Charity, Cheaply: Part I

Ever since I was a Poor Starving Student, I've sent away for free samples. Toiletries, food, drink, dog treats, cleaning supplies - everything. Whether it is a free box of cereal, free tea, or free toilet paper, it is like opening a weekly birthday present. The travel-sized items are perfect for the gym, emergency travel, or similar. Most of these items come with *great* coupons, too. If you can't use them, give to a friend who can. Or, use them for items you don't use and then donate. Iams gave me a coupon for a free bag of dog food - my dogs don't eat Iams, so I picked it up and gave to a local dog shelter. General Mills gave me a whole book of buy-one-get-one items with which I purchased a whole cart of cereal already on sale for a local food pantry. I think I got $50 worth of cereal for under $10. I stuck that receipt on the fridge :)

Lately, most of these free goodies go to my soldier. I have "adopted" a soldier in Iraq and send him a care package every month. These individually wrapped cookies and granola bars can be stashed in a pocket and dispensed to children. Until a few months ago, I had never encountered a single person connected to the military. I now know how much something as small as a hand wipes, deodorant, and candy can mean to someone aching for his family, friends, and...Little Debbie Snack Cakes. Regardless of whether you think American soldiers should be where they are, consider making someone's life just a bit happier for a moment. I spend under $20 every month: a flat-rate package sent to an APO is $8, regardless of weight, and there are lots of places to buy inexpensive toiletries and snacks. And, if you take 5 minutes to sign up for coupons and free offers, you can save even more!

This month's care package had a definite Halloween theme: non-chocolate candy (it melts in the heat), Halloween-themed hand towels, watercolor paints and a paper pad, and snacks. I gave up looking for Halloween-theme toiletries; soap and toothpaste do not come in orange. Sigh.

I am sure there are plenty of troop care package sites out there. I obtained my soldier's name from Troopcarepackage.com. (Warning: I specifically requested a female soldier, reasoning it would be easier to simply send over two of whatever personal products I purchased for myself, and the site noted that it honored requests based on home town and military branch. I was confused when I was given a male name, but now know that it was intentional due to the number of men who wish to start a romantic pen-pal relationship with a female soldier. Don't request female.)

My freebie routine and rules:
1. I only request samples of items I know I can use. Free is great, waste is not.

2. I spend 5-10 minutes 1 day a week filling out the forms. There are *tons* of free sites out there, but I stick to Shop4Freebies, Arlana's, and Wal-Mart. In my experience, the Wal-Mart samples always come, and come within a few days. Most of these sites update the offers at least once a day, but I don't have the time for that.

3. If I try the item and don't care for it, any accompanying coupons are offered to someone else.

4. I only request truly free samples. Take care not to become involved in an automatic billing program, and ignore "free" samples that require either a subsequent purchase or a survey. (These surveys usually end with a purchase requirement *after* you just filled out a page of opinions!)