Freebies

You’ve probably heard the famous quote, “The best things in life are free”, many times before. While it’s obvious that everyone enjoys getting things for free, there’s something extra special about it when you’re in or freshly-out of college. I attribute this theory to the fact that we are strapped for cash during both of these time periods, so anything we don’t have to buy really helps our bank account.

For me personally, I love trying new things. Whether it’s a new type of M&Ms (yes, I am one of the few who enjoys the pretzel ones), the latest brand of bronzer, or that free Budweiser T-shirt they’re giving out at the bar, I’m all over it.

In college, there seemed to be tons of opportunities for free things. A common way to get free things during my freshman and sophomore years was the RA-sponsored activities. Whether it was a lecture on the dangers of smoking or an activity to decorate our dorms for an upcoming holiday, spending that one hour of my life bored was definitely worth getting a free meal that wasn’t from the dining hall.

Another way to get free stuff in college was at the annual health & wellness fair. This event was held in my college’s gym (how fitting) and featured local businesses in the areas of health, nutrition, dentistry, and sexual health. Each business or non-profit would set up their booth and offer information and pamphlets about their organization. This meant free food samples, pens, key chains and even massages. Every year my housemates and I scrambled to get there early before all of the good stuff ran out. Then we’d walk back to our dorms and dump out our “goodie bags”, just like children across America do every Halloween.

Since graduation, my love and ability for finding free stuff has only increased. Recently, I received new skincare products and samples of iced tea mix from a social media site because I exhibit “social influence”. Getting free stuff for tweeting and blogging- sounds good to me! I’ve also recently won a Starbucks gift card simply by being someone’s 500th Twitter follower and a line of new makeup brushes for entering a blog contest.

I don’t go out of my way to win free things, but when I see or hear about an opportunity, I take it. It doesn’t really eat up any of my time and it definitely doesn’t take any sort of talent to win free things- I’m living proof of that!

So whether it’s the curiosity to try out new products, the importance we feel from receiving something for free or just our inner hoarder coming out, getting free stuff is definitely a high priority for life after college.

You can view this article in it’s original state over at LA Family Magazine’s “Life after College” section here and read my past articles here.