Free. No, Really.

Before I get into the nuts and bolts of this sponsored post for Just Say Hi, let me vent a little bit about people pretending to give away "free" products and services when they're actually out to snag a few bucks from you.

If you're like me, you've run into a million and one different websites offering you "free services" or "free information". Ninety percent of them are full of you-know-what. Everybody from Milton Friedman to your grandpa (which could be the same person, depending on your family tree) has told you that "there's no such thing as a free lunch" and after a few experiences with phony online freebies, it's easy to believe them.

There are exceptions. Take Blogger, for instance. I've been using this platform for a few of my blogs for a long time and there's never been a bill. Heck, there's never even been an upsell. That's one reason it has so many loyal fans and customers.

Here's another example: Just Say Hi. It's a dating site and it's completely free.

Look, I'm not an online dating expert. After I read about Just Say Hi, though, I decided to do some investigation about free online dating sites. A bit of Googling revealed scores of free dating sites and I checked a few of them out. They all provided only the most limited experience to free users. You could never actually use them for their intended purpose without giving in and forking over your credit card number. They weren't real free online dating at all!

Just Say Hi, on the other hand is absolutely free dating. They'll never ask for a credit card. You can tell the people behind this operation decided there should be at least one honest-to-goodness cost-free option to those interested in online dating and they put it together.

Check it out. Their sign-up process only takes a minute (literally, they refer to it as "The Sixty Second Sign Up" and the site seems to be attracting folks of all ages and personalities--from all over the country.

I'm not going to argue with Uncle Milty F., but sometimes it sure does seem like you can score a free lunch. Blogger.com and Just Say Hi are two perfect examples of online services that really deliver the goods without prying open your wallet.