Finding free stuff that’s actually free….

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
  • Federal resources for education excellence.
• Free eBooks  – Project Gutenberg has 28,000 eBooks to download and print free.
  • Project Gutenbert FREE ebooks
• Free Internet Radio customized to your specific artists.  Essentially, you build the station play list yourself.
  • Pandora Internet Radio
• Print your own Free graph paper (several different styles)
  • Incompetech Free Graph Paper PDF’s
• Create your own work or personal planner forms. Choose from about 100 templates.
  • Download, print and customize your own planner at D*I*Y planner
• 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”.

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