How & Where to Find Totally Free Stuff
by belief713359 FollowersHow & Where to Find Totally Free Stuff
If the dwindling economy has put a reign on your finances and ability to spend freely, don't worry, you are not alone. Luckily, there are tons of resources both online & offline that allow you to get totally free stuff! That's right, no strings attached, no questions asked, 100% completely totally free stuff. And people seem to love free stuff - according to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, the average search volume for free stuff in month is 368,000 searches, locally. The average search volume for free stuff in one month globally is 673,000 searches, which is almost twice as much!
I'm a bargain shopper by nature - it's not exactly my fault either. I was drug around to yard sales, flea markets, thrift stores, and the likes for as long as I can remember, so I had no choice but to learn how to be frugal with the almighty dollar. And why not bargain shop? You can get great quality items without always paying top dollar.
Now, don't worry, by totally free I mean no monetary exchange needed. Once I had children, besides finding cheap diapers, one of my biggest challenges was trying to find cheap baby clothes and free vitamin samples. Of course I tried thrift stores, yard sales, hand-me-downs, and similar options, but I also checked into some online resources. I've checked out freebie sites in the past and while you can really get some great free baby items (and other free items) from them, many times you have to sign up for some type of trial or pay a small amount (i.e. shipping & handling) to receive the freebie, and it's usually just a sample. I am bad at remembering to cancel subscriptions, so those kinds of services always ended up causing me more trouble than they were worth, in my opinion. Some love and swear by them, but not me.
See all 10 photosaverage search results for "free stuff" using the Google AdWords tool
the old fashioned way of giving away totally free stuff...image courtesy of Dr Stephen Dann @ flickr.comWhen I say totally free, those types of things are not what I'm talking about at all. I've found ways to really seriously get totally free stuff. However, sometimes a swap of equal, greater, or lesser value may sometimes be warranted.
Last night, my mother ran into a friend and past co-worker who just had a baby boy (well, he's 5 months old). While swapping stories and catching up with each other, somehow the topic of discussion lead to how the baby didn't have anything new because she had gotten lots of free baby stuff, like newborn baby clothes, from this place she found online. Large ticket items she needed for the baby, like a bouncer, stroller, car seat, etc. she had all gotten from this online community. All she had to do was pick the items up and absorb the cost of gas! She even participated in the community by giving away a sectional sleeper sofa they didn't have a need for. Apparently, my mom's friend was really impressed with the community - she felt as though she preferred to give away items to families in need as opposed to GoodWill or similar foundations because they sometimes resell items or try to obtain some type of profit. She said "this way you're hopefully helping others."
Naturally, my mom was intrigued, so she inquired more.
How can you get totally free stuff? Freecycle Where to Find Totally Free Stuff1. Apparently, unbeknown to me, there's an online community, called Freecycle, where you can both get or give away totally free stuff. It seems as though a lot of people have already discovered this totally free stuff phenomenom - but I'm assuming since I didn't know about it, there are tons more who also don't.
The basic concept of Freecycle is two part: recycle things that others may want or need (I'm sure you've heard the saying one man's junk is another man's treasure) and reduce landfill waste - all for free. It's even free to browse or use the website, there are no fees involved at all.
All kinds of items can be found or given away on Freecycle. I've seen "wanted" and "offer" ads for items ranging from quality baby onesies, cell phones, DSL modems, computer monitors, and homeschool materials, to items like outdoor playsets, pianos, living room sets, and boats - no item is too big or too small for Freecycle. And it's all totally free! How cool is that?!
So, how does Freecycle work?
It's really easy to get started with Freecycle. I'm still getting familiar with it, and it can be a bit confusing, but here's the jist of it (follow along for visual effect with the screenshot thumbnails below):
Once you go through the sign-up process, you will be able to view groups in your areaYou will be joining Yahoo Groups to post and look at items. If you are not a member of yahoo, you will need to joinThat's pretty much it! You're now ready to start giving and receiving totally free stuff!
Click thumbnail to view full-size
See all 10 photosVisit freecycle.org ... Type your location in the "find a group near you" box (entering zip doesn't work - you need to put in a city/town, state
See all 10 photosA list of locations near you will appear - don't click on one yet. 
See all 10 photosLook in the top right corner where it says login or signup and click on sign up
See all 10 photosGet signed up for freecycle... Once you've signed up, you'll receive an email with your username and password. 
See all 10 photosGo ahead and login (you'll be prompted to change your password)
See all 10 photosNow that you're logged in, click on the "My Groups" tab - there you should see freecycle groups in your area. If not, you may need to re-enter your area. Click on a group to join and you will be taken to their group page.
See all 10 photosOnce you get to the page, you will need to click on "join ___ yahoo group." You can also skip this step and just click to join the group on the previous page.
See all 10 photosYou will then be taken to the Yahoo groups page. Some require approval, some you can view right away.
See all 10 photosOnce approved, if needed, you can start posting totally free stuff you want or have to offer.2. There's one more online community that has partnered with the offline market where you can get and give totally free stuff. It's called Bonanzle. Bonanzle is an auction site, much like eBay, so while you can also sell items on Bonanzle, I'm only going to cover the freebie option to give and get free stuff. (There's also ways to get free stuff on craigslist - read some of the Hubs I highlighted below for more on how to do that.)
So, just like with Freecycle, you have to register with Bonanzle, of course. The process is really quite simple with Bonanzle. Once you're all set-up, you simply go to your booth, (under the my Bonanzle tab) and choose to add items for sale (if you have something free to give away). Then you just select the freebie option when listing your item. You can include pics, and one feature I really love, schedule the times your items are avaialble for pickup.
See all 10 photosfind totally free stuff on Bonanzle
See all 10 photosadding totally free stuff to BonanzleUnfortunately, I haven't figured out a way to filter the freebie items when searching on Bonanzle, so if you are looking an easy way to find totally free stuff, you may want to shuffle over to Freecycle first.
What I love about being able to give totally free stuff away using both of these services is that it becomes very personal and I can also choose which families/caregiver my item is going to. Sometimes I have items that I want to give away, but I want to make sure the items are really going to needy families. Rather than dropping some clothes in a bin or dropping a barely used toddler bed off at Goodwill, I can now post ads and screen which family my item goes to, based on who I think needs it the most.
So, have you gotten or given away something for free with either of these services? Do share!
There is free stuff to be found everywhere, if you just know where to look. Gym memberships, phone calls, books, DVDs, ice cream, and even online courses from Stanford University are some of the items on the...How to find Free Stuff on Craigslist Classifieds
Free stuff, you can make money on craigslist with the free stuff they have under the for sale section. When you look in the for sale section on craigslist which is a free classified site, you will notice...Freecycle.org - Give Stuff, Take Stuff, & It's All FREE
In the past year or so, for free, I’ve gotten: flower pots, glass balls used as floats in fishing nets, 2 Murano glass vases, old wicker furniture, and stacking milk crates. In the past year or so,...Great Free and Easy Way To Make Money Selling Online
One of the best ways to make some money on the internet is to sell some items that you have just laying around the house. Sure, there are plenty of other ways to make money on the internet like Affiliate...
This Hub was last updated on September 29, 2011
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free baby stuff for low income families Follow (2)Comments 16 commentsGo to last commentkowality 3 years ago Alot of "I didn't know that" when I read your Hub. Great content and Info.belief713 3 years ago from NJ Hub Author @ kowality - thanks, I try to provide info like that. Glad I was able to...
JPeaslee 3 years ago Another good site is justfreestuff.com - it's brilliant.I used to be a part of Freecycle, but it was kind of a hassle. I got way too many posts, generally for nothing I really needed, and there were very few posts that I could help with. I ended up cancelling my subscription, but even that was a hassle - took over a month.
cjcarter 3 years ago I had no idea there were sites like this! Amazing haha!belief713 3 years ago from NJ Hub Author @ JPeaslee - thanks for sharing, hadn't heard of that 1. You can go into your yahoo account and opt to only check messages when online or just receive daily updates - it does get to be a lot of messages...@ cjcarter - LOL, I didn't either, at firstGet Free Stuff 3 years ago Getting free stuff is fun and can be done with some research. There are also various free stuff sites like FreeStuffJackpot.com that you can go to and find free stuff. The economy has hurt a bit and getting some free stuff is as easy as just looking.belief713 3 years ago from NJ Hub Author Hi Get Free Stuff,You have a beautiful site but it's geared more towards samples or subscriptions (unless I'm mistaken) & as I mentioned this hub is geared towards a different crowd.Those samples are ok but sites like freecycle and bonanzle and sometimes craigslist allow you to get larger items and connect with your community, if that's your thing. Thanks for your comment though.
RoseDovson 3 years ago I found some great Sites with the best Discount offers i ever hadjust look after these sites once,http://www.couponroof.com/http://www.greatcoupons-online.com/
fritteritter 3 years ago from Ohio, USA Thanks, nice hub. Some cities have switched from Freecycle to a program called ReUseIt which is basically the same thing but with slightly different rules and/or administrative setup. If you can't find a Freecycle near you, look for a ReUseIt :)belief713 3 years ago from NJ Hub Author @RoseDovson - those sites are good for coupons I guess, thanks for sharing, but this article was geared more towards no strings attached free stuff. Where you don't pay for anything...but I'll leave the links in case they help someone else.@fritteritter - Ok, I didn't know that! Thanks for teaching me something new, I appreciate it! I will have to check that one out...
bspider 3 years ago Great HubPage! In these "days of recession" this is just the info we need!Tapsearch Editor 3 years ago Here's a link that has Tapsearch Unlimited Free sites where you can enjoy many totally free web services, promotions, submissions, actual items and much more free at http://linkbun.ch/9uez ( as courtesy of advocacy sites at http://linkbun.ch/aztbMark 3 years ago I am also of the belief that there are a lot of free things in the internet that should be shared.scheng1 3 years ago wow,that's great! It does not cross my mind to look for freebies from Internetben 19 months ago http://www.points2shop.com/?ref=bigben1983john 7 months ago Find and share a http://computercoupons.blogspot.com and promo codes for great deals and discounts at online stores.Sign in or sign up and post using a HubPages account.
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