When you are looking for places to trim the budget, don't forget to look at the software you are using to write the budget in the first place. There are free alternatives to many of the software programs we use every day.

Of course, with free software, you get what you pay for. Some of it is very high quality with large groups of developers working to improve it all the time. Some of it is more like a work in progress with the users as the main testers. And in either case, you don’t get the benefit of paid-for technical support and so if you have a problem you have to resort to searching the web for answers. For this reason, you may need a higher level of technical knowledge or a greater willingness to learn new things if you want to use free software. That said, you really can’t beat the price.

• Operating System. Linux has been popular with power users for over a decade, but most users have avoided it due to a tough learning curve. Ubuntu , which is free to use, aims to alter this by providing an interface that Windows and Mac users will find intuitive.
• Productivity. Productivity suites form the core of many people's workday, allowing them to prepare documents, spreadsheets, presentations and databases. Try OpenOffice as a free alternative to conventional business applications instead.
• Image Manipulation. Adobe Photoshop has become synonymous with photo enhancement, but that doesn't mean it is your only option. Whether you just need to get rid of some red eye or know how to juggle multiple layers, Gimp is a free alternative to Photoshop.
• Vector Graphics. Still relatively new, Inkscape doesn't claim to have all of the features of competitors like Adobe Illustrator, but if vector graphics aren't a major part of your work, this freeware may be enough to get the job done.
• Desktop Publishing. Desktop publishing software has made it affordable for any company to design professional quality documents and now Scribus has made it free, neatly replacing InDesign, another part of Adobe's expensive Create Suite.
• Accounting. Extending the popular ZenCart shopping platform, Phreebooks handles accounts and payroll, tracks inventory and comes with multi-platform, multi-language support with much lower licensing fees than Quickbooks.
• Drafting. Since it was first released in 1982, autoCAD has become synonymous with architecture and engineering. But before you renew your autoCAD license, try working with BRL-CAD , an open-source solid modeling application.
• Database Management. Firebird is a free database management program that can substitute for Microsoft SQL and save you thousands of dollars a year. Based on proprietary source code that was released in 2000, Firebird has been refined by volunteer programmers over the last decade.
• Business Intelligence. Oracle's costly Business Intelligence has become a favorite tool for data miners, but JasperSoft offers a comprehensive business intelligence suite with a free trial period and significantly lower annual fees.
• Reporting. SAP's Crystal Reports is considered by some to be the gold standard in reporting software, but OpenReports has a free version that will meet many companies' needs and a full-featured professional package that is still much cheaper than Crystal Reports.