There are some free online resources that I use every day, or almost every day. And since they're so fabulous, I thought I should make sure that you know about them too:
Gmail - You probably already know about Gmail, but in case you don't, it's a free email service from Google. And yes, there are privacy concerns {for example, they show ads targeted according yo your email content}. But it works really well, it's FREE, and you get a ton of storage. And yet, I still have at least one friend who won't get an email account ... I don't get it!
Google Drive - Formerly known as Google Docs, Google Drive is like an online office suite where you can create and edit various types of documents. I especially like to use it for sharing documents with others, since you don't have to deal with attachments - simply click on the "share" button, enter the other person's email, and let them know the document has been shared with them. Google Drive also has templates like calendars that can be very useful. Finding them is not intuitive, but you can find instructions here.
Google Calendar - I find Google Calendar to be the easiest way to keep track of all the different things going on in my life, although it can be glitch-y {I've been having lots of trouble lately with not getting email reminders}. I love the color-coded calendars, which allow you to assign everyone in your family a different color. It syncs with the calendar on my iPhone so I only have to enter the info once. And I recently discovered the interesting calendars feature, which allowed me to add all major U.S. holidays and important days {like when daylight savings starts}.
Free Digital Photos - Free Digital Photos is a stock photo web site that allows images to be used for free, so long as you include an image credit according to their terms of service. {You do to have to pay if you want to use a larger size image.} Although visuals have always been important to web sites, thanks to Pinterest, they've been become even more important. And I really appreciate FDP as a resource for images I can use and edit for free.
PicMonkey - Speaking of editing images, I use PicMonkey when the editor in Picasa and Paint can't get the job done. They have free and paid versions, and I find the free version is adequate for my needs.
Evreward - This is a great site that helps you see what cash-back site is offering the highest return. I use it whenever I'm about to make an online purchase. Just note that it doesn't include all sites, like Swagbucks.
Swagbucks - I mention Swagbucks all the time, but I have to mention it here too, because you can earn totally FREE gift cards just by using their search function, playing games, watching videos, and more. Learn more about Swagbucks here.
Bing - I recently started using Bing as a secondary search engine, once I've had one or two search wins at Swagbucks. You can get a $3 Amazon gift card for 330 Bing credits, or even get 500 Swag Bucks for 525 Bing credits. It seems to take a lot longer to earn Bing credits, but I see it as a back up to Swagbucks since it too is totally free.
Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Stuart Miles.
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