Lesson on frugality- Just because it's free, doesn't mean you need it.

I just googled the phrase "Free Stuff". 

 Results 1 - 10 of about 94,800,000 for free stuff. (0.13 seconds) 

WOW.

There are articles and websites devoted to getting free stuff.  Here is an article from the front page of yahoo today.  Think about it.  If you spent an hour online responding to ffers of free whatevers, in 6-12 weeks, you house might be full of crap. Or, full of cool stuff.  It depends if you will fill out any offer or be selective.

Here is my rule of thumb to free stuff:  If I don't already use it, then don't get it.  This applies to free items after sale and coupon as well.  I know there  are a lot of people who "shop" weekly for their freebies and then give them to charity, or who only live on the freebies. I want to spend what little free time I have doing things I enjoy with my family.

Here are some examples of free food/HBA I have passed up as of late:

Kraft mac n' cheese (in the blue box).  We don't eat it.  It has too much sodium (which we need to watch), too many carbs and it's not something I want my family to eat. I leave the coupons on the shelf for someone who needs them.

Irish spring- It smells weird and we don't use bar soap.

Diabetes monitors- We aren't diabetic!!! I know they are free with coupons and rebates all the time, but that the hell good is something (even if it's free) if we can't use it?  BTW- they don't come with the test strips.  Those are separate and they are expensive!

Soy Joy Bars- Jennie doesn't eat them anymore and they taste like saw dust to me.

There are some sites that I visit, such as Abundant Food Savings that has a section on freebies and I check those out- if it's something that I am interestedin trying or already use, I'll request a sample- Samples usually come with coupons.

I have in my possession at this very moment, probably 20 bottles of Garnier Fructis shampoo.  Why?  Because it was free!  And I really like it!  I liked it before, and once it was free.