Free product coupons and mail-in rebates

Who doesn't like the word free? Right, no one!

Companies put out FPC (free product coupons) and mail-in rebates in order to get their brand out there and for people to try their product. If the companies are putting the freebies out there, why not make sure you get a piece of the action? 

I try and use all free product offers that I can. 90% of the deals are for great stuff I'll actually use. The other 10% I will get and either "gift" or donate. It makes me feel good to get free, and it's a doubly nice feeling when you can donate items (for me, like dog food trial bags, diapers, shavers, etc) that you didn't have to pay for. 

FPC's and mail in rebate forms are usually in those sample booklets that come around in your newspaper, or direct from the vendor. I'll suggest that you subscribe to a few newsletters where people post the deals there, or follow a couple groups on Facebook that do the same thing. Saves you the effort of searching every day, because your time is valuable!

This week alone, I have 6 mail-in rebates I've sent off, including a hands-fee soap system, a home air effects system, a oxi-clean stain cleaner laundry wash bottle, some nair hair strips and others. 

My only suggestion is to really read the details of mail in rebate offers - make sure you pick up the right product, in the right size, and within the $ (including tax) that they will reimburse for. I've seen products on the shelf for more money than they will pay me back for, so I wait for the item to go on sale. Also, they usually have timelines, that the product has to be bought between and the rebate request received before. I also like to make it the only item on the receipt, which makes it easy at a glance for them to see the total amount. A good rule of thumb too that I've read about is to either photograph or photocopy the items before mailing them out.