Free Is Truly Priceless

Let Free Stuff Ring! That's the rallying cry for the Week 3 "I Got It for FREE!" Saving Challenge kicking off today.

I have to admit that occasionally I get a touch of TE ("Tightwad Envy"). People really have scored some incredible free stuff.

Then again, I've always done alright myself when it comes to free stuff.

Under the "priceless" category, there are the six precious kittens that have brightened our lives over the years, all found as strays or adopted from animal shelters. 

And under the "even more priceless" category, while I've had a few people buy me a free beer from time to time, the one my future wife bought me the night we first met in college came with the bonus of 28 years of truly wedded bliss (and still counting).

Then of course there's all the free stuff I've found, much of it during my daily bicycle rides. It's amazing how much stuff is lost or abandoned along the roadside:  tools (including a circular saw in perfect condition), a nice leather jacket just my size, cash (on three different occasions I've found $20 bills, along with many smaller amounts), tapes, CDs, DVDs, books, a full case of beer, and-rather ironically-four bicycles.

But one of the freebies I'm proudest of is this "hobbyist greenhouse."  I'd always wanted a small greenhouse, but they're terribly expensive. One day I was once again riding my bicycle, and I noticed an older woman struggling to disassemble this greenhouse in her side yard. I stopped and introduced myself and asked if she was interested in selling the greenhouse.

"Sell it?" she said. "I just want this @%$&#! thing out of my yard!  If you take it apart and haul it away, it's all yours!" Moral to the story:  It pays to ask ... and ride your bicycle.

You have through Sunday, October 23 to enter the Week 3 "I Got It for FREE!" Savings Challenge. Go for it!

Photo courtesy of Shamey Jo via Flickr Creative Commons