Category Archives: Free

Sometimes Free Is Better

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We all heard that saying “There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch“, but I beg to differ!  While this may have been true during time like “The Great Depression”, it no longer true in a country like American.

That said, many people still believe the old saying and take it to heart.  In fact, I was helping a friend implement a free backup solution that would saved him thousands of dollars for his small business, but he changed his mind almost right after I got the first phase of it installed.

Here is what happened! 

I went down to his business office, setup a workstation that he had as a server that would be the backup server, installed the software needed (all free), and then scripted out the process for the automated backup to work for his first business workstation to be backed up (as a test).

I took most of the human element out of it by having it backup to an external hard drive that someone would switch out with another hard drive in the morning.  This process would then be alternated daily, with one of the hard drives always in my friend’s car.  It was a good free solution.

My friend decided to hire a part-time office clerk and have system backups fall underneath the office clerk/warehouse guy’s responsibilities.  Well the new hire didn’t know anything about how to backup a computer and turned off the machine I setup off.

They recently had a problem with their workstation, but no backup system was in place so all of their invoicing files were lost…

The of course we have the following list of software that is free and incredible:

  • WordPress – What is WordPress?  The the software that support this blog and others.  Great stuff!
  • Open Office – Microsoft compatible free office software.  More Great stuff!
  • Linux (in particular Ubuntu), – Linux is an operating system.  I use Ubuntu desktop for many of my needs!
  • Apache – Web Server technology, I’m using this as the web server software for wordpress.
  • Google – Practically anything google is great and mostly free!
  • GIMP – Great Graphic Manipulation software.
  • MySQL – SQL Server software (this is now owned by Oracle, so I don’t know how much longer it will be free… sad huh).
  • Download.com – I like to query for free software, and the top editor’s picks.  This is more of a windows and mac site by CNN.com
  • Sourceforge.net – free software including Linux.

If I owned a business with employees that needed workstations, I would try to go entire with free software, perhaps a mix of 80% free and 20% proprietary.

Readers, what do you think free software, and what is your best suggestion?

-MR

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Saving Money With Google Applications

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In the past, I’ve written about “Saving Money With Google“, but I didn’t really delve deeply into the free wonderful applications that exists at Google!

Before I jump into the list, some people say that Google is a monopoly.  For those people, I say being a monopoly in nature just means that you are big and successful because you do a superb job at what you do!

Being a monopoly in itself isn’t bad nor illegal.  The only time that it’s bad is when the large company practices illegal monopolistic practices like gouging consumers and keeping competition at bay by underhanded deals with vendors and retailers.

Okay, so I’ve identified why Google isn’t the bad guy just because they are big and successful, now onto some of the ways for saving money with Google applications!

My Favorite Free Google Applications:

  1. Their search engine!  Yeah I know that search engines have always been free…  But theirs is good enough that they could charge a small fee if they really wanted too…
  2. Email, gmail…*  I’ve learned to really appreciated the power of their free email offering.  Additionally as an emailer that also have Hotmail and Yahoo email accounts, Gmail was a bit of an odd duck at first.  But once I realize their vision for the product, I became a big fan!  Try it you’ll like it (after you understand it).
  3. Calendar Application.  It rivals Outlooks calendar, but it’s freeeeee!  For a small business, this application and gmail is truly a powerful combination!!!
  4. MS Office-like application called Documents (similar to Word, Excel,PowerPoint, etc)!  Yeah, it’s a bit clunky and even slow at times, but still not bad!  I use it to store a lot of information so I can get to them from any computer, anywhere!  As the bandwidth in the US improves…  Their MS office-like application “Documents” will be a huge threat to Microsoft’s Office solution.
  5. Google Voice.  Here is the info directly from the Google description:
    Welcome to Google Voice. Google Voice gives you a single phone number that rings all of your phones, saves your voicemail online, and transcribes your voicemail to text. Other cool features include the ability to listen in on messages while they’re being left, block unwanted callers, and make cheap international calls. We hope you enjoy using Google Voice.
    I can attest that I love it!  I now have very powerful free business phone system!
  6. Goog 411!  Yep, they even have a free information phone line.  I’ve used it and it’s great too!
  7. Google Map.  Who hasn’t used this powerful application.  Although with the advent of GPS this is becoming less of a force for navigation.  I wonder when Google is going to come out with Google GPS? (lol)
*Many in the list above require an gmail account in order to use them.  So if you are just starting your adventure in google applications, start with gmail!

Anyway, the list goes on and on!  I’d recommend that anyone interesting in maximizing the amount of money they can save, to consider using google and their great online applications whenever possible!

What do you think?  Google, friend or evil company hellbent on controlling the world and then the entire universe (muahahaha)…

-MR

We Are The Internet, Resistance Is Futile!

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The INTERNET is everywhere and all powerful!

I just recently made a call from my computer using the new gmail phone/voice option!  It worked like a champ, and was free.  It also had the added perk in that it didn’t have a call back number associated with it!

That got me thinking, what all could I do from the internet?

Here is a quick list that I came up with:

  • Become a writer!  There are sites that will pay you to write articles for them (including some of the pf blogger sites like www.sweatingthebigstuff.com).  Of the top of my head, www.wisebread.com,  Examiner.com and eHow are large site that pay writers too.
  • You can buy groceries online
  • You can order merchandise and books from the likes of Amazon.com.
  • Video chatting is a great way to visit far away friends!
  • Online gaming…
  • Heck, you can even go to college and get a degree online.
  • Meet potential dates online at www.match.com, and really kind of even date online!
  • Via video, learn to repair cars or other diy tasks.
  • Take free online (non-credited) classes from MIT https://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm, they are called Open Courseware courses.
  • Free downloadable audio books: https://librivox.org/
  • There is too many free fun things to do online!!!

It’s no wonder we are so busy with our computers, they are no longer a luxury…. but instead. an extension of our daily life!!!

-MR

Frugally Free Fishing For Kids… With Rubber Gloves

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It’s funny, just these past few years, I’ve found out that fishing is free for kids under 16 in my state!  So that means I can take both of my kids fishing without paying for a fishing license ($16 per year per adult).

So last year, I took my son and daughter fishing, and to my surprise, they had a blast.  My son had a ball casting over and over again.  And I got to teach my daughter the ropes.  Of course, I was constantly nervous of getting hooked or them getting hooked, but it worked out okay.  It was nice just hanging out with them.

My son caught a few small bluegill.  My daughter had some bites but didn’t give the fishing pole that little jerk that hooks the fish, perhaps this year she’ll do better.

When I was a kid, my older uncles gave me grief about baiting the worm on the hook and after catching a fish, taking the fish off of the hook.  I did it, but didn’t like it!!!  Now, it’s 2nd nature to me, but my kids are in the same circumstance I was in as a kid.

So what trick do I use to make it more pleasant so that my kids want to go fishing?

I decided to buy some rubber gloves to make it easier on my kids.  My daughter’s still not to crazy about the process, but my son took to the gloves like a fish in water (sorry, corny joke).

The beauty of using the gloves is if you get them wet first, it’s better for the fish because when you use your hands, you take some of the protective oil off of the body of the fish.  So it’s a win-win! My son enjoys using the gloves so the bony fins don’t jab him, and we help keep the fish healthy at the same time (if we release it)!

Oh, I do want to share one little tip!  If you just want the kids to fish for smaller fish, try small cut up pieces of hot dogs!  They worked better than worms when we were in Disney World last year.

Do you use any special tricks to make an activity a little more enjoyable?  If you do, what is the activity and what’s your trick?

-MR