Google Docs instead of Microsoft Office

The Problem

Have you ever received a file with a "doc", "docx", or "xls" extension and couldn't open it?  It's most likely because it's a Microsoft Office document.  In the old days you would either have to buy Microsoft Office (for PC or Mac) or download and install the open source program, Open Office.  Nothing against Open Office or Microsoft Office, it's just that both take time to install (and money for Microsoft), both take time to open, and both will only open files on your computer.

I recently bought a Apple Macbook (and I have never owned an Apple computer before) and it could not open any Microsoft Office files.  My sister, who's a long time Apple user, buys the Mac version of MS Office so she can open files from Windows users.

The Solution
Instead of installing software on my computer on my precious space using up my resources, I use Google Docs. It's web-based, so nothing needs to be installed, nothing needs to be updated, and it's free.  It just requires a Google Account, which is also free.  It can open PDFs, Microsoft Excel (xls, xlsx), Word (doc, docx), Adobe files (psd, ai), and much more.

One of the neat little features is how Google Docs can open any file on the web.  Just go to the Google Docs Viewer and enter in a URL to read.

The Convenience
There are a bunch of support to open Google Docs even quicker than opening a web page.

With the Open IT Online plugin for Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, and Opera, you can open your document or image online.

In Chrome, there's another plugin called Ultimate Google Docs Viewer.  This also lets you right click on a link and open it online instead of downloading it.

Giving Gifts That Save You Money

Want to give a great gift, but also want to save some money?  This gift will do the trick.

Gift Card Hunt
Normally I don't like giving a gift card because it shows that you didn't put much thought into it.  This idea for a gift however, is not like that at all.  It is the gift that keeps on giving as long as you share expenses (i.e. your spouse).  This gift is especially for:

• Someone who likes food or eating out
• Someone you eat out with anyway
• Someone that doesn't mind scavenger hunts

Here's what you need to do:

1. Search online at Yelp, Urban Spoon, etc, to find the best places to eat in your area.  Take note of the cost of the menu, you don't want to be eating at  a place serving $100 plates.
2. Go out and purchase $25 gift cards from about 10 or so restaurants.
3. Think of places you can leave the gift cards. (with friends, hidden around the house, at a restaurant where you know the owner).
4. Make a scavenger hunt.  Write out little notes describing where to get the next hint.  At each point leave one of the gift cards.
5. It would be good to have something special at the end, but it's not necessary.

So basically it's 10 or so $25 gift cards and a scavenger hunt.  Yes, you just spent $250 on a gift, but think of it this way;  If you usually go out to eat with this person and you pay for the bill, you're actually using the money you spent on the gift card to pay for the meal.  So a $50 meal for two at Ruby Tuesday's is only $25 after the gift card.  Kind of get the picture?  Your gift is actually a scavenger hunt and 10 nights out with the person you enjoy dining with.  The $25 gift cards are just coupons saying, "lets go out eat sometime".

Quibids

Ever wanted a chance to win the lottery?  Ever wanted to buy some gift cards for Christmas?  Ever wanted to buy something for cheap and sell it for 10 times the price you bought it?  If you answered YES to any of these questions, Quibids may be the thing for you.

A Chance to Win the Lottery
Quibids is really as they say, "redefined shopping".  Quibids is a penny auction site that lets you bid on items and win them for a very low cost.  Here's how it works.  Each bid costs 60 cents.  Every time you bid on an item, say an iPad, the cost of the iPad goes up by a penny.  A timer counts down to end the auction, but each time someone bids, the timer goes back up to 20 seconds or so (depending on the auction).  So say you bid on an iPad to make the cost of the iPad 1 cent.  The timer will go back up to 20 seconds and start counting down.  If someone else bids, making the cost go up to 2 cents, the timer goes back up to 20 seconds.  If no one bids over you and the timer reaches 0, you win the iPad for 1 cent (plus shipping/handling cost $12.99 and your $.60 bid).

A Chance to Buy it for Less
Quibids also has a Buy-it-now option where if you bid (real bids - explained later) in an auction, the bids used in that auction can be used towards purchasing the item.  So lets say you bid 100 times ($60) on an iPod Touch and lost.  The actual cost of the iPod on Quibids is $229.  So if you wanted to buy the iPod, you can buy it for $169 ($229 minus $60).  In other words, if you are already planning on buying an item, you get a chance to buy it for very cheap on Quibids.

How it All Works
Quibids makes 60 cents per bid.  So if say an iPod touch sells for $30, that's 3000 bids or $1,800.  Quibids makes a huge profit.  Then there are auctions where a $250 gift card can sell for $.50 or $30.  So in the end as they state on their website, they make a 10-15% profit on average.

In an auction you can have real bids and voucher bids.  Real bids are bids that you purchase while voucher bids are bids that you can win in an auction.  Only real bids can be used towards purchasing an item.

Quibids has two types of bidding methods.  A Single bid is a bid that you press the "Bid" button and bid once.  Bid-o-matic is an automatic bidding option where you can specify what price to start bidding at and for how many bids (max 25).  Bid-o-matic will bid for you whenever you are not currently winning the auction.

Redefined Shopping
I have tried this out and I am not a good auction bidder.  I have won 2 auctions so far and lost many.  On the other hand I personally know someone who, in the same time span, has won several gift cards, a video camera, a digital camera, and sunglasses.  If you are good at following bidding strategies like those found on youtube (search for "Quibids") you can make a good profit by getting items for very cheap and selling them.  However, if you're like me and suck at bidding, you can use this site whenever you want to purchase something and get a chance to get it for less.  You pay the full price of the item you want whether you lose on Quibids or buy it from somewhere like Amazon.

How to Get Free Bids

Quibids offers many chances to get free bid vouchers through "Achievements", daily twitter contests, and referrals.  They range anywhere from 1 to 50 bids at a time.  Everyone likes free bids, these are the ways you can get them:

• Achievements can be won by doing specific things like winning an auction, using bid-o-matic, or by spending so much money.  
• The twitter contests are usually held in the morning and they ask questions like "what is your favorite Quibids tip?".  They choose the best answer and reward the winner with 50 bids.   
• For the referrals, if you get a friend to sign up under your link, you get 25 bid vouchers after your friend buys the initial $60 bid pack (100 bids).

Scam?
Many people say Quibids is a scam.  I for one think that their business is too profitable to be a scam.  Why would a company which can legitimately make money and earn customer loyalty try to scam people out of a quick buck?  They can be bidding on their own auctions to raise the price, but with so many people bidding, they don't need to.  With so many auctions going for well below a price for them to make a profit, they aren't doing a good job at raising the price either.  The bottom line is that I got all the items I expected to get at the price I expected to pay.  Check out Quibids for yourself.

1000 Free bids

Be careful on scams that promise you free bids for signing up under their referral link.  They make promises of sending you a code for 1000 free bids, or show you the website in a video to convince you that you too can have unlimited bids.  Do not trust them.  These videos are of an altered website where their bid count is increased.  If you sign up under them all that happens is you will grant that person their 25 bid referral reward from Quibids.  You will get nothing but disappointment in return.

Watch out for GainSaver Scam

My company's iMac broke this past week and we needed to buy a new mac.  Our bank account only has less than $1000 in it so we opted to look for the cheapest mac which is a mac mini.  On Amazon it is cheaper than $699.  With free shipping and no tax it comes out cheaper than an educational discount (10%) at the Apple Store.  That sounded like a good idea until another member of our company found GainSaver.

GainSaver is a website that sells used macs for VERY cheap.  We saw a mac mini 2.0 ghz for as low as $389.  You can customize everything from the harddrive space to the ram to the airport card.  They say they check every piece of hardware that comes in so you're guaranteed to get a good piece of hardware.

The total price of our mac mini would have been about $500 (with 2gb of ram and decent harddrive space).  But wait.... A couple things weren't quite right.

They have a 10% off special that ends "tonight at 10pm".
Yet we were ordering at 11pm HST.  Clicking on the details of the special revealed that the special was available until January 2012.  A bit shady if you ask me.

Diagnostics Testing (optional upgrade for $25)
With this upgrade GainSaver says "Make sure your equipment has passed our rigorous Diagnostics Testing program. GainSaver thoroughly tests all of your computer's critical hardware components before shipping."
Uhh.... so if we don't want to spend an extra $25 for diagnostics testing will we be getting untested hardware even though the site says "... been fully tested and certified by GainSaver's trained Apple technicians to verify every major component is in 100% working order" .  Things were getting fishy.

Research
Doing some research we found a site, http://www.brenthobbs.com/gainsaver.htm,  that complained about not receiving their product, but also not getting charged for it.  The author suspected that they were just out to get his credit card information as their customer service was not very helpful in getting him his order.  He also posted on an Apple forum where he got some supporters and a fake glowing review of GainSaver.  Company's often find bad reviews of their service and post a fake review saying how great the service was.  No one on the forum was fooled.  Apparently, that fake post was just a small sample of what they can do...

Fake Reviews
Another website called Reseller Ratings lets users post reviews on reseller sites.  It showed that GainSaver's overall rating was a 8.13/10 (or 4/5 stars).  Note that this rating is as of 4/20/2011.  There were posts of customers not receiving their product, getting the wrong item, and basically having no real customer service.  There were also posts of 5/5 stars saying they got their product for cheap and got it on time, etc, etc.  After reading through the first page I wanted to see the older posts because maybe they were really bad when they first started and cleaned up their act recently.  So I clicked on Page 4 which I thought was the last page (it's the last page next to the arrow).  This is where I read a really shocking review:

There is something VERY wrong with resellerratings.com's system. In the first 3 years of reviews for gainsaver.com, a total of 80 reviews were posted, nearly all of them negative, and until November 2010 their overall customer satisfaction rating was ZERO. (http://www.resellerratings.com/seller_rating_history.pl?seller_seo_name=GainSaver)

Now, 3 months later (as of 2/15/11) there are nearly 400 reviews. About 200 of them were posted on just 2 days (1/21 and 1/21/11) virtually all of them glowingly positive. And miraculously their rating is now 8.15. What's wrong with this picture?

The dozens of negative reviews consistently report the same problems:
1. Products unavailable at advertised prices followed by a "bait & switch" offer for more expensive products
2. Products arriving broken or else they malfunction within weeks
3. Unresponsive, rude customer service
4. Products, refunds and "rebates" never arriving or requiring much time and aggravation to resolve
5. Customers being stuck with return shipping cost for damaged goods or company error

There is clearly a pattern here.

I have placed 3 orders for multiple Mac Minis & imacs for a youth program. Each time Gainsaver has canceled the order, saying that the products were not available then quoting me a much higher price for the same items with very minor upgrades. When I said that I wanted the computers I ordered for the price listed on the website, not the $200 more a piece that they tried to charge me, the sales rep laughed and said "You'll never get them for that price". So why have they continued to be listed on the website?

After reading this, I looked back in the history and saw for myself that on January 20-21 there were pages and pages of 5/5 star reviews.  Looking at the history of ratings it showed that from January 2011 the ratings picked up.  I'm posting it here because in a couple of months the chart will no longer show the  jump from 0/5 to 5/5 in 1 month.  The top bar is April and it goes all the way down to October.  October and November had very bad customer satisfaction and likelihood of future purchases.  December/January it jumped up.  GainSaver will probably have a much better rating in a couple months because the rating only goes back 6 months.  Once that happens they'll have a lot more credit cards.

More Fake Reviews
GainSaver is an accredited Better Business Bureau business.  How?  Maybe it's because they resolve all their BBB complaints, but really, I have no idea.  The reason I bring up the BBB is that they have a "TrustedLink Community" that hosts customer reviews of their own.  And of course, on this site you see GainSaver as having 4/5 stars for their 95 reviews.  However, you still see the mass of complaints with 1 stars.  How did they do this?

We start by going back to April 3, 2009.  The start of the "5-star-review employee".  I went to the last page (the actual last page this time) and started looking at the dates for all the 5-star reviews and noticed a trend.  From the first Friday in April (4/3/2009) through the last Friday in May (5/29/2009) you can see a 5-star review for almost every weekday.  None on the weekend.  I estimate about 35 to 40 5-star reviews in this time period alone.  So in their 2 year history about 40% of the reviews came in those 2 months.


We bought the mac mini from Amazon.

Well, after all that we went straight to Amazon.  There's no price on reputation.  Just knowing you'll receive your product within a week, knowing you can contact customer service and talk things out, and knowing you can return your product if you're not satisfied is worth a small premium.  It's one thing to look for a deal, but you need to be careful.  I decided to write this post because it's the first time I've seen a scam for myself.  It's usually in news articles, forums or a friend got scammed.  This one is still up and running and it scares me that we were so close to purchasing.  If it were a few months later, we might have.


Unfortunate experiences
Below is a list of complaints that I have found from various people around the web.  It's amazing  (sarcasm) that such a "great, A+ BBB company" gets so many bad reviews.  Not only are these reviews bad, but they have similar complaints.  Just saying... Beware!

• http://www.ripoffreport.com/computer-service-repair/gainsaver-steve-harp/gainsaver-steve-harper-steve-47657.htm
• http://www.consumeraffairs.com/online/gainsaver.html
• http://askville.amazon.com/Gainsaver-body-experience-website-guys-scam/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=64454545
• http://gainsaver.pissedconsumer.com/gainsaver-sales-fraud-no-refunds-20100901196698.html
• http://www.complaintsboard.com/complaints/wwwgainsavercom-c61227.html
• http://www.scaminformer.com/scam-report/gainsaver-products-are-not-what-i-ordered-they-send-you-c14416.html
• sooo many more, but let me google it for you.

Want to Help Japan, But Don't Have Money

I thought of this idea and I thought, wow this is excellent!  I can donate to Japan and it won't cost me money!  And then I thought, wow, I'm a cheap bastard.  And then I remembered my income, and I thought, yes, I have to be a cheapo.


Donate to Japan and Have it Cost You Nothing

If you sign up to swagbucks you can donate to Japan and it will cost you nothing.  A website called Swagbucks has an offer where you can donate "swagbucks" to the relief effort in Japan.  Or more specifically, to All Hands Volunteers.

What are swagbucks and how do you get them? 
Swag bucks are like a points where if you use their search engine or do their polls, they give you points or as they call it "swag bucks".  Here's where the good part comes in.  If you sign up you get 30 swagbucks free!  Just for signing up!  So you can donate those 30 swagbucks to Japan logout and be on your merry way.  Or you can continue to use their search engine, play some games, or watch some videos to win more swagbucks and donate more.

The goal is to reach 10,000,000 swagbucks so Swagbucks.com donates $100,000.00.  If we all do our small part with 30 swagbucks, it shouldn't be too hard to reach.
Update:  A recent survey on swagbucks revealed that only 16% donated, 32% plan to donate, and the rest, well, don't care.  That's pretty bad.  I guess the ones who donate have to donate more to reach the goal.

Once you sign up you can donate here.  The deadline for donations is Friday April 8th at 12pm PDT!

I almost forgot to mention that Swagbucks is legit.  I've been a member for about a year now and they do not spam you and they follow through with what they promise.  More on Swagbucks here.

If you have any other ways to raise money without spending your own, like Ashton Kutcher's race to a million a while back, please leave a comment.

For more information on Japan and the 8.9 earthquake you can visit Google's Crisis Response page.

Free Software

Free Software!  Or Is It?
I've seen countless pages where they say "Free Software!" only to find out it's only free because it's a trial.  That is the most annoying waste of time ever!  Therefore, I have compiled a list of free-for-life, no catch, the developers-just-want-some-recognition software.  Please see the licenses of each one before using it for non-personal uses.  I am a computer programmer by trade, so excuse the ones that are a little too techy.  I tried to list the ones that appeal to everyone the most.

Symantec Antivirus Alternative

Avira Antivirus - I have personally used Avira as my antivirus software.  They provide free updates, free scan scheduling and more.  It satisfies all my needs and seems to work fine (except for a malware that got through... see Malwarebytes).  The only problem is that it does pop up an Ad every so often asking you to buy the full version.  See the full CNET review here.

AVG Antivirus - I currently use AVG as my antivirus software.  I first switched because I wanted another antivirus to scan my computer to make sure it was clean.  It found a couple more things than Avira and also had a nicer user interface.  Of course Avira could have found some infections that AVG didn't, but for now I'm sticking with AVG.  Avira and AVG often fight for the #1 antivirus download spot on CNET.

Malwarebytes - This piece of free software is a lifesaver.  Along with this blog on how to remove the XP Total Security fake security program, I successfully removed an annoying program that hounds you to purchase their program.  Looking at the google search trends, it seems as this XP Total Security malware is on the rise as of March 2011.  It has been known to get past Avira, AVG, Spyware Terminator, ZoneAlarm, and AdAware anti-virus/malware programs.  You can read here for more information about XP Total Security.   You can read more about Malwarebytes on CNET.


Microsoft Office Alternative
 (Excel, Word, Visio, Powerpoint)

Google Docs -  Get a Google account and you can use their docs for free.  They have much of the same functionality as Microsoft Office.  It's not exactly the same, but it can open MS Office and is comparable.  Whatever Google Docs lacks in, it makes up in it's ability to share with others and being available anywhere you have internet access because your document is stored on their servers.

 Open Office - I admit, I haven't used Open Office for over 5 years now... Ever since Google Docs came out I haven't had the need or curiosity to use it.  However, it has been and still gets very good reviews.   It is very similar to MS Office in its functionality.


Magic Jack and Other Landline Phone Alternatives

Google Voice - I highly recommend getting Google Voice.  First of all, it's free.  Second of all, it can ring your mobile phone, computer, and second mobile, and read you your voicemail, and it's free! (through 2011 at least).  You can even use your iPod to replace your home phone.

Creating a PDF
If you own a mac, you should already know this is free and comes with OS X.  When you print a document, you can click on the button in the lower left and save as a PDF.

doPdf, cutePdf - There are a ton of free PDF creators where it allows you to print to a PDF.  These are just a couple that I have used and it suits my needs.


Photoshop Alternative

Gimp - Is a well known open source alternative to Adobe's Photoshop.  It can import Photoshop files and do vector graphics.  It has been around for a while and is very comparable to the competition.

Audio Editing Software

Audacity - This piece of open source software is a great tool when you need to edit audio files, change the volume, make a ring tone, etc.  Before I got an iPhone and started using iTunes for my ring tones, this was the goto software for me.

Encryption

TrueCrypt - If you need to store some sensitive material online and need to have it encrypted, or just want your local files encrypted, TrueCrypt can do that.  It is on-the-fly encryption that is so convenient, you may not remember it's encrypted.


Others

Almost every piece of software that you can buy has a free alternative.  The most complete listing that I have found is at the Open Source Alternative.  If you didn't see something here that you wanted for free, check out the Open Source Alternative or leave a comment.

Use Google Voice For a Free Home Phone and Free Texting

Google Voice offers nationwide calling and one number to use for all your phones at no charge at all.  If you don't want to pay for a landline in your home but have a mobile phone this is for you.  If you want to "hook up" your home phone to your computer, this is for you.  If you want free texting to your iPhone, this is for you.  If you have a million phones and don't want to keep track of them all... this is for you.

Here's what you need:
1) A mobile phone number
2) A computer a microphone and speakers (or bluetooth/headset) with internet connection
3) A Google account
4) A smart phone (optional - for free texting)

To use Google Voice as a landline, simply do the following steps:

1. Log in to http://www.google.com/googlevoice.
2. You should see steps pop up to let you choose your google number and add your mobile phone number.
3. If you haven't already done so, set your Google number to forward to your gmail chat account.
1. to do this, go to Voice Settings->Phones tab.
2. Check on the first checkbox so that it forwards to your gmail account.
4. Give out your Google Number as your number.
5. That's it.

Free Texting

I heard that the Android version of Google Voice app is only voicemail.  I only have an iPhone so can only say that it works for the iPhone.

1. To get free texting, download the Google Voice app from the App Store.  
2. Sign in with your google login.  
3. Tell your friends to text your google number instead of your mobile phone number.  

When a text goes to the google number it shows up both in your Google Voice webpage on your computer and on your mobile phone (as long as you have it forwarding to your phone in the settings).  So if you are working on the computer and your phone is far away, when someone texts you, you can reply without getting your phone.

A Free Landline

Now to receive calls from other people to your computer, open and sign into Google Voice.  There is currently no "official" google voice desktop where you can just open an application and use it.  There are many 3rd party applications here, but I am just logging into gmail and waiting for the official google version.  When someone calls you, you will get a popup saying someone is calling you.  Answer it and you will be able to hear and talk to them over the internet (also known as VoIP).  Note, that if you have it forwarding to your mobile phone, it will ring on your mobile phone also.  You can answer it on your phone or on your computer.  If you answer on your computer, you will not get charged for the call on your cellphone.  Read on the next section for another way to get a landline.

iPod as Your Home Phone (Landline)

Google Voice brings up many questions like, "can I use my home phone for google voice?", "can I speak and receive calls on my ipod?".  The Google Voice app has the potential to make calls from your iphone ... BUT this was not implemented probably because it would not mesh well with AT&T and Verizon.  Other VoIP applications have been approved on the App Store, but Google's app is different.  Google allows VoIP to a real phone number while other apps only allow calls within a specific software.  Do not use the Google Voice App on your iPhone to try to get free calls.  The app will just use your mobile line and you'll use your cellphone minutes.

Since Google Voice doesn't get you free calls, you can check out an app called Talkatone.  I first heard about it at Cybernet News.  **Use this at your own risk** because this app is not made by Google, but requires that you log into your Google account.  Call me old fashioned or paranoid, but I don't like the idea of having an app made by an unknown company taking my username/password for another account.

Here's what I did to make my iPod into my home phone.

1. Create a new Google account or one that you do not mind someone hacking into.
2. Set up Google Voice with this account (note, I'm not sure if you need a mobile phone to sign up, but if it says you do, you can always remove the number after you sign up).  You need a mobile phone attached to the account.  Otherwise there will just be a loud tone when a call is connected.
3. Download Talkatone (for free) in the App Store.
4. Log into your Google account from step 1 through the Talkatone App.
5. Hook up a headset so that you can speak and hear clearly
6. Make calls, receive calls, test it out!  oh, make sure your ipod has a wifi connection of course.

I have no affiliation with Talkatone and do not get any compensation if you download or use it.  This is purely something I have found and find very interesting. 

Convenience

Above all the features that Google Voice offers, it's convenience.  I talked about both calls and texts going to both your computer and phone.  So if you are by your computer and not your phone or by your phone and not your computer, you have the ability be lazy, not move and still be social.  And of course, you have the ability to have all your numbers ring your google voice number.

Porting your Number

One of the easiest ways to save your mobile number and use google voice is to port your mobile number to google.  Once you port it, everyone who calls your mobile number will be calling Google Voice.   It costs about $20 and takes up to 24 hours for the changes to take effect.  I myself have not done it so I'm only speaking from what I have read.  Instead of me trying to explain it and possibly getting you confused, you can view google's video.  The reason I have not done it is because Google Voice is free "through 2011" only.  No one knows if they will start charging in 2012.  Another reason is that they do not have a number in my area code.  So for me it's not worth it right now.

Cancel Cable and still watching TV

Cable
Where I live internet (roadrunner) costs about $50 and HD/Digital combo pack costs another $50.  Together the monthly bill comes out to about $120 / month.  One way to save money is by cutting cable and find other forms of entertainment.  Another way is to cut cable and still watch it... legally of course.  Total savings would be up to $50 / month or $600 / year.  I said legally watch TV, so, below are ways you can get it after paying a little.

Free HD TV
Did you know if you have a HD TV, you can get free HD channels?  Similar to old fashion over-the-air TV our grandparents used to get, HD channels are also broadcasted through the air.  Network channels such as NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS should be available in most areas.  You'll just need an indoor antenna strong enough to catch the signals.  It also helps if you are closer to your local stations or away from mountains and buildings.  If you get a decent signal, the quality is just as good as through the box.  You can go to DTV.gov and find out the signal strengths in your area.

PlayOn

MediaMall created a Media Player for the Xbox 360, Wii, and PS3 called Playon.  I was so intrigued, I bought it for $30.  It allows you to stream content from your PC to your gaming system so you could play videos from the internet on your TV.  Basically what it does is it browses certain webpages as if you were browsing from your PC and then passes it on to the device of your choice.  Websites like Hulu, CBS, YouTube, Netflix, etc are available.  They had Netflix available on the PS3/360/Wii at a time when you needed a disc to stream videos.  It was a one time fee about a year or two ago.  They don't offer it anymore, but for $20 / year you can get more channels.  Now that they are charging more, they offer CNN, Food Network, ESPN, and Comedy Central.  The list keeps growing.  Independent developers also contribute "plugins" so that you can add on even more channels.  It isn't live TV, but if you can view it on a website, it's likely that PlayOn can show it on your gaming system.

Hulu
Hulu offers new TV episodes online for free.  Not all episodes from all shows are available, but the most popular ones are.  If you can get Hulu streaming to your TV, either through PlayOn, Boxee, straight from the PC, you will not miss TV at all.  If you can't find a way to stream Hulu to your TV for free, Hulu offers it's service for $5 / month on various devices including PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, Boxee, and Apple TV.

Apple TV

Apple TV is a device you can buy for $99, no monthly fees.  It's just another way to get your favorite TV episodes by renting/buying it through iTunes.  At $.99 - $2.99 per rental, you can watch up to 50 episodes a month to equal what cable costs.  That's about 12 TV episodes a week.  For me, that's a lot.  If you watch more than this try to get Hulu streaming to your TV and only rent episodes from Apple TV when you can't find it on Hulu.

Netflix
At $9.99 a month you can get as many movies through mail and streaming as you want.  Netflix also has many seasons of many different TV shows.  Granted, the shows aren't new like on Hulu, but they are complete seasons.  Netflix can be viewed on the TV through a gaming device, Apple TV, Boxee, or straight from your PC.  Or if you are into iPads/iPods, you can stream Netflix to those devices and have your own personal "tv" in bed, at the beach (with a data plan), at your friends house, etc.

Boxee
I personally have yet to try Boxee, but it is similar to Playon.  It is a program (or device if you purchase it) that lets you view videos on various websites on your TV.  You can buy it for $199 or use your own computer and get it for free.  You can find out more at http://www.boxee.tv/.

Conclusion
Depending on what you get, you can save up to $50 a month or end up paying more.  For me, I have Netflix ($9.99 / month), Playon ($30 one-time), Hulu (free), Free HD TV (up to $130 for antenna, one-time).   So my total monthly bill would be $10 / month and total setup would be $160 one time fee.  After about 5 months I've made my money back from saving on cable and save $40 / month.

LOL Savings

The savings listed here will save you pennies... literally.  These are "Laugh Out Loud" Savings (for those of you not familiar with "lol").  Some of these I found around the web, and some I'm embarrassed to say, I thought of myself.  A lot of these are not worth the effort to do consistently... of course, I have not calculated exactly how much it would save if it is done regularly.

Free TP!
By using the bathroom outside of your residence, you can save on buying toilet paper.  In the morning, go out to a McDonald's or Jack in the Box, or just go to work, then use the bathroom.  Use everyone else's toilet paper, but your own.

Free Condiments!
Every time you buy food out, take a few extra napkins, ketchup, mustard, relish, etc.  You'll eventually end up with an unlimited supply of condiments.  You can even put them into your own containers and make it look like you bought it!

Free Light!
The Sun is a free source of energy.  Utilize the sun's light in the day time as best you can by waking up when it rises.  At night you use the most electricity because you need light to see.  If you go to sleep shortly after the sun sets, you'll spend less on electricity because your lights will be off for most of the night.

Free Electricity!
Whatever needs charging, charge it outside your residence.  If you need to work on your laptop without an internet connection, libraries are a good place to go.  If you need an internet connection, Starbucks, Borders, Barnes & Nobles, and many other places offer you a place to plug in and surf the web.  You can even charge your laptop at work, come home, and use the battery.  Then rinse and repeat.  Cell phones, tablets, batteries, even your motorized toothbrush and electric shaver!

Free Water!
Do you buy drinking water?  If yes, you can get free water at restaurants that let you get your own water.  Bring your water bottles with you and fill them up.  Warning:  many restaurants may not allow this.  If you have a water dispenser at the office, bring your water bottles to work and fill them up.

Have a Two for One TP Sale in Your Bathroom
If you need to buy toilet paper, buy the two-ply rolls, separate the sheets, and use one-ply.  Instant savings!  Once upon a time one-ply was more than enough.

Charge for Potty Mouths
When friends come over, pull out a swear jar and watch your money grow!  Be the antagonist and watch it grow even faster!  Warning:  This may only work until you can't get anyone to come over.


Save on Gas
Accelerate slow, slow down slow, and just drive slow all around.  You'll save on gas.  The less the car changes speeds, the less gas is used.  Sometimes you can drive so slow that you get rear ended.  This is a plus or minus depending how you look at it.  (this actually happened to me... my first accident.  I got some cash, but my bumper doesn't look brand new anymore).

Subscribe and Save

Amazon.com has a program called "Subscribe and Save" where everyday products are 15% off and it gets ordered every 1 - 6 months depending on how often you want it.

The Facts

• Save 15% on everyday products
• Only get charged when the item is shipped
• They email you before the items are shipped.
• Cancel anytime
• Frequency of orders are: 1 month, 2 months, 3 months, 6 months
• Items in "Subscribe and Save" do not ship to Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico, for all others, shipping is free.

In addition to saving money, time is saved by not standing in line at the local grocery store.

Exact Items Similar in Price at Costco
I normally shop for the items below at Costco and have found the prices to be fairly similar to Costco's in price per unit.  Be careful when ordering from Amazon... I've seen some products that cost twice as much.  For example, the Multi-Vite Gummy Vitamins cost $18.98 on Amazon and costs $9.99 at Costco.  However, Amazon also offers it for $9.99 if you search hard enough.  Both Amazon and Costco vary their pricing from time to time so items being posted are not guaranteed to be the same price when you read this.

Charmin Ultra Soft, Mega Rolls, 12-Count (Pack of 4)
Bounty Value Big Roll, Select A Size (Pack of 24)
Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, For all skin types, 16-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2)

Tide Powder Detergent, Original Scent, Case Pack, Two 120-Load Boxes (240-Loads)
Dove Beauty Bar, White
Lipton Black Tea, 312-Count Tea Bags

Get it Already Paid for
If you have a blog or website and want to take advantage of the Subscribe and Save program that Amazon has, you can try out an idea that just might work.

Get "Free" everyday products

Summary
Initial Cost: $200
Cost down the road: $0
Time Investment: as low as 5 hours one time
Payout: Everyday products paid for by profits

Disclaimer:  This is something I wanted to do, but unfortunately, I live in Hawaii and so cannot participate in Amazon's Subscribe and Save program.  I'll probably be taking this blog soon as when the traffic dies down.

What is it?
This idea will SAVE you money, not necessarily MAKE you money.  This is all about helping others make money.  It will not work if you are feeling ungrateful and do not want to help other people.  The idea is that  you will be letting people know how they can save some money and time.  In return they will hopefully go through your website and purchase products they want from Amazon.

This idea consists of Swagbucks, the Amazon Affiliate program, and Amazon's Subscribe and Save.

• Swagbucks is a website/search engine where you can earn Amazon gift cards.  Read more about it on my Swagbucks post.
• Subscribe and Save is where you can tell Amazon you want them to ship an item to you once every so many months.  When you do this, you save 15% off the price of the product.  Most of these items have the Free Super Saver shipping.  You only get charged when the items ship and you can cancel at any time.  Read more about it on my Subscribe and Save post.
• Amazon Affiliate Program is something you can use to get a commission whenever someone clicks on Amazon links on your website and purchases something.  You initially earn 4% commissions on whatever a person buys.  In this blog I will use 6% as your commission because you only need to have 7 items shipped before you get the 6%.  I was told if you are an Amazon Affiliate and a visitor gets to Amazon.com through your links and purchases an item using the Subscribe and Save, you get a commission each time that item is shipped.  Once you earn $10 you can cash out and get a $10 Amazon gift card.  Or you can wait until you earn $100 and get cash.  NOTE:  This program is not available in Hawaii, Alaska, or Puerto Rico for some reason.  Living in Hawaii, I am not actively participating in this.

What do you get out of it?

• $10+ / year
• $200 worth of products you would normally buy (like brand name toilet paper, paper towels, etc).
• Time saved from standing in line at your local store.

What do you have to do?
Step 1:  Use the Subscribe and Save program in Amazon and buy everyday products using my links to Amazon.

Cost:  $200/year

Savings:  Time (as it gets delivered to your door).

This is where I will be helping you save some time and trusting that you will buy through my Amazon links.  The cost is the same whether you use the Amazon search on this page or just go directly to Amazon. Below are just some suggestions that you can Subscribe to and Save money and time.  If the products below are not ones you normally buy, please use the Search box on the right to find the products you prefer.

Charmin Ultra Soft, Mega Rolls, 12-Count (Pack of 4)
Bounty Value Big Roll, Select A Size (Pack of 24)
Vitafusion Fiber Gummies Weight Management, 90-Count Bottle

Cetaphil Gentle Skin Cleanser, For all skin types, 16-Ounce Bottles (Pack of 2)

Tide Powder Detergent, Original Scent, Case Pack, Two 120-Load Boxes (240-Loads)
Dove Beauty Bar, White
Lipton Black Tea, 312-Count Tea Bags


Those are the products that I usually buy at Costco or Target.  I have priced out these products on Amazon and Costco and have found that Amazon can compete in price with these products.  These products also qualify for their Free Supersaver Shipping.  You don't need to buy these specific products, but just remember to compare prices because Amazon can sell products for twice the amount Costco does

Try to get about $100 worth of products that you buy 2 times a year and use Amazon's Subscribe and Save program so you save 15%.

Step 2: Use Swagbucks and get Amazon giftcards
Profit:  About $90/year.

For money savings, use the Amazon giftcards you get from Swagbucks.  To see how to get Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks, read this blog.  By leisurely using Swagbucks, you can get yourself $5 every 3 weeks or $90/year (more if you actually put some effort in).

Steps 1 and 2 alone save you the time and money.  Steps 3 - 6 are where you get the other half of your money so that the products are paid for and you can possibly make a net profit along with getting products.

Step 3: Sign up to be an Amazon Affiliate
Step 4:  Do what I'm doing... get a blog

Get a free blog or website and write about what you are doing, which is buying your products from Amazon and saving yourself some time and money.  Add Amazon affiliate links to your website so that when people click on your links and buy products you get a commission.  If you decide to buy $200 of products a year through my site, I would get $12/year from Amazon's program.  Not much, but it's something.  Note:  You cannot purchase products through your own Amazon affiliate links.  This is a no-no and your account can be terminated for doing so.

Step 5:  Get 10 people to buy from you.

Profit:  $120/year

Help 10 people save money and time by getting them to buy products through your links to Amazon.  If they use Subscribe and Save, you should continue to get commissions from their purchase.  If you help 10 people to do what you are doing and spend $200 / year, you will be getting $120/year from the affiliate program.

Step 6:  Get more people for more profits!
Basically any additional people you get to buy through your website is pure profit.  The more people that buy through your site, the more your commissions rise and the more profit you get.

So lets review the numbers:

-$200 / year -> the cost to buy the products you normally buy.

+$90 / year -> Gift cards from Swagbucks to be used on Amazon.

+$120 / year -> Profit you get when you get 10 people to buy their normal products through your site.

____________

+$10 / year  -> Net profit to you after purchasing $200 worth of products.


What's the catch?
You'll be supporting Amazon and the person you are purchasing through.  Though this doesn't cost you anything and in fact saves you time in the long run.

The profits from this are laughable to a blogger who is getting a lot of traffic through their website.  This idea is meant to try and kickstart the affiliate program for bloggers who don't see a lot of traffic or profit.