One of the best things about savings techniques and couponing is getting something absolutely free, or even better - getting paid to take something out of the store!You may have heard about others using coupons to get name brand grocery items free, but if you're like most people you think to yourself, "Wow, I wish I could do that, but I don't have the time or energy to put into it. It's got to be a lot of work."While there is some effort involved, it's easier than you think to get items free. Here's what you need to know:- The key to getting things free is to match coupons with good prices. You don't need to spend hours looking for coupons that match up to the latest sales. Check matchup posts on cincysavers.com where we tell you what the week's sales are and which coupons to pair with the sales. We are doing the matchup work for you!- You don't even need to search for your own coupons! There are many small and home-based businesses that will search and clip coupons for you. Search for a coupon clipping service on the Web and you'll find several to choose from.  We recommend The Coupon Carryout or CouponsbyDeDe.- Another popular place to buy coupons is eBay. Coupons usually cost several cents apiece but if you buy a lot from one place, the coupons can ship out together and save you lots of money and time. For our cincysavers.com $1K Challenge, we used coupon clipping services to avoid the work of clipping coupons. We deducted the price of the coupons from the $1K we spent and still were able to buy more than $6500 worth of groceries.- Buy One Get One coupons and sales are a great place to find free product. If a store is offering an item buy one, get one free, you're at least getting one free item with the purchase of a second. But to get BOTH the first and second free, use both the sale AND a buy one get one coupon (couponers call this a BOGO). The store accepts the BOGO as payment for one item (the store is reimbursed by the coupon provider - usually the manufacturer), so for coupon purposes you've already purchased one - and then the sale kicks in to provide the second item FREE.- Stacking coupons also helps. This means using both a manufacturer's coupon and a store coupon on one item. Almost every grocery store in Cincinnati allows this. Manufacturer's coupons are usually labeled so at the top.Remember to hold your coupons until the best time to use them. "Hold onto your coupons like you would a card in a high-stakes poker game," says Heather Tenney, Cincinnati's Savings Expert who blogs as LittleMissKnowitAll. "We post coupon matchups each week, telling you when to combine that shiny piece of paper with the best deal, leading you to save so much money on items that often, you'll walk out of the stores with free groceries."For example, Barilla pasta was on sale recently at Meijer for 98 cents, explains Heather, "which is a good deal in itself.  However, if you use the $1 off coupon we tell you about, then you would be able to get your favorite pasta free."When sales like this pop up, and they do frequently, we'll let you know in time to order these types of coupon online, and we'll give you links to printable coupons whenever possible."Coupon Queens who get stuff for free don't shop for what they use that week," says Heather. "Instead we look for what we can get free that week and how we can use that item in the future. This is a shift to your weekly shopping plan at first, but before you know it, you'll have a stockpile of items that puts you in control of what you're spending."Some people think this means getting stuck with a stockpile of things you won't use. First and foremost, don't pick up anything you wouldn't normally use, even if it's just a quarter, or you'll waste time, money and space. Of course, if you can get something free that you won't use, you can consider picking it up and donating it to a local food pantry, church or other organization in need."There's a list of items I never pay any money for, including toilet paper, razors, soap, shampoo and many more," says Heather. "And oftentimes, I can combine the right coupons with the sales so the stores actually pay me overage off the rest of my bill just to take them from the store. I know it sounds crazy, but it happens very often."