Try Before You Buy

This is something that we really should be doing more often: Trying things out before making the purchase. Sure there are some things that you don't really need to try out, but others, you really should. Foundation is a big one (you never know how your skin may react), perfume is another thing as well (just because it smells good in the bottle, doesn't mean it'll smell good on you, plus the smell changes over the course of it's wear).

Stuff like that you can usually get a sample at your cosmetic counter or Sephora. The great thing about Sephora is their return policy as well. If it doesn't work or you don't like it, bring it back with the receipt for a full refund. No receipt? Then you'll get a store credit instead.

There are also various sample boxes out there that you can subscribe to. Topbox, Loose Button, Glossybox, ipsy, BB5 and possibly a few others (as of right now, I believe the least expensive is $12). These boxes will provide you with deluxe size beauty samples (and sometimes full size) for you to try out. These are normally bigger than the ones you'd get in the stores.

Now what about every day stuff? Other than liking the company's Facebook page and hoping that they have free samples to give away, there are two places that I personally know of that you can get samples: P&G Brand Sampler and Sample Source. While you don't get to pick exactly what you want to try, they'll usually have a few things that you get to pick from (usually a limit as to how much you can grab). Then they send it to you for free, and voila! You get stuff that you can try out.

While it's been a while since I got my P&G Brand Sampler (and no pictures), I did recently get my sample box from Sample Source.

While I already received the Frizz-Ease, Tums and Quaker Harvest Crunch from my bag at the National Women's Show, they were still great things to get.

Boyfriend's happy that he gets to try out a new razor that's not a disposable razor. I get to test out laundry detergent packs and hopefully with the help of Breath Right, might get good sleep. There isn't any harm in it. So while both companies are currently "sold out" of their samples currently, keep an eye open on their website - you never know when they might have new offers.