When it comes to free stuff, the saying “there is no such thing as a free lunch” applies most of the time. You end up working for potentially free stuff by giving out your email and street addresses, completing surveys and jumping through several internet based hoops. We took a look around on the internet and found some deals that are actually free.
- Earn college credits (or even a degree) by taking free online courses. No, were not kidding. That being said, you will need to do some leg work of your own for this to work.
- We think that this web site is probably the best place to start. Remember stay away from the many bait and switch web sites where free is not actually free.
- Free software
- If don’t feel like shelling a bunch of cash for Microsoft’s office product, try the free software equivalent called open office (Word processing (like Microsoft Word), Spreadsheet software (like Excel), a drawing application (like Visio) and even presentation software (like Power Point).
- Free software replacements for proprietary applications running on Microsoft windows.
- A well respected and free Anti-Virus software package known as AVG
- Ad-Aware free SpyWare removal software.
- Free Food
- Apparently Saturdays are the best time to snag free samples at grocery and warehouse stores (like Costco)
- Kids eat free deals (search for restaurants by zip code)
- Sign up for email specials directly on restaurant web sites (only give out a trashable email address that you will check weekly. Never give out your actual street address or phone numbers if you want to avoid unwanted spam). Examples include: El Torito, Sizzler, Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen, PF Changs Outback Steak House , Dennys
- Free teacher and learning resources from the Federal Government
- Free eBooks – Project Gutenberg has 28,000 eBooks to download and print free.
- Free Internet Radio customized to your specific artists. Essentially, you build the station play list yourself.
- Print your own Free graph paper (several different styles)
- Create your own work or personal planner forms. Choose from about 100 templates.
- Kinda Free stuff - There are tons of free stuff web sites on the internet. Most of them will require you to provide your name, email and street address, etc. If you want to try this, I would strongly suggest that you:
- Sign up with the post office for a local post office box ($30 for 6 months).
- Create a new email address that you are willing to trash later
- Never provide your real birthday, social security number or phone number (or any other private information).
- So, when you sign up provide them with your P.O. Box Address, your new trashable email address, a fake birthday, etc.
- Go forth and Google something like “free stuff”
- One final word of advice, if the site suggests that you try something to win a discount coupon, etc. Skip it and move on. The main thing you have to loose is your time.
- More kinda free stuff.
- 250 Business Cards for Free?
Well, not exactly. After going through the online setup for the free business cards, you’re billed about six bucks for the shipping and handling. And that is the cheap slow boat to china shipping option. So, you figure that might make two to three bucks on the deal. The other not so free aspect of order the business cards online is the avalanche of offers you need to skip (or de-select) before you can finalize your order. That being said, it was worth it for us to sign up for the not so free cards. If you are interested just google “free business cards”.
- 250 Business Cards for Free?
Printing “free” ebooks can cost more than simply buying a copy of the book. Depends on the printer and cost of ink or toner, but a good rule of thumb is five cents per page. So a 200 page “free” ebook that you print actually costs $10.00, more expensive than most paperback books.
Yeah, but the beauty of free (no quotes) ebooks is, you don’t have to print them. Read ‘em on your laptop, your tablet PC, your phone, etc. I keep about a dozen books at a time on my phone: I always have them available, and I didn’t pay nuttin’. It’s a beautiful thing.
(Still prefer the feel of an actual printed copy, but it’s hard to dispute the convenience of free ebooks.)