Bundle and Save

If you're like me, you're always looking for ways to save money.  Have you ever looked at your monthly bills and wondered if there was a way to cut them down?  Why do things like cable television and Internet access have to be so expensive?  There aren't many of us who would be willing to cut those things out of our lives, but there are ways to save on the bill every month.

The key to saving on your Internet service is to look for phone and Internet bundles that package multiple services together with significant discounts.  It's hard to believe, but sometimes you can get television, Internet, and home phone services bundled together, and it won't cost you much more than it would cost to get just one of those services.  It will definitely cost less than using one provider for cable television, a different provider for Internet, and another one for home phone service.  Companies want all of your business, and they'll usually give significant discounts when you bundle your services and use just one company for all of your needs.

Many companies offer promotional deals to get you to sign up with their services.  While that sounds like a really good deal, be sure to check the length of the promotion and whether you'll be locked into a contract which will require you to pay higher prices after the promotion runs out.  It often ends up being a good deal anyway, when you average the cost of your payments over the length of the contract, but just be aware of when or if your monthly bill will increase and prepare for it.  Our cable and Internet provider offers promotional deals, and when they run out, we have to call to find out what the current promotion is so we can get our discounts back - which my husband needs to do about now to see if we can get our bill lowered again.

If your provider isn't willing to give you the latest promotional pricing when yours runs out, you may want to look into other providers in the area.  It's a crazy game, but most companies offer their promotions to new customers but not necessarily to their current customers.  So, switch providers if you have to in order to get the better prices.  It seems like a pain, but you'll end up getting newer equipment and perhaps some extra movie channels for a while.

Besides saving some money every month, bundling your services means you'll also have the convenience of only having one bill to deal with.  Oftentimes you can save even more by signing up for paperless billing and automatic payments.  Which, of course, means that once you've got it set up, you don't have to do anything but enjoy your services. 

Until it's time to look at lowering your monthly payments again.

FREE Online Safety Ebook AND a Lorax Giveaway

Just because kids today have never known a world without the Internet doesn't mean they know how to behave online.  Teaching our children to use technology safely and responsibly is so important.  Are your kids ready to go online?  Take the quiz to find out, then watch the videos to start a discussion in your family about real situations that may occur online.


The More You Know Learning Series, in collaboration with NBC News, has launched Growing Up Online, the FREE eBook for parents to keep their kids safe on the Internet!  This free eBook provides easy-to-use information that addresses the growing concern about kids’ online privacy and cyberbullying in a unique and engaging way. Growing Up Online is packed with important tips that every parent should know!  For a start, check out these 6 Tips to Keep Your Kids Safe Online. 

Then once you've downloaded the ebook, be sure to enter this giveaway, sponsored by the more you know and Growing Up Online.  The winner will receive a copy of Dr. Seuss’ THE LORAX DVD & Blu-ray Combo Pack.  I haven't seen the movie myself, but I've read the book, and it's pretty good!


To enter:

• Leave a comment telling me how you're teaching your children how to safely surf the internet or share your favorite Comic Book Video from the Blog App.
• For an additional entry, tweet about this giveaway with a link to this post and the hashtag #GrowingUpOnline in your tweet. (Once per day)

 The contest is open to U.S. and Canadian residents, and all entries must be received by 11:59am Central Time on September 22, 2013.  Good luck!

Related articles

• The Lorax Giveaway
• Growing Up Online Free eBook & The Lorax Blu-ray Giveaway
• The Lorax: Blu-ray giveaway

Thank You, Unknown Neighbor

I haven't been online much because I've been interacting with people in person - outside of the internet and social networks.  Yes, I do that once in a while.

We attended the Winter Family Weekend hosted by the Church of God Cincinnati in Lexington, KY.  This was our 4th year attending.  It's a great event that includes plenty of fun, food, and fellowship with wonderful friends.  We eat, we drink, we talk, we laugh, we stay up way too late, we play sports we don't usually play and end up in pain, and we would really hate to miss it.  This year my parents even came for a couple days!  Usually we go visit them after the weekend is over, but this year we didn't have the time, so it was nice that we got to see them anyway.

This year we headed home afterwards so Jeffrey could go back to work on Wednesday.  I decided to stay with him for the rest of the week - just because.  For some reason I still like hanging out with him...

So I've got a few days here alone in the apartment.  I thought I'd have to survive without internet access - unless I wanted to go over to the laundry area where they offer free wifi, along with the noise of washers and dryers - but, when I booted my computer up yesterday afternoon, it found an unsecured wireless network and connected.  So, I just want to thank the unknown neighbor who is graciously allowing me to use his internet! 

There are 8 other wireless networks I can see, but all of them are secured.  This one will probably end up being secured eventually, but I'm only here for a few days...

Get Organized with Clipix

There are so many great things to be found on the internet.  There are recipes I want to try, articles I want to read, Photoshop and HTML tutorials I'd like to try, and... So many things, so little time!  And sometimes I find things I'd like to check out, but then I forget to save them anywhere, and I never see them again.  Sure, I could search for them again, but lots of times I can't exactly remember what they were - I just have this knowledge that I found this great recipe or life-changing article.
 
Anyway, I just found this new site called clipix which just might be a big help.  Basically, clipix makes it really simple to save anything you see so you can find it and go back to it later.  Start by signing up for a free account - I used my facebook account, so it was just a matter of connecting and authorizing the app.  Then add the 'Clip' button to your Bookmarks bar, and you're good to go.  Start clipping all the fabulous content you find every day.  They start you off with some basic boards - Books I'd Like to Read, Vacation Ideas, Gifts for the Family, Interesting Articles - just to get you started.  You can rename those if you want and create your own as you find things to save.  You can have as many clipboards as you like and organize them any way you like.  I'm definitely keeping the Books I'd Like to Read clipboard and the Interesting Articles one.
 
When you find something you want to save, just click the 'Clip' button and in the window that comes up you choose an image for your clip, choose which clipboard to add it to, and write a little description. And that’s it! The article is saved to one of your clipboards for when you have time to go back to it.  I like that clipix not only lets you choose from the images on whatever page you're saving, so it's a bit easier to remember why you clipped it in the first place, but if there are no images, you can simply type your own words in and give the clip a relevant title.  The web page and title are added automatically to the description, so you don't even have to type that in.  Of course, you can change it or add to it as you want.

Clipix also makes it really easy to share all the fun stuff you're finding - send an email, share on facebook or twitter.  Or, if you want to keep something to yourself, you can keep all your clipboards (or just some of them) completely private.  Working on a project with someone else?  You can set up what they call a Syncboard and everybody can add to it together and see everyone else's updates in real time.
 
I created a clipboard of all my bread recipes from my recipe blog.  I'm hoping I can link directly to the clipboard and use it as the table of contents for that category of recipes on my blog.  It just looks better than the way I'm doing it now, and it will be easier for people to find the recipes.  I'd love it if clipix would include a direct html link as one of the share options!
 

I can see how clipix can be really handy and really addictive.  I wonder who's going to clip and organize the whole Internet first!  OK, maybe not, but at least we can all clip, organize, and keep track of the stuff we're interested in.  Visit clipix, sign up for your free account and start clipping!  And let me know if you've got some great ideas for using it.  I think the possibilities are endless.

I'm sure I've forgotten something important, so check out this video explaining it: (and then just go start using it)

Promoted Post

Unlimited Online Backup for Less Than $5 per Month

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Carbonite for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you've ever had a computer crash and lost all your files, I'm sure you've learned your lesson and religiously back up all your files.  Right?

If you're anything like me, you think about backing up your files, but don't really do it regularly.  I just don't remember to do it.  I'm pretty obsessive about my photos, backing them up to my external hard drive and the hard drive downstairs and burning them to DVD when I finally have enough.  Then and only then do I delete them from the SD cards in the cameras.  When my computer crashed a few years ago, I would have lost quite a few photos if they hadn't still been on the camera cards.  The rest of my files though, some I have backed up and some I don't, and I'm not really sure which ones are which - and I just don't do it, instead of taking the time to figure it out.  I really need something that will make computer backup simple and easy.

For $59 a year, I'm thinking of trying Carbonite.  It's simple, secure online backup that backs up files automatically and continually in the background whenever your computer is connected to the internet.  I wouldn't even have to think about it, but my files would be safe just in case!  And, all my files would be accessible from any internet-connected computer or Smart Phone or iPad with the freeCarbonite app.  Right now they're offering a free 15-day trial, no credit card required, which would be a great way to try it out.  You can also get 2 months free when you decide to purchase - just use offer code BLOGAD.  Unlimited online backup - less than $5 per month.  Peace of mind - priceless!

Looking again

Guest written by our friend Sergio Chaney

Selling houses is not what I imagined I would do, but when I had my kids, I knew I needed to find something that was more flexible than climbing the corporate ladder. I've always been interested in real estate so it really seemed like a natural fit, especially since at that time the business of selling homes was really booming. It's obviously much harder now to make a living in this business, and I've actually been doing some job searching outside of real estate. I usually use my Clearwirelessinternet4g.com wireless to look for open part-time positions, and I'm really lucky that my husband makes enough money that me finding full-time work is not a requirement for our family. It's a shame because I really love real estate, but as of now is not paying the bills that it used to, so I'm just making sure to keep my options open. Hopefully in a couple of years it will pick up, but just in case it doesn't, I'm definitely trying to be prepared.

The Trend in Cell Phones

Cory has been looking at new cell phones, hoping he can upgrade his phone next month before he goes to college.  His phone has been having some random issues like not holding a charge as long as he thinks it should and shutting itself off sometimes.  The problem with so many of the available cell phones these days are that they're all Smart Phones or phones with internet access.

It does sound convenient to have all that on your phone - email, facebook, google, whatever.  If you want to look something up, you don't have to wait until you get home to your computer.  The only problem is, these internet phone plans cost $20-$30 or more per month - on each phone.  And that's in addition to the regular calling plan.  I'm not convinced it's that important to have internet access on a phone.  Now, if it was an additional $20/month for all the phones on the plan, that might be worth it.

What I'm afraid of is that pretty soon they won't even have phones available that don't require the internet plans, and then if you want to have a cell phone, you have to pay for the plan.  Or, if they do have phones that aren't internet-capable, they'll be ugly or cheap-looking, and no one will want them.

Do you have internet on your phone?  How much do you use it?  Is it worth the additional cost?

Later Never Comes

I've got this very useful Firefox add-on called Read it Later.  When I find an interesting site, but I don't have time to read it now, I just right-click and choose "Read it Later", and it saves it for me.  It's kind of like bookmarking things, I guess, though it doesn't feel so permanent.  It's for the stuff I want to read, but since I haven't yet, I don't know if it's something I want to keep forever, like my bookmarks.

Except that this very useful add-on is also very dangerous.  All day long I open new tabs.  If something says "click here to learn more about protein powder" or "1000 free Custom Shapes for Photoshop" I click - and then I go doing whatever else I'm doing.  Then, at the end of the day, when it's time to head off to bed, like now, I start closing tabs.  That's when I realize I never read all the interesting things I found today, and I start saving them for later - so I don't lose them.

The problem is - later never comes, because the next day I find more interesting things that I really, really want to read.  Someday.  Later.  And the list continues to grow...

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• Save web pages to read later (en.onsoftware.com)
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Do You Like Waiting?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Charter. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's hard for me to believe that anyone still has dial-up internet access.  Is it because of the cost?  Or do you just like waiting?  Waiting for that page to load, waiting for all those pictures of your cousin's new baby to download, waiting for all those widgets on your favorite blog to load...  I can't speak for you, but that would absolutely drive me crazy.

Maybe we need to learn more patience, but waiting isn't something we do well in this country.  We have movies on demand.  We get our fast food even faster by going through the drive through. We buy our music via MP3 download instead of going to the store.  Oh wait, not you people with the slow internet, because you would still be waiting.  I wouldn't even want to begin adding up all the wasted time - waiting for a song to download, waiting while the progress bar inches across the screen when you try to pay a bill, just plain waiting.

If your reason for not getting high speed internet has been the cost then stop waiting and get going. Charter has high speed DSL packages starting at $19.99/month with FREE installation.  They're calling it the new dial-up because it's practically as cheap as dial-up - maybe it is as cheap?  I'm not sure how much dial-up is costing these days, but $19.99/month sounds pretty good for high-speed internet.  Think of how much time you'll save, the YouTube videos you'll be able to watch now, the blogs you'll be able to read.  You might even finally be able to see those pictures of your cousin's new baby!

The high speed will make you so happy you'll want to fan Charter’s Facebook page. And, of course, the speed means you will be able to visit that page, as well as the rest of facebook! Just don't get sucked into too many games, OK? You may be saving tons of time, but you don't want to give it all away. Trust me on this.

Yahoo Domains

If you haven't yet gotten your own domain, you might want to check out yahoo domains. I don't know why I didn't think of them when I was ready to register my own. I already have yahoo email, and I've created some websites on their Geocities service. Yahoo domains and websites are hosted on the same servers as Yahoo.com, so they're very reliable.

New customers can even get domains for $1.99 for the first year, or if you choose Yahoo for your web hosting, the domain is free. You can use their domain availability tool to find out if the domain you want is available, and if you need additional help, they have 24-hour toll-free customer service.

Internet Research

I always like learning new things, which is why I enjoyed reading the article about zebras I linked to in the previous post. I probably won't remember what I learned, but I think the important thing isn't memorizing facts, but knowing how to find the answer. I keep telling the kids that's what's important, though remembering enough to pass the test is important, too.

Next time I want to know what color a zebra's stripes are, I can look it up again. If I ever want to know the difference between holodomor and golodomor, I can look that up, too. If you click the link, you can read a little about it. I admit, I don't know much about the Soviet famine of 1932-1933 or who or what was responsible, but the information is out there.

The Internet makes research really easy. The important thing to remember is that just because it's written somewhere on the Internet, that doesn't necessarily mean it's true. After all, if I had told you in that last post that the zebra's stripes are black, that could have been true, or it could have just been my personal opinion. Would you have believed me? Or would you have wanted to do a little research to find out if anyone else agreed with me?

The good news is that there is a wealth of information available online. The bad news is that there is a wealth of information online. You can't just search and take the first answer you find. You need to read through several articles and be selective with the information you choose to believe and share. Internet research is easy, but you still have to put some work into it. And sometimes you just need to go to the library and look through some books.

Update on my Uninvited Guest

I'm crossing my fingers (and my toes) hoping that I got the irritating little virus, worm, Trojan, whatever off of my computer. My brother suggested I try Malwarebytes. I figured I'd try scanning with Norton first, so left the computer scanning overnight. It didn't work. I think once the scan found the bad file, it stopped or something, because it was just sitting there when I got up this morning.

So, I went ahead and downloaded the free version of Malwarebytes, and after some messing around and frustration, I'm hopeful that I took care of it. If you want the details, you can go here.

Jeffrey has been having even more problems with his computer the last couple weeks, so we are going to have to try this on his computer, and Beth's too. Even if you don't have a problem yet, you might want to go ahead and get this program, because once you get one of these bad boys on your computer, they don't like you to download or install a program that might stop them. Jeffrey has repeatedly tried installing some other programs, and his attempts have been blocked every time. This seemed like a quick download and install that will hopefully get through, but if you've already got it on your computer, you won't have to worry about that.

You know, I'd much rather blog about giveaways...

I'm Not Real Happy Right Now

I went downstairs for like 20 minutes, came back upstairs to find my computer taken over. There were all kinds of error messages, 4 Internet Explorer windows open, and I never use IE. There was a popup from some so-called anti-virus or scanning software offering to scan my computer for free. Seriously - I wasn't even gone that long.

I did not even touch that stupid popup, closed everything down, and restarted my computer. And 4 windows of Internet Explorer started, too. Now I have my firewall blocking IE - so periodically a small Firefox window will open. It's blank. There's nothing there, but it makes itself the active window and interrupts whatever I'm doing.

I had a bunch of tabs open, so I have no clue where this came from, but it's not making me happy. I'm especially irritated that Norton didn't block it, and that I didn't even have to be here, click on anything, or install anything. Why don't these jerks who come up with things like this devote their energies to say, solving world hunger, developing a viable clean energy source, or solving the financial problems in the world?

Order Charter Services and Get a Free Gift Card

In the past we've visited my parents for Thanksgiving, looked through the ads that come in the Thursday paper to see what we need, and then Dad and Jeffrey have gone out early in the morning to get the deals. Not this year, because there was no Thursday paper and nowhere close to go shopping. I've never had anything to do with black friday, not on the shopping side, anyway. I worked retail. I thought the people who were lining up at the door to get in at 7am were crazy. Obviously that wasn't crazy enough, because that same store I used to work with now opens at 4am on the day after Thanksgiving. Forgive me for saying that I think there has to be a better way to get a good deal, something that doesn't involve getting up way too early, waiting in the cold, and fighting crowds. Some people may enjoy that, but I am not one of them.

That's why I think this offer from Charter is a good one. You can order any of their services online, from the comfort of your own home, and get a free gift card. Order Internet service for $24.99/month and get a $25 gift certificate. Order Digital Home and Internet and get a $75 gift card. Combine Internet, Cable TV, and Digital Phone and get a $150 gift card, or order the Ultimate Bundle to get a $250 gift card. When you look at the prices, you can see that they're giving you back at least a whole month's cost, and even more when you buy the bundle. Then you can take that money, in the form of a gift card, and spend it somewhere else. There's a whole list of merchants to choose from when you pick your gift card.

Order online before December 5 and you'll not only get Charter's best price and the gift card of your choice, but you'll also be entered to win an XBOX 360. If you're thinking of switching your Internet, TV, or phone service, now looks like a great time to do it. Visit Charter to see which bundle is best for you, and start planning what you'll buy with that gift card.

These Geeks Know About Web Hosting

If you're like me and haven't moved from free hosting to paid website hosting, the reviews at Web Hosting Geeks look like they will be really helpful. Yes, I'm still using the free hosting with Blogger, and one of the reasons is that it's free, and I'm really cheap. One of the first things I learned on the Web Hosting Geeks website is that web hosting does not have to be expensive. Right on the front page they have 10 professional web hosting services listed, and they're all less than $10 per month.

Along with the prices, Web Hosting Geeks lists the features of each and reviews. The best part is that you get reviews from actual customers who have used or are currently . They rate the web hosts on things like tech support, reliability, and quality, and share their experiences with the host. Yes, I have friends who have made the move to paid hosting, and I will probably be asking them all kinds of questions when I finally decide to do it, but with a site like Web Hosting Geeks, I can do a lot of research on my own, before I start bugging them.

There are also some very informative and useful articles on the site - information on web hosting, web design, and web development, and the all- important Site Promotion, to name a few.

Save Green, Go Green Giveaway!

I like where I live. I really do, but this is one of those times I wish I lived somewhere else - either that, or that Charter would offer services in my area. Right now they are offering some great deals on their services for Internet, cable TV, and phone services. You know how I love to save money, and under $100/month for all three services would definitely save us some money.

That's not the only thing, though. Right now if you sign up and order one or more services from Charter you are entered to win a 2009 Honda Civic Hybrid. There's no purchase required, but you do have to live in an area serviced by Charter to be eligible. With the cost of gas nowadays, this is probably one of the best prizes around. Winning any car would be great, but being able to save money on gas too is even better. This car gets up to 45mpg on the highway, and is worth over $24,000. It has a polished metal exterior, fabric interior, cruise control, 160-watt sound system, and the all-important MP3 Auxiliary Input Jack. Best of all, if you win, it's FREE!

Now is definitely the time. Check out Charter's services on Internet, phone service, and cable TV, and enter the Save Green, Go Green Giveaway. Even if you don't win the car, you'll still be saving money.

Charter is Giving Away Laptops

Do you have high speed Internet yet? I can't imagine life without it. Either I would get frustrated and spend less time online, or I'd just spend more time online trying to do the things I want to do.

If you don't have high speed, now is the perfect time to sign up, or if you just want to save money over what you're already paying, now is the perfect time to switch. Just by signing up for one of Charter's services, you will be automatically entered in the Charter Laptop-a-Day Giveaway. Charter is giving away 30 laptops, and you could be one of the lucky winners. Click that link and visit the Charter website to see what they have to offer and the specs on the laptop. It sounds like a nice laptop, but do the specs really matter when the most important thing is that you can get it for FREE?

Just think how nice it will be cruising the Internet at top speed with your new Charter service and your brand new laptop. It will make doing homework so much easier, for those of you going back to school. It will make working from home easier, not to mention blogging and keeping in touch with your online friends. Just sign up for one of three great Charter services online – Charter High-Speed® Internet at $19.99/mo for 6 months, Charter Digital Home™ and High-Speed Internet at $69.98/mo for 6 months or Charter Digital Home™, High-Speed Internet, and Charter Telephone® at $99.97/mo. for 12 months. Pick the service that best fits your needs, sign up online, and you automatically get a free Shell gas card, and you're entered in the laptop giveaway.

The first winner will be announced September 1^st, and there will be one prize a day for the 30 days in September. The sooner you sign up, the more chances you have to win.

Be a Part of It

Image by krossbow via FlickrIf you haven't seen, heard, or read about it - today is the day. The day for what, you ask? Why, the day to download Firefox 3 and be part of a World Record for the most downloads in a 24-hour period.

Download Firefox 3 by 11:16 a.m. PDT (18:16 UTC) on June 18, 2008. That's 11:16 a.m. in Mountain View, 2:16 p.m. in Toronto, 3:16 p.m. in Rio de Janeiro, 8:16 p.m. in Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Rome and Warsaw, 10:16 p.m. in Moscow, and June 19, 2008 at 2:16 a.m. in Beijing and 3:16 a.m. in Tokyo. Yes, if you're like me you're trying to figure out, "What time is that in my time?"

Besides helping to set a world record, you also get a great browser. So what do you have to lose?

Learn More About Web Hosting

I'm right in the middle of working on the school calendar. Actually, I'm supposed to be working on the school calendar, but so many other things keep getting in the way, like that laundry I mentioned last post. Also, I have an email box full of website updates I have to make, when I have time. When we started the web page in question, it was hosted on a server with FrontPage extensions. What that meant was that my friend Peggy could log into the server and work on the webpages, too. There were still tweaks I had to make and details to be fixed , but at least the pages were up, which made people happy.

Now we're on a different server. No FrontPage extensions, so when Peggy creates pages she has to email them to me. I have to import them into Frontpage so they'll work with the rest of the pages, and then upload them. Ideally, with no Frontpage extensions, I should re-do the whole thing and take it out of FrontPage, but that will take more time than I think I have.

I was reading this article on cpanel tutorials, and I wonder if we could use this to help us work together better on the web pages. The article makes it sound like a very useful thing to have. The tutorials look like a very handy resource for people who use or want to use cpanel. (Don, can we have this on the server? There's information here about security issues and how to take care of them.)

This site has quite a bit of information about web hosting, so if you're thinking about choosing a web host, or just want to know how to use the tools your host provides, give it a look.

Comparing Web Site Hosting Plans

I keep getting these emails: Choose the web hosting plan that works for you. I just keep saving them, because I want all the resources I can get when it comes to choosing a web hosting plan. I want to be able to compare the plans and hopefully make the right decision to get just what I need, when I finally decide to do it.

Tonight I was browsing Network Solutions and their web site hosting plans. They have plans from Standard to Pro, and they all include tons of storage space and lots of monthly bandwidth. All plans also include a free domain name with annual purchase, 24/7 real person customer service, 99.9% uptime, tons of email boxes, an award-winning online web site builder tool, and more. These are the kinds of things I would expect from a web host. I worked on a website redesign last year, and I just want to say that I am not at all thrilled with the host we are using. Basically, with them I get ftp and FrontPage extensions. They provide email boxes and forwarding, too, but that's about it. Network Solutions would have been a better choice just based on the options I have already listed, and there are more.

Network Solutions is the recipient of the Find My Host Editor’s Choice Award for June 2008, and they'd love to be your web host. Check them out and read all the features offered if you're looking for a web host.