Journal
Notes from the workshop
Longer explanations than a tool page allows — real questions people search, plain language answers, and links back to the FreeToolsBox benches they describe.
Money
How mortgage payments actually work
A plain-language walk through principal, interest, term length, and extra payments — with the FreeToolsBox mortgage calculator.
Read essay →SEO & publishing
SEO titles that actually fit the snippet
Pixel width, intent, and uniqueness — how to write titles without stuffing, using the SERP preview and title tools.
12 min readFiles & media
Compress images without looking cheap
When to use JPEG, WebP, or PNG, and how in-browser compression differs from a design export.
11 min readFiles & media
PDF hygiene for people who hate PDFs
Merge, split, strip metadata, and stop emailing 80MB scans. A practical kit using FreeToolsBox PDF tools.
12 min readHealth
TDEE is a starting line, not a verdict
How Mifflin–St Jeor estimates energy needs, and why the calorie and macro tools should be used as ranges.
12 min readUK household
UK take-home pay without the fog
Personal allowance taper, National Insurance, and student loans — how the UK salary tools sketch 2025/26 PAYE.
14 min readUSA household
US federal brackets are marginal — stop averaging them
Why a raise does not dump your whole salary into 22%, plus FICA and a note on withholding.
12 min readDevelopers
JSON and the case for pretty print
Minify for the wire, indent for humans, and why a formatter belongs next to a validator.
10 min readDevelopers
Wordle and the ethics of solvers
Using a solver as a teacher of information theory, not as a way to ruin a group chat.
9 min readUK household
Stamp duty is not a flat percent
How SDLT bands stack in England and Northern Ireland, and when first-time buyer relief actually helps.
11 min readMoney
Building a household budget that survives April
Annualise the boring costs — insurance, MOT, council tax — so monthly plans stop exploding.
11 min readSEO & publishing
Contrast ratios are not a matter of taste
WCAG contrast math, large text exceptions, and why copper-on-cream still needs a check.
10 min read