Free Offers That Aren’t Always All That Free

Free! Now I have your attention, don’t I? There are very few people in the world uninterested in free things, and most of us are not those people. We find it is often a bit of a struggle to ignore something when we are told it’s free, so we get it. However, it seems that some things are too good to be true, including the ‘free’ in front of the things you want the most. We’re here to tell you that there is nothing wrong with free offers, but sometimes you have to be sure that what you’re getting ‘free’ is actually free and you’re not paying for it elsewhere.

Free Checking Accounts

This is a nice option, and sometimes they truly are free. As the wife of a banker, I get all my banking items free of charge and that’s nice. Otherwise, though, you need to make sure your bank doesn’t offer free checking with stipulations. Such as making a minimum of two direct deposits each month, paying x amount of bills every month or maintaining a specific balance every month to maintain free checking status. Sometimes if you don’t meet those requirements, your free checking is suddenly one with a fee.

Free Shipping

Old Navy is, admittedly, my favorite place to choose clothes for my kids. They have the great little tabs inside their jeans that I can pull as tight as possible to pants fit my tiny kids. Additionally, clothes here are cute and cheap – something that works for my kids since they can destroy new clothes in five minutes flat. I love that they offer free shipping on purchase over $50. I usually spend far more than that there, so it works for me. However, I have found myself adding $20 worth of items to a $30 purchase so I can take advantage of the free $7 shipping. That’s not free.

Free Hotel Offers

I love a good offer when I’m traveling, especially if it’s something like kids eat free with two breakfast purchases at the hotel restaurant. However, most of the time it’s not really free. The room might be jacked up price-wise so that you are actually paying for their breakfast, so you do want to be sure you’re not overpaying for a room just because you think you’re getting something free. It might be less expensive to book another hotel room and get breakfast elsewhere in some cases.

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