You bought the local newspaper a couple of days previously, like you always do, but where is it now? You thought you'd thrown it underneath the stack of magazines and papers on the table in the corner of the room. No, not there. You search some more but the it's nowhere to be found.

What to do now? The Yellow Pages - of course! Obvious. Thumb through it until you find the section 'Newspapers and Periodicals' and then carefully go through the list. There's the number. Grab a pen, note down the number and dial.

A couple of rings later and a friendly female voice asks you politely what department. You reply, "Give me the advertising department, please." Just about there now. You can almost smell the cash. Patience. A few seconds later, another equally friendly voice asks how she can be of help, too. What a friendly bunch. You explain you want to put an ad in for this week, in the 'For Sale' section.

"You want to put an ad in the 'For Sale' section in next week's paper.", she insists. Maybe she hasn't heard me correctly. "No, in this week's edition.", I repeat. "Sorry, can't do that. If only you'd called us 30 minutes ago. It's the advertising deadline, you've just missed it for this week. It's always midday on a Tuesday, no exceptions. Do you want to advertise in next week's paper?"

Keep calm. Don't get annoyed. Think. The paper comes out at the end of the week but my ad should have gone in half an hour ago. This IS Tuesday. What's the matter with you people? Never heard of give-and-take? Local newspapers suck. You can keep them. No choice, hang up the phone before I blow a fuse or say something I might later regret.

Wait, you're not thinking straight here. Is this not the age of the Internet? You know, instant communication, web sites, email and all of that! Panic over. You've seen many classified ad sites on the web, right? Maybe now is the time to seriously look at them, not ignore them.

Open up the browser, go to Google and enter 'classified ads'. Easy, a ton of classified ad sites show up in the search results. So many to choose from.

To get serious for a minute, although the above scenario may be fictitious, it has more than the ring of truth about it. It illustrates one of the five good reasons for using free ads sites - instant advertising.

And here's another good reason. Cost. It usually won't cost you anything to sign up with a freeads site. And it won't cost a penny to post your ad either. Post as many freeads as you want, too. Saves a boat-load of cash!

Another reason to use classified ad sites is the number available. There are hundreds to choose from, if not thousands. Sign up for one, or 10 or 50, if you have the time, that is. The sign-up process is usually straightforward, and fast, perhaps only requiring a valid email address.

The fourth good reason is reach. The local newspaper may have a circulation of a few thousand, or a few tens of thousands, confined to the area you live in. A classified ad site, because it is web-based, can reach across the country, or across the world. That means no matter what you are trying to sell, someone, somewhere will probably be interested in it.

The last good reason - number five - the ability to add a picture, or two, of the item for sale. And most free ads sites allow you to do this at no cost. Don't think you'd be able to do that in your local newspaper, unless you were prepared to pay, that is. Then see what that would do to your bank balance!