Have some light need for graphics editing?  Download Paint.NET.  Now.  Its about as easy to use as MSPaint, with many, many more features (layers!  Full undo capability!  Competent resizing algorithms!), and its perfect for the sort of “I have an app icon but need to make it a CD logo” type chores that you’re probably spending too much time on right now.  Did I mention its totally free?  Yeah, thats a bonus, too.  (Artistic ability still not included, unfortunately.)

I finally put my money where my mouth is, by the way, and donated them $25.  I remember that I had long-ago promised to donate “in the indefinite future, when I have the money to spend” and, hey, I just had my most profitable month ever.  If you get as much use out of them as I have, consider dropping 2-3% or so of the cost of a Photoshop license in their tipjar.