Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part Three (The Internet.)

Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part Three (The Internet.)

By

R.D. Swartz

The internet and computers have come a long way since the days of simple emailing, pictures and using word to write letters. The amount of information, entertainment, phone services, TV, news and college education is just overwhelming and growing day by day. At his point in time TV on the internet is growing leaps and bounds and every network has live feeds on their websites as well as back episodes of their shows to watch 24/7. If you have or want to have internet in your home and if you use it thoroughly you can save money on eliminating some unneeded costs each month.

It’s not what you can do with the internet at home but what cant you do. It is a tool like any other and if used properly you can benefit greatly by it. As I mentioned before if you do not watch TV a lot or most of what you watch you can find easily on the internet then why do you need cable or satellite TV especially if you need to cut money somewhere in your monthly budget.

My favorite site is Hulu it is just an incredible free TV watching website that has a lot of great TV shows to see. There are many more and here are some of them. Fox, NBC, ABC, CBS, MTV Music, TNT, Nickelodeon, SciFi, Cartoon Network, CNN, TBS, TBS, Disney Channel, TLC / Discovery / Animal Planet, Comedy Central, TVLand. You can also find internet only networks and here are a few of them.

MicroGuide, CNET TV, Gametrailers, Gamevideos, FearNet, Reuters, MicroGuide, Veoh, TV.com, Fancast, YouTube, Blip.TV, First on Mars, There are also many pay per view internet sites that offer deals that are cheaper than your local cable or satellite providers here are a few. Netflix, Amazon, Blockbuster, CinemaNow, MovieFlix, Bigstar, StarzPlay. And the list gets bigger every day and more and more entertainment is going online that can help you save money by having an internet connection.

Skype is an incredible free video phone service that you can call from computer to computer. It also lets you buy phone time to call from your computer to any home or mobile phone or you can purchase a local phone number and receive calls on your computer including texting, live computer games and more. There are others like Google Talk , Yahoo Voice and many more that you can look into to see if these services can save you money over a home phone and or mobile phone.

Take your list of your most watched TV shows from the part two article and search for the shows on the internet. What percentage of shows can you watch on the internet for free (besides the cost of internet service) and can you save money by cutting your cable or satellite service off? How many of the shows are also available on an antenna system that you can see on the internet? In the last article we will sum it all up and see how much money you can save.

Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part Two (The TV.)

Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part Two (The TV.)

By

R.D. Swartz

Ok let’s see what we can do to save you money on your TV bill, you need to write down answer to these questions. Do you watch TV at your home on cable, satellite dish, over the internet or antenna? IF you have cable TV does your provider offer a bundle of services including internet and a home phone line? How much TV do you and your family truly watch and can you cut your cable TV package to the minimal amount of channels? If you purchase a TV antenna system how many channels can you pick up and how does this compare to the minimal package of channels that your cable and satellite provider offers you? Have you ever explored the amount of TV shows and movies you can see on the internet? Have you ever used a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or other recording device to record TV to watch later?

We will do a complete comparison in the last article and cover the phone, TV and internet bundles then but for now you need to find out if your local providers have the 3 in 1 bundle option and what the cost are for the different TV channel packages. Most of the time the three in one packages save you a lot of money and some providers even give you a discount on mobile phone service if you also use the same provider for a 3 in 1 bundle package for your home phone, TV and internet services.

There is no worse of a waste of money then to have a hundred and fifty dollar a month cable TV bill with hundreds of channels and sixty or more movie channel and you hardly ever are home to watch any of it. If you mostly watch the major networks on your local channels, can you pick those same channels up on an antenna system or the internet? Write down everything you regularly watch on TV and see how much of it you can watch on the internet, antenna or minimal channel package from your providers.

I like to save money but I also like to get my monies worth and I highly suggest if you have cable or satellite TV you get the DVR option and pay the extra five or so dollars a month and use it constantly. This wonderful device helps you to fully get your monies worth out of your cable or satellite expense. I never watch live TV and only watch the recorded versions so I can fast forward through the parts of the shows I do not like or find boring as well as the advertisements. My time is mine and I want to maximize my enjoyment by cutting down the wasted time. I record shows that come on late at night as well as when I am working and watch them when I can. I watch the nightly news in about 5 minutes as I forward through the advertisements and news stories that do not interest me. In the next article we look at what you can do on the internet and all the TV you can find on it.

Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part One (The Phone.)

Maximize Your Monthly Budget Part One (The Phone.)

By

R.D. Swartz

We are all hurting financially and need to make our money stretch as far as possible. The first place to reexamine is the home phone, mobile phone, TV and internet services. The choices you have if you are an internet user from home are multiplied and need to be explored to see where you can save money in other areas due to your 24/7 connection to the world wide web. If you are not a computer user then you may want to look at the advantages of having one and how it can save in your monthly expenses.

The overall goal here is to make sure if you have one or all of the four you are getting your monies worth and not overpaying or double paying for services. You and your family must be absolutely honest about your habits in using your home phone, mobile phone, TV and internet to make a determination on how to save money. So what questions need to be answered first?

Phones, do you need a home phone line, mobile phone or both and how much do you use them?

Write down the answer to the following questions honestly. What are the true monthly costs after adding in taxes and fees by the providers and any extra fees due to your phone calling habits? Is a mobile phone absolutely necessary or a luxury? Most people want an emergency mobile phone for car break downs and if you had one is that all you would use it for? Are you surrounded by phones all day at home or work that are all you really need as opposed to a mobile phone? What is the cost of the extra services such as texting, emailing and more that are common on mobile phones and if you have internet access can you use them on a computer instead of a mobile phone? On the daily route you drive is it necessary to have an emergency phone or if you had a car break down what would you do or where can you get help without a mobile phone?

So what was the result of yourself examination? Is a mobile phone necessary or can it replace a home phone and serve as the only phone you need? What services do you need on your mobile phone if you have intent at home and or work? We will look at the possibility of an internet phone number in one of the next maximize your monthly budget articles to see if it is a viable option as well.

An emergency only prepaid phone can cost around .25 a minute plus a daily activation fee of 1.00 and if this option is best for you than you need to make sure it is only used in an emergency and not used to make unimportant calls or the costs will eat you up in the long run. A mobile phone that is used a lot with an unlimited number of minutes is best for those who do use them frequently and or as a replacement for a home phone line. I know many people that made the choice to go mobile only because they use it all the time and never use their home phone line.

If you cannot live without your mobile phone than you probably already have an unlimited plan costing around one hundred dollars and includes texting, emailing, voicemail and other luxuries. This is usually the best way to go and of course covers you as an emergency phone for car break downs. So the question is do you unload the home phone line or do you need it as part of your internet service? Let’s wait to make that choice until after we look at the phone, cable TV and internet combo packages in the next article.

Welcome to the R. D. Swartz Freelance Writer Blog

Welcome to my Blog I am R. D. Swartz an experienced Freelance Writer and I write on many subjects like Lifestyle, Eco, Entertainment, Fashion, Technical, Editorials, Sports, Politics, Ghost Writing, Books and much more. I am always looking for more work so please email me at rdswartz411@gmail.com