The best things in life may be free, but these days the important things certainly are not. We have taken on the role of consumers so well, that we don’t even realize that so much stuff that we are being made to pay for should be totally free. And the good news is: lots of it is. What’s lacking is awareness. And that’s exactly what I’ve brought for you here. Here is a list of 20 things that you can get totally free, without even compromising on quality.
1. Your Credit Report
All those ads online offering free credit reports are a scam, we learnt that ages ago. But what’s not is a scam is http://annualcreditreport.com. Don’t be fooled by what ever other websites are telling you. At annualcreditreport.com, you can get 1 free report from each of the 3 credit reporting agencies every 12 months.
2. Credit Card
Give me one good reason why anyone should pay the credit card companies an annual fee? First they make money by charging you interest, and then you have to pay annual fees as well. Don’t pay for a credit card annual feel. American Express has no fee cards, and many other financial institutions offer the same. Don’t pay any more credit card annual fees.
3. Banking Services
Just say NO to paying bank fees. Sign up for their free account. Switch banks if you have to, just don’t pay any fees for banking. Banks are already earning interest by holding your money, so why should you pay them more? Do your best to never pay for checks again too. Pay your bills using free bill pay services or online using your debit or credit cards. When and if you do run out of checks, have a nice friendly meeting with your local bank branch manager and ask about getting a free refill.
4. Tax Preparation
Another thing that many people pay for unnecessarily. Many other tax preparation companies offer free e-filing of some kind. And you can always use the IRS Free File to set you up with free tax prep and filing.
5. Credit Counseling
National Foundation for Credit Counseling (NFCC) offers free credit counseling to those who need it. Stay away from scams claiming to get you out of debt.
6. Budgeting Software
There has been an explosion of free online budgeting software options online in the past few years. There are plenty of really cool and free options available out there. Quicken Online and Mint are two that are highly recommended.
7. The Newspaper
This one doesn’t even require an explanation. If you are doing it to those discount coupons, fine. But for the latest news…?
8. Cell Phone
All cell phone providers give you a free phone for signing up with them for a fixed period. And once that period is up, you get another new phone for extending the contract.
9. Computer Software
In this era of open source technology, what is the point of paying Microsoft hundreds for buying Excel or Word? Go to OpenOffice and get your FREE software; Calc for Excel, Writer for Word, Draw for Paint and Base for Access. What’s great is that these programs all have a “Save As…” option that lets you save in the Microsoft format, hence creating zero problems in sending your files to anyone across the world.
10. Books
Why buy or rent books when you can get them free from your local library?
11. A Pet
Adopt a pet from your nearest animal shelter or local rescue center. It’s free, and provides a needy animal a home.
12. Online Shipping
Stop paying inflated shipping charges on your online purchases using websites like freeshipping.org.
13. Auction Listing Fees
It’s true that some items require a proper auction type service or a much larger audience to be sold for the right price, most of the stuff you’d want to sell online can be sold through Craig’s List. Yes, no one’s denying that eBay does have it’s place, but avoid using it and paying their fees if you can sell your item in Craig’ List.
14. DVD Rentals
Just go to a RedBox or a New Release rental box in your local grocery store instead of paying a $5 DVD Rental fee. But make sure that before you go, get the free daily code from www.insideredbox.com.
15. Milk / Baby Formula for your child
Yes folks. Every scientific research ever conducted has proven that there’s no alternative for mother’s breast milk. True, some women can’t do it for medical reason, but for others, do what saves you money and benefits your child.
16. Exercise
Why pay high gym membership fees when you can do everything for free? Go out for a run, a walk, bike, do a few pushups, everything that can be done without spending a single penny.
17. Water
I understand it’s impossible to get rid of the water utility bill, but why buy bottled water? Since you are already paying the bill, why not use tap water.
18. Packing Supplies
All you have to do is go to businesses that get their inventories in boxes, like convenience stores, and ask. It’s as simple as that. Another thing you can do is go dumpster diving. Boxes of all sizes, packing peanuts, packing paper and envelopes are available for free in businesses’ “recycle only” dumpsters. So if you are an eBayer, here’s a tip that could save you a lot of money.
19. Moving Boxes
You can find them for free on Craig’s List or in dumpsters as well. It almost seems absurd to imagine paying $4 per box at one of those moving places.
20. Legal Forms
Many forms, such as real estate forms, are readily available on the internet these days. All you have to do is conduct some online research and you are bound to find the forms you need. (our reader Camille Buffenmeyer has commented below that creates a doubt about the last Free thing we mentioned here. Please read their comment before filling any forms)
There You have it. But you and I both know that this is not all, there are countless other things that can be had legally free. Suggestions?
You might also like
 |
 |
 |
To the insensitive person who commented that you should never pay for kids – perhaps you have never dealt with the horrible pain of infertility but I personally would gladly pay for treatments or adoption fees to be able to have children and I don’t think that is a bad thing at all. True, many people are blessed with the ability to have children naturally, but millions are not. Please think before you type. :*(
As a Mint user for the past 2 years, I have to say that I am getting what I paid for. I need to upgrade to a more sophisticated financial management package.
Regarding all the comments about ‘fees’ to cover cost of shots for adopted animals – it’s not the cost of BUYING the animal. But if you insist on totally free pets, there are various rescue agencies that specialize in breeds of dogs. The folks in the dog show circles can point you in the right direction. Just make sure someone isn’t passing off their sickly inbred purebreed to you.
I liked this idea
“Adopt a pet from your nearest animal shelter or local rescue center. It’s free, and provides a needy animal a home.”
But I want to change the word “animal” with the word “human”, so, as follows :
Adopt a human from your nearest human shelter or local rescue center. It’s free, and provides a needy human a home.
I don’t know where you live but the pet shelters near me charge pet adoption fees when you get them- some as much as $200. Often our local pet stores sell animals for LESS than we can get them from our local SPCA, and they kill the ones who don’t get adopted. Craig’s list is where free pets comes where I live.
I read your article and while a lot of it is practical advice, I wanted to let you know that you are doing a horrible disservice to your readers by telling them to use free legal forms online. I am not a lawyer, so I don’t say this to try to keep people using lawyers to get money for the profession, but I have read enough cases to know that online legal forms tend to make things worse than if there was no form at all. Wills are a prime example, a badly drafted will can be way more complicated and end up in a lot of litigation and a lot more legal fees than no will at all, or even paying to get a will done by an estate planning attorney. In the long run, it’s almost always cheaper to pay fees to get legal paperwork drafted because mistakes which are super common with online forms are so much more costly. I personally think you should remove this from your article because, as I said, it’s a huge disservice to your readers.