Is there such thing as "free"?

Question

Answer 1

Nothing is really free. 

At some point we will pay in some way.

Answer 2

I've always heard the old saying, "There is no such thing as something for nothing."

Answer 3

You can't get something for nothing unless somebody, somewhere, is getting nothing for something.

That somebody is often a taxpayer.

Answer 4

In one of his sci-fi novels, Robert Heinlein established a colony on the moon. Their flag carried that acronym TANSTAAFL and that stands for "there ain't no such thing as a free lunch".

Is anything free? Apart from pleasures like walking under the stars or swimming in the ocean, I can't think of many. We get lots of free vegetables from our backyard garden, but when you consider the amount of work involved and all the fertilisers and so on, I wonder if it mightn't be cheaper to buy them at the store.