We all know that Amazon is a place where we can spend way more money than we wanted to. The helpful suggestions and convenient shopping make it so easy to hand over a lot of money when we really don't want to.

What's less known is that Amazon also has a lot of free items that you can add to your cart. Smart Amazon shoppers have discovered this, but it wasn't until I stumbled upon a free book that I realized just how much is out there for free. The most exciting part is that you don't even need an Amazon Prime membership (although that has lots of perks too!)

How To Get Free eBooks On Amazon

Amazon actually got its start as a book store. People could shop online and order a book to their house. It was really convenient and it's no surprise that Amazon took the idea and ran with it. Even though Amazon has grown to a huge size, books remain one of their most purchased items.

Amazon invented the Kindle (get one for yourself here) and totally changed the way many of us read books. Ebooks became a huge business, but that doesn't mean you have to spend money to get them. Not only are ebooks cheaper than regular books, Amazon has over 50,000 titles available for free.

The free books on Amazon have a wide range of genres too.

They have exciting thrillers like The Fireproof Girl and sexy stories like this one.

Honestly there are too many free books on Amazon for me to list all of them, but thankfully they did it for me. You can see their top 100 free ebooks right here.

How To Get Free Music On Amazon

It's not just bookworms who can take advantage of the free stuff on Amazon. Music-lovers get to plug in and reap the rewards too! Amazon has an extensive music collection and with great prices too. Obviously no price is better than free, and to find Amazon's free music you just need to do a little bit of digging (or click here to be taken right to the page!)

Let me walk you through it so you can always find it. It's actually really easy.

Start by going to Amazon and using the drop down menu to select Digital Music.

You'll end up at a page that looks something like this:

Click the "Deals" button to go to a page with some truly incredible sales. There are some of the newest releases but also all time best-sellers. I actually just replaced my Meatloaf Bat Out Of Hell album for $7!

So I'd recommend taking a look around to see what kind of deals you can get, but if you want to get straight to the free stuff that's easy too.

When you're on the deals page look at the right-hand side. You'll be able to sort by price, and that includes sorting for free stuff!

That will automatically sort out the albums. Honestly it seems like the sorting isn't perfect, with some priced albums being mixed in, but in general it's really good. Scan through the options and you're sure to find something you want to listen to. I picked up a soothing album of rain sounds that I probably wouldn't have paid for.

Remember that the free albums are usually for download. If you put the audio CD in your cart make sure there's no charge on it.

I've been so impressed with the variety that's out there. There are comedy albums, soundtracks and lots of great compilations too. Definitely something that's worth looking into!

Don't forget to also look at the single song downloads available. Sometimes an artist has one song I just love, but the rest are, well, not as good. There are thousands more songs to go through, but now that you know where to look you can do it whenever you want.

Get Amazon Prime For Free

You've probably heard a lot about Amazon Prime but let me go over it just in case. Amazon Prime is a service Amazon offers that gives members a lot of perks. You can pay it as a lump sum for the year, or monthly (either way it works out to $12.99 a month.)

Prime has two major perks. First is free two-day shipping on almost every item. That honestly saves you the money right there. Last Mother's Day my boyfriend forgot to get his mom a gift (even though I reminded him a bunch of times) but my Prime membership came to the rescue. We got a great gift delivered to her just in time.

The other big perk of Amazon Prime is the TV/Movie downloads. They are now just as good as Netflix and some of the shows have even won awards. You probably already pay for Netflix, so imagine if Netflix also have you free shipping. It's a truly ridiculous deal.

You can try out Prime and see if it's for you by signing up for a free trial right here.

Get Samples From Amazon Prime

Those are two big bonuses of Amazon Prime, but it's far from the only ones. You can also get free samples when you're a Prime Member.

Here's how Amazon free samples work:

Step 1: Buy Samples

Okay that probably sounds a little strange, but you can buy sample sizes on Amazon of things like skin care, makeup, pet food and lots more, and each dollar you spend you'll get a credit for the exact same amount. Buy $6.99 worth of samples and get $6.99 to spend on full-sized items from the brands you sampled!

Step 2: Order Your Samples

After you've paid for some samples you'll see your credits show up. Amazon will wait until your order ships before crediting you. So if you don't see it right away that's why.

I just ordered mine so I don't have any credits right now. That won't last long though!

Step 3: Get Your Samples

Amazon says that it takes about 7-14 business days for your samples to come in the mail, but don't worry shipping is free.

Other Free Things On Amazon

There are more ways to get free things on Amazon and most of them are perks of being a Prime member. Sometimes you'll be able to get deals that are as good as free, all you have to do is keep your eyes open.

I hope this guide has helped you. Happy shopping!