The internet is not only a great resource for information, it is loaded with free stuff waiting to be claimed. If you would rather get samples and gift cards than viruses and spyware, you need to stick to legitimate offers. Identifying trusted websites can be a daunting task but the following list provides the top ten methods for snagging your share of swag. You may not get rich but your mailbox will be filled with fun freebies and your pockets lined with extra cash.
10. Surveys
Becoming a member of an internet panel can be both mildly amusing and mildly lucrative. After providing in-depth demographic information, members receive sporadic, time-sensitive surveys. Preliminary disqualification is frequent and participants typically must complete five to ten lengthy questionnaires in order to reach the $5 payout threshold. Panelists are occasionally asked to test full size products at home for slightly more compensation. A few good companies are Synovate (www.synovate.com), Clearvoice Surveys (www.cvsresearch.com) and Mindfield Online (www.mindfieldonline.com). If you do not mind intrusion into your internet activity, try Swagbucks (www.swagbucks.com) which integrates survey information with search engine usage.
9. Sweepstakes
Should you find time and luck on your side, internet sweepstakes can pay off big. Prizes and participation vary wildly so a cost-benefit analysis is often necessary to determine your odds of winning. Roboform (www.roboform.com) is a safe, free program which minimizes time investment by auto-filling entry forms. Read the contest rules, create a dedicated email address and opt-out of receiving additional emails from sponsors. Sandra Grauschopf does an excellent job of collecting and categorizing sweepstakes on www.contests.about.com. For immediate gratification, subscribe to www.snazzywin.com which details both instant win games and free samples.
8. Freecycle
Join your local Freecycle (www.freecycle.org) group and peruse the forum for freebies just waiting for good homes. From used washing machines to clothing, turn other people’s trash into your new treasure. Freecycle is a “nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free” to ease the burden on landfills. There is no membership fee– you just digitally claim and then physically retrieve your booty. If you are fortunate and realistic, someone might even respond to your “wanted” post.
7. Trial Memberships
If you are a new user (or even an old user with a different address and credit card), why not get a month’s worth of free movies? Both Netflix (www.netflix.com) and Blockbuster (www.blockbuster.com) offer free 30 trial memberships. Hulu (www.hulu.com) is an excellent source for free television programming and extends a sample week of its larger Hulu Plus collection to viewers. Search the internet for www.audible.com’s promotional codes and download a free audio book or two. Just cancel your new memberships before the trial period ends to avoid being charged. You can also score some freebies by signing up for daily deal websites which offer an initial credit. Try www.groupon.com, www.1saleaday.com, www.dailysteals.com and www.savemore.com. Rack up even more credits by referring friends.
6. Telephone Technology
While you may not be able to eliminate your telephone bill entirely, you can take a chunk out of it by utilizing Skype (www.skype.com). Join for free and chat via your computer’s webcam and microphone with other Skype users, even overseas. You can also send and receive unlimited text messages without charge on www.textem.net to the vast majority of telephone carriers. If you can’t find your cell phone, www.wheresmycellphone.com is a lifesaver and will call your phone at no cost.
5. Magazines
Not only can you source the internet for magazine trial issues, you can get free yearlong subscriptions of magazines you would actually read. Imagine people thinking your coffee table belongs in a doctor’s waiting room! Publishers target business people so tweak your information accordingly for maximal offers. Try www.rewardsgold.com, www.mercurymagazines.com and www.freebizmag.com. Even if you do not recycle, Recyclebank (www.recyclebank.com) allows you to earn points by watching short videos and taking didactic quizzes which are quickly redeemable for free magazine subscriptions (plus coupons, pet food, gift cards and restaurant discounts).
4. DVD Rentals
With the exception of brand new releases, all DVDs from Redbox and Blockbuster Express kiosks rent for $1 per night and the internet is packed with $1 off promotional codes. Just return the video before 9 p.m. the following day to avoid being charged. Because you can enter multiple promotional codes per credit card, the only limit is your viewing ability. For Redbox codes, visit www.insideredbox.com. For Blockbuster Express codes, visit www.retailmenot.com and search Blockbuster Express. Both sites monitor the success rate of codes but cover your bases by jotting down a few– the kiosk will alert you instantly if your discount was applied.
3. Coupons
Matching coupons with sales often results in freebies but the comparison process can be time consuming. Visit www.moneysavingmom.com and click on “Store Deals” to view not only national sales at CVS, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Walmart and Target but regional deals at your local grocer. These bargains are listed with citations to Sunday circular coupons and links to printable coupons on www.coupons.com, www.redplum.com and manufacturer websites. If there is an especially great discount on www.coupons.com, hit the back button a few times to get a second, unique coupon or request it by mail on the help menu to save ink. Two computers will allow you to get twice the coupons as the print limit is unique to the computer. You can also add coupons directly onto a loyalty card at your store’s website. Don’t ignore small value coupons, especially if your store doubles. Walmart will even let you use any post-coupon overage toward your total purchase and matches prices on all printed advertisements.
2. Samples in the Mail
There is an absolute plethora of free samples available on the internet which can transform your mailbox from a sad repository of bills to a fun storehouse of freebies. Finding samples is a hit-or-miss prospect unless you tap into the vast knowledge of bloggers devoted to finding them. Excellent resources are www.heyitsfree.net, www.freesamplefrenzy.com, www.freebies4mom.com, www.thethriftycouple.com and www.savingeveryday.net. Not only should you subscribe to their email lists but “like” them on Facebook to get time-sensitive freebies which go quickly.
1. Daily Feats
Daily Feats ( www.dailyfeats.com) is not just an inspirational website, it is a great way to earn gift cards. After joining the website for free, simply log in and record the small things you do every day–from flossing your teeth to taking the stairs. Each feat has an assigned point value and completing challenges with multiple tasks racks up points quickly. Once a month, you can easily redeem them for a $10 gift card at stores such as eBay, iTunes, Home Depot, Starbucks, Staples and Safeway. Or aim higher for a $25 spa or $50 airline card. Points also have unlimited redemption toward discounts at local attractions, restaurants, shops and services.
34 Comments
I signed up for several free samples websites a few years ago. I received tons of emails from all of them but received few freebies. Usually the offers had already expired, or I was referred to another freebie website, which I had already signed up for and was receiving emails from, but was prompted again to sign up to receive offers (in which the original item of interest wasn’t included). I stopped receiving emails from most of the websites, but now I’m starting to receive spam emails from websites with similar names. Either they sold my email address to spammers, or their databases were hacked into.
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I always fill in surveys to make some extra money.
Artist Jera Sky (me) is giving away a free painting every single day to people who email and ask for one.
http://jerasky.blogspot.com/p/free-art.html
I’m covering everything – so it will be shipped to your door and you will have paid exactly $0 for an awesome Jera Sky original painting!
My ultimate goal is to get my art all over the world and this seems like the best way to do so.
An alternative to freecycle that I use is called Free Treasure. It is a site that you can post an advertisement on to get rid of stuff you no longer need and someone in your community will send you a request to come pick it up. The best thing about the site is it only takes a couple of seconds to put an item up and the rest is up to the other users to come collect it for free. It can be found at http://www.freetreasure.com.au and I hope you enjoy it as much as me.
It’s amazing how everyone is just so certain these are scams… I’ve used a majority these tips this past year: free magazines, rewards sites like Swagbucks and DailyFeats, and mailed freebies.
As far as mailed freebies go, the large reputable companies are the ones doing them: Walmart, Target, Costco, P&G, or any major brand with a Facebook page, etc. They send these freebies because it is essentially really effective advertising. Typically, they will send only sample sized items for the least expensive shipping price possible (meaning you get your freebies in 4 – 12 weeks), making it very inexpensive for the company to do. Not only do customers appreciate that they get to try it before buying, they appreciate the act of getting something free and think positively of the company.
There are rewards sites that are scams, and rewards sites that are just too time consuming to get any real gains from, but I have made $25 in gift cards so far from the two I mentioned before (others I like are Beezag and MyPoints). Also, I’ve never gotten a bill for any of my magazine subscriptions. Many freebie blogs will do a weekly “haul” post showing all the loot they got for free, including magazine subs; I know I’m not the only one. You really can get things for free.
I subscribed to This Frugal Life. Lots of great coupons, freebies and great deals daily. I am not working for them, nor am I trying to scam anyone. It’s just a great site providing a great service. Sheesh…
I am the writer of this list. I am an actual person: My name is Suzanne Duvall. Here is my FB link:
http://www.facebook.com/people/Suzanne-Duvall/100001410308092
Each and everything on this list is something to which I subscribe, do and clearly recommend. I have not been paid for endorsements, nor would the Top Tenz webmaster allow me to do such. I am a consummate bargain hunter and have no qualm in admitting so. I get some pretty sweet stuff for free and was trying to pass on the love.
It took me 2 years to weed out the crap from legitimate internet offers. I was trepidatious about “putting my information out there” initially but was happily surprised with the cacophonous rewards. It is my sincere intention to share this valuable information with others. Not only do I sign myself up for these offers, I do so my disabled neighbor, who loves getting these samples. This is a small, free joy which I am able to enable. She sends her caregiver out with instruction based on her preferred samples.
I AM the sister of the webmaster’s friend. I am a graduate the UVA School of Law and am grateful for the opportunity to write. Post-checking, I agree with you that mercurymagazine.com may sell your information but they do send you your periodical free-of-charge. Tweak accordingly.
I think you have been the victim of “trolling”. It seems that they did a good job of it too.
Most of the time you just have to remember to go cancel your membership before the payments start to kick in, not too hard in exchange for getting something for free, but usually I can’t be bothered because I know I won’t get around to it… Always make sure you are dealing with a reputable company before you give them your personal/financial info of course! I think TopTenz thinks its readers are savvy enough to know that!
FreeCycle and Skype are great ways to save money and I got a lot of free samples of baby stuff in the mail after I signed up somewhere (I can’t remember where). That Feats site seems kind of weird – you earn points for brushing your teeth? I wouldn’t really describe that as a ‘feat’- at least I hope not!
Wow, I can’t believe Top Tenz is peddling these kind of scam sites. Obviously some of these are legit like Netflix and Skype, but there’s no way in heck I’d ever give my info to many of those sites. You only need to search the web for things like “mercury magazines scam” to read about the people that get scammed & charged for trying to get things for “free”.
We aren’t peddling anything. We didn’t get paid to write this and aren’t being compensated in anyway from any of these sites. The writer did research to find sites that offered freebies and provided information for you to use or choose not to use. We, of course, want all of our users to be safe, so provide any information if you feel the sites listed are not honest.
Then the next leap of logic is to say that the author is getting paid to peddle these sites on your website. This list is obviously disguised spam.
Wrong again.
So you perform background checks on everyone who turns in lists? Monitor their phones, e-mails, etc.? Is that how you’re so sure?
With this writer I am 100% sure. She is the sister of one of my dearest friends and has written many times for us before. Perhaps you would like to read some of our conspiracy lists: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-conspiracy-theories.php
Aw, that’s cute. You bring up a conspiracy theories list as a way to insult one of the people who’s calling you out, when all it does is show the kind of person you really are. How are we supposed to know that some of the people who write your lists are friends of friends or sisters or friends? You could’ve said that in the beginning and saved yourself a lot of grief. But no, you had to take the low road in an attempt to lift yourself up. Further comments ignored.
No offense or insult intended. Just some playful teasing.
Love this list. Thank you!
An inlteleignt answer – no BS – which makes a pleasant change
There is a song by the internationally famous rock music group called RUSH. On their fourth album (entitled “2112”) there is a song called “Something For Nothing”. Read the lyrics someday and you will learn that you can get nothing for free anymore. This is a classic example of what is known as “come-ons”. If its too good to be true, than 99.9% of the time, it is. One thing that really make me go ballistic, is say you want to sign up for something. Most of the time they say register for FREE. You spend an hour of your time filing out the required information to this company. When you finish after one hour, its then that they want your credit card number along with the three digit security code located on the back of your credit card……….. Yeah Right !!! And while your at it, why don’t you give them your social security card number and your checking account number while your at it. I have studied up quite frequently on scamming for the past 3 years and it is everywhere. Scamming really took off with the fall of communism in 1990 and the Russian Mafia went bananas with it. Always read the fine print. Ever notice medicine commercials and they talk legibly about the medication and then when they tell about the side effects, they talk so rapidly that you cant understand them. I like the Viagra one as one of the side effects is having a sore back !! Well that kind of defeats the man’s purpose. I guess he would have to just lay on his back and let his partner do all of the work. Its crazy man !!!
Wisdom in those words.
Also here’s another one. Commercials for anti-depression medications like ABILIFY. They tell you the advantages of taking it (by a paid commercial actor or actress, of course) and then when they tell you the side effects, one of them just happens to be thoughts of SUICIDE. Doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of the medication ???? And one time I DID have a prescription for it as I do suffer from mild complications of depression. My health insurance did not cover it at all. The cost for 30 tablets (a one month supply) ??? $450.00 !!!! If the prescription had been for high powered oxycontin, I may have considered it. But also remember that most depression medications don’t start taking effect until about the 3rd week of taking it. My solution was simple. I am a US military veteran. I get my check ups, doctor visits and hospital stays for free. I also get my meds not only for free, but mailed to my house. They put me on celexa (anti-depression medication) at no charge at all. End of story.
Man. Right on. I swear I have literally seen various drugs that are dangerous, like you mention, being marketed for a particular purpose only to experience not enough sales (!) and turn around and market the drug for another, totally different purpose.
Lyrica was for depression, then sleep aid, then when people started to get up in the middle of night sleepwalking and drinking BLEACH, they sold it for fibromialgia. NOT EVEN A REAL THING.
St. Johns Wort has proven very effective for me with a mild case of Bi-Polar hilarity. No side effects. Literally its an astounding effect: clarity.
Don’t expect to hear that from our medical profession, though.
I am loving seeing more and more people binning off the medications and trying herbs instead. There are many herbs that can make you feel more balanced and less depressed. St Johns wort is one of the better known ones, however, it is only recommended for mild to moderate depression. More serious depression may benefit from Rhodiola or gynostemma.
There is a ton of information on the internet so anyone wanting to treat depression without medication has all the information at their fingertips.
Of course I need to say that you shouldn’t be taking any herbal medicine without checking with your doctor first. This is because herbs (just like prescribed medications) can interact with each other or current medication. However, most doctors know virtually nothing about alternative medicine. Even if your doctor says it is safe please check it out on wedmd first. You are likely to find more correct information there than what your drug dealing doctor can tell you!
Serious depression should be monitored closely. If prescribed medication helps then it worth considering for a short while. However I believe that herbs are far superior, especially if it is to be more of a long term issue. We are starting to understand that prescribed antidepressants are having long term negative consequences on the brain, which in turn make depression worse and render us reliant upon them.
I have suffered with depression since being a small child. I spend a third to two thirds of every year feeling suicidal. However, due to herbs and diet changes (no exercise – only just working on that one. I do believe it is important too. I am just being truthful about my situation) I have been depression free for just over a year. I have some bad days and possibly a bad week but I haven’t felt suicidal for over a year. This is the best i have ever felt. Ever. And it’s great. I am starting to understand how other people who aren’t depressed must feel every day. It’s like being free from a prison.
Despite the fact that I highly recommend trying herbs, please DO NOT ever just stop taking your medication. Wean off it and make sure you do it under the drs supervision. You can slowly replace this with herbs should you wish to.
I wish everyone the best and recommend that they look into the connection between depression and our modern day lives, especially processed foods. It was a game changer for me. Good luck.
I couldn’t agree more…. I won a “free” 5 night cruise over the summer…. that worked out for me… NOT…. oh and i signed up for this awesome service for free and after 25 minutes of filling out information i finally was a member… oh but to actually receive the service they offer you have to pay??? Its never what it seems! Its just a way to obtain your information.