80% off retail.

Zappos:

This online retailer always has free shipping & returns – but have you found Zappo’s Sale page? Shop shoes from 100’s of brands, as well as accessories and clothes on sale. Even hard-to-find men’s shoes are on sale here. Yippee!

PetSmart:

Get deals on thousands of items, from Kong to Advantix & Advantage flea & tick products online and in stores at PetSmart’s Everything Spring Sale.

Borders:

It’s a shame Borders is closing so many stores, but their loss is your gain. Find clearance merchandise in the stores that are closing; here’s a list of closing Borders stores. As well, get to Borders Hot Deals / Weekly Deals page to score discounts on remainders, music under $10, and even bestsellers and upcoming new releases.

Right now, get up to 15% off a Borders Gift Card on Plastic Jungle >>>

Sports Authority:

The NCAA Final Four is around the corner and it’s time to gear up! Save on NCAA gear for the entire family at the SportsAuthority.com Outlet – Fan Gear page, and most of it will ship for only 99 cents!

If you’ve got a “slow-day shopping distraction” ritual, please share it in the comments of this page. Remember, if you’ve got time on your hands, maybe you could create a little cash flow by trading in your unused gift cards. Thank me later! And be prepared, the weekend is almost here.

Friday Gift Card Giveaways 2/18/2011

We Junglers are a savvy shopping bunch. We’re also big-time travelers. And eaters… we love to dine out! And just like everyone else, we love a good deal. So what happens when an entire office is constantly trolling the web for the best deals? You get a ton of juicy scoop on the best deals and discounts from a huge spectrum of retailers, airlines, hotel chains, and restaurants.

In fact, if you have a question about any retailer, airline, hotel chain, restaurant chain, it’s a good bet we could come up with an answer for you. Just ask your question in the comments section of the blog, and we’ll get the info to you, or at least start a discussion on the topic. One of the biggest questions we get is “How do I check the balance on my gift card?” The answer is that every retailer is different, but if you check our “Gift Card Balance” blog posts, you’ll find answers for the most traded gift cards on Plastic Jungle, including Walmart, Home Depot, Target, and Gap Brands.

Plus with all that web-hopping, we’re bound to come across a few eye-popping big-ticket sweepstakes and giveaways too good to keep to ourselves.

Here’s our weekly installment of Friday Gift Card Giveaways.

PopSugar’s FreshGuide City Ultimate Sweepstakes: Fashionistas know Rachel Zoe and The Zoe Report for cutting edge style, and you’re in for a taste of that with this sweepstakes win. Win airfare for two, plus three nights in Miami at the very cool Gansevoort Hotel, right in the heart of Miami Beach. The sweepstakes ends March 18, 2011. Be 18 to enter, and see contest rules for details.

If you’re following Rachel Zoe style and need a few new things for spring, check out Plastic Jungle’s discounted Bon-Ton Department Store Gift Cards, discounted Boscov’s Department Store Gift Cards, discounted Claire’s Gift Cards, discounted Macy’s Gift Cards, discounted JCrew Gift Cards and much, much more in the way of style on sale.

And now for something completely different (told you we are a diverse bunch!):

Cabela’s 50 Years, 50 Trucks Sweepstakes:  Celebrating 50 years as The World’s Foremost Outfitter, outdoors retailer Cabela’s is happy to be giving away quite a few of the items that makes them famous. You could win prizes including one of 50 Chevy Trucks, one of 50 $500 Visa Gift Cards, win a walleye fishing trip for two, one of 50 elite rod and reel sets, and much more. You can make Cabela’s purchases to win, but you don’t have to: just submit your name and contact information for a free sweepstakes entry. Giveaway ends December 31, 2011, and you must be 21 years old to enter. See Cabela’s sweepstakes rules for details.

Win one of 50 Chevy Trucks in Cabela's fantastic sweepstakes.

If you can’t wait to get your hands on a new rod and reel, get a discounted Cabela’s Gift Card or eGift Card (eCODE) here on Plastic Jungle. At time of writing, get up to 12% off a Cabela’s Gift Card (eCODE) for use today!

The Classic DVF Wrap Dress for this Spring

Bloomingdale’s Diane von Furstenberg $5000 Giveaway:  Now’s your time to enter to win a $5,000 DVF (Diane von Furstenberg) home and fashion gift pack on Bloomingdales.com. In celebration of launching DVF’s exquisite Home collection at Bloomingdale’s, the two have paired up to give shoppers a chance at winning fashionable DVF merchandise, including a DVF wrap dress, DVF sunglasses, a DVF bedding ensemble, plus DVF shoes, DVF sunglasses and more. This fashion sweepstakes ends March 9, 2011; see Bloomingdale’s DVF Giveaway Rules on the entry form for details.

Discounted Bloomingdale’s Gift Cards on Plastic Jungle  >>

Fashion Mash-up: Check out Rachel Zoe’s interview with Diane von Furstenberg on The Zoe Report.

Wheat Thins Crunch Den College Basketball Tournament Giveaway: About 200,000 people like Wheat Thins on Facebook, and they already know about this fantastic March Madness giveaway! Don’t wait for your chance to win a trip for four to Las Vegas for the April 1-5, 2011 round of NCAA tournament games (during the NCAA Final Four tournament). The prize includes airfare and hotel, and a viewing party of the games from The Palms Hardwood Suite (which should be seen to be believed). Just “like” Wheat Thins on Facebook (log in or sign up to Facebook) to enter. The giveaway ends March 7, 2011 and you must be 21 to enter; see Wheat Thins contest rules for details.

Get a discount on Wheat Thins with discounted Target Gift Cards and discounted Walmart Gift Cards.

We at Plastic Jungle have our eyes and ears open for all kinds of giveaways, but if you know of a good one, we’d love to hear about it!

Happy (hopefully three-day) weekend!