If there is one thing that I love, it’s free stuff. As a frugal person I’m always looking at cutting corners and making things last longer, as well as coming up with unusual solutions to common issues. A while ago, I started pursuing product samples as a way to circumnavigate the airlines rules on carrying liquids. Taking samples of moisturizer and toothpaste works really well when you are flying away for the odd weekend here on there.

What I quickly realized, though, was that with the amount of samples available out there today you can practically eliminate having to purchase items completely, and you can certainly avoid wasting money on a product that turns out to not work or not be what you expected. Samples can also be a blessing if you do run out of something random and want to avoid a special trip to the store.

The most common samples that you can find are the bath and beauty kind. Moisturizer, shampoo, conditioner and toothpaste are offered pretty regularly. Then you can end up finding cereal, address labels, teeth whitening products, sweetener, flavored drinks, laundry detergent and all kinds of other things. Samples take a while to arrive generally, but if I can use it I send off for it. When it comes time to travel, or if I’m out of something, the first thing I do is check my sample stash.

I generally avoid sending off for anything that might require me to create an account on a site or add to my Facebook profile. There are so many other opportunities out there that I’m happy to miss a few to avoid going to more difficult lengths to obtain them. In most cases, there is a box they are hoping you’ll check to sign up for their mailing list. I simply always leave this blank and then I don’t have to worry about receiving junk emails.
Samples are usually listed as taking 4-6 weeks to arrive on your doorstep, but I’ve found that it’s usually more like 10 days. I’m at a point where I request samples so often that I usually have a new one in the mailbox every other day.

Often when you request a sample, the company will also include with them coupons for money off the product and sometimes other similar products in the line. This is an added bonus because if you do like the product you can go ahead and pick it up at a cheaper rate, and as it is a manufacturers coupon you can also take it to any store.
The two best places that I have found to obtain samples are:

Absurdly Cool is a sample website that updates several times a day when new samples and other freebies are found available. It’s usually only worth it to look as far as three days in the past, as samples expire or “sell out”.

Hey It’s Free is more of a blog that also posts several times a day. As they have an RSS Feed, I just have that plugged into my Google Reader and go from there whenever I wish to fill something out.

So do you already look for samples? What is the best thing you’ve found or your favorite sampling location?