There are a lot of places online to get things done’¦and many times you won’t have to shell out a dime.

I remember back in the late 1990’s coming across a website called Craigslist. Anytime I have moved, I have used Craigslist to sell those things that I didn’t want to haul to a new place. In Indianapolis Craigslist is still gaining in popularity but back in Massachusetts (and Chicago) it is widely used. For the most part Craigslist is free!

We have been remodeling a home that we plan to move into next month. We had a contractor bid the job. The first line item was to demolish the current kitchen cabinets. This was going to cost us over $1000.

We immediately thought of posting an ad for FREE cabinets. In the body of the message, I listed that the only caveat is that the recipient would have to remove them. It was 9:30pm on a Wednesday when I listed the cabinets. By 9:45 I had to remove the listing. I already had over 10 people that were interested. The old cabinets were gone by that Saturday, saving us $1000. The guy who took them told us he sold them for $500 ‘“ again using Craigslist. Good for him!

Since we are also real estate investors, we find Craigslist to be a great place to list our available rental units. We have great tenants and have found the majority of them on Craigslist.

Here are some of the other projects that we’ve had done with no money payment required from us:

We had a large tree split in our yard during a pretty powerful wind storm. Fortunately there was no major damage but it did leave us with a large mess to clean. We paid someone to cut down the remainder of the tree. They said they would be happy to take the wood for an additional $600. But a nice post on Craigslist had people come in droves for the FREE firewood.

We also had someone grind the stump which left us a huge pile of wood chips. Another post to Craigslist for FREE mulch and our large pile became an easy rake job.

We own a few properties and each of them has a price on Zillow. They allow you to set a Selling price as well as a ‘œMake me move‘ price. I’m sure many of us have a price that would convince us to move. Why not post a free listing’¦you never know you may get what you ask for.

Do you need some cash? I’ve been an active lender on Prosper for almost a year now. Prosper is a great way to borrow money. Banks can sometimes be very impersonal, but Prosper allows you to list your situation and grab people’s attention. There are also groups dedicated to LGBT families.

What about a job? Don’t underestimate the power of connecting with people early. There are a variety of social networking sites that are free for their base features. My favorite for job hunting is LinkedIN. I can’t tell you how often I have recruiters send me a message from LinkedIN asking if I want a new job. It is how I have my current job that I absolutely love. My partner is a recruiter for an interactive advertising company and LinkedIN is one of his favorites sites for sourcing new candidates’¦which is one of the hardest aspects of recruiting.

I also use the free Plaxo to help keep my contacts in order and updated. I don’t necessarily trust it for automatic updates but it is helpful when a contact moves to a new job.

Where types of jobs have you been able to get done for free? I’m still looking for someone to paint or clean for free. Any thoughts?