In this economy -- and in any economy -- the best daily deal is a free deal.

Ladies and gentlemen, I bring you Wal-Mart's frequently updated free sample page. All you have to is click "Get your sample", type in your address, and they mail it to you. No shipping charges, no nothing.

Among the products currently available are Vaseline moisturizer, Glad trash bags, and Dexatrim Max20.

If you want more free stuff, visit www.startsampling.com, and start clicking away. I ordered me some Brut aftershave balm moisturizer.

Check out this frequently updated blog for the latest news on free samples.

Some deals only come around once or twice a year, but offer savings that justify the wait. This post is part of our series on such 'don't miss' sales.

Would the men kindly avert their eyes for a moment? Or just focus closely on the model to the right. Thanks.

OK, ladies. Don't deny it. Victoria's Secret has us right where it wants us. A sexy-but-accessible brand name, it lures us with the one-two punch of retail: It is both practical AND frivolous. We all need new undies and bras from time to time. And we all want to wear pretty little lacy things under our clothes.

It's no wonder we all wait patiently for its vaunted semi-annual sale. Held each year in January and May, just as we're getting a little bored with the bras in the drawer, the store brings out its signature pink bins, and fills them with cute underthings at up to 70% off.

Quality lingerie is pricey, and Victoria's Secret is no bargain for its mid-range quality. All the more reason to shop the sales, during which underwear is $3.99 and bras are marked down to start at $12.99.

Watch for announcements and listen for buzz as the sale approaches. Keep in mind that they start almost a full month online before hitting the bricks & mortar store.

We now return to our regular posting. You can tune in again, men. Guys? Hello...

Some of us have smart shopping-OCD. We're so obsessed with getting a bargain that we undervalue our time, and will spend 20 minutes to save 20 cents. That I suffer from the illness became obvious to me when I tested the patience of some friends while I compared unit prices on sugar free iced tea mixes at the grocery store.

I'm not alone, however. Jean Chatzky, recently wrote that she spent a full workweek trying to save a few hundred dollars on a new television. Chatzky offers a wonderful formula for estimating the value of your time, and deciding whether comparison shopping for Tic Tacs is worth doing:

Say you make $100,000 a year. Remove the last three zeros ($100), divide the number in half and you get your approximate hourly rate, in this case $50. Unless you're "making" that much by shopping for your TV or constantly combing the Internet for slightly higher CD yields (or whatever your time-suck happens to be), you're losing money.

Here on WalletPop, we love offering money-saving tips but it's important to keep this in mind: Depending on your financial situation, some of these tips may be too petty to be worth your time. Being a "smart shopper" may actually be costing you money!

I was FLORed. (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.) Late last night I placed an order for a few dozen FLOR carpet tiles for my living room, the 'Morning Coffee' pattern in 'Decaf' (reddish orange) and 'Espresso' (dark dark brown). The shipping cost, via UPS Ground, from the Georgia warehouse to my home in Portland, Oregon was painful, though, $39 for my order; I would have ordered a few extra tiles in some other colors and textures, but that would have tacked another $13 on my order. I shivered, and pressed "buy."

This morning, bright and early before the sun was up here on the West Coast, I got my shipping confirmation. Speedy! I thought. Then around 9 a.m. I got another email, this a promotional offer. "Free Shipping for a Limited Time!" the subject read. Ohhh... ouch!

I spent several minutes feeling peeved, and then I thought: why not just call? I dialed the customer service line and was connected to a friendly representative who happily processed a refund for my shipping. Giving me plenty of time to enjoy my morning coffee.

If you, too, are in the market for some FLOR tiles, now's the time! The free shipping code is BP887W, and the email didn't say when the promotion would end.

In the mechanical age (the one preceding today's computer age), buying factory-refurbished goods was a gamble. Sure, they may have replaced all the belts, but who knew what other wear points were about to break?

In the computer age, though, wear is not such a factor, and some bargains can be had by taking a very minimal gamble on factory-repaired goods. One such source for deals is Apple.

At Apple's outlet store, you can pick up a previous generation 2-gig iPod Nano for $79, about half of its original price. A 4-gig version is an even better deal at $99, and a 30-gig iPod sells for $179 vs. the usual $249.

The site also offers MacBooks, although the savings here are much slighter; a 2.2 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo selling normally for $1,999 can be had for $1,699.

Each comes with a full one-year warranty. My experience with such devices is that if they work for a week, they'll work until I drop them onto a cement floor, so I wouldn't be afraid to take a flyer on these deals, if the price is right.