Save Money, Get it for Free

So in my quest to make/save money while partially unemployed, I've stumbled upon some legit sites that offer random freebies that are just there for the asking. So, while like my post about online surveys earlier, you won't be making any huge monetary strides with these - every little bit helps, right? Here's some sites I've found that so far seem useful:

SavingsAndCoupons.com - you have to sign up for the links, but there's a pretty extensive listing of random items you can follow through and request.
Free-Product-Samples - a blog with extensive and somewhat frequent updates about offers.
Walmart's Free Samples - Walmart even has a listing of items.
StartSampling.com - a fairly good list of interesting offers.
Bargainist.com - updated every few days or so.
Shop4Freebies.com - updated daily.
FreeGrabber.com - updated daily, or close to it.

Now, you might be thinking, why bother? How is a few samples arriving at my door in two months gonna help? Well, as I mentioned above, this isn't a huge solution. But my thought process is, if I can save a few bucks next month by not having to buy a few necessities at the store, then that extra $10 or $20 might make all the difference. For instance, today I saw offers for medications (heartburn, cold remedies, digestive aids), household products (laundry detergent, dryer sheets, window cleaner), personal products (feminine products, colognes, shampoo, lotion), business supplies (flash drives, pens, sticky notes), and even food products (toaster pastries, sweeteners, health food snacks). So imagine that in two months you're still having a hard time finding work...but instead of having to go to the store, you at least have some samples to last you through until another week and your next paycheck arrives.

At least that's my idea, anyways.

Some recommendations:

1) If you already have a PO Box, use it. I'm not sure how much junk mail any one company might send, so at least keep it confined to somewhere other than your house.

2) Use a separate email addy. If you're like me, you already have one for those online surveys you're doing in your free time, so that might be a good place to send any potential spam.

And finally, to wrap up this entry - I'm on Twitter, now! Add @SHIKrants to your following list and be notified as soon as I get irritated and rant about something new.