One of the wonderful side effects of an Internet connection is that you can make it pay for itself. I divide this into several methods:
1)Totally Free
2)Free Internet Access (with your own computer)
3)Cheap Local Access (with your own computer)
Totally Free
Even if you live in a place that has no Internet connections, and you own no computer, you can go once a week to the local library and make use of the common computer. This way you can sign on to a free email account and get email that you pick up and answer on the library computer. You can set up a FREE WEB PAGE location at places like Tripod.comand maintain a page series of pages that reflect your interests and perhaps business information. I have a friend who did this for years before she finally accepted a home computer.
Many Companies offer free email:
Netscape.com
http://www.netscape.com
Yahoo.com
http://www.yahoo.com
Ureach.com
http://www.ureach.com
Onebox.com
http://www.onebox.com
There are fewer free Web Pages but these are three reliable places for free Web pages and email:
Geocities.com
Tripod.com
Suite101.com
Suite101.com
Free Access (with your own computer)
There used to be many free access companies, but they mostly went under last year with the failure of many of the "Dot.coms", but one major one remains in the form of < a href="http://www.netzero.com"> Netzero/Juno.com which offers a few hours a week of free access to get email or check out a few pages.
You can apply all of the techniques offered above and maintain a Web presence with the limited free access. Not much time for research or recreation though!
Cheap Access (with your own computer)
If you live in a major metropolitan area then you can get very low cost access with an annoying add bar. Interestingly, the cheapest low cost access I found is at KMART site: Shop Bluelight.com. The next cheapest are ,a href="htpp://www.hawkcommunications.com">Hawkcommunications.com and once again < a href="http://www.netzero.com"> Netzero/Juno.com with rates just under ten dollars a month.
Or if you live way out in rural New York you go with the local company or phone company rates for access and try and make it up somehow.
The easiest way to do this use one of the click through shopping services where you get points for viewing people’s add sites or clicking through and shopping. You can rather quickly rack up enough points to pay for your your Internet access. The one I use and recommend is :
Or Save in Places like:
Cool Savings
coolsavings.com inc.
Another way to pay for your Internet time is to join some Affiliate Programs at places you normally shop. You set up an Affiliate Link on your Free Web page and click through to buy items you want to purchase there. You’ll get a given percentage of the sale and get paid when the total reaches a certain point. By remembering to do this before purchases, plus the people who buy by clicking the link on your page, you can get earn enough to pay all your Internet fees plus earn a little more.
Two I have had good experiences with and recommend are:
Linkshare
Click here to become a LinkShare Affiliate!
Commission Junction
Commission Junction
Of course, people who are very active online in various Net clubs would make more by all thier personal contacts.
But consider that the Internet while not making you rich can indeed pay its own way and make you a bit more money for the important things in your budget
Continue to check out the informative and inspirational free sample pages at these excellent frugal books.
Complete Tightwad Gazzette
The Complete Tightwad Gazzette
Declare Your Finanacial Independence
Declare Your Financial Independence
Complete Cheapskate
Mary Hunt's Complete Cheapskate
Miserly Moms
Miserly Moms
You Can Afford to Stay Home With your Kids
You can Afford to stay Home WIth your Kids
