Guest post from Jennifer of When Pigs Fly
I used to disregard free samples, often wondering what I would do with such a small quantity. However, I quickly changed my thinking when late one night we were in need of a particular over-the-counter medication. I recalled seeing that exact product being offered just weeks prior in an online free sample offer.
From that point on, I decided to submit for every free sample offer that came my way, tucking it away for future needs!
Here are 5 ways that free samples have saved us money, making life that much easier:
1. When there is a need for a quick, over-the-counter remedy, I am able to take care of the issue immediately. This avoids running to the store late at night, and paying full price for an item that you may only use once.
2. By requesting samples for hair care, oral care, lotion, and soap, I am able to pack more efficiently when traveling. It also saves from buying full-size products, potentially wasting it on those shorter trips.
3. My family is able to try new products prior to purchasing them, thus reducing potentially unused or unwanted items.
4. I have been able to create gift baskets for events like house warming, get well, and baby showers. By using themed samples to create these gifts, I have saved money in my gift-giving budget.
5. I have encountered situations where I ran out of laundry detergent or other household items, where I was able to grab a back-up sample to hold me over until my next shopping trip. This has saved me gas money, avoiding last-minute trips to the store.
As an added bonus, most samples come with a high-value coupon, saving you even more money on future purchases.
How has signing up for free samples saved you money?
Jennifer Van Dahm is a stay-at-home mom, who knew there was more to life than laundry and dishes! Her motto, “Taking the ordinary out, of everyday living”, is shown throughout her website, When Pigs Fly. There, she highlights her passion for teaching others how to live fuller lives through health, cooking, finance, family, and spiritual wellness. Her goal is to refresh families and help them get out of their rut- physically, mentally, and spiritually!
Can you give some websites for free samples? I haven’t had much success with it so far.
I put samples in a pretty basket in the guest bathroom, just in case someone needs something while they are over.
I have always enjoyed getting free samples of products. I continue to apply for them, but sometimes I have to remind myself of the time I’m using & whether we’d actually use the product or know someone who would be able to use it.
I’ve used samples for gift baskets, donated to shelters/food banks, etc.
I’ve also been in a financial pinch a time or three & used my laundry samples just so I could do laundry!
Recently on of my daughter’s friends came over & she mentioned she was trying to do laundry but they didnt have any detergent. My daughter asked me if we had any extra – so I asked he about how many loads did she need to do & managed to give her various samples to cover it.
I know she would have never asked me directly but now she knows we have a ‘supply’ area in the pantry with samples of laundry, toothpaste, floss, shampoo/conditioner etc. I dont mind supplying her friends with things they need. We all get into a bind for whatever reason.
Now my child’s friends bring me their coupon inserts!! Our weekly free paper has coupon inserts, and they are good about grabbing them if they arent going to be used and bring them to me!
I usually ignore free samples for the same reason, but I’ll be giving them an extra look now.
I have used samples I’ve received in the mail to fill up my family’s 72-Hour Emergency kits/backpacks. Toothpaste, shampoo, soap, feminine products, vitamins, allergy medicine, etc.
Very good idea! Thanks!
I’ve more or less stopped signing up for samples because I receive fewer than half the ones I request. It’s very frustrating, especially when I look at Crystal’s photos and see all the ones that she got but I didn’t, even though I signed up within a few hours of them being posted and avoided the ones limited to a specific number of people. All that time wasted filling out forms . . .
Hmm, I’m wondering if someone is stealing your samples… that happens sometimes, unfortunately. 🙁 The Walmart.com samples always come, so you might try just signing up for those and see how many of them come.
Wow, I never thought of that, but it’s quite possible. Good thing I don’t get paper bank statements!
As soon as I read your post, I thought you must be from Richmond. Mail delivery is horrible here. I don’t keep track of samples, but I do seem to get them or many of them. It’s things like checks, rebates, and purchases that don’t always seem to arrive. 🙁 You could try calling the local postmaster if you are concerned, though mine tends to throw his hands in the air, claiming he can’t correct the problem since there’s no way of knowing if it’s on his end. Despite local reports of mail being discarded and being tossed in local creeks by mail carriers. I <3 the US Postal Service.
Totally agree, I love samples! I have enough laundry detergent samples to get me through my first year in my new apartment! Laundry for FREE 🙂
Sample are also a great way to get the older people in your life to try something new. I noticed that my mom was struggling to use the mega size dishwasher detergent that she buys at Costco. I was able to get my mom to change to the individual dishwasher detergents by leaving her several sample packets on a recent visit.
Diane, I love your comment. I do the very same thing!! My mother is a creature of habit, she thinks if a product is more convenient, then it must not work as well. I’ve given her several samples of shampoo and household products and it’s allowed her to try out some different brands that just might work better!
That’s a great idea!
I have to say I Love my samples too! I really enjoy when they send you a coupon! Samples help out when traveling, or when you run out of something or most of all I like to be able to try before you buy. Call me crazy but when samples come in the mail it is exciting to me 🙂 hey it is better than bills right?
I loved reading all of these comments! I have used mine in times of need, and also shared them with people in need.
I just love samples too. I really like the coupons that come with them. Also I like trying a product without having to pay for a big bottle not knowing if you will like it or not. The idea about themed gift baskets is a great idea I hadn’t thought of.
Crystal’s suggestion about using an alternate e-mail when signing up for freebies is something I do too. This really helps to keep the spam mail out of my inbox.
There are a few samples I sign up for, but often it feels like an interruption in my day to have to go to a site and enter in all of my information, so for the most part, I don’t do it. I have a problem with a lot of the packaging that comes along with such a tiny amount of product, though I do like the ones where there are high value coupons for something I use.
I fill my mom’s Christmas stocking every year. Many of the items I include are free samples I’ve requested throughout the year. I start in January, and by December I have many things for the stocking and I need to purchase very little to finish it!
I love free samples! I really like the gift idea. I just seems like toothpaste samples pop up all over the house. :-/ My daughter loves opening packages too. She is 2.
I sign up for all the samples, but not to save money. My 4-year old son has his own play mailbox and I use the samples as his “mail”. Last week he received the most unusual, a can of organic tomatoes! It is fun. He thinks we never have to buy laundry soap because he gets some in the mail all the time.
Be careful when using the laundry soap on trips though. We brought a single use pack for our cruise, it leaked and ruined the front pouch of our suitcase. I would have been much better off spending $1 in the laundry vending machine on the boat.
I also don’t request as much samples as I should but thanks for the added idea.
One point about the cardboard boxes. Has anyone consider using them in your garden? I read artical that discussed using wet cardboard to block weeds around plants that you want to keep: then add the wood chips, grass clippings, peat moss above it. When don’t want it then remove it and then the grass will grow back.
I don’t request many free samples because of the waste (and the resulting spam in my inbox), but I do like that many come with high-value coupons.
When I sign up for freebies, I always use an alternate email address so that I don’t have to worry about spam in my regular inbox.
I did that–but my “spam” mailbox has become my most frequently used one and I hardly check the other because no one writes me! I recently opened a new email account for my blog as well, and I check that every day.
I already have multiple email addresses, but at some point, I have to sort through them to figure out what is spam and what is important (like freebies from Shutterfly, LOL).
I also noticed that the amount of marketing in my snail mailbox has increased since requesting freebies. Every year, I receive infant formula samples even though my youngest is six; I called the companies and they told me there is no way to permanently remove my name and address from their mailing lists.
You could bless someone else with those formula samples! We are hoping to adopt, so we will need formula – and it’s expensive! Maybe someone around you could use them
Yes, I always give them to the food pantry at church!
Thanks for doing that 🙂
Andrea, try making an email address just for signing up for things such as that. I have one and it works great. I never really need to check it, I just go in once every few months and clear it out! Of course if something really interests me I send it to my regular email but everything else goes to what I call my “coupon” email.
Same here. I have a “junk” e-mail address that I use, but I noticed the amount of paper junk mail we got went up considerably when we started requesting free samples.
I found that we just didn’t use most of the free samples. Same reason I all but stopped playing the drug store game. I donated things by the boxful, but that fizzled out too. We have enough toothpaste to travel with forever.
All of the above. Single use packages are also good because I don’t have to worry about them leaking in luggage. I also like to try new things. If I buy it later, it was a successful advertisement and I’m stimulating the economy 🙂
If you are thinking of donating samples, please consider sending them to a homeless shelter rather than a pantry. I used to volunteer at a pantry. They received quite a lot of full-sized health and beauty products via the April Showers programs. The samles-sized donations weren’t most people’s first choice, so they took up valuable space in storage instead. On the flip side, homeless individuals often prefer the smaller sized items because jumbo sized shampoo and toothpaste take up lots of room in a car, backpack, etc. The shelter nearest us actually requests sample sizes for that reason – they give each person a bag of sample-sized necessities upon arrival.
Love samples! They come in handy for trips to the beach 🙂
Love samples….my kids can use travel size toothpastes, shampoos and body washes for overnights and i dont have to worry about them losing a full size product. They are great for guests here also because we might not purchase a certain thing(like some feminine products) but come in handy with my oldest daughter’s teen friends “just in case”
I love all the samples we get. My family is welcome to help themselves when they come for a visit or we use them when we are short on cash. I also love sending them in care-packs to my sister in college.
At first I didn’t think they were worth it and sometimes I fell into a slump where I don’t feel like requesting them, but now I religiously sign up for freebies and samples.
http://pennyjarsense.blogspot.com/2012/05/are-samples-worth-it.html
It is fun for small kids who love getting mail, they are always loving to see what little “present” is coming from the mailman!
I make sure to order cereal samples whenever I see them available all year long. Then when we go camping, my son is able to pick his own individual box of cereal without me paying for an entire package that only he will eat a few boxes out of.
Unfortunately we are unable to use most samples for toiletries and laundry care because we all have terribly sensitive skin. I do sign up for them though, and use them for gift baskets/bags and pass along the coupons to others who can use them.
Our church’s homeless ministry is always in need of personal sized hygiene items. These people must carry everything with them, and full sized shampoo, etc just dont work. I request samples and pass them on to them.
I love free samples and say it for something we don’t use, all of us know others that can use it or donate it to pantries to give to others. And I agree with Natalie some of the best coupons come with the samples.
All the reasons you mentioned – and the coupons!
I keep a big basket of samples in my bathroom with a little sign that says ‘take what you need’. It’s really useful for when a friend needs an aspirin or a feminine product, so they don’t even need to ask, which can be embarrassing.
Plus when I have house guests, I have any product they could possibly need, often a couple different choices of brands, which is extra handy in today’s baggie-constrained toiletries world.
And if I know a visitor is going on a trip, I encourage them to stock up from my supply while they’re here.
I also think it’s kind of fun to see all the little bottles and packages, sort of festive, like mini-presents, but you don’t have to unwrap them to know what they are. Maybe I’m strange.
Not at all! I totally understand what you mean. 🙂
I really like the idea of leaving the samples basket in the bathroom! Thanks for sharing!
They are helpful and you can donate the ones you don’t use to a homeless or food shelter (they usually gladly except hygiene items). I also have used them in the operation christmas child boxes-they are nice and small, don’t leak and leave me extra money to buy other things to put in or make more overall (obviously I use the shampoo, soap or toothpaste ones). I also will use coupons to get free items like toothpaste for the boxes as well. You never know when a sample will come in handy!
Not to mention, samples almost always come with high value COUPONS! 🙂
That’s the main reason I started signing up for samples. Then I began to actually use the samples and stretch my supplies.
I use free samples for the same reasons. I’ve found those dishwasher and laundry detergent samples are also great for vacationing. I have to use liquid with mine at home but the pods or powder detergents I save up for our beach trip.
I collect samples and donate them to the local homeless shelter. I enjoy the high value coupons that usually come with them.
“2. By requesting samples for hair care, oral care, lotion, and soap, I am able to pack more efficiently when traveling. It also saves from buying full-size products, potentially wasting it on those shorter trips.”
THIS!! I save all the shampoo, conditioner, and soaps for trips to the in-laws. I used to have those little bottles that you would refill, but something would always end up leaking. With the samples, nothing leaks!
Great points! Thanks for sharing 🙂
I agree with all the reasons listed – I just wish they weren’t so heavy on the packaging. I’ve gotten samples that were wrapped, then placed in a cardboard sleeve, then shrink wrapped and finally packed in a cardboard box! We recycle as much of that as we can, but it seems so wasteful to over-package like that.
Excellent points! Thank you for sharing, I especially love the gift basket idea. I’ll have to be signing myself up for more samples! In the past I just haven’t bothered (thinking, like you used to, that they were at best useless and at worst clutter!).
I took my laundry samples with me on a road trip. It’s such a long trip that we have to do laundry half-way into our stay. The rest of the samples get used by guests… and on trips. No need to pack shampoo/conditioner!
I too love the laundry ones. We can take them camping and if we need to we can do a load of laundry without having to pay for the high priced ones at the campground.
Love the gift giving idea!
Thanks for this! I usually only pay attention to the personal care ones to use in travel like you mentioned, but your other 4 reasons are inspiring. I’m going to pay more attention to the freebies now!
I love the shampoo and conditioner samples! I take them to the gym with me! That way I can pack lighter.
I do this too! I take the park and ride bus into my downtown area, then head straight for work after the gym! Using shampoo/bodywash samples is definitely a lifesaver when you’re trying to pack light!
Great point. I have often disregarded free samples as well. But have found that when I have gotten them, I used them for those same reasons.