Peter Sander - Free Stuff Guide for Everyone Book: Free and Good Deals That Save You Lots of Money

Peter Sander

Humanix Books

Free Stuff Guide for Everyone

Copyright 2017 by Humanix Books

All rights reserved

Humanix Books, P.O. Box 20989, West Palm Beach, FL 33416, USA

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Sander, Peter J., author.

Title: Free Stuff Guide for Everyone : Free and Good Deals That Save You Lots of Money / Peter Sander.

Description: West Palm Beach, FL : Humanix Books, 2017. | Includes .

Identifiers: LCCN 2017007335 (print) | LCCN 2016051806 (ebook) | ISBN 9781630060763 (paperback) | ISBN 9781630060770 (Ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Free material. | Consumer education. | Special sales. | Cash discounts. | Deals. | Home economics. | BISAC: REFERENCE / Consumer Guides.

Classification: LCC AG600 .S26 2017 (ebook) | LCC AG600 (print) | DDC 658.8/2--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017007335

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any other information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

Interior Design: Scribe Inc.

Humanix Books is a division of Humanix Publishing, LLC. Its trademark, consisting of the words Humanix is registered in the Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this book is meant to be used for general resource purposes only; it is not intended as specific financial advice for any individual and should not substitute financial advice from a finance professional.

ISBN: 978-1-63006-076-3 (Trade Paper)

ISBN: 978-1-63006-077-0 (E-book)

Free Stuff is dedicated to all you seekers out there, who, like me, experience some visceral pleasure, as well as tangible savings, out of tracking down a good deal.

You know who you are.

I would like to recognize my late parents, Jerry and Betty Sander, and my extended family for their constant drip of their frugal and sensible ways into my psyche. I would also like to thank my friends and sons Julian and Jonathan, who have been known on occasion to tease me about my frugal ways, for thus (and quite inadvertently) embellishing my motivation to do this project. Finally Id like to thank the team at Humanix Books, most particularly Mary Glenn and Deb Englander, for giving me this opportunity to compile these money-saving techniques and experiences into a book.

Free!

Deal!

Discount!

You hear the words everywhere. You see the signs everywhere. Theyre all over the Internet.

As a consumer, dont these three words perk your ears up? Make you want to hear more?

These three words are the power appetizers of commerce.

They get your attention. More important, they are harbingers of a win-win that makes our daily commercial world go round. They bring together you, Mr. or Ms. Consumer, with themMr. or Ms. Marketer.

I just turned 60. Guess what? I get 10 percent off any meal at Chick-fil-A. I can get a free drink at any KFC. I can get 15 percent off at Kohls every Wednesday. I can get 30 percent off movie tickets at AMC Theaters (and 60 percent on Tuesdays). Heck, if I had joined AARP, which I could have done at age fifty, I would have gotten 15 percent off any meal at Outback Steakhouse.

And that just scratches the surface. I can be any age and get 10 percent off most hotel rooms in the country with an American Automobile Association (AAA) membership. If I book in advance, I can get 20 percent or even 30 percent off! I can get free or very cheap dental or eye or hair care if I live close to a professional school and free museum days almost anywhere. And I can get a free battery check and install at almost any auto parts retailer and free string cheese samples and who knows what else at one of the many free stuff portals Ill describe later!

And if Im active or retired military or a veteran, I can get discounts everywhere, from free admission to national parks to a 10 percent discount at Lowes. If Im a student, I can get $150 off many major computer purchases and discount museum admissions; if Im a teacher, I can get 20 percent off at Barnes & Noble.

First, theres you. Youre looking to save money, to make your precious dollars stretch a little further, or even to get stuff for free (yes, theres a lot out there). You live on a budget. Or some of you just crave the sheer satisfaction of the win itselfthat is, getting a good deal on something.

Then theres a marketer, someone responsible for selling more of a product or a service. It may be a business owner, an employee, or even a hired gun in an agency hired to, one way or another, stimulate sales of a product or service.

They do this by gaining your attention. They can gain your attention by boasting about the product with advertising. But most of us have learned to tune out those ads, right? What speaks to usthose of you who bought this book, anyhowis price. Give me a good deal, and now Im interested. Is that you?

If it is, we have the win-win. The marketer wins by giving you a good deal; you win by getting that good deal.

This book is about finding that win-win.

But this book is also about making you a proactive seeker, not a responder, to such offers. Why is that important? Because if we can be proactivelearn where and how to seek freebies, deals, and discountswell end up getting these deals on things we want or need.

If were merely responders, you know what happens. We leave ourselves at the feet of the marketers. We buy stuff we dont want or need just because of the deal. Yuck!

Becoming a skilled proactive seeker is also a big part of what Free Stuff Guide for Everyone: Free and Good Deals That Save You Lots of Money is all about.

And knowing your way around the world of deals is more important than ever. Why?

Because the world of deals has expanded in a huge way. There are so many of themtoo many to know about and too many to find, especially if youre looking for a good deal on a particular itemit can be like a needle in a haystack exercise.

We all leave money on the table every day. With virtually anything you buy, theres a deal somewhere. Theres a marketer who wants to increase sales, and that marketer knows that there are a lot of you out there.

This book is designed to help you through that haystack: one, to know whats in it; two, to find your way to the deal; and three, to have some fun in the search.

Free Stuff Guide for Everyone cannot be an all-inclusive guide to all the freebies, deals, and discounts out there. Why? Its simple. There are too manymillions. And they change. Twenty percent off, good till October 31. How do I capture that and publish it in a book that takes months to put together and is designed to be useful for years? I cant.

Bill Clinton once described U.S. foreign policy as power by example, not examples of power. Im going to borrow part of that prescient phrase for a minute to describe this book. While I do list hundreds of actual freebies, deals, and discounts in the pages that follow, my real intent is to give you power by exampleto teach you how to fish by giving examples of what youll find and where to look.