Freebies Galore!

Cheap is good; free is better. And if you're looking for freebies, the web is a great place to start. There's an amazing number of websites catering to freebie seekers.

But maybe we're approaching overload here; when I searched AltaVista recently for freebies, my search turned up close to a million web pages devoted to that quest.

So while finding free stuff isn't difficult, finding good free stuff -- the kind of free stuff that you actually want - is becoming a serious challenge. Depending on your server (and there are free ISPs out there now!), time is money, and sifting through oceans of free offers can actually get kind of tedious after two or three days.

For freebie ferrets, The Free Site.com has plenty of offers you can browse through, and is probably one of the best-known freebie sites online. And About.com even has a freebie expert, with freebies in almost every category you can imagine.

If it seems a little odd that the world of freebies is becoming an area requiring specialists, you should be aware that getting stuff for free is more than a hobby -- it can actually become more like an obsession. And why not? Freebies are fun. And with the ever-growing number of freebie websites, the search for freebies offers its own unique challenges.

Like most everything else though, freebies do have their own downside, especially on the web:

• The hunt can be time consuming. I've frittered away more hours than I care to count, just reading through free offers. Often, I don't even find anything I want. Or, I'll find something I do want, but I can't have it because I don't live in the United States.

• Spam. Lots and lots and lots of spam. It's usually fairly easy to get rid of, but it can also waste your time and clutter your mailbox.

• Security. Safety on the internet is becoming more and more of an issue. Here at Suite 101 the Internet Safety Event offers lots of info there that may be helpful to you. Free offers, even from the most reputable sources, may require some personal info, the least of which will probably be your name and home address. Always, always be careful when you're giving out personal info, especially on the web.

When it comes to freebies, generally speaking, you get what you pay for, but there may be some happy exceptions waiting for you. In recent months I've gotten a molasses cookbook, and a neat little miniature Heinz Ketchup bottle pin - all for free and all on the web, so they didn't even cost me postage. I may never become a certified Freebie Ferret, but I still enjoy browsing through the offers.

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