It seems like everyone is looking for ways to increase their MPG’s (miles per gallon) or become a hypermiler. If you are late getting into the game and don’t know how simple it is to calculate your MPG, let me explain.
I enjoy math - well, the easy stuff anyway - and I thought figuring out MPG’s was pretty much common knowledge, but I was wrong. I have had a few different people ask me how to do it.
The great thing is that it is simple to do and there are also some great tools for calculating and tracking your MPG if you want.
The TRIP Odometer method for calculating MPG
The trip odometer is the one that you can reset with the little button. The real odometer is the one you can’t adjust.
- Fill your tank.
- Reset the trip odometer.
- Drive until it is time to refill again.
- Look on the fuel pump or on your receipt to see how many gallons it took to fill up your car. Write this number down.
- Look at your trip odometer to see how many miles you drove.
- Take the miles driven and divide it by the gallons used. This number will by your MPG for that tank.
- Make sure to reset the trip odometer again to calculate the next tank and compare.
The Odometer method to calculate MPG
- Fill your tank.
- Write down the mileage on your odometer. (This will be the total numbers of miles driven on the car)
- Drive until it’s time to fill up again.
- Check the pump or your receipt to see how many gallons it took to fill up your car. Write this number down.
- Look at the odometer to see what the current reading is.
- Take the current odometer reading and subtract it from the previous one.
- Then take that number and divide it by the number of gallons used. This will give you your MPG for that tank.
Cool MPG tool
One of my new favorite tools for calculating and tracking my vehicle’s MPG has been FuelClinic.com. It is a free service that basically does the steps listed above for you and provides pretty little graphs and charts as well.
I don’t think I have the motivation to track every tank of gas that I use, but it has been helpful to see how effective some of the gas saving tips have been that I’ve tried.
What’s your MPG?
As you can see my Fit is averaging about 32.6 MPG’s over the last couple weeks. My Focus is averaging about 31.3.
What kind of gas mileage are you getting? If you already know how many MPG’s you are getting why don’t you share it in the comments so we can all see.
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This is a reprint of an article I wrote for Being Frugal a few days ago…
When I was about 14 years old, my uncle suddenly and unexpectedly went home to be with the Lord. He had meticulously taken care of the finances for their family and left my aunt on a very solid financial foundation. Obviously, this didn’t take away the pain of him being gone, but his preparation eliminated additional stress that would have been present without it.
It’s one of those things we all prefer not to think about, but it is always better to be prepared. My aunt is still reaping from what my uncle sowed by having his things in order.
My FLOP
Being impacted by my uncle’s premature death and wanting to do everything I can do to help my wife, I decided to create a system for keeping things organized.
It has been a work in progress over the last few years, but has evolved into a very helpful tool. Simply put, it is a single file or location for all your financial account details. I call it a FLOP (Financial Life on One Page). FLOP sounds a little cooler than FLOOP, but not much 
In adding to it over the last few years it has come to have three main purposes. The first being that it is a:
1. Balance Sheet
One of the best pieces of advice I received about 5 years ago, when I started my journey to clean up my finances was to keep a balance sheet. I didn’t really understand why at the time, but I did it anyway. I have updated it twice a year since I started it and it has been a great source of encouragement as I have fought to get out of debt.
The reason it has been such a source of encouragement is because a balance sheet not only takes into account the debt you have been paying off, but all of your good financial decisions. So increasing your savings, paying down debt, making wise purchases all will affect your balance sheet in a positive way.
Also, looking at the size of your debts or assets does not necessarily give an accurate report of your financial condition. To get a accurate picture of your financial situation you need a balance sheet to calculate your net worth. It is very easy to do and is just a big subtraction problem:
Assets - Liabilities = Net Worth
If you have never started a balance sheet, I recommend doing it. It is a simple way to track your financial progress as you move towards your goals. For most people it shouldn’t take more than an hour to gather up all your account balances and asset values.
And as with most things, you are either moving forward, or you are going backwards. If you are increasing your assets or minimizing debts your net worth should be growing. If your net worth is getting smaller, then it is an indication that you should re-evaluate how you are spending your money. And even if your situation is not very encouraging, it will force you to see the financial truth so you can make adjustments as needed.
How to create a balance sheet
- Use Excel, Google docs, or some other spreadsheet software.
- List every Asset you can possibly think of from cars to stocks to jewelry for the amount that you could quickly sell it for. (To save time, you can lump together smaller assets like “misc. household items”) Total these items up to get a subtotal of your assets.
- Below the Assets total, list every debt or liability that you have. Mortgages, credit cards, student loans, they all apply. Total your debts to get your liability total.
- Subtract your liability total from your asset total to get your Net Worth.
2. Organize all my login information
Another piece of good advice I got a few years back was to create an extremely unique login ID and use it for every website that I had an ID for. I followed the advice and it has helped, but it is not a fail-proof system. Some sites require your email address, some want more than 8 characters, some want less, etc. And in this day in age, where you just about need to login to open your refrigerator, it can be difficult keeping track of all your login information.
After adding all your accounts in the balance sheet section above, you should have all your account information listed already and you can just add a column to add your login for that company. If you use various passwords you could list them in another column as well, but consider using a password hint rather than the actual password. I still come back to my FLOP at least once a week to figure out a login that I forgot about.
3. Financial roadmap for my wife
The third and most important reason for my FLOP is for my wife. In most families, one person manages the finances and has a better understanding of the overall financial picture. I am that person in my family. Are you that person in yours?
If so, would your spouse (or other beneficiaries) know where to find your financial information? Insurance policies, bank accounts, investment accounts, safe deposit boxes?
I know for my personal situation I know a bit more about our financial details than my wife does. I use my FLOP to layout all of the pertinent details for my wife, if she ever needed them. It contains the name, phone number or web address of each institution, our account numbers for those institutions and any other pertinent info that may be needed.
I then burned the file to a CD and kept it in our safe. Every year or so I put a copy of the updated FLOP in there.
Losing a loved one is a terribly difficult process. Having a “roadmap” prepared in advance for your loved ones is a great way to help eliminate unnecessary stress.
If you are interested, you can download a copy of my template for my FLOP.
This article was included in the Carnival of Personal Finance
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Paypal - making online shopping safer
I have been a Paypal user for quite a few years, since I first started selling on ebay. They have added a bunch of features over the years and one of my favorite recently has been their plugin.
It is a little do-dad that pops up whenever you land on a page that has a field to enter a credit card number. It then offers to generate a one-time credit card number for you to use on the merchants site. If you say yes, it then generates the number, fills it in for you along with a generated expiration date, and even the extra 3-digit code if needed. Once the transaction is complete, the plugin offers to take a screenshot as a receipt for you and then the money comes directly out of your Paypal balance.
I know that lots of merchant sites have technology to protect user’s credit card numbers, but using a generated credit card number rather than your own seems like it will always be safer. And then again, you have sites that don’t have very good security measures in place to protect your credit card number. This baby comes in handy for those as well.
What you need to use it
Since I just recently switched to Mac, I was a little bummed to find out that it is only currently available to Windows users (I can still use it on my laptop). Mac users can go to Paypal’s site and generate single-use numbers, but that seems to take all of the fun (not to mention time saving) out of it.
- Internet Explorer and Firefox are both supported.
- Paypal also says it is only available to U.S. users as well… I am not sure why, sorry to all the Canadians
My experience with the Paypal plugin
I have been using it for about a month or so and I love it. It saves me time and makes my purchases more secure, that makes me happy. So, if you do much shopping online, you may want to check it out.
this post was included in the carnival of personal finance
Have you used it? What do you think about it?
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I first heard of Hypermilling when I was writing a recent post - 75 Gas Saving Tips. It seems to be a trend among drivers that is increasing in popularity in reaction to the rising gas prices.
What is hypermiling?
According to Wikipedia Hypermiling is:
“Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors (and) techniques that drivers can use to optimize their automobile fuel economy. The energy in fuel consumed in driving is lost in many ways, including engine inefficiency, aerodynamic drag, rolling friction, and kinetic energy lost to braking (absent regenerative braking). Driver behavior can influence all of these. The city mileage of conventional cars is lower than highway mileage due to: 1) a high proportion of idling time, 2) operation mostly at very inefficient low-output engine operating points, and 3) more frequent braking.”
AKA being fanatical about saving gas by using traditional and non-traditional means to get better fuel economy. To see a pro in action, check out this video.
Apparently anyone can do this with any car. Of course, some cars are going to have a better chance for better MPG gains, but any car should be able to see improvement if the proper techniques are used. At last year’s Hybridfest the Hypermilers, “put on a clinic to help attendees practice what the hypermilers preach. In one exercise, (a hypermilling pro) guided a driver through some basic techniques in a standard Honda Accord, and the driver extracted 51.2 mpg from a car that the EPA rates at 24 mpg city and 34 mpg highway.”
While I was gathering information for the gas saving tips post, I contacted a Hypermiler (he got 69 MPG in his Geo Metro) for suggestions. He said that the most important aspect to his great fuel economy was all in the driving technique and knowing which techniques are most beneficial. I will go over some of the techniques that I found that some of these guys use, but first let’s look at some of their toys.
Tools of the Hypermiller
Scan-Gauge
This was the tool that I was encouraged to get by the Hypermiler I contacted and I have also seen it touted various other places as well. It is a digital display that plugs into your car and calculates gas mileage in real time. This information then allows the driver to see what he/she is doing that is using a lot of fuel and what techniques are very efficient.
The Scan-Gauge seems to be the standard for the Hypermilers, but there are others out there.
Run your car on water Kit
I have heard mixed things about kits like these. Basically, (from what I understand) you create HHO gas by assembling a contraption that then feeds into your engine. Your engine then burns the HHO gas as well as gasoline. They promise that your car will become at least 40% more fuel efficient with testimonials of even better rates. I haven’t tried it yet, so I am not sure.
Fuel Clinic
This is a useful website that tracks all of your fuel usage. You have to save your gas receipts and enter them online, but the site provides a wealth of data. It provides charts and graphs and detailed analysis of your fuel consumption. Best of all, it’s free.
Gas Price Map
This tool allows you to enter in your zip code and find the best gas prices in your area.
Hypermiling techniques: worth the risk or not?
Some of these techniques were mentioned in Gas saving tips post, but some are a bit more extreme and I don’t recommend doing them. I mean, is it really worth getting in an accident or making everyone on the road hate you so you can save a few bucks? So I am going to look at a bunch of common hyper-milling techniques to see if they are worth doing or not.
Calculate and record your MPG
Tracking your progress seems to be a big key to your success. Calculating your MPG is a simple equation (Miles driven / Gallons used), so the best way to do this would be with the Scan-Gauge mentioned above, Fuel Clinic, or you can just use this calculator.
- Worth it.
Watch the real-time mileage display
Some newer vehicles come with computers that compute your real-time fuel use on a miles-per-gallon basis. As mentioned above, the Scan-Gauge seems to be the after-market tool of choice by the pros. They watch this and adjust throttle inputs based on the readout to maximize their fuel economy.
-
Worth it - if you drive a lot.
Overinflate tires
Some hyper-milers overinflate their tires by 15-20 pounds. I have heard that this can be dangerous (blow-outs) and lead to uneven tire wear, but some of them, “consider it safe because most of my driving is around town and under 50 miles per hour.” They say, putting less rubber on the road gives them an edge in beating the EPA’s rating by decreasing rolling resistance.
- Not worth it - but definitely inflate them to the maximum rated PSI
Removing outside mirrors
I read about one hypermiler who removed his outside mirrors, replacing them with a video camera mounted in the left rear turn signal. He has it connected to a small video display mounted on the dash that enables him to see a wide-angle view of what’s behind him. He figures it adds another one mile per gallon.
- Not worth it
Pay attention to wind conditions
Certain cars will be more susceptible to this than others, but some have found that fuel mileage is significantly impacted by favorable wind conditions. “On long highway rides, having a tailwind has made a big difference in my fuel economy.” If you know it’s a windy day and you don’t have to take that trip, then don’t.”
- Not worth it - If I have to wait around for the wind, I might as well get a sailboat
Place cardboard over the radiator
One guy I read about does this and says that a cold engine reduces fuel-efficiency. He uses Office Depot’s silver-colored cardboard to warm up the engine faster. He covers his radiator with cardboard to block the wind, thus retaining heat and keeping the engine running at a warmer temperature. Knowing that this could cause his engine to overheat, he says, “I’ll take off the piece of cardboard if I know that I’ll be driving a long distance, say 100 miles, but it’s fine for my daily commute.”
- Not worth it - what if you forget about it and your engine overheats?
Avoid stoplights and stop signs
Many hyper-milers plan and map out their route before departing to ensure that their pathway has the fewest stops possible.
- Not worth it - I think most people’s time is worth more than the potential gas savings
Ride the ridge
This means riding along the painted white line on the road. Hyper-milers now use this white line to increase their fuel economy, a tactic that’s especially useful in the rain when puddles form in the grooves of the road, which significantly increases rolling resistance.
- Worth it - as long as there isn’t a safety issue with other cars
Drive without A/C and keep windows closed
In the testing that Edmunds did, they concluded that there is, “no measureable difference,” when choosing windows or A/C. However, if you choose neither, there is quite a difference. So now you can save gas by sweating
- Maybe Worth it - if you look at it as a free sauna
Timing Stoplights
If you can’t avoid the stoplights, determine the optimal speed for the timing (making sure they are green when you get there) of the stoplights. “Taking this small step has a marked effect on your fuel economy.”
- Worth it in moderation - just don’t ruin everyone’s day who is stuck driving behind you
Minimize brake usage
I always hate to have to come to a, “full and complete stop,” at a stop sign, but it is the law. Many hypermilers treat stop signs as though they are yield signs - and slowly glide through. They also are constantly planning and anticipating for what’s ahead; thus minimizing use of their brakes. And of course some of the down-right dangerous (dare I say irresponsible) hypermilers tailgate or take corners at speeds that aren’t truly safe, all in the hopes of never having to touch their brakes.
- Worth it in moderation - but breaking the law and putting others in danger isn’t cool
“Potential parking”
According to Wayne Gerdes, winner of the 2006 Hybridfest MPG Challenge, “Park at the highest spot in the parking lot and face out.” This technique allows you to exit by rolling forward in neutral without turning on the engine, thereby saving gas. The technique does away with the backing up and braking required by nose-in parking, while also reducing the time the engine runs.”
- Worth it
“Pulse and glide”
Generally this technique seems to be reserved for the hybrid owners, but I think some non-hybrid owners have found ways to apply this principle as well. The “Pulse and glide” method involves accelerating the vehicle to about 30-40 mph and letting it coast. The 30-40 mph point is where some hybrid’s do not use the engine or the battery. They let it coast for a few seconds, then repeat. Over and over again. Sounds like a fun trip to Disney Land, doesn’t it kids?
- Not worth it - unless my kids were mis-behaving (I can’t wait to be a dad)
Tailgating (”Drafting”)
Just like the Nascar pros, hyper-milers have realized that they can save fuel by getting right behind big trucks. I drove past an accident where a car was sandwiched between two 18-wheelers. Without looking closely you would think that the one 18-wheeler rear-ended the other. The remains of the middle car were difficult to spot. After seeing that I am much more careful when driving around 18-wheelers.
- Not Worth it
More about gas and hypermilling
I have been trying out some of these techniques as I learn how to become a hypermiler. I will compare my MPG numbers and see how I am doing and let you know - soon.
And here are a few more articles if you are interested in learning more… How to be a hypermiler, Hypermiling Tips, How are gas prices determined?
What methods do you think are worth the effort?
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I have been a huge fan of Craigslist over the years. The site is about the most boring looking site out there, but is also about the best place to buy or sell used local items. I still sell most goods with eBay when I need a little quick cash, but for the larger items Craigslist has been the way to go.
Can Walmart beat Craigslist at their own game?
Enter Walmart. The giant that has gotten just a little bit too big has launched a similar classified service.
Quick side note: My grandpa has owned a small appliance store for most of his life that was passed down from his father. A few years back when Walmart decided to start selling appliances, my grandpa told me that Walmart was selling them (to customers) for less than he could buy them from his dealer. Quick business lesson - Since Walmart was purchasing the appliances in such a huge quantity, the dealers gave them a much greater discounted price than they gave my grandpa.
While I know, “it’s just business,” I am not a fan of super-corporations running the little guys out of town. The story ends well: my 84 year old grandpa still goes into work everyday, his business made it through it, and I think Walmart has left the appliance business to find more profitable opportunities.
Back to the topic: Walmart’s new classifieds offer a few conveniences that craigslist doesn’t:
- Pictures on the results page - so you don’t have to actually click the item to see the picture
- Prices on the results page and in the same location - it makes it quick to scan prices for bargains
- The ability to refine your search by various criteria - this saves a lot of time if you have something very specific in mind
Even with Walmart’s size it is going to take them a while to get the users that Craigslist has gotten. If you check it out don’t expect much right now - I browsed through the electronics category for my town and there really isn’t much yet. It will get there. I am sure. It’s Walmart.
Do you use online classifieds? Do you think Walmart will run Craigslist out too?
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I am a subscriber to the Gmail blog - because I am a moderate Google nut and like to stay in the loop with what they are doing. Well, I saw this tip on their blog and actually on another productivity blog, and it is just too good not to share.
I guess I will remind you what my favorite Gmail tip is before I get into the second one: Gmail is an email management system. I wrote about this before, but it bears repeating for those who have multiple email accounts and are in desperate need of organization or simplification.
What this means is that you can have all of your email from all of your accounts going directly into your single Gmail account.
You say, “great. I already knew that.”
Okay, but the good part here is that you can also SEND email from your other accounts WITHIN your Gmail account. So, if your email address is Billy@hotmail.com you can now send emails from that address within the comfort of your Gmail home (as well as any other accounts you have.)
So, what is your 2nd favorite Gmail tip?
Ok, so on to the 2nd favorite Gmail tip.
Say my Gmail address is Ihatespam@gmail.com. I can send emails to Ihatespam+bob@gmail.com or Ihatespam+anything@gmail.com and they will all go to my inbox.
You can add a “+” sign to the end of your Gmail id (Ihatespam in this case) and add anything you want after it.
If you think about this just a little bit, you will be able to see that this opens up a lot of possibilities for organizing your inbox.
- You can have work or school emails come to separate address and then filter them to go into different folders in your inbox
- You can have newsletters etc. filtered in to different folders as well
- You can easily weed out spam by using this technique. If, whenever you offer up your email address on a website you add the “+somewebsite” you will always know how spammers got your email address. Then you can quickly filter all of these emails into your spam folder. Problem solved.
My experience with this Gmail tip
I have tried this and really like using this tip along with the filters in Gmail. It really can help organize your inbox.
However, I will say that not all websites allow you to enter an email address that includes a “+”. I was a little bit bummed about that, but hey it is better than none, isn’t it?
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Can I really watch TV on the computer?
As everyone knows High Definition (HD) TV is so much better than regular TV. I didn’t have an HD capable TV myself and I didn’t want to run out and spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on another TV, so I thought I would investigate other alternatives. I thought there was probably a way to watch TV on my computer, but I wasn’t sure about if it would be in HD or not. I found the answer.
I don’t know that much about TVs, I just know that watching HDTV vs. a normal analog signal is about as drastic of a difference as color was to black-and-white. And then I of course heard about how all television will be going digital in less than a year and those of us with “old-school” TVs will have to get an adapter and possibly a new antenna just to watch the local news.
So anyway, I was pleased when I got this cool little TV tuner for my birthday a couple of weeks ago. It plugs into your computer via a USB port and is about the size of a jump drive.
I am still really excited about my little toy. I keep finding out more and more features:
- It has a TV scheduling program that will allow you to schedule a time for it to record a TV show for you directly to your computer’s hard drive. Basically just like a TIVO. Now I will never miss another episode of “The Office” again.
- When ATSC digital TV comes next February the TV tuner will also receive the new digital TV channels, so I won’t have to buy an adapter or anything else.
- It also comes with an RCA adapter and an S-Video adapter which will allow you to hook up a VCR or DVD player and play those videos on your PC as well AND record them. So, now I can take all of my old video tapes and record them and burn them to DVD.
Steps to watch and record HD TV on your computer
- You will first need to get a HDTV tuner card, I got this gadget
and it costs less than $65, but there are bunch that you can use to watch TV (check closely, because many are TV tuners, but not all are HDTV tuners). I chose the one I did, because it was very simple to use - just plug in and go. The
downside, of course, to having an external one as opposed to an internal one is that it is taking up space in your USB port. I prefer this over having to do PC surgery to install the internal one. - Installation was very simple for me. It comes with a CD that contains the necessary software and drivers. You just drop the CD in, run the setup program and it installs all of the programs and files for you.
- Now that the software is installed, you can plug
in the tuner stick. The one I received came with a small antenna that attaches to the stick to allow for better reception. Or, you if you have cable you can connect the cable line to it as well. - Next, you can open the software program that the TV tuner came with. You will then need to have the tuner scan for TV channels. It will probably do this for you automatically, if not you may need to dig around the menus to find the option. I was pleasantly surprised that my TV tuner found about twice as many channels as I could watch on my regular TV.
- Now, you are ready to start watching TV on your computer!! It’s just like the Jetsons!!
Actually watching HD TV on my computer
Above is a screen-shot of the program that came with my TV tuner. By a click of a button, it goes to full screen so you can make the most out of your computer monitor’s space.
Although you can change channels and adjust volume from your keyboard, I chose to buy a PC remote control . I have not yet received the remote control, but I will write about it to let you know how it works with my whole computer TV system.
Getting hundreds of channels to watch on your PC
I have heard about things like this that allow you to watch hundreds of channels on your computer for a small one-time fee. I am not sure exactly how it works, but I am going to try it out soon and I will write about that as well.
Technorati Tags: how to watch HD TV on your computer, watch tv on computer
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Online shoppers’ have more tools than ever to find the best value for their money. Value being the highest quality item for the best price. These are a few of the tools that I use on a regular basis whether shopping online, or occasionally actually "driving to a store." If you have some of your own that you love, feel free to share them in the comments.
Shop for the best
One of the best features of online shopping is that you can find out a lot about the product before ever touching it. You have access to just as much information as the salespeople at traditional stores. You can find out what customers who were purchasing the same item bought and what they liked and didn’t like. Whenever I am going to be purchasing a product that costs me more than a few bucks I check out these places to find out what brand and model I should buy.
ConsumerReports.org - They are a not-for-profit company that reviews thousands of products and have no advertising in their magazine - therefore eliminating any potential conflicts of interest. They have an online subscription for $26 a year or $6 for a month of access. If you are buying a car or any other sizeable purchase, I highly recommend signing up. I have had very good results from their reviews so far.
Amazon.com
ePinions.com - I really don’t like ePinions that much. I check them occasionally just to get additional opinions on an item if I need it.
Circuitcity.com - Most times they don’t have as many reviews as Amazon does, but for electronics purchases I will often check them.
Buy the cheapest
I have been very pleased with the free shipping with Amazon Prime thus far, but even with the free shipping, there are occasionally better deals to be found.
eBay.com - eBay is often a great place to find a rock-bottom price on any given product. If you are willing to get a USED item, of course you will be able to save even more.
Pricegrabber.com - This is a service that does comparison shopping for you. They look at hundreds of sites that sell the same products and list them by price for you.
Find bargains online
If you are ever buying from a retail store you can always Google "brand name or store name" + "coupon" or "promo code." This will often yield some coupons that you may be eligible for. Most of the Google results you will find will come from Retailmenot.com or one of 1,000 other coupon websites.
Slickdeals.net - Look for hot deals here and also at FatWallet.com
Woot.com - A cool and clever site that features one closeout product each day. Once they are gone, they are gone. So, if it is a hot item, it will be gone before you wake up in the morning.
Technorati Tags: online shopping, save money
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This is the fourth and final entry of a series I am doing about How to save time on your PC. These are a few of the ways that I try to shave off minutes or even hours of wasted time on my computer each month.
8. Google toolbar
The main reason I use Google Toolbar is for the bookmarks. It has a few other features that make it useful, but I think the best part is that my bookmarks are right at my fingertips at all times. The Google toolbar also allows you to TAG your bookmarks, rather than putting them in folders like most browsers. Tags are more versatile, because you can add multiple tags to any bookmark. Del.icio.us is another great bookmarking tool as well.
9. Firefox Quick Search
If you are a Firefox user you will have a quick search box in the top right corner. You can add all kinds of searchable websites to the list. You can search within Google, Yahoo, Ebay, Amazon, Various dictionaries, Flickr, Wikipedia and many others. Rather than going to the individual sites themselves, you can search many sites from your browser.
You can download Firefox with Google Toolbar, if you aren’t using Firefox yet. If you are still using Internet Explorer, I recommend using Firefox. There are a bunch of reasons why Firefox is better, but the safety factor with Firefox was a big one for me.
10. Google Homepage
My Google homepage is where I tie a lot of these tools together. Google homepage is basically a dashboard of whatever you would like. They have thousands of different widgets to choose from so you can create a custom homepage that can have just about anything you could want or need all on one page for you.
This is a quick snapshot of my Google homepage…
I have my email, calendar, stock quotes, weather, to-do list, feedreader, Jotts, bookmarks and a few other things all accessible on the same page. I love the ease of being able to get updated information from various different pages all in one place. And who knows how much time you save by having it all together rather than going to one site to check weather, another to see if you have any new emails, another to check your stocks, etc…
You can find out more about Google homepage here.
Check out the previous posts in the series…
How to save time on your PC - Part One
How to save time on your PC - Part Two
How to save time on your PC - Part Three
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This is the third entry of a series I am doing about How to save time on your PC. These are a few of the ways that I try to shave off minutes or even hours of wasted time on my computer each month.
6. Manage Multiple Email addresses
Lucky for you, I am going to save you the countless hours I spent trying to find a way to manage my multiple email addresses. Lets say you have a Yahoo email account and a Gmail account that you use both for different reasons.
How much time could you save if you could view your email from both accounts in one place?Maybe a little, maybe a lot. But, if you have about 5 active email addresses like me you know that it is a huge time waster to have to go to 5 different accounts to view my email.
Well, I tried Outlook, I tried Entourage, and I also tried Thunderbird to manage my email. Each has their own pros and cons, but what I was looking for was a way to view my email from any computer and have it all stored in one centralized location.
Enter GMAIL. This may sound like a Google commercial, but it’s not. I just am very excited that they provide the solution to my problem.
Gmail allows you to manage all of your email addresses from your Gmail inbox. You can receive your Hotmail or Yahoo email into your Gmail inbox and you can also send email from these addresses all in the comfort of your Gmail inbox. It can easily be set up by clicking on SETTINGS when at your Gmail inbox, and then clicking on the ACCOUNTS tab. From here you can add your various email addresses. Get detailed instructions from Google on setting this up.
7. Save time with a Feedreader
Basically this is a way to get updated content from various websites sent to you - rather than you having to go to each website individually.
Look for this Icon
or 
and when you see it you can add add that site’s updated content to your feedreader. I use Google’s feedreader, but Bloglines is really nice and there are other good ones out there as well. Check out this video for a little more detail about Google’s Feed Reader.
Check out Part Four for the last few tips…
How to save time on your PC - Part One
How to save time on your PC - Part Two
How to save time on your PC - Part Four
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