PREPPING? GET FREE USEFUL STUFF for Your Workshop, EDC, Tool Box, Etc....

                                                                   Hello crew, thanks for stopping in!

       Here is a tip for getting some small, yet useful items for FREE from a place you more than likely have visited anyhow. One caveat, the FREE item is with the purchase of something....for example; see that picture of 50' of Nylon rope for 99 cents? Bingo.

FREE! Yes, FREE is our friend. Almost every member of "Instuctables", and plenty of visitors to the site could use some free items in their tool box, EDC or even in the junk drawer at home. With all the building, crafting hacking and tearing stuff apart that we do, we can use any edge we can get! Plus I heard the zombies are coming?

FLASHLIGHTS, SCISSORS, SCREWDRIVERS, MEASURING TAPES, ETC....all minor items but extremely useful AND THEY NEVER SEEM TO BE WHERE YOU LEFT THEM LAST!! I can't tell you how many times someone has broken in my home just to raid my junk drawer to steal my flashlights, tape measure or Sharpies!! No, not the flat screen TV or jewelry! NOPE, they target my junk drawer and the small things I always seem to need but can't find.... "I swear I remember putting it the drawer last honey, I know i did!" Duh! Anyhow...

HARBOR FREIGHT! Yep, there are 400+ stores nationwide so there is a chance one might be near you. They are like the "Dollar Store for Tools" type of place. Not bad prices, sure they could use better quality tools, but it has gotten me by in a pinch many a times!

 So here's the deal.....Every couple weeks Harbor Freight puts out a newspaper coupon flyer. TWO important coupons are on EVERY flyer...

* A coupon for 20% off any SINGLE item (not bad)
* A FREE ITEM coupon. FREE! FREE! FREE! (Very very good!)

 So take for example that picture of the .99 nylon rope, use the 20% off coupon (NICE!) and then use the FREE coupon for your gift. Done. You spent basically 80 cents on the rope and got a free flashlight, or whatever they offer that week.

 Now most times I usually need some sort of item around the garage, whether it be a bungie cord, some sort of fastener or whatever. Harbor Freight is great for this sort of thing. So my wife and I will each have our coupons and we make our seperate purchases....
Yes it is a predetermined gift for that week, but it is still free and usually it is an item we could use extras of.  

Examples of the free gifts:

*** FREE LED ALUMINUM FLASHLIGHT - This sucker is extremely bright, compact and they last a long time! They also come with FREE batteries. Not bad. I have these all over the house so we are PREPARED in case of an electrical blackout. Here on the Florida Coast it is common during storms. Bathroom drawers, desk, kitchen, closets, ALL OVER! I even use on as my mountain bike as a headlight!! You can hack it for the battery pack or the LEDs. I must have gotten more than a dozen of these flashlights for FREE!

*** FREE MULTI-PURPOSE SCISSORS with STAINLESS BLADES - NO, they won't cut thru a leg bone but they sure are useful enough and being free we have several of these spread around as well. I can go cut something in the workshop, dull the blades, bend 'em, break them in half and not get in trouble for using my wife's FISKARS! Heck, you could even use them as throwing knives once they break apart to kill some zombies or use them in a trap as spear heads!!! One again... FREE!

*** FREE MEASURING TAPE -Another item that never seems to be where ya' left it last. I know how the "instructable family" is always brain storming, lookin at stuff and going "hhmmmm, can that fit there?"... and extra measuring tapes thru-out the shop or house is a great thing to have. I am sure there is something to be made of old measuring tape steel. too...I just haven't gotten that far on this site yet! Hmm, gotta' go search that one! Uhhhh- yep its FREE!

*** FREE SCREWDRIVER SET - Always a good thing to have in the junk drawer. This is a small handle set, more suited for small fixes around the house as opposed to screwing large wood screws and such. Cabinet hinges, electric work, puching holes in zombie heads.....FREE!

So that's it. While you're out around town prepping for the zombie attack make sure to save those Harbor Freight coupons and take them up on these free items. Now I know someone might gripe about Harbor Freight and the quality of tools, especially if you grew up on Craftsman, Milwaukee and such....but certain tools just don't have to be a brand name to be good. Sure the gift is pretty much cheap and only cost them pennies, but it's free to you, what do ya' care?. Like I said, just use the coupon and purchase something really cheap...heck, even if it is a bag of zip ties! Get your 20% off and the free gift.

...oh, if you do not recieve a weekly newspaper with coupons then you can always go to their website (harborfrieght.com), sign up and they will mail you their weekly flyer. Simple.

Good luck out there!