Free Software Resources to Help when Working at Home

Now that you've decided you want to work at home, there are a lot of pieces of software that you might not have access to that could be helpful in managing your time and the work you need to do. While you could go out and purchase software to make your life easier, it would be even better if you decided to use free software, so you get the same great benefits without having to spend a penny. Here are some programs that can help you.

• Online To-Do list:
  Ta-da Lists (http://www.tadalist.com/) offers easy to manage lists for things you need to get done, checklists others need to access, and can help you make sure you get everything done with both work, and home responsibilities.
• Google Calendar:
  Google Calendar (http://calendar.google.com/) makes it easy to keep your calendar online. You can set it up to share it with the world or make it private and only accessible to yourself or co-workers you enter in.
• Google Spreadsheets:
  Google Spreadsheets (http://labs.google.com) is a great alternative to Microsoft Excel, and the price is right. It will let you do many of the same things you can in Excel, and will help you with all of your spreadsheet needs.
• Budget and Expense Tracking:
  Pear Budget (http://www.pearbudget.com/) is a downloadable spreadsheet that you can use to help organize your spending. This can be a great tool for someone who is working at home, whether you have your own business, or are working for someone else.

As you can see, there are many different tools out there that can help you become more organized and help you when working at home. The best part is that they are free. If you find you need another type of software, first try to find out if there is a good, reliable free version before spending any money on it.