College students live in a time where Groupon and Living Social deals are part of a constant effort to be thrifty in one’s spending habits. But sometimes, discounts on quality items just aren’t enough and they resort to the wonderful land of snatching free samples.

Stocking up on free samples is not just your grandma’s supermarket routine anymore. Students are paying an arm and a leg for college tuition, while working minimum wage jobs and also throwing internships into the mix. We are doing everything we can to stay afloat in the concrete jungle, and free samples are helping along the way.

As a full-time student who’s trying to balance all of life’s wonderful stresses like internships, papers and whether or not tonight’s dinner will include packaged peanuts, it is safe to say that freebies are one of the greatest concepts of all time. Free samples may even be better than birthday or holiday gifts.

Think I’m overly enthusiastic about hoarding freebies? If so, you’re just in denial.

Freebies are something we all shamelessly indulge in—whether it’s when we think no one is looking or when we’re too hungry to care about that annoyingly gregarious club leader glaring as we tip toe out of the back door of their event with a napkin (if not a plate) full of chicken empanadas.

And if we’re not the ones doing it, we all know other other people who do it, too. Everyone has that one roommate who collects fancy Sugar in the Raw packets from Starbucks to avoid spending on an inflated pack of sugar in the grocery store. Or, a friend who swipes all of the plain yet useful coffee mugs from the Holiday Inn to help supply your kitchen in that closet that you call a Manhattan apartment. And then there’s those people who steal toilet paper from McMahon Hall. If you’re one of them, steal if you must—but you can at least apologize to students that were left hangin’ in the stalls.

Even if you’re not swiping condiments or dishes, you may still be leading a double-life as an unintentional ‘klepto.’ There have been endless accounts of students logging onto unsecured Wi-Fi networks and basically risking their lives by signing onto networks labeled ‘sign-on-and-I’ll-find-you,’ when the Fordham network decides to be slow.

Embrace the glorious social convention of free samples, because college is our special time to do so. You don’t have to feel as guilty about this as you do about the “five finger discount” that you engaged in when you were 17 years old, sporting an awful “emo” haircut while listening to bands like Panic! At the Disco. As a teenager you may have stolen things to rebel against your parents because they wouldn’t let you attend Warped Tour. But now you’re a student who lives on a budget, and grabbing some extra free essentials to get you through the week is not a shameful act.

Just make sure that the next time you think of swiping five extra ketchup packets or coffee creamer containers for your so-called “kitchen,” just evaluate whether or not you actually need all of the extra condiments. Otherwise they may just end up in the sea of old, unwanted salt and ketchup packets in your drawer.