Some Americans are very good at being thrifty (a.k.a cheap) after the downturn started to happen I started to look for ways to be more tech thrifty savvy. At anytime there is a scam for some computer you might get if you fill out these 3 offers do not fall for these tricks. Nothing is ever free on the internet. But, if you know where you look and read the fine print you can get some pretty neat items and services, here are a few of my favorites.

 1. GoogleVoice I started to hear about this service called GrandCentral which was one phone number for all your phones. Someone calls this one number and it rings all the phones until someone picks up or it goes to voicemail. Google seeing a good idea drops a ton on cash and buys the small company (95 million). But what it really does is keeps you private. The call routing menus are so specific that if a telemarketer calls you it can be routed to the message “Not in Service” and since humans rarely make these calls anymore the computer will understand this and removes you off of the list. You can pick the service that voicemails are sent you via txt. You can sms over the googlevoice to your contacts and they will never have your actual phone number. Voicemails can be emailed to anyone as a wav file. One last thing, you can pick any area code you want and can change phone numbers for $10.00 should you choose. It takes a week to get your invite after you ask.

 2. Mint I start to use Mint when it was in beta. I heard about it on marketplace it was backed by all the major banks. I took the leap of faith and entered all of my accounts, savings, stocks and what happened is it gave my wife and I a very clear picture of how much we spend and where. It made doing the taxes a breeze and there are offers from other banks should you choose to switch for a new toaster.

 3. FreeCycle Well all have stuff, all of us. Some of us have too much stuff, I started to change the way I interacted with the world after my daughter was born. Doing more with less and not buying for holding on to something for the sake of just holding on. I found myself with too much computer stuff. Motherboards, monitors, power-supplies, towers from my computer business of machines I had wiped but didn’t want to put in the landfill. My wife the wonderful person asked how much can you get for that stuff? Nothing I said, but I can give it way. Over the next few days I built 4 computers and listed them on FreeCycle and gave them away to children with the monitors, keyboards and mice. What it did made me feel better because I could see it from what the kids looked like when I said yes; you can do school work and play some games.

 4. Zenhabits Zen Habits is one of the most visited blogs on the Internet with more than 130,000 subscribers, and covers achieving goals, productivity, being organized, GTD, motivation, eliminating debt, saving, getting a flat stomach, eating healthy, simplifying, living frugal, parenting, happiness, and successfully implementing good habits. I’ve been using this for a while now and I consider it a time worth spent reading.

 Everything I listed here is free and costs you nothing but time. What? No internet connection? Your local library has free internet and news papers, books and computers to use.