CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: DID ANYONE SAY 'FREE'? INTERNET OFFERS VARIETY OF FREE STUFF

Do you clip coupons? We do sometimes, especially on things you know you're going to need like diapers and breakfast cereal.

Joni: I like looking at the advertising inserts in our Sunday newspaper. Sometimes you can find really good deals. But I confess, I probably don't clip as many coupons as I should.

Peggy: For those who are looking for more savings, the Internet has a host of coupon-related sites. In other words, the Internet can save you money. Let's start at

www.gottasave.com

Joni: This site shows you a few deals. For the rest, you must register. It's free. First we're going to look at Freebies.

Peggy: For example, you can get a free screensaver from Hellmann's or Paul Newman's personal recipe for Tex-Mex salad.

Joni: Here's free coupons for baby food and free gifts from Enfamil baby formula. Purina has horoscopes for your pets. You can also create a Web page for your dog or cat free at the Purina site.

Peggy: Here's a free 16 oz. bottle of Sunny Delight. Fill out their questionnaire, and they will mail you a coupon for a free bottle. Interestingly, under e-mail addresses they won't accept free e-mail accounts.

Joni: OK. I'm kind of a sucker for free stuff. I'm going for it. Of course, the danger is when you give someone your e-mail, they will send you e-mail. We'll see if the free Sunny Delight arrives at my house. This is a picky survey. They're making me work for it. No such thing as free orange juice.

Peggy: Here's a bean-bag Energizer Bunny for just $2.99. Or you can get coupons for Ragu, saving up to $5. Ragu's form was much easier to complete. And a coupon book is headed my way. They also have tips for using coupons. For example, they say Send the Hunter to the store. Women tend to gather, while men hunt for specific items.

Joni: Here's another tip. Get in and get out. Supermarket industry research shows that once a shopper has bought what they came in for, they spend an average of $2.60 per minute while they stay in the store.

Peggy: Shop backwards; 90 percent of shoppers start in the produce department. If you shop backwards you won't do as much impulse buying. The displays are set up to face the flow of traffic.

Joni: They also link to Web sites from your favorite grocery stores, like Schnucks. We found that some coupon sites want to charge you for the coupons. To this we say "forget it."

Peggy: Manufacturers make it pretty easy to find coupons of the products you want to buy if you head to their sites. Web addresses are often found on packages. Or you can look to other online coupon sites like ValuPage.

www.directcoupons.com/valupage/

Joni: Enter your ZIP code and you will learn about coupon savings, rebates and samples. I can choose from Country Mart and Town and Country. It says there are 65 offers worth $52 this week.

Peggy: Not bad savings. But this is a different kind of set up. You earn Web bucks at the store for certain items purchased. The Web bucks can be redeemed at their face value on your next shopping trip.

Joni: Some manufacturers have some concerns about coupon fraud online, and this is a way to get around that. The products promoted are ones we use. Buy any Benadryl and earn $1 in Web bucks.

Peggy: We'll have to give it a try and see if it really works. Let's try another site called

www.mysupermarket.com

Joni: Under "Added Values," we clicked on a page about the joys of refunding. This woman says for an hour or two a week you can save hundreds of dollars and get some neat free stuff.

Peggy: She says almost every manufacturer offer refunds on products, some once a year others all the time. You usually need a proof of purchase, the bar code and the cash register receipt.

Joni: It says June, the refund expert, has been saving money this way since the 1970s and saves about $300 a year. The site also gives you coupons like the ones you pull from red dispensers inside the grocery store.

Peggy: There's lots of other free stuff on the Internet. It is a challenge to find it. Interested in free catalogs? You can find hundreds at

catalog.netcart.com

Joni: Select a category, and see what catalogs are available. You can make a list of several catalogs. It's very easy.

Peggy: Some of the catalogs you've heard of, many you probably haven't. But they are free. Here's arts and crafts, Aussie gifts, and an art gallery.

Joni: I'll be looking for my catalogs in four to six weeks. Here's another type of site with lists of contests. You could win free stuff.

www.allfreestuff.com

Peggy: We could enter to win a Harley, a camcorder, a big screen TV, a trip to Las Vegas. I'll be busy picking up my free stuff and taking my free trips.

Joni: Right. Here's links to lots of other free stuff online, free fonts, free programs, free screensavers. Here's a link to the Free Site

www.thefreesite.com

Peggy: Mostly you get free Web-related programs and things. Here's free stuff for Halloween. Here's a program called No Worries, for e-mail reminders of important dates, like birthdays and meetings.

Joni: Here's one from Mentadent to remind you about visits to the doctor, dentist and eye screenings.

Peggy: Here's a sticky-note program free for your computer, and another that checks your lottery numbers for you and notifies you by e-mail. Here's one that notifies you when it's time to change your oil. Here's one more site to check out. You'll have to register, but it's free.

www.coolsavings.com

Joni: You also have to download software to print the coupons, but it's free too. They also have all sorts of free stuff, including free tokens for Chuck E. Cheese and savings from Sears.

Peggy: This is a very cool site. The danger with today's column is that we may be inundated with junk e-mail. We'll let you know.

Joni Adams and Peggy Scott are members of the Southeast Missourian online staff.