Posted by Michael Donelly

At Anotherway we tend to dig deep into topics but just for a little fun I thought I’d include a guest post on shopping for less sophisticated internet users like my mother (sorry mum)!

Guest Post by Linda Ledesma

We do it on our own, we do it with our girlfriends, wives and sometime even with our mothers. Yes, of course I am talking about shopping! It’s such a pleasurable activity for many, some people even speed shop to burn calories, so why would we want to do it sitting on a PC at home? There are certain advantages. For those of you who use PCs only to play games or as an ornament, let’s delve into the wonderful world of online shopping:

1. Online Banking

Online services available for your banking needs save a great deal of time and some finances along the way. Never forget the proverbial ‘time is money’ cliché. A trip to the bank can take an hour or more when you consider the queueing and travel. And oh, the queues at the post office with pensioners paying their bills. Spare me please!

No unnecessary trips to the bank and no need to write that check that you have to purchase are just two of the advantages to online banking. Sometimes certain banks will charge a fee for online banking services, but it beats killing time in a bank queue.

If your bank does charge through the nose for online services, the Internet facilitates quick comparisons of banking practices. Change banks! But even if you don’t, at least you can compare the ‘fee’ to the cost of stamps and cost of your checks, not to speak of the inconvenience.

Take care of your bank account on a daily ‘quick-check’ basis and if you should have unauthorized charges, it becomes the fastest way to deal with the problem.

There are reputable sites available where you can gather all of your bills and log in once and pay each of them. The Internet makes this chore easy to do with little inconvenience.

2. Online Comparison Shopping

When you have the ability to comparison shop available with the ‘click of a mouse,’ you have saved time and the act of comparison shopping will always save you money. The actual time involved in doing physical comparisons at store fronts locally can be prohibitive and becomes a proverbial ‘waste of time.’ [ed. not for the women I know, but definitely for me! Net shopping also saves you having to haggle because the best price on a comparison site is by definition very hard to beat]

These days the internet is so widespread you can even make online comparisons in your local area.

Be careful when dealing with online stores. Make sure you are dealing with a reputable one. Look for signs of quality like a very slick design, a famous brand name and the use of “https” in your address bar when you click the buy button. This shows the connection is secure and prying eyes cannot see what you are typing into the forms.

Yellow Pages, shmellow pages. Online is the way to go. Incidentally even Yellow Pages is online now, not that you need it.

Can’t find what you want at the right price locally? The Internet and the online experience allow you to shop the entire globe. High value goods which are not too heavy to post can be cheaper to buy even from the other side of the planet.

3. Go Paperless

In the early days of computers a prediction was made that many trees would be saved by paperless offices, but the fear of losing information keeps people using paper as a ‘back-up’ system and it is totally unnecessary.

Paper costs money, is cumbersome to handle and reduces from efficiency. Going paperless will have many benefits, and using a ‘back-up’ company is possibly a protection. It is a service that you will pay for though.

There are very reasonable devices available today with which to do your own back-ups.’ A very small device can capture large quantities of information. They are simple, cheap and easy to use.

4. Order a Meal Delivery Online

When time is of the essence and a ‘working lunch’ is the only way to meet a deadline, then using an online local meal delivery service is a great way to save time. [ed. mmm... curry!]

Consider talking to the owner of the restaurant to see if you can get a weekly special rate by setting it up ahead of time and on a regular basis. This will not only save you time, it could possibly lead to saving money as well. Check-out your options.

The Internet and online services are the way of the 21st century. There are numerous options for using them in your personal and business life both.

Of course there is so much more you can do. Online banking, comparison shopping – such as finding the best laptops or cheap car insurance, paperless transactions with your car insurance companies, and online delivery services all can save you time and effort! Let’s take a look at how exactly this is possible.

All it takes is a little creative thought, and you will find yourself with extra time and money and perhaps a little more weight on the hips!

Read also:

Detecting Phishing Web Sites

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