mailbox monday-a first!

One of the things that I was doing even before blogging myself, was reading up on great deals and freebies you can find posted on various blogs.  Well I have kept my eye on such great finds that are posted on A Frugal Friend's blog every Monday for her feature, Mailbox Monday.  I finally was patient enough with my freebies to catch a group of them together for a picture.  Below you'll see my freebies from the past two weeks.  It really is worth hunting for the freebies! With fabulous blogs like the ones you see over under my "love it" section, you can't miss them!

My freebies:

-I won a great giveaway over at AnnOnandOn (handmade apron, cupcake cookbook, recipe cards, and recipe scrabook items....thanks so much Ann!)

-French manicure set

-Stride gum

-Dove for men (body wash and conditioner in one)

-Juicy Juice sippy cup and healthy eating tips for kids booklet

-coupon for a free 20 lb. bag of Pedigree dog food and 4 free cans of wet dog food (we received this for adopting Boone within the last year)

-Orville Redenbacher's cheesy popcorn and coupons

-Crest whitestrip sample and coupons

Freebie tips:

-Check out Ashleigh's Freebie Friday list each week over at Thankfully Thrifty for an extensive list of current freebie deals with links

-Subscribe to emails for your favorite thrifty blogs.  A couple of my favorites update sometimes hourly, which obviously I can't keep up with throughout the day.  However, by subscribing to get their posts emailed to me, I get a list of the day's postings each evening.  I go through the email, print what I need, fill out any online forms for freebies, and even save certain links to my favorites that I want to revisit.  Just to name a few of my favorites:  Deal Finding Chik, Money Saving Mom, Free Sample Freak, Surviving the Stores, Keeping the Kingdom First, and Thankfully Thrifty

-Don't get overwhelmed...you don't have to sign up for every single freebie, but do sign up for what you need or you can donate

-Get creative with those freebies...throw the sample size lotions in your purse or desk drawer, use sample size instead of regular size for items such as toothpaste, donate freebies you get that you don't need (I got a great busy moms NIV bible a couple months back...what an awesome thing to give to someone!)

-Designate one rubbermaid container for the freebies you receive in the mail or freebies you rack up at the stores with those great coupon deals.  That way you know where they are when you need to replace something in the home and you can limit yourself.

I'm linking up...