There are hundreds of Web sites that promise to help you find an old friend, classmate, lover, relative, etc. for free. However, once you try to use these sites to locate someone, you see that once again, nothing in life is truly “free”.

For the purpose of this guide, let’s use an old roommate that owes you money, a.k.a. “jerk face”, as the person whom you are trying to locate. Let’s also assume that “jerk” would be happy to meet with you to give you the money. Here is how the ideal free people search goes down: The first step in cheaply finding this jerk is to go to a people search web site. Go to the site’s home page and type in your old roommate’s name. Depending on how common his last name is, you will probably get a page anywhere from one to about 100 results.

From these results, you are on your way to locating your jerk. However, not every search will work in the exact same way so you have to learn to take what the results give you. First, look for the city where you used to live with the jerk. If it is listed next to any of the names on the results page, then you know you have a handle on him. If you find it, your search may be over as all you then have to do is call 411 and ask for his number. You then can phone the jerk and arrange a pickup of your cash. Search completed, cost: long distance phone call, gas money to meet with jerk, five minutes of effort.

Your search may not have been so easy, however. Therefore, here is how the semi-ideal free people search goes down: If you couldn’t find your jerk from the city that you used to live with him at, take a look at the list of residences again. Do any relate to your jerk? Possibly, could they be his old hometown or where he may have moved to? If so, then you can narrow down the list of results and proceed from there. Search completed, cost: long distance phone call, gas money to meet with jerk, ten minutes of effort.

Perhaps none of the cities listed next to the names on the results page ring a bell for your jerk. Now it is time for a little tougher search: Another way to locate someone is through the names of possible relatives listed next to the results. Maybe you remembered his sister’s name, or perhaps you know his mom’s name. If you know the names of any of his relatives and you see those names listed next to a name on the results page, then you may have found your jerk. Search completed, cost: long distance phone calls to old friends or people who know your jerk, gas money to meet with jerk, fifteen minutes of effort.

If these three methods do not work, you may have to do a little detective work and play “search engine battle ship.” In this game, you take any information that you have on your subject and place it in a search field on a search engine home page. You then press “submit” and see if anything produces a “hit”. This information can be an old phone number, past address, maiden name, social security number or almost any piece of identifying information you have on your jerk. From there, keep entering the information until you spot your jerk in the results. Search completed, cost: digging through old papers on your desk, long distance phone calls, gas money to meet with jerk, thirty minutes of effort.

Finally, you may have to bite the bullet and pay for your people search. We recommend PeopleFinders.com if you have to pay because they are cheap and accurate. Also, you may want to sign up for a 24-hour membership so you can search for a bunch of people. Search completed, cost: $9.95 and up, long distance phone call, gas money to meet with jerk, one minute of effort.