As a person who watches her pennies, I love finding free stuff. But to be honest, I’m sometimes skeptical of it. I always have this side of me that nags, “you get what you pay for!” and if you’re not paying for something at all, well…that sometimes implies low quality. Or so the proverbial little devil that sits on one of my shoulders would like me to believe.
So I guess it’s more accurate to say that I love finding free stuff that’s actually functional and high quality, and when I do uncover these hidden treasures I can’t wait to share them. So without further ado, here are three great (and free!) online resources I’m loving right now:
Cite.com
This site came in really handy over the summer when I was taking a required (and stupid) class that I needed to maintain my teaching certification. While I found 99% of the coursework incredibly tiresome and boring, at least I had a really easy time creating the necessary works cited pages for the papers I was required to write. This site rocks!
Ok, I admit, I’m a little late to the game on this one. This resource qualifies as one of those free things I was a little suspicious of because its paid counterpart, Weight Watchers, was pretty awesome and I figured there was no way a free site could function equally well. Silly me! If you’re trying to track your food intake and exercise habits, this site is amazing. It’s really easy to use and makes keeping an online food and exercise journal really convenient. I can’t believe I haven’t been using this for years!
Ok, OK, I know. I’m crazy for not using the ultimate personal finance budgeting tool up until now. And to be fair, I did use Mint briefly when it first hit the scene a few years ago. But I found that it mis-categorized so many of my purchases that it was more trouble than it was worth; apparently, this kink has been worked out because now I find Mint much more reliable and user-friendly. We’ll see if I keep up with it, but for now, I’m a Mint believer.
What are your favorite (and free!) online resources?
