Weekly Financial Tips (2011-42)

FREE STUFF on the WEB As a money miser, I love getting things for FREE. The current recession has encouraged consumers to look for opportunities to save money. Here are some great sites to help you stay in budget and still have fun: 1. FREE Money The National Association of Unclaimed Property Administrators (NAUPA) is a nonprofit organization. To help you find money that might be forgotten visit www.unclaimed.org. The money it finds is from forgotten bank accounts, inheritances, utility-bill refunds, and security deposits. If you are looking for unclaimed savings bonds click on www.treasuryhunt.gov. 2. FREE Samples if you are looking for ways to sample new products before you buy it, check out the following sites: www.heyitsfree.net, www.thefreesite.com, www.startsampling.com, www.ericsfreesite.com, www.freesamplespost.com, or www.volition.com. These sites are great for stocking stuffers too! 3. Stickers Looking for additional gifts for stocking stuffers, consider stickers. Here are a few sites to capitalize on FREE stickers: http://freeskateboard.tripod.com, www.petakids.com/free_stickers.asp, or http://hunt4freebies.com/category/stickers/. 4. Audio Books - www.audiobookscorner.com and www.librivox.org offer free books as well as the library but hate the lines and late fees. www.techsupportalert.com/free-books-audio offers 91 sites that offer legal FREE audio books. With advanced technology the local library system now comes to you. Visit http://digitalbooks.piercecountylibrary.org for Pierce County (http://search.overdrive.com/ListLibraries.asp for other WA areas) and browse the titles you can download for free. All you need is a library card and you can download audio and e-text books for free. 5. E-books - If you enjoy educational material, including European Literature, poetry and Shakespeare, consider www.free-books.org. Other sites such as, www.gutenberg.org or www.freeebooks.net, have over a grand total of over 100,000 titles available. Free humor books at http://www.talewins.com/tenhum.htm 6. Software - If youre searching for software tools to protect your computer, personal information and to keep children safer online check out www.onguardonline.gov/tools/find-softwareapplications.aspx. For other software visit www.download.com. If you are searching for a free alternative to Microsoft Office, visit www.openoffice.org or www.google.com (use Google documents). 7. Movies - If movies are your passion, check out some sites that offer free movie viewing: www.theonlydevice.com, www.moviesfoundonline.com, or www.hulu.com (offers free movies and over 300 full episodes of shows). 8. Sheet Music - musicians can print sheet music by more than 250 composers, including Mozart, Bach, Tchaikovsky and Joplin at www.mutopiaproject.org. 9. Birthday Freebies Getting things FREE for your birthday makes it better. Check out www.frugalliving.tv/free-stuff/birthday-freebies.html for all the freebies you get for your birthday!

Compiled by Ryki Carlson richarda.carlson@us.army.mil and richarda.carlson@mcchord.af.mil