I'm back from my Netroots Nation hiatus and as the summer draws to a close, I'm sure most of us are feeling like it's time to start tightening the old financial belt after some vacation excesses this summer.
My mother always told me there was no such thing as a free lunch. If somebody is giving you something for "free" they usually have a hand in your pocket you don't see. While that is true, for the most part, there are times where the thing you have to give up to get your free gift is of so little value to you, that it is essentially free.
There is this newfangled thing out there called "the internet" and, believe it or not, you can use it to access all sorts of free or low cost items. Follow me below the fold to see some of what you can find.
Information: This one is so blatantly obvious, I just have to mention it once and we can move on to the good stuff. There are newspapers, magazines, and even books you can access entirely for free. There are even these things called "blogs" but I really doubt you can ever find anything of interest on those.
freecycle: I have heard nothing but great things about freecycle. It's a wonderful way to donate stuff you no longer want cluttering up your house and it's also a great way to pick up stuff you may really need. I confess, I haven't yet used it myself, but I intend to start since it soon will be time to clean out the garage.
Government Publications: The US government has lots and lots of publications you can get for free, either in hardcopies or downloaded over the internet. If you are looking for advice or information on pretty much any topic, be sure to check out what you can get for free from Federal Citizens Information Center.
Credit Report: Don't fall for those ads you see everywhere for a free credit report. Those are just a trap. There is only one site where you can get the government mandated free credit report once a year from the big three reporting agencies: annualcreditreport.com. While you are at it, don't forget to request one from the fourth reporting agency nobody ever mentions: Innovis.
Coupons: There are many coupon consolidation sites on the internet. Some require a fee to join, some just require you to give them your mailing address (which they can then sell to marketers) and some you can use with no investment at all. Some of my favorites are Fat Wallet, Coupon Cabin and Retail Me Not, but the best way I have found to find coupons is just to do an internet search on the company name combined with "coupon" or "discount code."
Samples: Many companies are happy to give out free samples of their products to prospective customers. Often all you have to do is ask. If there is a particular product you want to try out, check out that company's web page. If they don't have a link for free samples, you can always drop them an email and explain that you have heard such great things about them (or you have used their other products in the past) and you'd like to try out X. You will probably get either a sample or a coupon in the mail. Keep in mind that they may sell your contact info to other marketers as well. If you would like to get lots of samples from different companies, you can sign up with Start Sampling, but you will have to give them all your contact info.
Software Tools: There are lots of free software packages available. While many of them are not quite as good as packages you hae to pay for, they can often be adequate for what you need. If you are looking for an alternative to MS Office, you can try Open Office or Google Docs. If you are looking for an alternative to Quicken, you can try Money Strands. If you are looking for a double entry accounting system, you can try SQL Ledger. If you are just looking for some calculators to help you compute anything financial, BankRate and DinkyTown both have more than you probably ever could imagine.
Passport Photo: Do you need an photo for an official purpose like a passport or ID card? Don't pay $10 to your local drugstore or photoshop. You can have a friend snap them and then print them out at home. epassportphoto will help you size and crop your picture to meet the passport standards of over 60 countries.
Free Food and other offers: Looking for more free stuff, on the internet or off? Be sure to check out The free lunch lives! Where to find hidden handouts for info on how to find lots of free stuff from meals to admission to Disney parks.
Restaurant discounts: While these aren't exactly free, you can buy deeply discounted gift certificates for many local restaurants at restaurant.com. Read the fine print on the offers, many of the coupons require you to make an additional purchase, but all in all, these can be a great way to reduce the cost of eating out.