Tapped out after the holidays? You don’t have to suffer from boredom because you’re broke! You can get movies, books, and video games all for FREE! And it’s totally legal. You just need to know where to look.
FREE Books. If you haven’t visited the library in a while, you might be shocked to learn that while you’ve been splurging on eBooks and eAudiobooks you could have been downloading them for FREE—and saved hundreds of dollars! Odds are, your local library offers many different free eBook services. Go online to check out the library’s website or you can visit sites like Overdrive.com to find out if you have access to these services (a sampling of Overdrive's latest books is shown above). You can download eBooks to an eReader (Kindle, Nook, Kobo) or to your computer, tablet or smartphone using an eReader app. In addition to Overdrive, other library download services include CloudLibrary; Hoopla; and Total Boox. You can find bestseller novels as well as how-to books and other nonfiction. As with the regular library, most services have waiting lists for the hottest titles and there’s a time limit of 14 days. Other places to score free books that don’t require a library card include Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com—type in “0.00” in the search bar to find free Kindle and Nook books. (If you’re an Amazon Prime member, you can get free new books through the Kindle First program and the Kindle Lending Library.) Also check out book-lending platforms like Booklending.com; Project Gutenburg and LoyalBooks.com, which are loaded with classics that are free to the public; and ManyBooks.com, where you’ll find many self-published titles.
FREE Movies. Redbox offers a few ways to get free rentals of top movies: Sign up for Redbox emails, join the reward program Redbox Play Pass, or become a Facebook fan and keep an eye out for free rental promo codes. Also find out if your library offers video-streaming services like Kanopystreaming.com. Other great (and legit!) places to find full-length streaming movies include ad-supported websites like Crackle.com and Popcornflix.com (all movies are free) and Yidio (click on movies and scroll down to the free section). Or check out YouTube.com/movies, where you’ll find tons of free and super-cheap movies. Warning: You may have to sit through some ads! For documentaries, check out sites like documentaryheaven.com and topdocumentaryfilms.com, where you can find everything from film biographies of stars like Demi Lovato to docs explaining the origins of the blockchain.
FREE Games. Regularly check out gaming-distribution platforms and gamer communities like GOG.com and Steam, where different freebies pop up each week. Developers give away games to get you hooked. Other places to check include Origin.com’s On The House section and Reddit’s freegames subreddit. Stick with legit sites that won’t put your computer at risk of viruses.
Warning! When downloading freebies, remember to stick with legit sites to avoid malware like viruses, adware, and spyware that could ruin your computer and put your personal data at risk. For more info, check out my YouTube video.