I love free stuff. And I love getting mail. So while getting a parcel addressed to YOU is exciting enough, getting a parcel containing FREE STUFF is even better, to the third power.
A friend of mine recently told me about the Freebies section of RedFlagDeals.com. He’s been checking there every couple of days for the past year or so for free stuff. Apparently he’s amassed a pile of glorious junk, containing Mach3 razors, boxes full of Biology DVDs, cases of cereal, tampons, and much more. I want stuff too.
The great thing about forums is that they serve as a communication tool for the general public. Rows upon rows of freebie threads are posted over at RedFlagDeals, but you can easily weed out the gold from the rubble by simply reading what people have to say. If lots of people have reported receiving their free stuff, that’s obviously a good sign.
Spam Email
If you don’t have one already, you should get a new email solely for use on the internet. That way you won’t clog up your regular, important email address with confirmations, notifications, newsletters, spam, etc. I highly recommend signing up for a GMail account. This puppy can hold a ridiculous amount of storage space (7265MB and counting) and can easily sort the spam from the not-as-spammy emails.
A Neat Trick
Some forms (accidentally) let you sign up multiple times for the same offer. You can easily backspace and change you name, but if they request unique email addresses as well you don’t need to open up another GMail account. Simply add a period somewhere in the letters before the @ symbol (so instead of thisisatest@gmail.com, use this.isatest@gmail.com) – you’ll still receive email, but the form will consider it a different address. Hurrah!
As far as I know, this is something that may not work with other email providers, but I know it works in GMail.
Auto-Fill
Next you’ll need a way to semi-automate the sign-up process for your free junk. You need an auto fill program installed in your browser – you enter your information once, then it detects forms on webpages and automatically fills them in with a click of your mouse. This saves a copious amount of time and is indispensible if you plan on signing up for dozens of free offers.
I highly recommend downloading the Google Toolbar (yes I am a Google slave) which comes equipped with the AutoFill extension.
Now simply go to your AutoFill settings, add in your name (fake names work!), your address (you’ll need your real one so you can actually receive mail), and the ‘spam email’ account you’ve just created.
The Hunt
Now that you’re equipped to apply for free stuff, you need to find them! I’ll be blogging about great places to find free offers as I discover them, but if you live in Canada the RedFlagDeals forum is a good place to start.
Good luck, and happy hunting!
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