Why not download our free ebook (originally £8.99) "How to get anything for free!" right here for free How to get free furniture

Today we answer a query from long time reader, contributor and one of the first ever readers of the Freebie-Man book: pgaleota who asks:

"OK so I need some gorgeous furniture... I am hopefully buying a house and will need some bits, I LOVE Laura Ashley, how can I get some??"

There are two options here, the first is simple and the other, well lets say it involves getting your hands dirty.

Option 1: Freecycle
The simplest option is to join Freecycle a series of local communities that are giving away products they no longer need. Depending on your location some of the groups are stronger than others, but the rule is simple, everything is free if you can collect it. A novel idea, one that cuts down on landfill waste in a great way and after chatting with the UK owner on BBC Radio 5 Live I'm convinced of the merits of the service. The only downside is that an active community can leave you flooded with numerous emails every day, but that does mean more free stuff up for grabs.

Option 2: Scrounge!
The rather clever Emily Ryan furnished her Manhattan apartment in nothing but free furniture. The way she did it? Well it involved getting her hands dirty. Mainly by looking for Grade A furniture in skips, dumpsters and randomly outside apartments in the city. You'd be surpised how well this worked with Emily grabbing "a desk, filing cabinet, TV and decorative mirror" according to the folks at USA Today.

So whilst there are certainly ways to get new furniture for free, who not do a little recycling of your own and give these options a chance?

Why not download our free ebook (originally £8.99) "How to get anything for free!" right here for free How to get free drink / booze

Today we turn our attention to Marc Reeves who didn't ask for much:

"Eternal happiness? World peace? Lifetime supply of Guinness? Up for all of that..."

For Eternal Happiness and World Peace I suggest Yoga, and for the really interesting question "how to get free booze" lets evaluate a few things Marc could try:

Start a drinking club
Back in my University days we started a club called "The Extreme Ironing society". Extreme Ironing involves people trying to iron in extreme places like halfway up a mountain, but for us it was an excuse to fill a dingy room and play drinking games. We went so far as to get shirts printed for all the members, and appear at open day fairs.

The point is that starting a club around booze is possible, and if done in the right way can become quite a presence. So Marc could try and get a few likeminded people together and form a small club around his favourite drink. To combat the negative view towards drinking, Marc would need to pitch the club as a tasters society similar to a Wine tasting club.

After a few meetings Marc would then need to contact the marketing and PR agencies of various drinks and explain the benefits of the club. This could include increased brand awareness in a key target market and gaining prestige at a known club. The goal being to show ways that the club allows the drink company to beat the competition and to help Marc raise awareness for his club.

This worked especially well when Coors were persuaded to send 4 free pints and 4 free cans to every member of student accomodation in my University. - See how this was done here

Marc could even piggyback off the existing Guiness drinkers society on Facebook.

Visit Everyone
The cheekier option is to arrange work meetings at a local bar or restaurant rather than in the office. This is a nice way to make a meeting seem less official so good for new clients and the bill will either go on your company card on the clients. Naturally if it's going on your card/ expenses check with managers first, but explain how you would like to meet the client in a relaxed setting, or pitch it as a reward for a client who has been good to you all year.

Or accept any offers from companies who want your business, make sure to meet them and expect them to roll out the red carpet and pay for your expenses. If they want your business they will, and if they don't then you can simply go elsewhere.

If all else fails you could always sign this petition Free Alcohol for the thirsty.

Why not download our free ebook (originally £8.99) "How to get anything for free!" right here for free Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolately

Just when I was getting a little bored of reviewing free food it seems PR agencies have started trying to up the ante on each other. Whilst most of them have gone for bigger and bigger boxes Kellogg's have gone one step further:


To support the release of new "Kellogg's Rice Krispies Squares Totally Chocolately" they bundled a pack of the new snack over, a candle and a working chocolate fountain emblazoned with the Rice Krispies Squares logo:


My attention was alerted even further thanks to the candle which is one of the most unique and odd free products I have received in my life. Opening the lid I was presented by a strong chocolate scent, almost identical to the new bar. They've even taken it one step further by sticking small chocolate bits in to the top of the candle. Not something you'll ever buy in shops but what a wonderful gift it would be if you could.


Of course these items are all to get us talking about the new bar (and not Kellogg's phenomenal generosity) which we'd be talking about without the freebies. Chocolate Rice Krispies squares are nothing new, but this is truely something else. One slight peel of the foil wrapper releases a chocolate scent stronger than any bar I have ever had in my life. Not only has the bar been chocolatified but there also a rich layer of chcolate on top and chocolate chunks stuck on for good measure.


Each of these chocolate components has a distinct taste all well, ranging from soft tones in the bulk of the bar to chocolate heaven on top. The sticky center of the bar remains unchanged from the classics making it distinctive, goey, and nice to the last bite. This is probably the pinacle of Rice Krispies Squares and the envy of other snack bars. Oh and it's only 159 calories.

Need I say more?

Why not download our free ebook (originally £8.99) "How to get anything for free!" right here for free How to get a free car

A post from @GuyClapperton today got me thinking:

"4.00am, someone drives into my (parked) car, writes it off. Cracking start to the week. Any car PRs fancy sending a freebie...thought not."

Which kind of got me thinking, would it be possible to get a car for free? Guy for example has a number of attributes that would certainly make him attractive in crafting a unique offer to a car company:

"Guy Clapperton is a freelance journalist in London who writes for the Guardian, Times, Independent, Telegraph and a number of magazines"

Based on this here's 5 ways Guy could try to get a car for free (and you can try these yourself with minor tweaks).

1. Journalistic Links
The most obvious path would be to use links within his job to offer journalistic services to a car company, whilst also maintaining his editorial integrity. Such as offering to try a car for a year and review it (Most car magazines get their company cars this way), visiting a car factory and writing about it or writing a blog about his experince with the car.

Those of us who aren't journalists could still use our jobs in this way, perhaps asking for a car to use as a pool car for the entire staff to use. Good exposure for the brand and everyone on payroll gets to give it a test drive.

2. Twitter Status
Twitter is a good tool for making contacts within an industry that you couldn't normally speak to. Guy could use his profile to find key PR figures within the car industry and ask for a free car along the lines above or promise to talk about the car on his twitter feed. As with all things the more followers you have, the more popular you are and the easier this will me.

3. Test Drive
With his other car out of action Guy could hunt round for test drives, asking to try the car for an extended period whilst he decides. The bigger budget he has the easier this will be, with the possibility of jumping from car to car each month. A hassle and unfair on the companies but it would certainly be fun to try a different car regularly.

4. Exposure
Once Guy has the car where could he show it off? Would he be able to take it to a trade show and demonstrate it? Or perhaps drive up to a party or VIP journalism event in his new motor? Either way he could try to get the free car on the promise of giving it some extra exposure.

5. Corporate Sponsorship
Which brings me on to the final option of sponorship, like the above you could try to get a car by promising to show it at various events but could have a logo on the car from a sponsor. Chris and Luke.com used to follow the lives of two students who you could sponsor by giving them a product which they would show on TV shows. In the Corporation movie they did this to such an extent they got a BMW. Not a bad option for a small logo here and there.

The options are certainly there for Guy or just about anyone to get a free car, and the Nissan Pathfinder I snagged last year is slight proof of these principles.

Manage to pull this off? Let me know in the comments or follow me on twitter for more tips.

Why not download our free ebook (originally £8.99) "How to get anything for free!" right here for free How to get free goodie/ gift bags

About a week ago I posed a question to my twitter followers simply asking "what would you like to get for free?". My goal? To find out if these challenges were possible and first up we have a double request:

foluke: "would like some goody bag treats for Precious networking event - 26 March"
ginadav: #getforfree welcome goodies - pens, pads, bags, lanyards etc for a european journalism conference

What is good about these requests is that they both already have a very good unique offer, ie something they can offer in return for the free gift. Anything donated will be given to highly influential people who in turn will be able to find each product later and look in to it more. It also gives people at the show a talking point i.e can you believe Company X gave us all a free Product Y? Oh and given that both shows relate to magazines and journalism there are certainly opportunities for stories that may spring from the giveaways.

So we've got the offer but how can our tag team duo go about getting the freebies? Well there is a great service that has set the groundwork for them already:

Help a Reporter Out
I love Peter Shankman's Help a Reporter Out because it gets journalists and their sources talking. As a tri-daily email newsletter Peter asks questions posed by journalists and the answers then become stories. As a journalist I got 27 products offered to me for free this way, and as a source I got interviewed for USA Today so it works! Rather nicely for this request every Friday Peter also lists gift bag requests for any industry event.

To get your event on the service all you need to do is visit Help a Reporter Out.com and make your case, asking for what you'd like in the gift bag. Whether or not you appear on the service is down to stating what you can offer the person who gives you something for free (you know the unique offer I bang on about, well this is the time to use it). So in this case our tag team will need to mention the number of attendees, reasons people would visit the show, the type of people there etc. The best thing to do is sign up for the regular emails, get a feel for what works and give it a go.

I would also advise that any company that is relevant to these events is given a quick call, walked through the benefits of giving samples to the show and asked if they have anything to give. You're not asking for charity or being cheeky, you are simply offering them free promotion at your show in return for a sample.

Any more ideas let me know in he comments. Want me to teach you how to get something for free? Ask me on twitter.