budget friendly technology

Thought I would write a post that wasn't about my darling kiddos.


Saving money seemed like a good topic.
The costs of technology seems to be an area that many of us have to deal with.  In my mind, if a service, or product saves time, it is worth considering. However, if that product or service means that someone needs to spend more time at work to earn the money to pay for the service that saves the time that is spent at work to earn the money to save the time....get my drift?
One way we like to save money is to avoid monthly recurring bills (outside of basic utilities) if at all possible.  We like to save money by getting a service that meets our needs and is free.  Technology and our computer use is a huge area of savings for us.

When we purchased our computer a couple of years ago,  (We only have a desktop, no laptop, or net book, or internet phone) we realized that office suites no longer come included.  We found the best deal we could find locally, which included keeping our older monitor, even though is isn't a flat screen, but it works.  We priced office suite software, and I just couldn't justify the cost for the little that I would be using the programs.  I mostly surf the net, write my blog, and edit photos.  I occaionally copy and paste a recipe or make a list or picture for the kids, a heavy duty office program just didn't seem necessary.  We started browsing and hubby found Open office  Which is a shareware office suite and is free.  so we decided to try it, afterall, we wouldn't be out of anything except a little time and effort.  We have been using it for 2 1/2 years now and are very pleased.  It has spreadsheet, writing, database, drawing..all a girl could ask for.  and did I mention FREE? 

Next, was a photo program.  I had the software that came with my cameras, and it was fine for downloading the pictures, gut I didn't really like the editing tools.  I wanted to be able to shrink, and write text and black objects out, so I found paint.net.  It works beautifully.  Does all that I care for, and if I don't know how, I can read through the forums and find directions for just about any task.  and did I mention FREE?

Next, and more important than the last, is antivirus.  I don't care for the NORTON line of products and they seem to slow down computers and I heard people talk about how all the bad mean virus writers out there, write to target Norton.  Our internet provider suggested AVAST.com.  It updates all the time and protects us great...and did I mention FREE??
We also use malware-bytes for malware/spyware removal.  It has been great and free.

Another software program I like, that has a free competitor is a PDF reader.  I'm not a huge fan of adobe, it seems slow, it is a large program, and I mostly need it when I'm browsing, I didn't like navigating around in it to read pages...it was so SLOW.  so, I browsed around one day looking for free pdf readers and found foxit reader.  I LOVE it, it really is fast and navigates, quickly, just like their website says. 

A couple of other places we save money in the technology department, work for us because of our own tastes and habits.  We live way out in the country, which limits the availability of some services.  I stay home with the kids, my husband farms here where we live.  Which means we can very easily get by with a TRACFONE.  I buy minutes and airtime once a year, which costs around a hundred dollars.  I have had the same phone and battery for 2 1/2 years.  It doesn't have a camera or internet, it does text, which costs 1/3 of a minute. (although I have recently learned to text, via my yahoo email)  I don't regularly text....if I do, it is to my teenage niece and our favorite college student Lucy.

Let's see...other savings...no cable, or satellite for T.V, we use an antennae with a digital converter box which means that we have 7 stations.  I am of the opinion that even if we had a couple hundred, we still wouldn't find anything of value to watch.  We mostly just watch in the evening, where I'm not concerned about the commercial content and show content for my kids sake, and there are times of the year when there isn't much on anyway, which pushes us to read a bit more, knit a bit more, invite friends over to play games with, or go to bed earlier (which is always good for a marriage :)  Shows we currently watch together are Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, CSI, The Mentalist, Big Bang Theory (I appreciate the nerd humor, but am not terribly fond of some of the more crude humor...I'm guessing this one may go WAY downhill soon, but in the meantime, I am enjoying it)  hubby has a little more tolerance for some shows than I do, so I will spend an evening blogging while he watches other stuff on T.V.

One more savings for us is our broadband internet.  Our contract is 19.99 for 1G of data.  For a long time, we hardly ever went over, but with kids playing jumpstart, a mommy that blogs and plays bubble island on facebook, and a hubby who reads everything about the niners, we almost always go over.  however, they do prorate our overage, and we have never gone over what their next level would be, so I think we are doing alright.  **jumpstart does cost me 8 dollars a month, but the kids love it, The service is amazing, and it is educational. (plus it is always updated, so even though at the end of the year, I could have purchased software for that price, I don't have to worry about replacement software, and really, the kids LOVE it. And it is part of our school day)

And that is our budget friendly technology is a nutshell...how about you???  How have you managed to avoid the tech monster from eating your whole budget up?