What free stuff do you get?

[gooddecisions]

This has probably been done before on Smart Spending, but I've run out of free stuff ideas and thought we could share.

The best free deals I take advantage of is registering for local contests. I usually win about 10 movie pre-screenings for two, a few festival tickets for two and a few concert tickets for two every year. I almost always use the tickets, although I did just win 4 tickets to the comedy club and didn't go. I've been doing this for about 10 years so it definitely kept me entertained on a cheap budget through my twenties.

Before the recession hit, we could go to Chilis or Fridays and eat free wings or appetizers with a happy hour beer. So, $2 for dinner and a free movie made for a pretty cheap night out.

[whoisjohngalt]

I don't get a lot of free stuff, but now I am craving wings!!!!

Lena

[Peace77]

Sometimes you can get free things direct from manufacturers.
Kleenex is still running a promotion: Cheer up a friend
Go to their website and you can send a mini package of kleenex to a friend or family member.

Go to expo when you can get in free. Companies give away pens, post it paper, and all kinds of goodies. I haven't bought pens in years.

Sign up on Facebook pages of companies that make products you like and you can find out about their promotions. Sometimes it is just free shipping but every bit counts if it is something you need.

[misspt]

I get a lot of stuff for free, for instance:
Proctor and Gamble sends free samples from their Everyday Solutions website when you request them, they usually send a nice high value coupon, too.
I use mypoints to get free gift cards, right now I have 21,000 points banked from taking advantage of "special offers" they sent me for things I was going to spend money on anyway for my new home (Dish Network Satellite, etc) those points will get me a couple of $50 and $25 gift cards for things that I need.
I am a grocery challenge lady, so I was able to buy 45 lbs of Science Diet dog food for tax only (not free, but almost) this weekend using my coupons.
I am a member of Vocal Point and All You Magazine's email lists, and they send me free products with coupons for me to rate. All You sent me two full size bags of Tostitos last month.
I have one email dedicated to this kind of stuff, so when I get frugal burnout, I just don't check this email. That way, my main email isn't full of crap.

[hsclassic]

I'm registered with so many restaurants to get their coupons....we eat out 3x/week, so it does save us quite a bit.

Proctor and Gamble does have free samples - I order the ones I'll use.

Hey It's Free website is all types of things you can order for free.

I also participate in MySurvey and earn points. Just ordered gift cards based on earning points. More free meals coming up.

[Deleted]

Our free stuff is almost all travel-related. I make a science out of working the frequent flyer and hotel programs and taking advantage of special offers to get more points. Every year we go to Europe and while it's not free, at least one airfare and some of our hotel nights are.

I also answer surveys on e-rewards.com and enter the codes from bottle caps at mycokerewards.com. With e-rewards.com I've gotten extra Hilton points- I think they also offer miles on a few airlines. Mycokerewards.com offers magazine subscriptions, Coke paraphernialia and a lot of gadgets; I've been using it for K-Mart gift cards. They used to have decent offers to get Holiday Inn points but that got limited to one offer per account. In general, I've found both e-rewards and mycokerewards to be less "rewarding" over time for the things I want.

[alabamagal]

Just used my coke rewards to get son new Nike Tennis shoes for free! They were the "on sale" versions, not enough points for the expensive ones.

[mithrin]

I've done the e-Rewards surveys, but now the only thing they have I want to redeem is $15 in Borders credit. Since you can only redeem once a year, I usually just do enough surveys at the beginning of the year to qualify and then ignore them the rest of the year. They do have frequent flier miles, but even though I signed up for them via American Airlines, they don't offer AAmiles.

My big freebies are signing up for credit cards when they offer a sign-up bonus (anywhere from $50-250, I usually only bother if it's at least $100). Also look for cards that pay better than 1% cash back.

[kccini9]

I sign up for any and all freebies and samples that I will use. Facebook makes this extremely easy now. Find a couple sites that just post freebies and deals and you are good. I get coupons for free products, full size samples, etc.

I also play instant win games. I win 4-6 times a month. This month I've won a few free coupons for frozen pizza, a $25 Wal-Mart gc, a $25 Schwans gc, $10 Dunkin Donuts gc, and a $10 AMC theaters gc. For the ones I don't use, I'll give them away or sell them on ebay.

Companies do a lot of free giveaways on Facebook. Since we are overeas, the time difference makes it hard for me to get it on some of these. Hubby no longer laughs at me when I stay up all night to make sure I get it on them (they are usually at 12 pm EST, thats 2 am my time).

[TD2K]

mmmmmmm, wings.

[dancinmama]

I recently got one of the Ziploc Vacuum Sealer Kits in the mail for free. DH and I are shocked at how well the bags seem to work as compared to using one of the expensive vacuum sealing machines.

[Clifford]

If I collected any mycokerewards points I would loose my job... and possibly go to jail.
My wife collects coupons and gets free stuff all the time. We once calculated that she saves about $15 per hour of effort. Not bad considering she stays at home, and all savings are after taxes. It's a tangible way for her to contribute to the family's finances.