Use the Internet to Get Free Stuff

[Post originally published on Lost in Technology. See the post here.]

The internet is a place of wonders, leaps of faith, media and ways to save money. What? Save money? How? Many leap at the flashing ads on the sides of pages, broadcasting “WIN AN IPOD”. But, there are actually legitimate ways to save money and grab freebies online.

Every day I check my Google Reader. I check out all of the blog posts, news and freebies. Freebies are free samples, or promotional items spotted on websites, then posted to sites for the community to see and use. Why would you want them? They are free. And sometimes useful. I have received gigantic Ziplock bags, seeds for my garden, free chocolate, water bottles and more.

Here are some of the better communities to find freebies.

Websites

Spoofee – Like many other sites does not just serve freebie finds, but deals and coupons as well. I just watch the freebies section as most finds are quite good. Every so often, a scam site is posted, so watch out. Usually, the site is spotted by a user, then posted on the thread, so read the thread before signing up for the freebie.

Fatwallet – Another large community, FatWallet serves great deals, coupons, and freebies. The selection is large and very good.

SampleADay – Is just like it sounds. With a large audience, Sample A Day writes about free samples daily.

Absurdly Cool Freebie Finder – Is a robot that aggregates freebies from many sites, and from the users.

Current Deals

Free Chocolate – Mars INC, The makers of M&Ms, Snickers, Three Musketeers  and more are giving away 1 free chocolate bar coupon to the first 250,000 each Friday this summer. A coupon arrives in the mail several weeks after signing up. You can sign up every week if you like, the limit is one per email address, four per household.

Free Samples – Walmart, constantly gives away free sample. Some of the samples featured include products by StayFree and Johnson.

Protecting Your Identity

Even when signing up to what looks legitimate, it is always good to use a little caution. Here are several tips to protect your identity.

Email Address – Because the likelihood of spammers is quite high, I suggest making a new Gmail address to funnel the constant spam. Signing up for freebies usually requires an email address just to confirm the recipient is real. Check the email address after signing up for freebies, then forget about it. If you don’t want to bother with a new address, simply use one of the following disposable email address services:

Phone Number – Google Voice gives you a free phone number that has blocking capabilities. You can also sign up for iNumbr.com which gives you a phone number that expires in 30 days. This service is not active right now, but will be up soon according to their website.

Autofill – Signing up for freebies can be tiresome when you have to constantly type in your email, and phone number. Using Google Toolbar’s Autofill tool to autofill the forms can make filling out forms much faster.

Good luck finding freebies!

Post by Squealing Rat. Find me on Twitter.

About squealingrat

Post by Squealing Rat. Find me on Twitter, @squealingrat and check out my latest blog, Looming Tech at loomingtech.com.
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