FREE Stuff

    One of the 4 steps in our $$$ Diet is exploring creative ways to bring in money. For the next few days, I am focusing on FREE stuff and FREE money. I did some “googling” last night and spend a couple hours online signing up for free stuff. I will let you all know how it goes when the “stuff” starts pouring in. Since my birthday will fall during the Diet, I am planning ahead and signed up for a bunch of restaurants that offer free birthday treats or even full meals. More on that in November. I also signed up for free samples of everything from cereal to tampons. Below are some links to some great lists of free stuff.
    I have a few tips:
    First, do it at a time when you can sit at the computer for a while (watching TV or fighting insomnia works well), it takes a while to fill in all the forms.
    Second, have a “spam” email account you use for online stuff. You don’t want your regular email account flooded with junk. I use a yahoo email, but there are lots of them out there for free. I go a bit further in this and have a “spam” name I use. OK, I’m outing myself a bit, but sort of as a joke years ago, I started writing my undercover name, Gwendolyna Massatoni on drawings at the fair. I wanted to see how much junk mail I would get. Well, about the time Gwen started getting credit card offers I got worried. No wonder identity theft is so rampant. Since then, I always use that name when signing up for freebies online. I hope the restaurants won’t check ID on my birthday. I did let our mail carrier know so they won’t send my free stuff back (God forbid!) I also use a fake phone number if I have to put one in so we won’t get telemarketing calls. A few places, require you to set up an account on their website. For ease of remembering, I use what my husband the computer guru calls a “naming convention.” I use the same user name and have a standard password I add the company name to: ie chickenpoxredrobin or freestuffkashi333.
    Finally, be careful on these list sites. Some of them have viruses or are purely fronts for information gathering. Don’t download or accept or open anything. Most of the good lists link you to a company site where you ask for samples directly from the company.
    Over the next few days, I will be posting other creative avenues I find to get free stuff or money. Please post anything that has worked for you!
Great Birthday Freebies List
List of free stuff/samples
Another list