How to Find Real Freebies and Free Samples on the Internet

Who doesn't like free stuff? The truth of the matter is that free stuff is really pretty freaking great. Did you know that the internet is full of great places where you can actually get free stuff (yes real, truly free stuff)! Normally all you have to do to obtain the free stuff is to provide an email address, a mailing address, and a name. Occasionally you will be asked for a phone number as well. How does free stuff exist and why do companies give it out? Simple, many companies utilize free samples and other freebies to market their products and entice people to become a new customer to their business.

Over the past 12 years, I have gotten so much free stuff it is literally ridiculous. I've received probably over 20 T-shirts, 30 music CD's (in recent years free downloads have become popular), hundreds of posters, books, and DVDs, and many other sample items and coupons. One time I received a gallon of Boar's Head Mustard for free just by completing a one page survey. Boy was that a great day! In some case, I didn't really need or want the free stuff, but I signed up for it anyways. When the items arrived I donated them to charity, sold them online, or gave them away to a needy friend or family member.

Ok, so now that I've told you a piece of my story, perhaps now you're a bit more interested in how to get free stuff. Here I will present you with my favorite free stuff websites and tactics. There is even an old secret that worked before the internet existed (and still works!) that I will reveal to you as well. So read this article, get a second email address, perhaps a fake name, and enjoy the free stuff!

Totally Free Stuff - This is probably my favorite website. It is updated daily with more free stuff than any other site I have found. The site is also organized well and has an archive of freebies. There are also 2 great features that make this site better than the others that I have seen. 1) There is a top ten list of freebies for the previous 7 days as well as a "feature freebie" section. 2) Each free item listed has a description and a rating. The rating is helpful because it is based on other users of the site and will give you an indication of how good or how legit the free stuff is.

ThunderFap - This site is sort of like an internet archive of free stuff. ThunderFap is about as simple as you can get for a free stuff website. You can select from categories of free stuff on the left and choose items that you would like to receive. One of the downsides to this directory is that date stamps aren't provided on the free offers.

Just Free Stuff - This site is pretty good. New free offers are added daily; its easy to find the newest freebies. There is also an archive on the site as well. There are also forums available to discuss free stuff with other people.

Did you that Twitter is a great resource to find out about the latest free stuff the instant it is posted on the internet? Yet another great use for Twitter! If you are interested, here are a few people to follow:

@FreeStuffUS "Get Free Stuff " - This twitter feed is a reliable source for free (or free with shipping) items. It is geared towards US residents and is updated several times a day.

@Freenology "Free Samples & Stuff" - 38,000 users can't go wrong following this free stuff feed.

@onlinefreebies "Free Stuff" - Here is another reliable resource for a constantly updated list of free stuff.

@fstimes "Free Stuff Times" - Here is another reliable twitter feed that boasts more than 90,000 followers.

@FreeStuffRocks "Fatwallet Free Stuff" - Freebies posted by the team at fatwallet.com

@CouponCraving "Coupon Cravings" - This working mom and mother of 2 has more that 11,800 followers. This is because she regularly tweets about great deals and free stuff that she finds on the internet.

@HeyItsFree "Hey, It's Free!" - This user has more than 50,000 followers for a good reason!

In addition to following users that post free stuff, you should use a Twitter hashtag service (such as Twilert) to subscribe to tweets with hashtags like: #freestuff, #free, #freebie, or #freebies.

So now I bet you want to hear how I got free stuff all the time before the Internet existed, right? Well what I used to do (and still do occasionally) is write letters to the companies that you want free stuff from. I am talking about snail mail paper letters here.

My strategy would be to compliment the company on their fine work and tell them how much I loved their product(s). Before the internet, would write 1-2 letters per week and mail them out to the customer relations division of the corporate office of the businesses I was targeting. Many times I would get no response at all, but sometimes I would get a letter and some coupons in return.

My best finds with this method were usually free clothing items such as a Mountain Dew Shirt and a Nascar Hat. I remember one time that Dr. Pepper gave me coupons for ten 12 Packs of soda. That was about $30 worth of free soda just for telling the corporate office how awesome Dr. Pepper is! In my experience, a hand written or typed letter has significantly better results than sending email to big companies.

So there you have it, I hope you enjoy your new free stuff.