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Companies are trying to get your attention and one way is by providing free samples of their products. If they can just get you to try it, that’s the first step in you buying it and becoming a loyal customer.

Freebies delivered at our home the last few months include popular magazines, cereals, shampoos and cleaning products. We enjoy listening to free music while reading books downloaded at no cost. It’s a matter of knowing where to find these and having a strategy.

Where to Find Freebies

You can find offers for free products occasionally at the company’s website. It’s too much work visiting hundreds of sites looking for that needle in a haystack. Fortunately, there are sites that specialize in finding freebies for you. Most deal blogs also share free offers with readers.

Subscribe to several sites to ensure a wide range of free products. Over time you will identify which ones find the items most likely to be used by your family.

Don’t forget to be on the lookout for samples when shopping at brick and mortar stores. There are often given out by product demonstrators providing samples of newly introduced items.

A third way to get free products is taking advantage of items that are free after mail in rebate. if the item is taxable you will have to pay the sales tax but it can be well worth it for a product of value.

Freebie Strategy

One of the problems with taking advantage of freebies is that there are so many offers. At first I was like a kid in a candy store and signed up for everything available. Well, how many calendars can one use at a time?

Pretty soon I had a lot of items we wouldn’t use and I didn’t know what to do with them. That led me to develop some criteria.

1. My family or house guests will use the item.
2. I know someone that will use the product that I can give it to.
3. It would be happily accepted by a charity.

I have a basket filled with hair, oral care and bathing products for house guests filled with freebies. I share products with co-workers and other friends. Homeless shelters, day care centers, and local charities can always use food, toys and/or grooming products.

These rules have helped reduce clutter and get the most value out of the freebies. Every dollar you don’t have to spend on products makes it available for other purposes.

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I’m not a financial planner or a budget expert. I’ll just be walking you through the steps I take each time my budget needs an adjustment. In fact, I’ll be participating myself!