Giveaways can be a great help to job seekers' budgets, and offers are growing as holidays near. 

Here's how to find them:

With unemployment high, holidays approaching and family budgets tight, vendors worry about sales, and increase their free samples and other giveaways. Since the broader military community is also growing, this boosts military-specific offers, too.  

Large retail chains such as Walmart often offer free samples of diapers, shampoo and other household staples, and a simple online search will turn them up. Baskin-Robbins gives away free ice cream, and Home Depot hosts free "how-to"workshops for children. (For a detailed list of current giveaways, click here.)

Free samples and other giveaways often disappear quickly on the Web, so use good search phrases – and act quickly – to take advantage of these freebies. The following are some effective general and military-specific search terms to get you started:

Don’t be afraid to experiment, and try the phrases with and without quotes. If you use Google, also try the search engine’s “Show options” link at the top of the page (under the search field) after your initial search. This lets you narrow the results chronologically, to get the freshest offers and reduce outdated promotions.

 

Search While You Sleep      

As we detail in our new job-finding book, "Work at Home Now," Google alerts are an excellent way to track new job leads, but they can also be used to find fresh giveaways. Alerts can be set for search phrases or individual words, and Google’s software (known as "bots") scour the Internet 24/7, looking for the designated terms.

To set alerts, simply go to the More Google Products page, click on "Alerts," and follow the instructions on the next page. We recommend setting alerts to the “comprehensive” type, which you’ll find in a drop-down menu. This instructs the software to search blogs, video entries and other sources as well as Web pages, increasing your chances of useful results.

To find or start discussions about giveaways and discounts, visit Military.com’s forums or the Discount Center.