Free Pets

Craigslist Community Pet Listings, Petfinder.com. Unlike shelters, most of which charge a small adoption fee, these sites feature numerous free-pet notices posted by owners, usually as a result of an impending move or an allergic family member.

What’s the Catch? Not all the owners who post notices are as honest as you’d wish. Out-of-control animals can be listed as “friendly and calm.”
Find Out More: www.craigslist.org (click on your city, then on “Pets”), www.petfinder.com (click on “Classified Ads”).

Free Phone Services

The Popularity Dialer. Want to flee that meeting? Get out of lunch after an hour? The Web-based Popularity Dialer can place one of five fake calls: the boss call, the cousin-in-need call, the male-friend call, the female-friend call, or the affirmation call (reminding you that you’re wonderful). Each recording includes convenient pauses for your side of the conversation.

What’s the Catch? You need to know beforehand that you’ll want rescuing — and you have to be willing to break social graces by taking a phone call in the middle of a meeting or lunch.
Find Out More: www.popularitydialer.com.

800-FREE-411. Instead of dialing 411 and being charged 50 cents to $1.50, call this service, from a cell or a landline, for free nationwide directory assistance.

What’s the Catch? You have to listen to a 20- second ad before receiving your number.
Find Out More: 800-373-3411 (800-FREE-411).

Skype. Download and install free Skype software and call other Skype users, computer to computer, at no charge, anywhere in the world. If you have a webcam, you can see whom you’re chatting with, too.

What’s the Catch? If you don’t have DSL or a cable modem, it may be more cost-effective (money- and sanity-wise) to dial up the old-fashioned way.
Find Out More: www.skype.com.

Free E-Mail Reminders

Memo to Me. Avoid visits to the “belated birthday” or “so sorry I missed our anniversary” section of your local card store. Memo to Me reminds you before the event. Just plug in your e-mail, choose a password, and program the events you need to be reminded of and when you need the reminders. Whether it’s Grandma’s 80th or your own anniversary, no one wants to be the one who forgets.

What’s the Catch? There’s some innocuous advertising on the website.
Find Out More: www.memotome.com.

Tip: E-cards have gotten less corny. You can find witty and well-designed cards at www.hipstercards.com, vintage ones at www.cardcow.com, and photographic ones at ecard.digiart.ee.