Fun with freebies

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6272246.post-32725079195822718152007-04-16T01:06:00.000-07:002007-05-21T05:55:57.842-07:00Fun with freebiesIf you're still struggling to get your taxes done, this one's for you; if you didn't earn over $52K last year, you can get "free federal online tax preparation" and access to free electronic tax return filing via the IRS website: http://www.irs.gov/app/freeFile/jsp/index.jsp http://www.irs.gov/efile/article/0,,id=118986,00.html Several years ago, I went through a period of signing up for tons of freebies and samples online; even then there were forums dedicated to getting free stuff, so all I had to do was click links and fill in my info on the requisite websites. Most of what I got was those little packets of lotion and shampoo, but I got some bigger stuff too: I especially remember a large bag of hard candy from Sweet'N Low (for my husband, who loves saccharine), and, the all-time champion sample, several styrofoam bowls filled with cereal that I'd "designed" with my choice of ingredients from a lengthy menu of options (also for my husband)... and the latter was so good, although very expensive, that we bought it a couple of times when it was on sale and mourned when the website closed down (the idea was brilliant, they just either couldn't figure out how to do it cheaply enough or were too greedy). I got some unusual freebies from sites eager to bribe people into signing up for their newsletters (I was still willing to acquire more email in those days, when spam wasn't an issue): gardening gloves, a tire pressure gauge, and then there was the ugly pen... I was supposed to get an ugly pen for subscribing to a daily humor thing, and never got it, but the emails were hilarious so I read them anyways; I eventually submitted a funny rant to them, and when they accepted it they sent me a free ugly t-shirt, which was much better than a pen, so I was satisfied (and besides, I'd gotten plenty of pens from other sites). I ran across a couple of blogs dedicated to samples/freebies a few weeks ago, and dove in and signed up for a bunch of stuff; the bulk of it has been for my mother, who's thrilled to go to her mailbox each day and get something new to try, which provides a valuable distraction from her constant worries about her health (there's no sign of the cancer having returned, but she still has to take blood thinners and deal with issues from the surgery) as well as saving her some $, which will always make her happy. I've received various pet food samples (all of which are being checked to be sure they haven't been recalled, fear not), which I'm testing on the raccoons and skunks to see what they prefer; I got a generous 6 oz of Purina Naturals cat food that the little male skunk and one of the coons have shown a real preference for, but there are still plenty of contenders... and, as crazy as we are about our critter visitors, we'll probably end up buying a bunch of different pet foods so that everyone has their favorite. Samples seem to be getting bigger, because I've gotten some pretty impressive ones: My husband consumes soy products, so I signed up here http://www.soyjoy.com/spreadthejoy.aspx and he got THREE full-sized Soyjoy bars, and liked all 3 flavors enough that he plans to buy more; they're not gross like most nutrition bars, and they're not too sweet like cereal bars, so they make a good on-the-go snack. The folks at 3M have the honor of being the ones who sent the biggest samples ever; 1st, they sent me (and my mother, from whom I learned to be a habitual note-writer) a package of different kinds of Post-It pads, a dispenser, and a variety of sticky tabs to mark places on paperwork and such... and that seemed pretty impressive, until the doorbell rang Saturday morning because they'd sent me a package too big to fit into my mailbox!! The box is over 26" tall, and I assumed at 1st that it was something my husband had ordered, but MY name was on it, so I opened it up; it contained another set of sticky tabs, a pad in a hard leatherette folder, and a GIANT Post-it pad meant to be stuck on the wall to use for business presentations... the paper for this monster is 20"x23"!! If you'd like a mountain of Post-it products too, sign up here: http://www.3m.com/us/office/postit/perks/perks.html?rp=postit The best recent sample came from Yogi Tea, which gives you 5 different choices of trios of tea bags to try free: http://www.yogitea.com/FreeSamples/FreeSamples.asp My mother, who's notoriously hard to please, was so enthusiastic when she tried the Green Tea Pomegranate flavor, which she was able to drink without honey, that we were very hopeful about our own samples, which came 4 days later (the post office sucks); my husband tried the Classic India Spice flavor, and pronounced it so wonderful as to be "revelatory." I don't drink hot beverages, but I'll tell you that this was the best-smelling stuff ever; I kept sniffing his mug to get hits of the cinnamon, cardamon and ginger, and it's made his entire study smell lovely, in marked contrast to its usual miasma of "eau de colon" (not a typo). He started joking that he'd rub the tea bags on his body to increase his chances of "getting lucky," and then that, given tea's alleged antibacterial powers, he could wash under his arms with them to kill the stink: Him: The only problem would be that I'd forget and reuse those tea bags. Me: EWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!! Him: LOL!!!!!!! And that, dear friends, is how we had fun with freebies.<div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/6272246-3272507919582271815?l=omniverse.blogspot.com'/></div>Omnihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01535142570254270177noreply@blogger.com