Easy Hacks to Get Free Stuff With Big Value

1. Knowledge from elders

I'm wintering in southern Texas with my in-laws being just right behind me in a trailer in a 55-and-over park. It has been such a fun journey getting to know them better and getting to spend time with them doing things.

One of the things that I get for free, and maybe you can get it too, is knowledge from our elders. My husband's parents were both raised very frugally.

Now, they don't live frugally; they don't have to anymore, but they spent a lot of their early years and their younger years living frugally so that they could have money for when they retired to live better than they did.

My mother-in-law had even told me about how she would go on business trips, and they would give them a per diem for food, but she wouldn't spend it.

She would go and buy things at the store, make food in her room, take it, pack it, and put it in the refrigerator during the day, during these business meetings, so that she could pocket that per diem money and take it home to use it in her household. Those are really great memories and great examples of sacrifice to be able to save money for the future.

She also told me about how she grew up in Southeast Kansas and how her mother would go and pick what they called alley greens. They would pick things like lamb's quarter, dandelion greens, and some other greens that were edible, and they were just from plants that grew wild.

There are a lot of people who forage for food and know which things are safe to pick and which things are safe to eat that grow wild. She loaned me a book, The Foragers Guide to Wild Foods, and I spent time looking through it. It talks about different edible plants, which ones are poisonous, which parts of the plants you can eat, how to cook them, and what medical values they have.

So, another excellent, valuable thing that I gained just from this conversation with her that led to me borrowing this book.

2. Pacer app

Now, some of the things that I get for free that I use more in my modern-day life are to focus more on my health. I'm trying to walk more. I'm trying to eat better. I'm trying to spend more time outdoors. I use the Pacer app. It's P -A -C -E -R on my phone, and it is free.

I don't have an Apple Watch. I don't have a Fitbit. I don't have anything like that to track my steps. But this free pacer app will track your steps and track your route. Then, you can link that with a free app called My Fitness Pal. It will download the calories you burned to My Fitness Pal, where you can log your food, set goals, and see how many calories you have to eat that day. If you monitor your calories.

I need to exercise and watch my calories. That's the only way I can lose weight. I've tried many, many things over the years. So, I love using my Pacer app with the MyFitnessPal app and linking them together. They both have free options to use. I only use the free options that link those. I don't pay for any premium version of anything.

3. Free clothing

I'm wearing the shirt I got today from a women's free swap. My daughter says white is God's way of telling us he has a sense of humor because it's so hard to keep clean. Now, my mother-in-law wears tons of white. She loves white. She's able to keep it clean.

I've always stayed away from white things because I can damage them immediately with something I spill on myself. But this is kind of white with some black polka dots. I love polka dots and when I put this on today, with the tan, and I'm starting to get my gray hair so I thought maybe I could go back to wearing some things that have white in them.

Free clothing swaps allow you to try things you may not usually try but end up looking great on you.

4. Roku box

We use the Roku box instead of the cable. We shut off cable a few years back, so we had to let our sports love go by the wayside; at least I did when it came to college men's basketball because that was my favorite thing.

Even here in the camper, I brought my iPad, not a TV. I've downloaded several apps that I have really been able to utilize here in the camper just with the use of my internet. ABC has a free app that I use to watch reruns of General Hospital and movies on there.

I've really enjoyed the ABC app. I also have Tubi. I have Pluto. I have Freeform. I have FreeV, Crackle, Plex, FilmRise, and Classic Movies. Now on Pluto TV, they have channels designated to some of your favorites, including Love Boat, Six Million Man, and Godzilla channels, and there is a Walking Dead channel where I was able to catch the brand new premiere of the latest Walking Dead without having to pay AMC Plus.

You have to learn what you can find there, but they have been so valuable to us. It's kept me from having to pay for any cable TV, even here in the park.

5. Book swap

Now, one of the things that my husband and I did when we owned our business was a couple of times in the summer; we would have a book swap. We would set out tables in front of our business. We had several boxes of books that we would put out there, and the only rule was that you couldn't leave more than you took. We didn't want to end up with more books than we started with.

But you can trade a book for a book, or you can take a book if you don't have something to trade. Ee ended up with all kinds of new books to read without having to purchase other books. It was the same philosophy as the clothes swap that we did here in the park, which I absolutely love.

I wish more communities would think about doing some of these swaps. These free swaps are fun for the community, and they're also great for your pocketbook because you can get different clothes and different books. You can trade lots of things like that, and everybody gets something new, and nobody spends any money.

How to get free stuff

I hope you enjoyed my ideas for getting free stuff. What do you get for free that helps you save money? Share your tips in the comments below.

Next, learn 8 Easy Ways to Save Money & Build Your Savings.