Free is to Frugal as Clear is to Water

Of course, finding something for nothing that is actually worth having can be difficult and, I am not going to lie, time consuming. Like we discussed in our coupons post, the value of your time and resources must be considered when you are researching or working for discounts and free stuff. Of course, there is a way to streamline the process of getting free stuff and I’ve got a few convenient tricks up my sleeve that I will share with you, ironically, for nothing!

Craigslist

My all time favorite site for free stuff is Craigslist. First of all, the stuff listed in the Craigslist free section is right in your own neighborhood. Second, you don’t always have to communicate with the person getting rid of their stuff. Often, people place curbside notifications letting you know that they are putting stuff on the curb. They usually post lists of the items they have and sometimes they even post pictures. The first person to drive by and get it takes it. There are also many free things you can call for and arrange to pick up. This includes furniture, televisions, sewing machines and more.

Google Alerts

If you use the Google Reader, then you can set up keyword alerts. These alerts scour the web for articles, blog posts and any mention of the keywords you set up. I set up alerts for the keywords: free, freebie, cheap, free deal and free stuff and every day I get thousands of links to free things that I can sign up for, download or order. To set up alerts you’ll need to sign in to your Google account and set up Google alert.

RSS Feeds

It’s easy to find blogs and websites that list free stuff every day or week. They may come up through your Google alerts or you can just search for them using a search engine. But once you find one, don’t just bookmark it and think you’ll go back again. Instead, subscribe to the RSS feed for the site. That way, you can look in your feed reader everyday and see all the free stuff feeds you’ve subscribed to in one spot. You can even subscribe to the Craigslist free section’s RSS feed. I use the Google reader for this so that my alerts and feeds all come through in one place.

Walmart.com

Walmart has a special section of its website for stuff that is “In Stores Now.” This section is a treasure trove of name brand product freebies that they want you to try. You never know what you may find here and not only is it great because you get free stuff, but it’s also great because you can try out products that you might have been thinking about buying. This allows you to make sure you like the product before you invest any cash in it. You can access the free samples here.