Did You Miss These Freebies?

I LOVE freebies. From free money (most of the time it’s bonus) to free razor, I want to have it if I can. And I am always on the look-out for free stuff when it’s just information. Recently, a Kiplinger list of freebies caught my attention. Quite a lot of information there and some are totally new to me.

Among the 30 freebies, there are a few related to money/personal finance, so I am going to highlight them first. Interestingly, these “financial freebies” are no stranger to me because I am using all of them and from my experience, they are free and they are also essential.

• Free college savings: Upromise.com I have been using UPromise to save for college while shopping for many years and it worked out pretty good for us.
• Free credit report: AnnualCreditReport.com Every four months (January, May, and September), I receive an email alert to get a free credit report for both of us from AnnualCreditReport.com and I have been doing that since the service was available. Who needs freecreditreport.com anyway?
• Free ATMs: Allpoints and Money Pass networks Of course, you have to be a member of the network to get free ATM access. My ways of dealing with ATM fee are pretty simple: 1) Always use credit cards; 2) Use only my bank’s ATM; 3) Don’t make the purchase if I have to pay by cash.
• Free capital gains: Roth IRA You don’t have to know everything to have an IRA account. One thing you do need to know, however, is that distributions (capital gains and dividends) in Roth IRA are taxed when withdrawing from the account so the distributions enjoy tax-free growth.
• Free rewards: Credit cards with rewards To me, credit cards are friend, not foe, and using credit card is rewarding: I can earn up to 5% by paying my purchases with cash back credit cards. Why not?
• Free online bill pay: Your bank Online bill pay and direct deposit are two banking tools that I can’t live without. They are fast, secure, and save money. If you have a bank account, why sticking with checks?
• Free checking with interest: ING Direct Electric Orange checking account ING used to be great and they are still very popular, but they are not the best place for your money if you want to get the most out of it. There are quite a few online banks pay higher interest rates, for both savings and checking.

The list also include these freebies that you may or may not know.

• Free TV and movie: Hulu.com
• Free directory assistance: 1-800-FREE-411
• Free shipping: Alyssagiftbaskets.com, Bellacor.com, Bluenile.com, Shopbop.com, and Zappos.com
• Free junk mail control: Optoutprescreen.com and Catalogchoice.org
• Free books, musics, and movies: The public library
• Free language lessons: BBC’s free online language courses
• Free furniture: Craigslist and Freecycle
• Free wireless internet access: WiFiFreeSpot.com
• Free place to stay: CouchSurfing.com, HomeExchange.com, IntervacUS.com and HospitalityClub.com
• Free office software: OpenOffice.org
• Free diet and fitness help: FatSecret.com
• Free e-book and sheet music: Gutenberg.org and mutopiaproject.org
• Free kid meals: Denny’s and Lone Star Steakhouse and KidsMealDeals.com
• Free tour guide: The Global Greeter Network
• Free recipes: Allrecipes.com and Epicurious.com

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