The Freebie Hunt Is On!

We may well be in a recession but there are ways you can still try and get free stuff without having to spend a fortune.

If you feel lucky (or even if you don't), you can try and win prizes. Find out about promotions locally or even online. The best example I can give you is the promotion that was held for 3 days at my local Renault garage and which I participated for free on Monday: all I had to do was test-drive a brand new Renault Megane (without being obliged to buy anything) for my name to be entered in a draw with a chance to win one. I must say I got a little kick out of making the salesman feel very nervous sitting in a car being driven for the very first time by a reckless French woman driver; at least that's the feeling I got judging by the sweat on the guy's forehead!

Another thing I did is join the online newsletter from a national radio (Today FM; I just love listening to the Ray D'Arcy show!) and it turns out that the newsletter they send me once a month has great free competitions: this morning I entered one to be in a chance to win a case of 12 bottles of French wine and another for tickets to a kids' show in Dublin with 2 nights in a hotel.

These are great competions because they are free to join but before you go and join all online competitions, make sure you read all the fine print and don't join a site like this: I came across it a few weeks ago and thought at first that this was a great opportunity but it's only after reading the full terms and conditions that I found out it was actually a mobile phone subscription service: the first text is free but after that and until you unsubscribe, they will send you a text that will cost you €2 every 4 days; a great way to be left without phone credit when you need it the most.

Read the local papers, listen to radio ads and sign up to any newsletters you may be interested in; the more competitions you enter, the more chances you get to actually win something!