A Real Freebie Site

There are a lot of sites out there that claim to have free samples all over the place. Many of them do, but expect you to fill out a survey or add your cell phone number in order to get your free products. That sucks. First of all, I don’t like giving out my cell phone number for the fact that I end up getting charged $10 for something that I had no intention of ever using. Or worse, something I didn’t even know was there. Then the hubby yells and things just get complicated and it’s just not worth it.

But thanks to the diva over at Mommy Wants Freebies, I’ve found a really cool little site filled with freebies. And not unrealistic freebies, but the kind that you’ll eventually get to hold in your hands. And best of all, there are no surveys to fill out, no cell phone requirements, and no hidden fees or promises. The site is called Free Samples Without Surveys and that’s exactly what it is. No bells, no whistles, no promises that will never come true. Just a little blog where you can find real free samples to things like shampoo, hair color, and food items. Sorry kids, no free laptops here.

The best part about this site is that the webmaster tells you on the front page what to expect. They also tell you what to watch out for when looking for free samples on other sites. They don’t hold anything back, but they’re not rude about the way they put it either. It’s an awesome site and there are links to all kinds of free samples. I’m pretty impressed so far. I haven’t put in for any of the samples yet, but I do like the no-nonsense approach to the site.

So, if you like free samples, check out Free Samples Without Surveys. You won’t find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, but you will find real freebies and real samples without having to give out all your personal information in the process.

OpenOffice Word Processor

I’m playing with a new toy I just got for myself. It’s nothing fancy, just a new writing program called OpenOffice.org. I’ve seen it mentioned around the net a few times and because it’s free, I thought I’d give it a try. Up to this point, I’ve been using Microsoft WordPerfect because it came with my Dell computer. But with a whole new year upon us, I thought I’d try something new for a change of pace.

I’m not one who usually enjoys leaving my comfort zone, and I knew how to use WordPerfect inside and out. So, it took me awhile to get used to this new program and I’m still learning the ins and outs of the whole thing. There are some pretty cool features that come with OpenOffice, such as word completion. As you’re typing out a certain word, the program sort of finishes it up for you. I’m not sure I like this function, as I type to fast to pay attention to what’s being put in front of me, and it’s kind of annoying.

One of the features I do like about this program is that you can automatically create PDF files with the click of a button. Now, many of you bloggers might not understand what that means, but for those who write e-books, it’s a given. Anytime you write something that is to be read in Adobe Reader, it’s in a PDF file. For a long time, you had to buy a special program from Adobe in order to make this happen. I think the program was like $100 or something like that. I don’t remember for sure, but that’s because I about choked on the idea of spending that kind of money and waited until someone came out with a freeware product that did the same thing. Now, I can do it as soon as I’m done writing whatever it is that I happen to be writing.

OpenOffice also comes with a bunch of other applications, most of which I’ll probably never use. There is one application that does nothing but calculate mathematic equations. No, won’t be needing that one, unless my daughter gets stuck on an Algebra problem at school. There is also a spreadsheet that comes with this program, but it’s pretty basic. There are a lot of templates for different projects, but I’m still not sure what they’re all for. I’m still in the learning phase of this journey.

The only real thing I’m going to have to get used to is in saving my work to my flash drive. Not because it’s hard, but because I have to save everything in a different type of format. Everything I have right now is saved in .wp and I can’t do that with this program. I don’t want to start saving everything in this program’s default format, which is .odt. So, for now I’m saving in .rft format. I just hope I don’t screw up my work because of this. LOL. That would be my luck.

If you’re looking for a free office type word processor, check this one out. I won’t say it’s totally cool, because I don’t know that to be a fact yet. But, I won’t say it sucks because so far it’s been pretty easy to use. It all comes down to what you’re looking for and what you’ll be using it to do. My favorite part of the whole this is that it’s free, and so are all the extensions that come with it. I like free!!!