When it comes to free stuff, we can all agree that free is good. But, we also know we get what we pay for. Every once in a while, though, a freebie comes our way that is well worth its weight in gold.

From free phone usage to free graphics, there are many services the small home based business owner use. I have compiled a list of various tools and software that may aid in making your small business more efficient:

FREE CONFERENCE CALLS AND PHONE SERVICES SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

FreeConferenceCall.com Allowing up to 96 conference callers per session, this truly is a free service - not just a free trial - free all the time. The only expense is any normal long distance charge. Recorded conference calls are stored for up to 120 days.

Jott Convert your voice into emails, text messages, reminders, lists and appointments. This service transcribes your voice message into text and sends it to your contacts. Additionally, they also send an audio link, or play back number to your contacts. Your cellular carrier will apply the standard text message charge that may apply.

FREE ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

AVG Free This free anti-virus software is available to home users, and is easy to install. Updating their virus database frequently, this service is aware of the most recent virus threats. Some of the features of this free software are: automatic update functionality, real-time protection as files are opened and programs are run, free Virus Database Updates for the lifetime of the product, and AVG Virus Vault for safe handling of infected files.

Avast.com Free of charge for non-commercial home use, this software features automatic virus protection updates, an easy to use interface, web and network shields.

FREE WEB MAIL TOOLS

YPops! Download your Yahoo email from within your POP3 email client such as Outlook, Thunderbird or Eudora with this free, easy to set up tool.

FreePOPS Download your email from HotMail, AOL, Yahoo!, Juno, Libero and other email clients through your POP3 protocal. FreePOPS is for receiving email only and has no sending capabilities.

MrPostman Very similar to FreePOPS, MrPostman allows access to the most popular email accounts from your favorite mail client.

Pop Peeper This tools notifies you when new mail has been received by any of your various email acounts. Simply install this program on your window's task bar.

FREE TIME CARDS AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

BillQuick Lite Free software that allows for the creation of time cards and project management.

Job Timer Use this tool to keep track of how much time you have spent on a job. Automatically start programs and track computer usage.

FREE WORD PROCESSOR SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

AbiWord A free word processing software similar to MS Word. Imports MS Word files and offers all the necessary features for every day document writing.

KWord A word processing and desktop publishing application. Easy to use.

Writer Part of the OpenOffice suite, Writer word processor and desktop publisher is a very powerful free tool.

FREE SPREADSHEET SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

Base Another part of the OpenOffice suite. This spreadsheet software allows for easy creation of tables, forms, queries, and reports.

KSpread An easy to use spreadsheet application allowing for the creation of multiple tables and sheets per document. Additionally, KSpread allows for row / column custimization, insetion of html, and many other features of MS Excel.

FREE PRESENTATION SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

KPresenter This presentation application allows for text and graphs to be presented in a variety of formats. A user can embed images and clip art, has a play screen with effects, and many templates for ease of use.

Impress Part of the OpenOffice suite, Impress is a presentation software that creates effective multimedia presentations. Includes easy to use drawing and diagraming tools, slide show animation and effects, and the ability to save your presentation in PowerPoint format.

FREE GRAPHICS SOFTWARE AND TOOLS

Draw Yet another component of the OpenOffice suite. You can import any image file type and create flash versions of your projects.

Gimp A perfect free tool for photo manipulation, supporting a wide range of image formats.

Inkscape This free vector graphics editor is comparable to Illustrator and CorelDraw, using the standard vector graphics file format.

FREE BANNER AND LOGO CREATION TOOLS

High Power Graphics This is a very easy to use tool for creating free customizable banners.

Quick-Banner A free banner generation tool. Create and personalize a banner and see the results in real time.

FREE BUSINESS CARDS

Vista Print Well...not 100% free. The cards are free, but you have to pay the shipping costs for 250 cards.