Have you ever heard somebody say “Nothing in life is free”? I’m sure you have because it has become very cliché and people tend to say it all the time without really thinking about it. Well, the above picture proves that stuff in life can be free because every single item in that picture was either purchased for free or very nearly free!
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but this one in particular deserves a little back story to fill you in on how all of these free items came to be.
Where Did All This Free Stuff Come From?
A few years back I started conversing with my aunt about saving money and deal hunting on a few separate occasions during family gatherings. Honestly, when I talk to most people about the subject they usually listen politely and sound somewhat interested, but nothing really comes of it in the end. She showed particular interest, but still nothing became of it at first.
It took several conversations and many family get-togethers, but I was able to introduce her to a few money saving forums and websites and she actually started reading them regularly!
Her passion for saving money quickly grew from there and before I knew it she was procuring free and cheap stuff regularly and in much larger quantities than I ever have myself. The 55 items you see in the above picture are just a tiny portion of what she has been able to get for free over the past several years.
Those items are, in fact, just what she gave my wife and I for Christmas this year alone! She didn’t just give gifts like this to us either, she also gave as much or more stuff to her two sisters and most likely to family members on the other side of her family as well, although I didn’t ask her about it specifically. There were also smaller gift packages given to other friends and more distant relatives!
That amount of free stuff on top of what she gets and keeps for herself simply blows my mind! I know in the USA it is much easier to get stuff for free, but this is Canada we are talking about here and she is still able to put together a truckload of this stuff every year!
What’s The Secret To Getting Free Stuff For Yourself?
Getting an amazing deal on anything usually involves one form or another of stacking. Getting free stuff like this is no exception! The way it is typically done and the way I know my aunt does it is by scouring the internet, newspaper, and local stores for high value or free product coupons and then matching up those coupons with the weekly flyer deals, which will often allow you to get products for free.
In some cases, you may even be able to make money if the value of your coupon is higher than the sale price of the product itself.
Resources To Help You Get Started
There will be lots more coverage forthcoming at HowToSaveMoney.ca surrounding coupons, saving money on groceries, and getting stuff for free. Until then, here are some useful Canadian resources for finding coupons and grocery deals that will help get you started:
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Wait until you see the video we are posting tomorrow!
That is a great photo.
Thanks for the mention!
January 10, 2011 @ 3:31 pmLooking forward to the video Steve! Is it a video you made yourself or another video you found and are posting? I've heard there is a new extreme couponing TV series happening in the States that is pretty crazy.
January 10, 2011 @ 6:36 pmNice pic! That's great to see it all grouped together.. apparently soaps and detergents are hot items for couponing. :)
January 10, 2011 @ 6:56 pmNo it is from our adventures this past weekend at Shoppers Drug Mart.
January 10, 2011 @ 8:06 pmWhoa! That's a lot of stuff! And they're all full-size stuff too!
Good job- I need to get more "hard core" with this coupon stacking tactic. :)
January 11, 2011 @ 1:37 am@Jaymus - It was fun taking the pic! Personal hygiene and cleaning products are definitely the best for couponing but you can also do really well with food like pasta, soup, snacks and sometimes even basic ingredients.
@Steve - Even better, should be interesting to watch!
@youngandthrifty - I would actually like to get a nice coupon book going like my aunt and get into it a little more but I can't seem to devote the necessary time to it. Once you get a good system going, it only takes a short while every week but I haven't been able to get there just yet. For now, I tend to just use a select few high value and and free product coupons from time to time.
If any of you have any good time saving couponing tips, feel free to post them here in the comments.
January 11, 2011 @ 9:35 amCurious...how much time would you say you spend collecting coupons? I always have a problem finding coupons for the items I want. Maybe I need to be a bit more flexible with my product selections. :)
January 14, 2011 @ 4:15 amI actually spend very little time collecting and using coupons. The reason is that I haven't gotten organized and am not willing to dedicate enough time to doing it as of yet. I would like to start a coupon binder and do it more seriously. I may do that when I sit down and commit to writing more content on coupons and grocery shopping.
We are also pretty picky with what we eat and buy so that does make it harder to use coupons. Right now I just keep my eyes open and when a coupon worth several dollars or that is for a free product comes along I snatch it up and use it. My aunt I'm sure spends a lot more time, but I'm pretty sure she saves hundreds of dollars a month. I think she mentioned one month she saved nearly $500 and that was quite a while ago. She may save even more than that now.
January 14, 2011 @ 11:13 amHey. Just thought I'd chime in on the subject of getting free stuff now that I found this post. I became a true believer that you can get just about anything for free if you really try hard enough. A few days ago, I wrote a post about how I saved $13,074 in car expenses in the last two years. Attached to that post is a picture of my truck. The truck is a 4-speed, 1988 Nissan pickup I was able to obtain 100% free. All I had to do was drive over to the owner's house and pick it up. No repairs, no problems! AC works. Heater works. Motor and transmission is fine. The original paint is starting to fade and it's got 323,000 miles on it, but you couldn't tell it by the way it drives. I've been driving it about six months now without a hitch at all, and to top it off I'm averaging almost 40 mpg!
Never discount the power of FREE! If you want it bad enough, you can probably find it!
January 14, 2011 @ 9:01 pmThat's a really great example Eric! Getting brand new stuff for free is a little different than getting used stuff for free but free is free after all and a 100% working free used truck is nothing to sneeze at. Nice work!
January 15, 2011 @ 10:49 pmPost new comment