Archive for June, 2009
100 Money-Saving Firefox Add-Ons
It’s a rare person who isn’t looking for ways to save money during these challenging economic times. Luckily, if you use Firefox, then you have access to plenty of add-ons that can help you save a bundle. Whether comparing prices, finding discounts, shopping at specific bargain sites, saving on travel, donating to charity without spending your own money, keeping an eye on your money, managing finances, watching investments, or even making a little extra money, these add-ons will help you get the job done.
Comparison Shopping
A smart online shopper knows that comparison shopping is easy and will get you the best price. Use these tools to save money while shopping online.
- Zap To.Us Price Search Bar. Compare prices for any item among the many merchants in the Zap To.Us directory.
- Book Burro. Any time you are on a website that mentions a book, this tool will instantly compare prices online or find out if it is available at your local library.
- Tesco Money Saver. Shop for the best grocery prices at Tesco.com with this tool.
- One Click Best Deal. With one simple click you can find the best price online for whatever item you are trying to find.
- Ultimate Pricechecker. Use this toolbar to compare prices, get price protection from participating merchants, and learn about coupons all while you shop online.
- Shopzilla. This add-on that allows you to use right-click menus to access popular shopping sites and compare prices.
- DealMine. Compare discounts, miles, points, and other rewards from major membership programs and compare with other shopping results too so you can find the best deal online.
- FiDough — Fetching the best prices on the Net. While you are looking at any product on any webpage on the Internet, this tool will bring up prices for that products at online stores so you can discover and compare prices.
- Buy it online. Just highlight the name of a product on any website, then right-click and select "Buy it online" for a listing of all the online offerings for that item.
- PriceAdvance. Compare prices on over 10 million products from US merchants with this tool.
- Shopping Helper. Get price alerts and price tracking based on your shopping list.
- Price It. Compare prices from tons of popular online merchants.
Discounts, Coupons, Cash Back, and Price Protection
Even if you’ve found the lowest price on the Internet, you can still find ways to save more with these discounts, coupons, price protection, and cash-back opportunities.
- Price Protectr Toolbar. Protect your purchases from participating merchants with this toolbar that also alerts you to coupons, free shipping, and other deals while you shop.
- Coupon Digger. This tool alerts you to coupons that will save you money while you are shopping online.
- Cashback Guardian. If you do any online shopping in the UK, then download this tool that will alert you to any cashback opportunities from 30 different sites.
- Offers.com. If any offers are available on the websites you visit, this tool will alert you to them.
- Coupon Finder. Check out the small link at the bottom of the page you are browsing to see all coupons available from that merchant.
- Vouchers.Im Indicator. Get valid voucher codes for any merchant you visit on the web.
- RetailMeNot. Get notifications of any discount codes available as you are searching various websites with this tool.
- KeepCash Coupon Notifier. This add-on lets you know if a coupon exists for the site you are browsing as you are shopping.
- Shopping Bag. Meant to be used in conjunction with iBakeSale, you will need to sign up for a free account, then get cash back from many online stores as you shop.
- DailyDealsBar Toolbar. All the great deals at many top websites come to you each day without searching to help you save money.
- RedFlagDeals.com Toolbar. For Canadian merchant sites, use this add-on to alert you to any coupons or discounts available or notifications when something becomes available.
- CoupMark. Add your preferences for retailers, shopping preferences, or keywords, then just click to get access to random coupons tailored to your interests.
- Savvy Circle Plugin. As you are shopping online at one of these 100+ stores, add items to your wishlist and when they go on sale, you will get a notification.
- MyShopSpace.com Deal Finder. This tool helps you find coupons, discounts, and sales with over 3000 online merchants.
Shopping at Specific Sites
Whether you like to find your deals on eBay, Craigslist, Amazon, or Woot, you can use these tools to ensure you find the best deal possible.
- eBay Hidden Auction Search. Use this tool to find eBay auction items that are misspelled. These items are hard to find and typically go for much lower prices.
- eBay Buddy. Easily search eBay for what you want, then compare the different prices to find the best deal.
- BidBall – eBay auction sniper. Snipe your eBay bids automatically and save money with this tool.
- Biet-O-Zilla. This add-on allows you to make last-minute bids on eBay.
- eBay Sidebar for Firefox. Keep up with your bidding on eBay with this tool that keeps you logged in and even lets you customize your alerts.
- myTimeZone for eBay. Convert all time zones on eBay to your local time zone so you never miss the end of an auction again.
- PackageMapping.com Extension. If you sell on eBay, this tool will help you easily keep track of your packages shipped through USPS, UPS, FedEx, and DHL.
- My Buy Watcher. This tool searches Amazon.com, eBay, and Craigslist to find the best price on what you want to purchase.
- CraigZilla. Stay on top of Craigslist postings to find the best deal for whatever you are seeking with this tool.
- Price Drop. Monitor prices on Amazon.com with this tool that also lets you know if the price drops after you have made a purchase.
- BuyLater – Price and Stock Watching for Amazon Sites. Add a "Buy Later" button on Amazon pages so you can track pricing and availability for items.
- Amazon Shopper. This Amazon tool includes a Price Watcher, product search tool, and a 30-day price tracker good for both before and after purchase.
- Apnoti Amazon Price Notification. Get notifications when the price drops on any item you are watching on many of the Amazon stores.
- Pluribo: Instant Summaries. This add-on will summarize all the reviews of a particular product on Amazon.com so you can quickly get a feel for what others have to say about items, saving you time spent reading all the reviews and money for purchases that are not worthwhile.
- MAB. Time is money, so save both with this tool that allows you to search Amazon more quickly with more focused results.
- Amazon Prime Search – iPrimr. Amazon Prime members will appreciate this tool that helps search for Prime-eligible items only.
- Amazon.com Price Drop Alert. This tool alerts you when the price of your purchase from Amazon goes down so you can take advantage of their 30-day refund policy.
- Ookong – Tailor your own deals @ Amazon.com. Get real-time notification when the price drops on an item you are following at Amazon.com.
- Woot Watcher. Keep up with the daily deals at Woot including current item, price, and an alert when it is sold out.
- Woot BOC. Get notifications and automatically open the order page when items become available on Woot.
Save on Travel
With such a wide range of prices available for travel expenses, these tools are essential to guarantee you save money on your travel.
- Yapta. Use this add-on to compare flight prices. If the price of your flight goes down before purchasing, Yapta will let you know.
- KAYAK Paddle. As you browse websites, this tool will provide you with the lowest airfare for the destinations you are researching.
- Kayak Search. Put an icon at the bottom of your browser to allow you to find low airfare, hotels, and car rentals with Kayak.com.
- Expedia. Use this popular travel site more easily as you find the best deals for cruises, airfare, car rental, hotels, and vacation packages.
- 1 Stop Travel and Retail Product Search. If your travels take you through America, Canada, Europe, or India, then use this tool to find the best deals on airlines, car rentals, and even major retailers.
- INeedAHotel.com. Get information on hotels all around the world when you use this add-on.
- FareFirst. Monitor airfares with this tool that captures the daily fare updates from airlines.
- JetLite Flight Travel Search. Search for the lowest airfare online with this tool.
- JetAirways flight Travel Search. JetAirways fans can find the lowest fares when they use this add-on.
- Advanced Travel. Compare several different travel sites at once to make sure you are getting the best deal possible.
- The HotBar – HotBar-Travel. Get travel deals, Google search, and links to websites all with this tool.
- 123 Travel Search. This tool allows you to enter your travel information just once, then compare prices amongst the providers you select.
- Lonely Planet. Don’t worry about spending money on expensive travel guides, download this add-on instead to have access to Lonely Planet travel guides.
- World Travel Guide. If Lonely Planet wasn’t enough, try the travel guides available when you use this tool.
- Openplaces Search. This tool provides travel information from several different sites so you can get everything in one place.
- Air Miles Shops Detection. If you collect air miles, then this tool will help you recognize when you are visiting a site that provides air miles with purchases.
Donate Money without Using Your Own
Everyone likes giving to charity, but when you don’t have enough left from your paycheck for yourself, it’s difficult to give to others. These add-ons make giving to charity easy–and free.
- GoodSearch. Use this add-on when searching the Internet and 50% of their revenues go to charities and schools of your choice.
- Green. Fight global warming while you surf the Internet with Green.
- Better The World. Raise money for your favorite causes by using this tool that generates ads based on your interests while you browse the web.
- Good Deeds. This tool reminds you to visit websites with free donation buttons so you can make donations every day without spending a cent.
- NeoAid Toolbar. Browse the web and donate to causes just by downloading this add-on.
- Swapable. Swap out ads for those related to charities of your choice and money raised through the ad-clicks go to these organizations.
- Koopmetjehart. This add-on that will notify you when you are shopping with a participating merchant and you can select a charity to receive a portion of your purchase price.
- BuyBuddy. Whether you are shopping on Amazon.com or not, this tool will tag items that are a part of the Amazon Associates program and automatically apply a portion of your purchase to whatever charity you have selected.
- Effortless Good. Shop at Amazon.com with this tool and part of your purchase will go to non-profits helping with global causes.
Monitor, Protect, and Save Your Money
From keeping an eye on your online ad revenue to monitoring your energy usage to counting your cell phone minutes, these tools will help you keep a close watch on your money.
- MoneyQuake. If you earn money from online ad systems, monitor them all with this add-on.
- Adsense Notifier. This tool displays your Adsense earnings on your status bar.
- Minute Minder for AT&T Service. Keep track of your minutes, text messages, and more with this tool.
- TMobile (USA) Minutes Used. This tool shows your used minutes in the status bar.
- TED the Toolbar. If you use TED the Energy Detective or TED Footprints, this add-on lets you monitor your energy consumption and offers suggestions on how to save energy and money.
- ECM Toolbar. Similar to TED, but for those with ECM 1220 or 1240, this toolbar helps you monitor your energy consumption.
- PayPal Instant Transfer Zapper. Stop Pay Pal’s Instant Transfer that takes your money straight from your bank account with this tool.
- Quitomzilla. Quit smoking and find out how much money and time you are saving in the process with this add-on.
- LeechBlock. Don’t let yourself waste too much time on websites that can lower your work productivity by using this tool that allows you to choose specific sites and describe how much blocking you want for each.
- Email Discipline. Another tool to help control your time away from work, this one also works on popular email programs from Google, Hotmail, Yahoo!, and more.
- Forex Currency Converter. Great if you are purchasing from a website using a different currency, this tool instantly convert a price into over 180 different currencies so you know exactly how much you are spending.
- buySAFE Shopping Advisor. With this tool, you can shop with bonded merchants, get free identity theft insurance, and even get ratings on many online stores.
- Lockfox. Keep your passwords safe while using Firefox with this tool. You never have to worry about unscrupulous people getting access to your credit card numbers or bank account.
Personal Finances and Stocks
Keep track of your finances, ensure you aren’t adding up late fees for overdue bills, and monitor your investments with these financial tools.
- Firebux. Keep track of your personal finances with this add-on from Buxfer.
- Moneytrackin. Organize your personal finances or simplify group financial endeavors through Moneytrackin with this add-on.
- Billeo for Firefox on Mac (Intel) – Free. Manage online purchases and bill-paying with this tool that will keep you from ever having to pay late fees again.
- Mortgage Broker Toolbar. While designed specifically for those in the UK, this add-on helps you understand all you need to know about mortgage brokers so that you don’t make any costly mistakes and even provides a free credit report.
- Stock Pilot – Equity Research. Research stocks easily at several different sites with this add-on.
- Ticker Tool. Search for stocks on Google Finance, Yahoo! Finance, and sec.gov with this tool.
- Currency Watch. Get real-time currency conversion rates for over 100 different currencies from Yahoo! Finance.
- Currency Changer. Keep an eye on currency rates, get detailed charts, and even select where your information comes from with this add-on.
- Exch. Follow currency trends and get conversions based on Yahoo! Finance.
- The HotBar – finance. Keep an eye on finance news easily or use the Google search incorporated in this tool.
- Foxstocks. Get up to 10 stock tickers and prices in your toolbar with this tool that is updated through Google Finance.
- StockMashup. This tool provides stock charts, quotes, and news from Yahoo! Finance and Google News.
Make Money
While you may not become a millionaire from these opportunities, use these add-ons to see if you can line your pockets with a little extra spending money.
- OblinQ. Promote things you like and earn money on them if they are from a partner store or set up your own store without expensive fees.
- CashAddOn. Get cash back on your purchases made online with this tool.
- Squidoo. Make money by creating lenses on Squidoo with this add-on.
- Link Gateway Link Builder. Create sponsored links to earn extra money with this tool.
100 Money-Saving Twitter Feeds
Whether or not you’ve been affected by the recession, saving money for retirement, your new business, or for family vacations is always a good idea. But balancing investments, weekly budgets, coupons and credit cards is mind-boggling, especially when you have your regular responsibilities to worry about. To make saving money easy, these finance experts have taken to Twitter to share their analyses and favorite tips for holding on to your hard-earned cash.
Personal Finance Hacks
Manage your personal budget and accounts by tuning in to these frugal-living feeds.
- @myownmoney: Follow this feed for finance news, frugal living tips and more.
- @oldmoney: @oldmoney shares links and tips that educate you about money and help you stay afloat.
- @upsideofmoney: Barbara Bryn Klare shares tips for surviving credit card companies, budgeting your tax refund, and more.
- @CreditKarma: Follow @CreditKarma to learn how to check your credit score.
- @moneywatch: This UK feed follows The Apprentice and a lot more.
- @pfblogs_pop: Get directed to popular personal finance posts around the web when you follow this feed.
- @PslFinance: This tweeter offers advice for figuring out taxes, estate questions, charge cards and more.
- @AlmostFrugal: Kelly Rigotti’s feed shares real tips that can help you save money on food, hobbies, shopping and more.
- @momsmoney: @momsmoney helps you build family wealth and stay organized.
- @debtsquared: If you’re dealing with debt, follow this feed for tips and news stories.
- @fcn: The Five Cent Nickel blogger continues sharing PF hacks here.
- @BudgetsAreSexy: Follow this feed for a fun but substantial look at saving money.
- @frugalhero: This Austin-based feed helps you find coupons, optimize spending and save more.
- @SavingGuide: Find all kinds of money saving tips and tools by following this popular feed.
- @onthemoney: CNBC’s On the Money host Carmen Wong Ulrich shares PF tips and interesting stories from her job.
- @familyfinance: Become more conservative with your money when you follow this feed.
- @fiscalgeek: Paul Van Lierop shares blog posts and more for finding free stuff, organizing debt, and more.
- @JohnnyDebt: @JohnnyDebt is also a member of the RidingTheRhino web forum and shares all kinds of credit card and debt hacks.
- @SuburbanDollar: @SuburbanDollar is a great feed to follow if you know almost nothing about PF.
- @wisebread: The @wisebread feed posts just as many awesome frugal living tips as its main website.
Institutions
Compare bank interest rates and ask questions here.
- @Ask_WellsFargo: Get in touch with a real Wells Fargo rep by following this feeding and sending messages.
- @chasebank: Chase Bank advertises rates and more through this feed.
- @WorldBankAsia: Get financial news, investment trends and more from Asia.
- @mybanktracker: Follow this feed to compare rates and more at different banks.
Conversation
These Twitterers are enthusiastic about connecting online to learn more about finance and saving.
- @wallstreetguy: This finance student is looking to analyze the economy and money markets with other Twitter users.
- @SmartyPig: This social media money site tweets about debt, frugal living, contests, and more.
- @MoneyMatters: This blogging dad is good about highlighting other bloggers and Twitterers while sharing info about saving money.
- @DebtDiva: Clarky Davis chats about saving money and frugal living.
- @moolanomy: The Moolanomy site tweets about making money, saving, and more.
Educators
Get a new perspective on the economy, saving, investments and spending by following these Tweeters.
- @recessionwire: Keep up with the forces that are driving the recession here.
- @taxgirl: This tax lawyer and mom tweets about tax culture, politics, money and more.
- @googlefinance: Get popular financial news from around the world.
- @newcurrency: Jordan MacLeod is an author and "holistic economist" who shares links and insight into smart money practices.
- @infovestment: The Swiss One directs his followers to important finance news stories while sharing tips for building up your income.
- @DigitalMoney: Learn how to make money from your tweets by following this user.
- @wealthandmoney: Learn about the reinvention of wealth here.
- @FinanceGirl: Finance Girl blogs about personal finance and budgeting on Finance Gets Personal.
- @ProfJS: Jason Sturgess is a finance professor at Georgetown’s McDonough School of Business.
- @mjoakes: Economics and finance professor Michael J. Oakes tweets about the recession, higher ed, and more.
- @PulpEconomist: Get finance news and analysis from "the best professor ever."
Financial News
Keep up with the latest finance news that affects the global economy and your wallet.
- @OTCJournal: San Diego’s OTC Journal tweets here.
- @RecessionNews: This feed posts recession-related news stories from the New York Times and more.
- @irwebreport: Dominic Jones is the editor of IRWebreport.com and also runs this investment Twitter feed.
- @RSS_Forbes: Get frequent Forbes postings here.
- @planetmoney: NPR’s Planet Money tweets about the global economy here.
- @TheEconomist: Keep up with the recession, global economy and all things finance when you follow @TheEconomist.
- @financialtimes: London’s Financial Times tweets here.
- @news4piggybox: This feed collects all the financial news stories your piggy bank would be interested in.
- @wsjbreakingnews: Turn to this feed for continuously updated finance and business news.
- @USATODAYmoney: Follow @USATODAYmoney for financial and business news from USA Today.
Investments
Make sense of trading, market trends and more.
- @optionmonster: Get news and more from this stock market watcher.
- @CBOE: Follow the Chicago Board Options Exchange here.
- @wsna: This feed comes from the Wall Street News Alert feed and is great for learning about trends and more.
- @BuzzStocks: Learn about the stocks with buzz right here.
- @StockTwits: Get real-time stock "conversations" from this feed.
- @GOOGstock: Find financial news and stock information from this feed.
- @MarketCurrents: Blog Seeking Alpha maintains a Twitter presence here.
- @stock_exchange: Stock exchange geeks will love following this feed.
- @WendyAPatton: Get real estate investment tips here.
- @FinanceFanatic: Here you will find tips for investing and learning about stock market trends.
Consumer Feeds
Use these feeds to learn about consumer alerts, shopping news and more.
- @CReporter: Consumer Reports tweets here.
- @dingledebt: Learn about trends and news related to shopping, debt, credit cards and more.
- @takingaction: Get shopping news and consumer news stories from this feed.
- @consumerunited: This network has banded together for the sake of lowering product prices from top companies.
Small Business
Entrepreneurs get money saving tips from these Twitter feeds.
- @smallbusiness: SmallBusiness.com keeps up with Twitter here.
- finance30: Get money-saving, accounting and investment tips for business here.
- @Mediabistro: Follow @Mediabistro if you’re a freelancer or work in media. You’ll find discounts on classes plus excellent career resources.
- @allbusinesspros: Get free business tools by following Mick Haeger.
- @GuyKawasaki: Modern business genius Guy Kawasaki shares free tips for becoming a better networker and more.
- @StartupGuru: Follow @StartupGuru for tips on finding investors and saving money.
- @EntMagazine: Entrepreneur Magazine tweets to share its most engaging and helpful stories for business owners.
- @mariaandros: Cut your marketing and advertising dollars by learning how to do it online and for free.
- @vctips: Get venture capital advice here.
- @Reitre@21: Retire@21’s feed inspires young entrepreneurs to handle money responsibly.
Shopping and Deals
Follow these feeds for coupon codes, sale alerts and more.
- @CheapTweet: Follow this twitterer to find all kinds of shopping deals.
- @savemore: @savemore shares coupon codes, smart shopping tips and more.
- @mlmroger: Follow @mlmroger for all kinds of shopping deals and freebie ideas.
- @prontodotcom: Pronto.com’s Twitter feeds shares tips for style and shopping on a budget.
- @shoppingkim: Shopping Kim is a great resource for getting deals on housewares, electronics and more.
- @BostonBudget: Those who live in Boston will find all kinds of deals and specials for restaurants, entertainment and shopping.
- @bluefly_com: This popular online boutique tweets about special deals and fashion news here.
- @shopbop: Let this feed notify you of all the special sales at shopbop.com.
- @savingsdotcom: Get coupons for online shopping here.
- @dealtweets: @dealtweets posts coupons and sale alerts for Office Max, CVS, restaurants and more.
- @amazondeals: Learn about top deals on Amazon.com
- @FindDealsFree: Find specific real estate deals and get tips on finding your own deals here.
- @airlinedeals: This feed collects airline deals from Travelocity, Orbitz, and more.
- @EtsyDeals: This feed highlights good deals on Etsy.
- @savewithcoupons: Find nonstop coupon tip-offs through this feed.
- @FFandD: This "bargainista" shares frugal living tips, coupons, sale alerts and a lot more.
Miscellaneous
Continue to expand your money-saving network of coaches, deal hounds and more by following these feeds.
- @BrokeAssGourmet: Get tips on finding and making amazing food without spending too much.
- @Tweetproquo: Get free Twitter tools and tips for online marketing.
- @GloombergNews: This lighthearted look at finance also has great tips.
- @mintdotcom: This online budget tool tweets about PF, the stock market and more.
- @freakonomics: This feed covers all things money and financial and likes feedback from everyday experts.
- @LighterFootstep: This conscientious feed shares tips for being more eco and budget-conscious.
- @financetips10: Here you will discover money saving tips, especially in regards to online marketing.
- @turbotax: Find out how to get a higher refund.
- @mommysnacks: This popular feed features lots of tips for family budgeting and more.
- @shoestring: Learn how to be less wasteful by following @shoestring.
101 Tools to Run Your Home More Like a Business
By Raine Parker
Home life seems to get more and more complicated as days go by. There are chores, paperwork, and lots of maintenance to deal with, but your home doesn’t have to take over your life. By using tools that streamline the work of businesses, you’ll find that it’s easy to get things done. Read on and you’ll find 101 tools that will make your home run like a business.
Goals
Most businesses set goals, usually for sales. You can create and track goals for your own home with these tools.
- Don’t Break the Chain: With this online tracking tool, you’ll be able to keep up with yearly goals.
- Family Goal Checklist: Make use of this tool to reach your goals as a family.
- 43Things: Get support for your personal goals from this site.
- Joe’s Goals: Use Joe’s Goals to manage your home’s goals.
- LifeTango: Use this tool to stay on top of your goals.
Finance
Carefully keep an eye on your bottom line with these tools.
- iOWEYOU: Carefully stay on top of personal "invoices" using this tool for expense sharing.
- How Much Am I Spending?: You can make budget cuts with the help of this tool.
- NetworthIQ: Stay on top of your debts and assets to monitor your net worth with the help of this tool.
- Wesabe: Wesabe offers a money tool that takes advantage of social media.
- Moneytrackin’: Find out where all of your money goes with the help of this tool.
- Xpenser: Make use of Xpenser, and you’ll be able to stay on top of your expenses.
- Paybackable: Using Paybackable, you’ll get simple and useful online expense reports.
- Mint: Use Mint to keep tabs on your personal finances in an incredibly organized way.
Organization
Use these tools to stay organized just like a business.
- Actionize: Actionize will help you keep it all together-tasks, addresses, and more
- Stuffopolis: With Stuffopolis, it’s super easy to take an inventory of what you own.
- Priorganizer: Use this online organizer to prioritize your to do list.
- Evernote: Get notes that sync to your desktop and more with Evernote.
- TripIt: TripIt offers a great way to plan your trip and itinerary.
- delicious: delicious will help you keep track of important sites and webpages for your home.
- Jott: Using Jott, you can send yourself notes through phone calls, Twitter, and more.
- Netvibes: Netvibes makes keeping your online life together a snap, with everything all in one place.
- Helipad: With Helipad, you can organize and write documents, notes, and to do lists.
- Backpack: Get all of your important documents, snippets, and notes safe in one place with Backpack.
- Oxios: Oxios is a to do list that offers Microsoft Outlook syncing.
- Mindomo: Use this mindmapping tool to get your thoughts organized.
- Remember the Milk: Using this app, you can keep your to do list handy and accessible online and off.
- MindMeister: Use MindMeister in order to map the thoughts in your mind.
Scheduling
Keep on top of your home’s schedule with these useful tools.
- Google Calendar: Use Google Calendar to create a schedule the whole house can stay on top of.
- TimeToMeet: With TimeToMeet, you can set up meetings with family members and more.
- Time Tracker: Track your entire day with the help of this tool to find out where your time and efforts are going.
- GooSync: GooSync is a useful tool for synchronizing your mobile calendar and Google Calendar.
- Cozi: Use this tool to determine the schedule for your entire family.
- 30 Boxes: 30 Boxes offers a simple, usable way to organize your home’s schedule online.
Communication & Documents
Stay in touch and keep the lines of communication open with the help of these tools.
- Grand Central: With Grand Central, you’ll get one number to all of your phones, plus one central voice mailbox.
- Highrise: Highrise offers a simple, but robust way to keep track of all of your contacts.
- Thunderbird: This email client from Mozilla rivals the power of Microsoft Outlook.
- Big Contacts: Using this site, you can track conversations, manage your contacts, and more.
- Campfire: Gather around the Campfire to chat with your home team, complete with text and files in real time.
- Flickr: Use Flickr in order to share your images and video with friends and family around the world.
- My Heritage: With My Heritage, it’s easy to get networked with your family.
- Wengophone: Get free PC-to-PC calls, chat, and video conferencing with Wengo.
- LiveMeeting: Check out LiveMeeting in order to create a web conference for your home.
- Fuser: Fuser will simplify your communications, putting everything together in one inbox.
- Cabos: Cabos offers transfers, searches, and file sharing.
- WORKetc: Use WORKetc to get tools for home work, like timesheets, calendars, document management, and more.
- Docly: With Docly, you’ll get word processing that offers built in copyright protection.
- PBwiki: Use PBwiki to share and organize household information.
- Gliffy: Gliffy makes it easy for you to share drawings, flow charts, and more.
- Central Desktop: Use Central Desktop to share files and communication throughout your home.Writeboard: With Writeboard, you can collaborate and share documents.
- Google Docs: Make use of Google Docs to get online documents in real time.
- Panthius: Panthius offers a full ebusiness suite for scheduling, managing contacts, and more.
- Zoho: Using Zoho’s office tools, you’ll be able to work on spreadsheets, documents, and more.
- GreenDOC: Get a simple and free word processor from GreenDOC.
- ThinkFree: ThinkFree isn’t just an office suite-it has 1 gigabyte of storage, too.
- Splashcast: Splashcast offers a simple way to create slideshows online.
- Zamzar: Convert all of your files to usable formats with the help of Zamzar.
- PDFCreator: Create PDFs from any windows program using this tool.
- Kexi: Kexi offers a database engine and design forms for getting data.
- koolwire: koolwire will email you PDF documents.
- NeoOffice: NeoOffice brings a set of fully featured office applications to Mac computers.
- Webnote: With Webnote, you can take notes on your web browser, and access them from anywhere.
- Krunch: Use Krunch to zip and unzip your files online.
- NVU: NVU is a web authoring system for both Linux and Microsoft Windows.
- Inkscape: Inkscape offers open source vector graphics editing.
- Orangoo: Use Orangoo to get an online spellchecker.
- Smartsheet: SmartSheeet makes it easy to create documents with history tracking.
- ConTEXT: ConTEXT is a free and simple text editor.
- Docbook: Docbook provides users with a useful publishing tool.
- Dia: Inspired by Visio, this tool offers a great way to create diagrams.
- Archimedes: Archimedes provides users with a great way to create computer aided drafts and graphics.
- Open Office: Open Office offers an open source productivity suite.
- GIMP: GIMP will make it easy for you to edit photos and graphic design.
- Thumbstacks: Thumbstacks makes it easy to make outlines and slideshows online.
- Skype: Skype allows you to make calls around the world, often for free.
- MyQuire: Need to work on something together on the go? Try MyQuire, which offers mobile online collaboration.
- Meebo: You can update multiple IM clients with the help of this tool.
- Box: Box offers a super simple tool for sharing files.
- My Family: Use My Family to create a family site that will allow you to easily stay in touch with family members.
On the Go
Use these tools to keep your home running even when you’re not there.
- GoToMyPC: With this tool, you’ll be able to access your PC from anywhere, remotely and securely.
- eOffice: eOffice will give you the ability to edit documents on your mobile device, and integrate with Google Docs.
- HTTrack: Download webpages for offline use with the help of HTTrack.
- Agenda One: Agenda One offers an excellent mobile time management tool.
Planning & Project Management
These tools can help you stay on top of renovations, vacation planning, and more.
- Basecamp: Basecamp offers file sharing, time tracking, to do lists, message boards, and lots more, all online.
- ProjectOffice: ProjectOffice will simplify your home project’s issues and knowledge.
- Socializr: Using this tool, you can plan parties and gatherings in a super organized way.
- Open Workbench: You can control schedules, communication, finances, and more with Open Workbench.
- DeskAway: This project management tool will help you track, organize and manage your projects.
- Taskado: Taskado will help you keep on task and stay organized.
Human Resources & Time Management
With these tools, you can make sure that everyone in your home is pulling their weight.
- Teamwork Project Manager: Teamwork Project Manager will make it simple for you to stay on top of your home’s tasks and find out who is getting things done.
- Toodledo: Toodledo will bring some organization to your home’s task list.
- Chore Buster: This tool will make it easy for you to divide the chores in your home.
- Online Alarm Clock: Stay on top of important deadlines by using the Online Alarm Clock.
- Monkey on Your Back: Use this tool to make sure that everyone in your home stays on top of important tasks.
- TrackMyPeople: You can track time and create timesheets with TrackMyPeople.
- TimeXchange: With this app, you’ll be able to keep track of your projects and time spent.
- myHours: Get time management, timesheets, and time tracking from myHours.
- Who Does: Who Does simplifies the chore of assigning home chores and tasks.
- RescueTime: With RescueTime, you’ll be able to find out how you and others in your home spend time.
Health
Step up to an executive fitness regimen with these health tools.
- Traineo: Traineo offers fitness goal tracking with help from your family and friends.
- iTrainHarder: Using iTrainHarder, you can track and plan your fitness goals.