Not Just Coupons, FREE Coupons.

This is more of an expansion on my original coupon post. We all know that coupons can save you hundreds of dollars a month when used the right way. But, have you ever seen a coupon for a free item?

Yes! These extremely valuable coupons really DO exist, and I've even used several of them and currently have about 5 free item coupons on hand. There are a few different ways to receive these coupons: firstly a few companies let you request the "sample" as I mentioned before and they send it to you in the form of a Free coupon. For instance, Kraft Mac and Cheese is giving away Free Macaroni and Cheese coupons to the first 200 people every day through March 4 who enter in their information at 12 PM EST. But just FYI, you have to be really quick to enter because all 200 are usually gone in less than a minute. The best method to win this one is to already have the page up before the time it starts, and just keep refreshing the page until they open up the giveaway. Auto-fill add-ons or Roboform make it a lot easier to get your entry submitted in time since they fill out the form for you within seconds.

The other two methods of receiving free coupons involve contacting companies directly by either praising a product or sending a complaint. Generally speaking, if you're complaining about a product you're much more likely to be sent a free coupon as a form of reimbursement for whatever problem you had with the product. Make sure you keep the receipts to items because you'll most likely be asked for the UPC of the item you bought as well as proof of purchase if you email a company with a complaint.

Now unless you're a compulsive liar and have no integrity whatsoever, you most likely won't want to invent complaints to email companies just to get a few easy freebies. So the best route to take is to just ask the company directly. Tell them what you like about their product! Give them suggestions! Let them know you've never actually used their product before, but it looked interesting and you'd like to try it out! If you want, add to the end of your email that you'd really appreciate it if they had a few extra coupons they could spare. Some companies are nice enough to include a free product coupon or two. And even if none of the coupons they send are for a free item, they're usually of pretty high value, and hey! a coupon's a coupon, right?

The easiest way to contact companies is through the "Contact Us" option located usually at the bottom of a company's website. This way they ask you to fill out your information first so that you don't accidentally forget to include it in your email.

I'll be compiling a big list of companies that I've emailed personally that have sent me coupons, including companies that threw in FREE coupons. In the meantime while I work on my list, here's a company for you to email that sent me a coupon for free pasta. (:

Mail Call!

Mail Call!

A few months ago I started getting into requesting samples from companies. I noticed a lot of people on a Facebook Page constantly posting their "mail calls" on the page's wall about all of the free items they received that day in their mailbox. Yes, you really can get great things in the mail just from filling out a simple form on a company's website!
This picture is the mail that I had just from today! A bunch of different shampoo and conditioner samples, a pack of 5 towelettes, a cute pink beauty bag from Target, a cough medicine sample, and a bottle of 5-Hour energy! Usually these companies will only give out the samples for a limited amount of time or until their samples run out, but some companies will let you request a sample just about anytime. I've requested and received tons of different samples since December, including lots of haircare products, and even free cans of cat food and dog food, free Mac and cheese boxes, a free bottle of Activate flavored water, and a full pasta meal for 4 from Wise Food Company! In this economy every little bit helps!
To get you guys started on your quest for free things, here's a form for a "sample" meal from Wise Foods. Note, they will email you to confirm that you want the sample and they will also most likely give you a call, so be sure to provide accurate information or you may not receive your sample.
Most importantly when it comes to samples, BE PATIENT. Some will arrive within a week or two, while others may take up to several months to arrive. But if you're always requesting new samples you're bound to have a constant flow arriving in the mail in no time.

Coupons, coupons, and more coupons

If you're focused on saving money on a regular basis, there's one great way for you to get started: coupons. I can't stress couponing enough for you when it comes to major savings. I know, I know. You're thinking "couponing?? Pshh that's not for ME." And right about now you're starting to see images of that "crazy coupon lady" in the grocery store holding the line up for 10 minutes with her handful of coupons.

What you didn't see was the fact that the "crazy coupon lady" just paid $20 for $50 worth of items that she needed to buy anyway. Instead of paying full price for your groceries and other miscellaneous items, why not use a coupon to save money on something you would be buying anyway? And pairing these coupons with various store deals and coupons is when you really start to save money.
Let me give you an example of an unbeatable deal that I scored today. In the Redplum coupon insert from 2/12, there was a coupon for $3 off any full size Got2be hair product. Walgreens was having a deal this week, for a buy 1 get 1 free Got2be product for just $5.99. So, with 2 of these $3 off coupons, I was able to get 2 Got2be hairsprays for just $0.46 (sales tax) since both coupons covered the price of the products.

And THIS is why coupons can be a valuable tool for great savings. So go grab your weekly newspapers and start clipping!

 P.S. A great website to use for store match-ups is Hip2Save.

Newbie Blogger Here

Okay, so I'm not EXACTLY a college student yet... but let's face it; college is right around the corner and the Fall of 2012 is quickly approaching. As college students (or maybe even soon-to-be college students), I think we all need all of the support we can get. And THAT, my dear friends, is where this blog comes in.

I'm not gonna lie, I never really considered myself the "blogging" type. It was bad enough once I got myself hooked on Facebook. Blogging was just completely out of the question. Or so I thought.

Here's my goal for this blog: to provide college students and non-college students alike with the support to live the "Golden Life," even in this state of our economy. (Ahh so now you see why I chose this as the title for my blog.... I mean, besides the fact that it has no relation to my name whatsoever). *sarcasm*
I'll be blogging on tips, helpful advice, and other great websites that I know of that I'm sure will be of great help in earning/saving a bit of extra money. Stay tuned!