Posts Tagged ‘top 10’
Tired of Outlook? There is a better way
Monday, July 13th, 2009
So I was once again wrestling with Microsoft Outlook. Tried to send the same email 5 TIMES and my system kept crashing! The error message from Microsoft was essentially “You have an old version of Outlook, so your system is crashing. How about going to our website to buy a new version?”
So I looked into buying a new version of Outlook. I went to Amazon to get some honest opinions…and learned that many of the same problems I was having in Outlook 2002 had not been resolved for the 2007 version (the newest available). So instead of plunking down $100 for a new version of the same problem, I thought, There has got to be a better way.
And there was. Enter Mozilla Thunderbird. Great functionality. Easy to use. Doesn’t crash. And FREE, because it is Open Source software. It was easy to import all of my folders and addresses into Mozilla from Outlook (when Outlook wasn’t busy crashing in the middle of the process).
So if you are exasperated with Outlook, know that there is a better way. You can download it here: http://download.cnet.com/Mozilla-Thunderbird/3000-2367_4-10213643.html?tag=mncol
Have a great week!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: computers, open source, saving money, saving online, top 10
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Vacationing on a Shoestring
Monday, July 6th, 2009
If you have been hesitating about booking a family vacation this year due to the economic situation, you are definitely not alone. You know you need to get away but lavish vacations are out this year and possibly for many years to come. So now what?
If you are traveling with your family (or extended family), try renting a property instead of staying in an expensive hotel. If you rent a house, you will also be able to save on things like valet parking, eating out every meal, and if there is a washer/dryer, you can even go home with clean clothes!
If you rent a house, consider splitting it with another family that you are friends with. This could allow you to get a larger, better property for less money! And if your children are too young for full-time school, consider vacationing after Labor Day. The weather will still be nice and the prices will drop dramatically.
Here are a few websites to help:
1. www.vrbo.com & www.homeaway.com : Vacation rental by owner websites where people list their vacation rentals nationwide. You can look at the properties, dates available, etc. You can also try Googling “Rental properties + (destination)” and often you will receive a listing of real estate agents that handle rentals in that area.
2. www.homeexchange.com: If you happen to live somewhere that other people like to vacation (say, Florida, California, near a major theme park, etc.) consider swapping houses with another family who lives where you want to go. However, even though you can browse for free, there is a fee to actually use the service. Still, for $100/year, it is a lot cheaper than a vacation rental.
3. www.travelzoo.com: When in doubt, try Travelzoo. It is not a home rental site, but their travel deals are excellent, particularly if you are trying to plan something at the last minute.
Enjoy!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: kids, top 10, travel
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What the heck is Open Source?
Monday, April 20th, 2009
A few years ago, I was introduced to the concept of Open Source software, that is software that is non-proprietary and in other words, free. In the world of Open Source, you have simplified, user-friendly versions of the Microsoft Office suite (i.e. Open Office) as well as pretty much anything else you can imagine. Mozilla Firefox is a great example of Open Source software that works very well.
If you like this concept, are a tiny bit computer savvy and are tired of paying through the nose for various types of software, Open Source might be the way to go. To get you started, here are two great Open Source sites:
Open Source As Alternative: www.osalt.com This site will help you find Open Source alternative to your favorite proprietary programs.
For Windows users, there is also: www.opensourcewindows.org.
Finally, definitely check out www.cnet.com. They have a giant proprietary and non-proprietary download database plus user reviews that are extremely helpful–which is where I learned about my favorite encryption software, TrueCrypt.
Because of the nature of my work, I need to have my data and backup sources encrypted at all times. And encryption software and support can be expensive, time consuming, and not to mention scary if you don’t install it correctly.
After carefully reading through the TrueCrypt instructions, and following them step-by-step, I found it quite easy to use. If you have a need for this type of software, check it out on www.truecrypt.org. It works with Windows, Mac & Linux.
Have a great week!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: downloads, free stuff, open source, software, top 10
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Cleaning Lady Day
Monday, February 23rd, 2009
Today is a great day in the Delfau household–it’s this month’s cleaning lady day! Maybe it’s the small things in life, but we look forward to this day each month as if it was a big event.
You might be thinking, if she’s writing these posts about saving money, how can she endorse having a cleaning lady? What an expense!
It is not cheap to have cleaning services for your home, particularly if you choose to use a company that is licensed and insured, as we do. Here are the whys and hows to building cleaning services into your budget, even if it is tight:
Whys
- It makes you clean up. There is the old question about “why should you have to clean up for the cleaning people?” We all get messy. In our house, we are not super messy, but like any busy family, things do pile up from time to time. Having someone coming in to clean makes us straighten up and put things away on a regular basis, before it gets completely out of control.
- Chores that get put aside get done. I actually like cleaning my house, believe it or not. And I do the upkeep between visits. However, after 3 knee surgeries, regularly scrubbing bathroom floors requires a fair amount of Advil, so it gets skipped in favor of the Swiffer mop, which really doesn’t do the same job.
- It is a huge time saver. We have a team of 2 ladies that comes once a month; it takes them about 2 1/2 hours to get through our house, including washing the floors. If it were me alone doing this, it would be 5 straight working hours per month in addition to my regular household upkeep–that means 5 working hours with no phone interruptions, no children interruptions, and no work interruptions. For my busy life, that’s impossible. And I can take care of more business clients if I am not tied up cleaning my house.
So how did we build it into our budget?
- Monthly, rather than biweekly services. Since I do the “maintaining” during the month (vacuuming, dusting, countertops, etc.), we can have services once per month. Twice a month is too much of a strain on our budget, but the once a month fits well.
- Cutting other services/expenses. We decided we would rather skip a dinner and lunch in a restaurant once per month and spend the money on cleaning services instead. We also cut yardwork help and do our fall and spring cleanup ourselves–I would rather rake and gather leaves on a spring or fall day than not have my house cleaned.
If you are considering hiring someone to clean your home (or if you are not thrilled with the folks you have at the present), try using www.servicemagic.com to find a cleaning service. Since they screen people for licensing and insurance, you’ll have a head start. Also, you can read comments from others about the company before you call.
How do you feel about cleaning services?
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: budgeting, house cleaning, top 10
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Holidays & Giving Back
Monday, November 24th, 2008
Holidays during a recession are always tricky. We don’t want to look cheap or uncaring, but cripes, everyone is struggling in this economy! What are you doing to make this holiday season a less expensive but full of joy? Here’s what I am up to:
1. Paring down on exchanges. I’ve contacted several family members and friends and asked if it would be okay to suspend exchanging gifts this year in light of the circumstances. Reaching out in a kind way not only takes the stress off of me but them as well, with no one feeling slighted or bad or left out. Other folks that we will exchange with I have already discussed with them that we can’t spend what we did in the past years and have agreed on limits together. This alone has cut my holiday budget in half.
2. Shopping online with coupon codes as much as possible. Personally, I hate stores during the holidays. In CT, it’s super cold out and the malls are too warm and it’s even tougher with a 14-month old! So I do about 90% of my shopping online. Always remember to try www.ebates.com if you are in a hurry but still want great prices (I talk all about Ebates in an earlier post on my Top 10 favorites). Also, www.retailmenot.com and www.flamingoworld.com are good places to go for real online coupon codes and not just store-sponsored links.
3. Making purchases count. Each year, I purchase a portion of my gifts from http://www.greatergood.com/. They have nifty, well-made items and a portion of every dollar spent goes to the cause of your choice (such as Child Health, Global Girlfriend, Animal Rescue, etc.).
Imported items, such as jewelry, handbags, and clothing, are made in a “fair trade” environment. For those who aren’t familiar with the term “fair trade” means that the people making the goods are earning a living wage for their work and you are not supporting sweatshop labor.
4. How to donate even if money is tight. There are all sorts of ways to help even if you don’t have a lot of time or money to spare. Each Greater Good website has a “Click Once a Day” feature by which if you visit the specific site and click on their icon, the site sponsors donate money to your particular cause. You can even have a daily email reminder sent to you. In about 15 seconds a day, you can help others for free!
Another way is to give one of their “Gifts that Give More”. These are great for the person who has everything and doesn’t want “more stuff” or for your more civic-minded family and friends. With these gifts, 100% of the profits go to the cause of choice. And because each donation goes to a specific cause (examples: Feed a U.S. Family for 5 weeks, School Shoes for Girls in Rural Africa, etc.), you (and your recipient) have a better sense of where your money is going. Each year, I purchase one of these for my sister as a gift and she loves it.
Happy shopping!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: donating, gifts, greater good, online shopping, top 10
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Saving lots of time and money on software
Monday, October 20th, 2008
For those of you who have been reading for awhile, you probably have some vague recollection of my praise for top 10 honoree www.download.com. It’s that great place to find spyware free software downloads where you can truly “try before you buy”.
However, here’s another way to save both time and money on software for those of you using Microsoft Office that you may not know about.
Did you ever have to write a letter, build a spreadsheet or (ack!) a database and didn’t know where to start? That blank “new document” staring you in the face can be quite daunting. Instead, try www.office.microsoft.com and click on their “Templates” list at the top of the page. Here you can find a template for just about anything–from building a personal budget to tracking a kitchen remodel to spreadsheets on “activity based depreciation” and project proposals.
The best part is that they are all free and if you already know your way a little bit around the Office software suite, there’s no need to learn a whole new program. No building painful spreadsheets with long formulas just to find that one line is wrong. No staring at a blank page when you need to write a business letter–get a head start. That saves a HUGE amount of time and free is a very good price!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: microsoft office, software, top 10
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Questions? Answers!
Monday, September 8th, 2008
Since I am constantly receiving questions about saving money–particularly in this economy–I have shifted the style of the blog. If you have a particular question on saving money without wasting time, be sure to submit it through www.turbo-mom.com. You’ll see your answer posted on this blog!
How can I save money with online coupons without wasting a lot of time? You could spend hours looking for ones that work!
Use coupon code sites that are regularly refreshed and with limited advertisements. If you can’t find a discount code or rebate on www.ebates.com (see my earlier posting all about E-Bates), you can always search for information on the web. This can be tricky because a lot of coupon code websites have become advertising fronts for the companies they write about. When you click on a link, you think you are going for a code but you end up in a sea of ads. Ten minutes later, you are nowhere near a “true” coupon code!
Here are some of the better and consistent coupon code websites:
www.edealinfo.com
www.retailmenot.com
www.couponshare.com
Try a quick Google search of the site you are shopping. For example: Shoebuy + “coupon code”. Usually, when all else fails, this will turn up some sort of a helpful discount code.
Sometimes, there just isn’t a coupon code for your store. If you come up with nothing after a maximum of 10 minutes, it’s time to let the coupon code hunt go. You’ve gotten the best deal you can find—it’s time to make your purchase!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: questions, saving online, top 10
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Laptop Mishaps
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Last week, my 18-month old Acer laptop started up for the last time, apparently due to a fried motherboard. I’m not sure what exactly a motherboard is or does, but all I know is that fixing it is as expensive as buying a new computer. Thus, this post is being written on a new Toshiba. Hopefully, it will last longer than the Acer did.
So my Toshiba has come with lots of “pre-loaded trial software”, some of which perhaps could be useful. However, there are some great but FREE basic programs that everyone should have on their computer, laptop or desktop. All recommended programs below can easily be found on www.download.com.
1. Anti-virus: you hear this all the time, but if you are like me, you hate having to pay anywhere from $40 to $80 per year for virus protection that seems to take up a lot of computer memory and run rather slowly.
Instead, try the free home edition created by Avast. The protection is stellar, comprehensive and FREE. Oh, it won’t slow down your computer like Norton or McAfee either.
2. Anti-Spyware: Spyware comes attached to websites you visit or certain programs or files you may download. Spyware tracks what you do and where you go online. It also can make your computer run slowly. To get rid of Spyware, try Ad-Aware 2008. Another easy to download and easy to run free program that’s definitely worth it. You’ll see your computer running faster in no time!
2. Malware: Malware programs are lousy viruses, trojans, worms, and other sorts of nasties that can infect your computer. To safely get rid of them, try Malwarebytes Anti-Malware software. It’s comprehensive library finds and dismantles the worst of these programs that can attack and infect your computer. And it’s free!
Again, all of these programs can be safely downloaded from www.download.com.
Now get that computer protected!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: computers, top 10
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Shopping While Saving Money & Time!
Monday, June 23rd, 2008
Sorry for missing last week’s post! My book’s deadline is July 1st so I am racing to get it completed. Time is just flying–I cannot believe it is summer already! Nicolas is very close to walking, which is great. But it also means he is very close to running!
So on with the Top 10 Savings list…
For those of you who like to research products before you buy them, check out www.consumersearch.com. This website “reviews the reviews”. So instead of having to surf and search for other people’s opinions on different items, www.consumersearch.com does the legwork for you. They have experts for a variety of categories–from kitchen appliances to gym equipment to automotive and electronics reviews. They read the reviews, come up with a general consensus, and present their findings in a short article as well as an informative info table. Talk about saving time, money and hassles! I use this as a jumping off point so that I don’t have to look through every model of every brand–it’s a huge timesaver!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: reviews, top 10
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Saving Big on Appliance Repairs
Monday, June 9th, 2008
Hello! For those of you on the East Coast, I hope you are surviving the heat. It’s rather hot here, even by CT standards!
Copyright 2008-2009 Kristin Delfau, author of Turbo-Mom's Guide to Saving Money Without Wasting Time a womens' personal finance book, and Aji Publishing.
Tags: appliances, top 10
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