A search for FREE STUFF ONLINE will return more than 180,000,000 results on Google, but of those, a large part requires

• you enter your email address so they can send you emails
• what you buy after a short free trial period
• He flips through the hype and info pages before hitting the free section.

I can understand the frustration. I’ve spent hundreds of hours over the years trying to find what I needed for free. After all, raising children as single parents is expensive, and often there isn’t much left to buy computer-related software and other things. But depending on what you are looking for, there ARE places online today that you can access. totally free content relatively easy and painless.

For instance:

– Have you ever heard of Thunderfap.com, the free archive page? On this site they boast that NO credit card is required, ever! Only 100% real free stuff with no strings attached, no shipping fees, no scams, and no spam. Sounds good and with a large number of categories this may be the site for you. Choose from food, beauty, health, kids, pets, home, books and magazines, office supplies, tools, and more. Although you must enter your information as an address, to receive the products, I have had no problems and my samples arrive quickly.

– Open source is SOFTWARE that is freely distributed by developers. NO payment is required, but you may be asked to make a donation to help the developers continue their work. One of the best resources for open source software is sourceforge.net. Here you can find hundreds, if not thousands, of free software solutions to meet all your computing needs. Looking for games, they have it. Software communication? Yes. Education and networking are there. Almost everything you need can be found here.

• – Be sure to check out Gizmo’s free software reviews at.techsupportalert.com to find the best of the best free software on the web. One of the most flagged free software sites on the Internet and featured in PC Magazine’s Top 100 or 2010.

–The free BOOKS are also available online. Do you like to read books online? Several sites offer free books that you can read through their site or download to read later. I am referring now to traditional books, not just e-books. For instance:

• An example is onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu and browse through their offerings.

Or you can try your local library. You can generally access books online through most libraries if you have a current and valid library card. Your local university or community college may also have books that you can access for free online. However, library e-books don’t always work on all e-readers, particularly the most popular e-reader, Amazon’s Kindle.

What about gutenberg.org? Gutenberg may be one of the largest repositories of free books on the internet today. They include a section with approximately 33,000 free e-books that you can read on your iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android, or other portable devices. NO FEE REQUIRED. Please note that the books here are free in the United States because their copyright has expired. This means you won’t find the newest top 10 here, but you will find unbeatable classics, references, and more to tickle your mind with possibilities.

–free MUSIC is what you want, but you want it legally, without the potential problems that getting it from a peer-to-peer or another source can create. Have you tried ez-tracks.com? This site has free music and 100% legal. They bring you music that is free by making the site ad-supported. This means that advertising on the site pays for the music. No risk of prosecution by the RIAA. Look at them. They may be the right ones for you.

–Free MOVIES and TV is available online if you know where to look. One of the most popular sites is HULU, which offers lifetime movies and hit TV shows. Another site to try is fancast.com, or you can search the web for popular series. I watch Y&R on cbs.com because I’m usually busy and I miss it. You can get video streaming of your favorite episodes of many shows by visiting the website.

– Free GAMES are available at Shockwave.com and on the Pop Cap gaming site. I don’t have a lot of time to play games, but these are the two my husband likes when he wants a quick break. A search for free online GAMES on Google brings up 333,000,000 results, so I’m sure you can find what you’re looking for in minutes.

These are, of course, just a few of the places where you can find the free media, software, and products that you are looking for. However, I encourage you to be careful. Read the FAQs and terms on any site BEFORE you think, free is really free. I am not affiliated with any of the sites mentioned in this article, but offer them only as suggestions to help you find what you are looking for.