Ways the Internet saves you money and changes your life

[disneysteve]

I am of the generation that grew up as computers were coming to be. There were none when I was a kid. I gained early exposure to mainframes in 5th and 6th grade through a special program, worked a bit more with them in junior high, and by high school common folks actually owning a computer at home (VIC-20, Commodore 64, TRS-80, Apple II) started to happen. By college, there were actually computers on campus that we could use for rudimentary stuff and even some entertainment with basic games.

Now, of course, we all carry high-powered computers in our pockets every day which is still remarkable to me. I often reflect on how dramatically our lives have changed as a result of this readily available and easily affordable computing power, both in big ways and little ways.

Since this is a savings forum, I thought it would be interesting to have a thread about ways in which the internet saves you money. We've probably had similar threads before but it's been a while.

What spurred the idea was something I was just doing this morning. We are going to see Wicked on Sunday and I'm not at all familiar with the music. In the past, I used to debate whether or not to buy a soundtrack before seeing a show. The pro is it usually makes the show more enjoyable. The con is that I'd spend the money for the album without knowing if I even like the show. Enter the internet. I went on YouTube this morning and was able to get the soundtrack on there. I've been listening to it all morning - for free. No longer do I need to weigh the benefit of buying a soundtrack first. I can listen to pretty much any music I want any time, any place, for free. This can save me hundreds and hundreds of dollars over time.

So let's start listing different things you use the internet/computer/smart phone to do that saves you money. If mentioning your phone, if there are any certain apps that you use, tell us about those.

I already started with YouTube for music and videos.

I also use Groupon and Living Social particularly for restaurant discounts. We've saved a few hundred dollars in a fairly short time with those deals.

I've saved a countless amount using the internet for travel planning - hotel bookings, tourism information (rather than buying guidebooks), renting cars, and more.

Car buying - we saved over $1,000 on the van we bought last month because the online price was lower than the sticker price on the lot. When we mentioned that to the salesman, he immediately dropped the price to the online amount. Had we not checked the car online first, we never would have known that.

I could list a lot more but I'll stop there for the moment and see what everyone else has to add.

[JoeP]

Since time is money, I have found that most usage involves the theme of saving time.

Financial transactions, booking vacations, buying things (including books, music), finding information, watching/renting movies, planning a travel route: just a few tasks that even just 20 years ago were very time intensive and usually required some travel.

Prior to the web, having a forum such as this would involve either newsletters, or a small percentage of computer-savvy people would use old dial-up BBS systems, or the old unix "rn" application if you were luck enough to have such an account in college or at work.

But then, there are many ways the internet can cost you a lot of money!

[greenskeeper]

The internet does allow for theft of copyrighted material and other "free" things.

[riverwed070707]

We always cost compare on the internet before we make a big purchase -- furniture, electronics, appliances, etc. Even little things, I usually weigh the savings between going to a local store and ordering from Amazon.

Books -- IDK that I can say I've saved hundreds but before I actually used to never buy books, woudl just read what I could borrow from friends or the library. Now I can often find good reads for under $5 and its worth it to me and far beats the cost of going to a book retailer. I still gasp when I see how much a new hardcover book costs at Barnes and Nobel. Speaking of, textbooks. When I was in college I saved probably thousands of dollars being able to buy used books online over buying them from the school book store. After the semester I could usually sell them for close to the price I bought them for. By the time DH got in school, renting books online was popular. You get it for the semester and then have to return it by a date otherwise you pay for the book. It was a great program for science classes where they seem to come out with a new edition every year causing even the used ones to lose a lot of value quickly.

[disneysteve]

Greeting cards. Rather than buying the ridiculously priced cards at Hallmark (really? $5 for a card someone will open, glance at, and toss in the trash) we make our own. A friend had a baby on Monday and I just took 10 minutes and made a really cute card to send with our gift. Total cost of one sheet of cardstock and some ink so certainly less than 50 cents. And the card is unique and personalized.

[FrugalSensei]

I don't pay for cable any more, which is a huge bill these days. I get by on free online movies and television programming available through a number of services. All totally legal by the way.

[disneysteve]

Since time is money, I have found that most usage involves the theme of saving time.

In the saving time department, I now use my iPhone mobile banking app to do all of my deposits. I no longer have to drive to the ATM, stand in line, or wait while the god-awful deposit image ATM takes 10 minutes to process my deposit. Now I get a check, pull out my phone, and make the deposit and I'm done.

[marvholly]

I am about 15 years older than DS. Main frames were coming into non-gov use when I was in college. BIG, environmentally controlled rooms and data fed in by punch card. Home computers started hitting BIG when my older DD (now 38) was on the edge of jr high/high school.

Like him, I use sites like Groupoon & Living Social.
I have found GREAT deals on gifts for grands.
I set up vacation hotels/air/car rental - frequently using sites like Priceline.
I follow a number of sites/bloggers for grocery/drug store/big box store deals on just about everything I regularly buy/consume.

I also belong to/monitor several sites for travel discussion, food & cooking discussion, frugal living discussion, retirement living discussion......

[shaggy]

I think the Internet has cost me money. Through being online, I've met friends who are interested in the same obscure hobbies I have, and we often travel together to events of interest. Those trips would never have happened without the Internet. The Internet also exposes me to the latest gadgets, which I wouldn't have known existed without the Internet.

[moneysma]

The internet saves me time in the sense of financial transactions - I don't have to run to the bank to deposit a check, etc.

I primarily use it to make sure I am getting a good deal (compare prices) and get users feedback on items. Living in a small town growing up, you pretty much relied on the brand being good quality. But now that American cars are made overseas and Japanese cars are made in the US, you have no idea. You have to get the opinions of those that have and do use the products.

Lastly, the internet save me money be having so many cash back programs. It's super easy to get an extra 5% off at a minimum.

[Jerry91]

Special deals and discounts are available when you shop through Internet. Also, if you are booking hotels, tickets, etc. through Internet, you will be able to get them at a comparatively low price.

[bjl584]

Pretty much every major purchase that I make I will first research it on the internet. Not only will I shop around for price but I'll also research quality, comparable brands, and check out the various forums and posting boards to see what others have to say about the product.

[dawnwes]

Amazon saves me a lot

No cable TV, we stream most things

No home phone, ours is internet based, Ooma

[FrugalFish]

Oh, greeting cards are a good one. We do that too. Last year we found those little cards made to gift cash at one of the free printable sites- there is so much out there.

Plus there are lots of free-to-print education materials out there- things like math flashcards.

We print tons of coloring pages too for our youngun.

The biggest one that comes to mind for me has already been mentioned and that is books and magazines. I've been a crafter and hobbiest most of my life, so books and magazines pertaining to those crafts and hobbies were things a lot of money got spent on. There is so much available on the internet at no charge. The added benefit here is that it's allowed me to declutter a great deal- not just craft books, but other reference materials as well. If I have a question about what kind of disease a plant has, rather than dig through a book, I search specifics online.

[sherylgray]

Internet marketing has transformed many people's lives in different ways. The most important benefit with Internet is that it allows us to work from home saving time and money both. Also it allows us to work both full time and part time, giving flexibility to our schedule.