Lower Your Mobile Office Costs With This Free Conference Call Service

For those that have decided to start their own business, or just have a need to work remotely, but don't have an office conference call bridge, there are options.  Recently, I came across a service called Free Conference Call, which as its name says, allows you to make free, unlimited conference calls.  No catches, no pitches, and no costs.  According to their website, and this should not be an issue for most people anymore, the only potential cost would be long-distance charges.  But, with cell phone or unlimited calling plans prevalent in the U.S., long distance premiums are almost a thing of the past.

It's tough to get excited about an office teleconference service, but some of the features that Free Conference Call offers that your company may not are the ability to record and edit your calls.  This would be perfect if you wanted to make your call public, but did not want to include sensitive details.

More free movie rentals from Redbox and free wi-fi again for the holidays!

While it's not quite as convenient as cable on-demand movies, free Redbox codes seem to be very easy to come by.  Here is another from McDonald's. 

And, speaking of free, from another blog I read quite often, View from the Wing, Google is again teaming up with major airlines and offering free wi-fi this holiday season.  It's worth a try, but of course, do not surf over to any banking or other sensitive sites.  It only takes one nosy passenger with some rudimentary hacking skills to ruin your holidays after stealing your info.

Enjoy!

Free photo albums

Having just gotten back from my honeymoon, and of course wedding, the question lies in what to do with all of the media I just acquired.  Storing photos/videos on a hard drive is convenient, but it will kill space quickly and bog down your system.  The solution: photo sharing sites.

While there are many to choose from, such as Snapfish or Fotki, if you are looking to share, store, or get free (or low cost) albums printed up, these are excellent sites to do so.  Typically, when you register for the first time, you will be offered so many photos at pennies on the dollar for a photo album.  If you have a lot of pictures that you want printed up, register with multiple sites and take advantage of their sign up offers.

Sometimes, these promotions aren't readily apparent on the site, or are available even to long time customers, but aren't easily found.  In that case, use one of the many featured couponing strategies mentioned on the blog to see if there are offers before paying full price.

Say cheese!

Giveaway: Radio Shack coupon, $10 off $40 purchase

I have a coupon that Radio Shack emailed me after filling out a post-purchase survey.  If you haven't visited a store in a while, they are trying to re-brand themselves as "The Shack."  Well, whatever it takes, but they are also considering selling themselves off, as this article suggests. 

I still like The Shack a lot for getting those odds and ends audio/video cables, but arguably, most of their products can be had elsewhere, and possibly for less money.

Send me an email, or leave a comment, and I will send you the coupon via email.  This offer expires August 15.

Hey it's my birthday, what can I get for free?

It happens once a year for everyone, your birthday!  Find out how you can take advantage of free goodies, which definitely can help ease the pain of aging.

Growing up, everyone knew about Baskins Robbins’ (BR) free ice cream on your birthday deal.  However, unlike when you were a kid, there is a bit of paperwork to complete first.  Visit BR's website and sign up for their Birthday Club, and about five days before your birthday, they will send you a coupon good for free ice cream and a discount on a birthday cake.  Now, as much as we all love ice cream, especially free ice cream, you only have one birthday, so resist the temptation to fill out multiple applications.

So, that covers dessert, but what else can you take advantage of on your birthday?  Digging through the web a little deeper, several sites track such free give aways.  Frugal Living lists several restaurants that have birthday discounts and freebies, some require you to join their frequent eater club, and some you simply show your identification.

No list is comprehensive, so a good tip is that if you and your family eat at a particular establishment frequently, ask a server or manager if they have birthday specials.

Taking advantage of trial offers

The next time you need to renew a subscription to your favorite magazine, or service, try to do it online as opposed to just sending in a check, or providing a credit card number over the phone. There is a chance that you might not have to pay the full freight to renew it. Want to know how? A company called Trial Pay has deals with a variety of merchants that allows you to get something, such as a magazine subscription, for free provided that you complete one of their offers. While the offers can be free as well, they tend to have more strings attached than simply buying another service they are promoting. But, even those are relatively inexpensive compared to what you would have been paying originally for the subscription or other product. Be careful though, if you don’t watch it you might be end up paying a lot more for the “free trial” than you would have liked.

However, if you pay attention to what you are doing, you can quite often receive goods and services at a fraction of their cost. The next time you are “checking out” on a purchase, look for a very obvious Trial Pay logo and see if there is an offer you can take advantage of that will be less than the cost that you would have paid for already. Thus, instead of simply paying for a magazine or other service, you might get something in addition to that while still paying less than you would have. A recent offer from Trial Pay included getting a $45 subscription to an invaluable travel and loyalty rewards magazine for about $11 provided one register an Internet domain at a hosting service. But, it’s a steal: you get a domain name plus a subscription to a magazine for $11. Had you not taken advantage of this offer, you would have been out $45 for the magazine, period, end of story.

Pursue the Trial Pay website and see what else you can get for free or at a reduced cost. Their list is by no means comprehensive, and more than likely you will be offered something else when you are surfing the Internet and shopping.

Kids Eating Free

Revisiting the topic of free food, which is always a good one, a friend sent me this article about where you can take your kids to eat for free (or at a substantial discount).  Great for those busy, tiring shopping days at the mall.


The list isn't organized comprehensively, per se, but you might find one of these locations near you.  Even better, keep a look out, or talk to your friends & family to see where they found similar deals.  Mother's and Father's alike will appreciate it.

How to Save Money While Staying in Hotels

Like many Americans this past weekend, I spent it away from home.  While most aspects of my saving strategy can be applied anywhere, one I am sometimes remiss with is utilizing printable coupons.  Since I do not travel with a printer, I have missed out on some good printable coupons that I have seen from sites like retailmenot.com.  And, if I really want to print something, I hesitate quite a bit before paying for a hotel's fax and business center services. 

Am I out of luck with both saving money and using printable coupons?  Nope!  I have learned a great trick using a free faxing service called Faxzero.  Ok, I know some of you may question why in the 21st century we are still faxing, but the reality is that it comes in handy as it did last weekend.  Before heading to the Chicago airport on Saturday, I searched for a cab company to take.  Their website was offering a $3 off coupon promotion.  Initially, frustration came over me as I pontificated over the needless expenditure of cash when I could be saving it.  But, remembering the faxing trick from another trip, I was able to take advantage of the coupon. 

Here's how I did it: (1) I .pdf'd the website where the coupon was located (you can PDF for free); (2) I logged on to faxzero and sent myself a fax using the hotel's fax number and attached my file; (3) I addressed it like it came from the outside, in this case, by using my middle and last names; (4) once the fax was confirmed, I walked down to the front desk and asked if there was a fax, voilla!  No charge to me for getting a fax + $3 in savings.

Next time you are in a bind and want to print something at a hotel and don't want to pay for it, try my technique.

How to Get Free Lunches and Other Give-a-ways

Somewhere stuck among your wallet, suit pocket, or briefcase there is likely a stack of business cards that are going unused.  While networking is important, and you do not want to be without cards at an opportune moment, chances are your business cards could be working for you in other ways, too.  The next time at your lunch hour, if you go out to lunch, look for a fishbowl or box sitting on the counter when you check out.  Often times you will see that your favorite deli is giving away a free lunch to you and maybe even some office- mates, too.  Do yourself a favor and throw your card in.  You have nothing to lose and all to gain.

If you win, not only will get a free lunch or other service, you can become an instant hit with your colleagues and shore up any dicey relationships you have with your friends.  Your chances of winning are probably better than you think.  If you lose, hey, at least you tried.

How To Beat The Winter Blues

Thinking a bit outside the box here, one of the things that tends to happen at this time of year when the clocks change and darkness falls early is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).  Other than feeling dumpy, one of the things that might be a sympton of this condition is over-spending/eating.  You may rent more movies, have take out brought in, and oversleep more than usual.  These, and other similar reactions to temperature changes, won't help your health or your wallet.

The solution: exercise!  As it can get pretty cold in the east, I still try to run outside, yes outside, even in the dead of winter.  After being in an office cube all day long, the last thing I really want to do is go to the gym to get a jog in.  Running/walking outside can help you feel like you are "beating the sytem" and the andorphine rush will quickly snap you out of your funk.  Also, try to get some sunlight during the day, too.  The sun will help you feel like that cold day isn't so bad.

Try it.

How To Get Free Education

This November's issue of Money has a great feature on taking advantage of free educational materials, such as lectures, that are being offered by top universities, such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford.  There are a variety of subjects, ranging from technology to business to history, of which you can learn.  There are a lot of lecture materials available free from iTunes' store as well.  While you won't end up with a degree, and many would argue that there is no substitute, the knowledge you are gaining just might help you excel in your career field, and impress your friends at parties.


While on this topic, it's important to think about the down time that you might have during your normal commute to work in which you can partake in these lectures.  I am fortunate that I can slap on some headphones and listen away on the train to work.  For those who have to drive, consider free iTunes podcasts as a way to 1) pass the commuting time more easily; 2) learn something; 3) prevent brain rot that can happen with some morning radio shows.  If you think about it, in a working lifetime, if you spend 2 hours a day commuting, and you work at least 30 years, that's the equivalent of about 15,000 hours that you could be learning something.  (I used 50 weeks * 2 hours * 5 days to arrive at that figure.)  A two hour commute might be conservative for some, and given how our economy has become fragile, working 30 years is not realistic for many anymore.  But, you get the point.

Using my lesson from the other day about buying used electronics, it's worth the investment in your brain to purchase a portable Mp3 player and tote around some lessons from your favorite lecturers.  Your brain will thank you for it.