Using the Internet to Improve Your Bottom-Line

If you want to get out of debt and quit living paycheck to paycheck, you have several solutions: spend less money, make more money, or better manage the money you already have. One way to put these solutions into action is by going online. We’re going to look at some basic ways you can use the Internet to improve your financial situation.

Spending Less Money

There are many on-line resources available to help you research what product best suits your needs, and to help you spend less money when you’re ready to make your purchase. The Internet is a good place to start when you want to gather quotes for purchasing expensive, but necessary things like insurance, a new or used auto, or obtaining or refinancing a mortgage. Here are some types of sites that can be helpful.

• Retailer websites – In addition to the cost savings, a big advantage to the Internet is the ability to check the sale prices on goods by visiting a retailer’s website, even if you intend to make the purchase at their brick and mortar store.
• Price-comparison search engines like bizrate.com or mysimon.com are good tools to find who has the best deal on a given item. While these sites are a good place to start, they don't include all retailers and often don't include available coupons, frequent shopper discounts and other freebies like gifts with purchase.
• Coupon codes – If you are shopping on-line and don’t have any coupon codes, do a quick search for some before checking out. You can just type the “name of the retailer” plus “coupon codes” into any search engine like Google or Yahoo, and you are likely to find coupon codes for either a percentage off your purchase, or free shipping.
• User forums - Bargain sites like fatwallet.com and slickdeals.net have user forums where you can ask for coupon codes, or ask for advice on getting the best deal on the items for which you are searching.

Making More Money

If you’ve had an email address for any amount of time, you probably receive all kinds of “make big money at home” or other get rich quick junk mail. While all of these can be dismissed as too good to be true, there are legitimate ways to earn money using the internet. Unfortunately the legitimate ones require two things; time and effort. Here are just a few ways to increase your income on the web:

• Take on-line courses - If you aren’t happy with your current income, make yourself more valuable to a current employer, or position yourself for a better opportunity by taking on-line courses. You can either become more proficient at your current job, or learn a new skill or trade altogether. Many legitimate brick and mortar colleges offer on-line courses that you can take at the pace that your schedule and budget allows. Check with your employer to see if they offer any sort of tuition assistance that could make this more affordable.
• Search for a better job - There are several large job search sites like www.monster.com, or www.careerbuilder.com, and many small ones that allow you to search for jobs from the comfort of your own home. Some of the smaller ones specialize in specific niches like accounting, engineering, healthcare, etc. If you find a position you are interested in, you can research the company and submit your resume on-line. You can usually do much of the initial screening over the phone and/ or via email and only commit to an in-person meeting if the position seems like a mutually good fit.
• Look for part-time work – If you are happy with you current employment situation, but just aren’t making enough money, you can use the internet to search for part-time work. There are on-line sites like www.elance.com that allow you to search for freelance work via the web, or you can look for part time hourly work in your local area on the websites of your local newspaper, or sites like www.snagajob.com

Managing Your Money

The basics of being a better manager of your current income start with budgeting and organization. There are many tools available to help you become better at both.

• Use budgeting tools –Check with your bank’s website. Many offer free calculators and other budgeting tools to help you get an idea of where your money goes. You can also utilize CareOne’s budget calculators and money management tools at http://www.careonecredit.com/Tools/Home.aspx
• On-line banking -Utilizing on-line banking and bill pay services can help you better track your income and bills, which could save you money by eliminating late payment, over-the-limit fees as well as postage, which can add up depending on how many bills you pay each month. You can skip the time-consuming, paper-based aspects of traditional banking in order to manage your finances more quickly and efficiently.
• Refinance higher interest rate loans – The internet provides a quick efficient means of investigating the advantage of refinancing higher interest rate loans whether they are for home, auto, or education. Lowering your interest rates by just a percentage point or two can yield you hundreds of dollars in monthly savings and thousands in interest.

If you have access to the Internet, you have access to some powerful tools to help you improve your bottom-line. If you’re not sure where to start, try www.careonecredit.com. You can join in discussions with others in similar situations and find out what they are doing to get back on track financially. You can also use all the other on-line resources available to you such as calculators, money management tools, blogs, articles, and tips that can help you achieve your financial goals.