AARP Online Community: kbrand - 5 Ways to Save Time & Money Online

kbrand

Offline

Background

Birthday: December 24

Gender: Male

Location:
Atlanta, Georgia
United States

School:
Bachelor of Arts in Systems Science and Mathematics from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters degree in Operations Research from the University of California Berkeley.

Work:
EarthLink and PeoplePC

Hometown(s):
Chicago, IL, Berkeley, CA, Belle Mead, NJ, Washington DC and Atlanta, GA

My Websites:
http:www.peoplepc.com

Quote:
"And you know that you're over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can't fill." - from the song "Old Folks Boogie" by the band Little Feat

My Comments (1)

5 Ways to Save Time & Money Online - Internet Insider Journal #4

In this edition of the “Internet Insider” I will share some of the lesser-known ways you can use the Internet to save time and money. Today, websites and Internet Service Providers offer a wide range of tools and resources that help compare prices, hunt for bargains and even monitor online auctions to find the best value.

1. Comparison Shopping

Many Internet providers offer comparison shopping engines on their portals or you can access these sites form your browser. They are really easy to use. Just type in what you’re shopping for, and a list of price ranges and products selections appear on screen. By using a comparison shopping tool you avoid the time and effort it takes to visit different sites searching for products and prices. You can find comparison site shopping sites at pages such as www.bizrate.com, www.pricegrabber.com, http://deals.earthlink.net, and www.nextag.com.

2. Watch and Learn

Let’s say you’re in the market for a household appliance but not in a big hurry to purchase it. You can use online monitoring to “wait out” the best deal. Some Internet providers offer tools like an eBay widget for monitoring bids on items. You can use this to “watch” auctions and get a sense for what kind of price range you can expect for the product you want. If you are looking for an opportune time to fly, you can use the “trip watcher” function at www.hotwire.com. Just enter the airports you want to fly between and hotwire informs you via email when airfare prices are reduced.

Also, get on email lists from websites that have services that you use. Most of these sites will email you special offers on a regular basis. You can set up your email filters to put these in a special folder if you only want to see them periodically or use features like anonymous email (see bullet 5) to keep the mails separate from your other correspondence.

3. Free Internet Features

Most Internet providers run special promotions and incentives, as well as offer different service options and software packages. Browse through your provider’s product and services website, and take advantage of things such as free Web space, anti-virus software and other tools that save money and give you a better Internet experience.

4. Surfing Time Management

Many sites have “RSS feeds” available which allow you to easily see the daily highlights and updates without having to dig down through it each day. Find the RSS feed logo on the site (RSS Feed) and then click on this. Follow the instructions to get the feed attached to your browser. For example, if you select the RSS feed from www.amazon.com, it will store the address on your Internet Explorer browser under the yellow star (for IE 7 version).You just click on the star and find the RSS feed entitled “Amazon.com Gold Box Deals”. Click on that link and it shows you the daily deals for Amazon. Other sites use the RSS feed for top headlines of the day. You can add RSS feeds from all your favorite sites that have them available and easily get to all topics of interest.

5. Use Anonymous Emails

Many Internet providers offer “anonymous e-mail,” which gives you several pre-selected e-mail addresses that you can use to organize and manage your e-mail. For example, you can have special promotional offers sent you at one email address and collected in a separate mail folder that you can read when you are in “shopping” mode, keeping your regular communications with friends and family separate.

There are many ways you can organize your Internet experience and use a variety of special tools and options to save time and money. In this economy, it makes sense to use everything at your disposal to stretch your dollar farther.

Feel free to share your Internet stories with me and the rest of the AARP online community. More importantly, please let me know how I can help you have a better Internet experience.

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kbrand's Journals

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