Finding Freebies

Our deals lists often include items that are free after your coupon doubles at the store, but there are several other ways to truly get something for nothing. For starters, sometimes the coupons are already for completely free products. Find coupons regularly through our internet coupon listing, manufacturer’s websites (check your favorite brands!), restaurant websites and our Twitter alerts, then take them to the store to collect your freebies.

Finding free items in your mailbox is always exciting too. There are several sites online to get free samples through the mail. These are usually single packs of products and often come with coupons for the full size version. The idea is that you will like it enough to start buying it regularly. A few of our favorite sites for sample offers include: MySavings.com, Vista Print and FreeFly.

You are probably already aware of the many ways to get great bargains on magazines. You can always find great magazine deals at MagsForLess, BlueDolphin.com, Amazon, Magazines.com, but there are also a few places that provide subscriptions for free. Rewardsgold.com will send offers for free subscriptions to publications like Parents, Forbes and more. You need to complete a quick survey, then the subscription will begin in 6-12 weeks. Trade Publications are also frequently offered for free if you are in need of targeted subscriptions.

Beware of “free offer” traps, though. Anything that asks for a credit card to send your “free” item is looking for a way to charge you. Trial offers are prevalent online and can be a legitimate source for free items or services, but you have to be very careful. This method is best for services you would consider anyway. If you regularly buy music, a trial to eMusic can get you more for your money to start out. A lot of retail websites will give offer a special deal or free item to first time customers, just to get you in the door (photo printing stores are a great example of this).

If you are planning to use trial offers only for the free part, you must be willing and able to put in the work to cancel the membership for whatever program is offered. Watch this one closely as they will charge your credit card first chance they get. They want you to try it, like and decide to pay monthly for whatever they offer but it often results in people who tried it, forgot about and pay for it anyway.

Word of Mouth advertising is one of the greatest ways for a company to promote their product. When you are given the opportunity to try a great product, it is human nature to share that experience. You are much more likely to purchase something if it is recommended by a friend. As a result, word of mouth advertising companies are cropping up to give businesses an outlet for this promotional tool. Sign up for BzzAgent.com or Houseparty.com and you will find yourself inundated with offers of free items to try with the hopes that you will share with everyone you know!

Before you get started, though, we highly recommend the use of a separate email account to control spam as you begin to sign up for special offers. Now that you have a basic idea of where to look, we hope you can begin to collect free items each week. Check back every Friday for Inexpensively’s Freebie Friday! We’ll share our favorite freebie finds as part of our Alert section.