What email do you use?  I have used Juno, CompuServe, Hotmail, and Yahoo in the past, but I would say that Gmail is by far the best email service.  Jonathan started using Gmail when it first came out in 2004, but it took me awhile to switch over because I hate change.  I am glad I made the change!

Here are some features:

• a LARGE amount of storage: about 7 GB
• it’s free
• it’s super fast!
• When you’re looking at another website, a box pops up on the bottom of your screen when you get new mail.
• Awesome with fighting spam.  Never ONCE have I gotten spam in my Inbox.  In the beginning, I rarely (like once a month) got spam in my spam folder.  Now, I get a lot more, but it’s okay.
• If you’re not sure where you archived an email, you can do an easy search.  It’s Google, after all, so it’s awesome, quick, and reliable.
• Built in Google Chat.

I understand if you’re hesitant to switch over because you don’t want to lose your old messages or type in your friends’ email addresses again.  Well, no worries anymore because last month, Gmail released a new feature that allows you to easily import your email archives and contacts from at least 45 other email services.  (For now, this feature is only available for new accounts.)

All you need to really do is enter your old email password and then Gmail imports all of your old emails and contacts in 2-4 days.

The only thing that took some getting used to, meaning I didn’t like this feature at first, was that you don’t have “folders” that you put your read emails into.  You have “labels.”  Once, you label an email, then you “archive” it.  I thought I’d get my emails mixed up this way, but I remember to use the “search”, and I can always find an email I’m looking for.

Click here to create a new account.  Click here to get to know Gmail’s interface.

So Google now archives millions of pages of magazines.  And if you haven’t already checked the following out, Google already does this with books and newspapers.

Some info about the magazines:

• They’re scanned and digitized.
• You can browse magazine covers.
• You can find a specific issue.
• You can turn the scanned pages.
• They also have a link to subscribe.
• You can also search within an issue.

Anyone else like to read out there?  Well, reading can get expensive; $25 a book??  Crazy.

So, when we feel like we need a book, we buy from Amazon, Half.com, Ebay, or A1 books.

But if you’re not sure you might like a certain book, check out Google Books to see if you can see a limited preview, like this one.

You can also download some free books from Gutenberg.  And of course, you can get some from your local library.  Someone told me they don’t like checking out books because they end up with at least $10 in late fees.  Well, I found Elf for her.  It’s a service online that emails before your books are due.  Go here to see if your library participates.

Or if you’d like to swap books, check out BookMooch or Paperback Swap.

You can also sell your books at some of the above mentioned links and also at Cash 4 Books.

Do you know of other good resources that are cheap or free?

Here’s a GPS tracking digital watch called Num8.  When children wear the watch, parents can locate where their children are with a secure website– which will overlay the location on Google Maps.  Also, an alarm will trigger if the watch is removed forcibly.

With Google Docs, you can share your work online. You simply upload a file to GDocs (or create the file within GDocs), and you can edit that document (Word), spreadsheet (Excel), or presentation (Powerpoint) whenever you want from multiple computers. Also, you can let others have access to those documents. So, they can edit the doc, and you see the changes immediately. But the documents are still stored securely; not everyone can see them– just the people you choose to have access (if you choose for others to have access). And yes, it’s totally free.

Maybe you have a prayer group, and whenever you have a prayer request, you have to call 15 different women– which is sort of time consuming. But next week, the members might have forgotten what that prayer request was. Enter GDocs. Julie can create a GDoc that has a list of her prayer requests, and she can share that list w/ all 15 women. Susan can open up that GDoc and add her request to the list. So can Amy.

Or lets say you’re a college student who has a computer in your dorm, but you don’t have a printer. Been there. You’re constantly going to the campus computer lab to print your document. But you either have to email it to yourself (which might not work if the file is too big) or put it onto a jump drive (which might take too long). Enter GDocs. You can now upload your Powerpoint onto your computer, go to the computer lab, open GDocs, and print your Powerpoint.

Jonathan and I use GDocs for our budget. I do most of the receipt entering at home, but sometimes if Jonathan gets gas on the way to work, he can open GDocs on his work computer and edit our budget from there.

Maybe this video will help clear up any confusion:

At the beginning of every month, Jonathan and I have a Budget Meeting. We go over every “Fund” and discuss what things we anticipate happening in the month to alter the previous month’s budget. For example, we know we might want to add a few bucks to the Atmos Gas Fund since it’s getting colder (yuck!). And Abby will need new wipes next month, so that Fund will go up by $14. Gas is going down (hallelujah!), so we might lower the amount there.

If you know a little about Excel, it’s easy to add formulas to calculate Total Spent, Actual Spent, etc. If you don’t know much about formulas, just go to the “Help” menu. Or, if you’re not into doing a budget on the computer, you can always do the math on paper. Notice at the bottom of the Budget, we know how much we anticipate spending each month. Some other items at the bottom are blackened out to protect the innocent.

We have two spreadsheets when we calculate our Budget. The first page is the one you see above. The second page, below, is our Ledger where I enter in ALL our receipts (even the $0.35 for water; keep record of everything!).

This is all done by formulas, also, to where the items on Ledger Sheet are automatically entered into the correct spots onto the Budget Sheet.

The idea is that as the month goes on, we know where we stand financially. If we’re getting close to spending all our Eating Out money, then we know we need to plan to eat at home.

Our goal is to spend a lot less money than we make every month. Theoretically, by squeezing our budget, we grow our bank account and then use the excess money to pay off my student loan.

Not sure how much to budget? Dave recommends these amounts:

• Charitable gifts: 10-15%
• Housing: 25-35%
• Utilities: 5-10%
• Food: 5-15%
• Transportation: 10-15%
• Clothing: 2-7%
• Medical: 5-10%
• Personal 5-10%
• Recreation: 5-10%
• Debts: 5-10%

We actually do this Budget on Google Docs. Haven’t used them? Well, stay tuned for next week’s Technology Thursday, and we’ll tackle Google Docs.

If you don’t want to remember to visit multiple blogs or websites every day, implement Google Reader. It’s a great time saver. With Google Reader, you can:

Keep track of your favorite websites.

Stay up to date:

Google Reader constantly checks your favorite news sites and blogs for new content. Whether a site updates daily or monthly, you can be sure that you won’t miss a thing.

Simplify your reading experience:

Google Reader shows you all of your favorite sites in one convenient place. It’s like a personalized inbox for the entire web.

—taken from Google Reader webpage.

After you go to Google Reader, you need to sign in with your Google account, or if you don’t have one, you can create one. It’s free, of course.

There are a few ways to add subscriptions.

• You can click on “manage subscriptions” and then “goodies.” Scroll down and drag and drop the little “+Google” button to the bookmarks tool bar. So later, when you’re on a blog you want to subscribe to, simply click the “Add to Google” in your tool bar, and you’ll be forwarded to GReader for subscription options.
• Or you can click “Add Subscription” on your GReader page. Then, copy and paste the link from the website you want to subscribe to. And click “Add.”
• Also, some sites have an RSS button (which looks like this: ) that you can click to set up the site in GReader. For example, on the upper right of this page, you’ll see “The Towells RSS feed”.

If that was confusing, watch this tutorial video.

Once you have several subscriptions, you might want to organize GReader better. You can do this with folders. I have folders for: Friends, News, Thrift, Bible, Sports, and Mom Stuff. To set up similar folders, click on a feed. Then select “feed settings” from the top right corner of the page. You can then add the feed to an existing folder or “create a new folder.”

Let me know if you need help or have questions.