How many times have you gotten your phone bill and thought “We are spending way too much money on this?” We used to do that a lot. When you take your phone bill and add it to the fact that you’re paying for your cell phones and any other forms of communication, I know that sometimes you might think,”Is this land line even necessary?”

I have a love hate (but mostly hate) relationship with my land line. I really don’t want to get rid of it because I don’t always have cell phone service in my house and I don’t want to miss any important calls (and with my luck, the day I turned off the land line, I would get one of those important calls).

To help with my problem, I started looking into VoIP services. I’m sure that everyone has heard of Vonage. If you have cable, I’m sure at one point in time the company has tried to sell you on its digital telephone package (which is simply VoIP). There are many more providers than just this handful though.

After a brief Google search for VoIP providers, I found some really good deals out there. Most were cheaper than Vonage’s $24.95 a month.

You can choose what provider you want by the features you want. If you have friends or family outside the United States, then make sure you pick a plan that offers free calling to international numbers. Sometimes you can find services that offer calling for free to the UK and Europe.  Most providers offer free calling to Canada and Mexico.

There are also some providers that offer a reduced price for service, but it requires you to leave your computer on all the time. The Magic Jack is the most popular form of that. I wouldn’t use one because I don’t want to have to leave my computer on for days and days at a time, and like I said before, the one time I have to restart my computer, I’m sure I’d miss the call I was waiting for.

I just feel like no matter what you pick, if you have a high speed internet connection, you can definitely save money with a VoIP service versus a traditional phone line. You just have to make sure that your connection is reliable and always on. Also, don’t forget, if you have DSL you may not be able to get rid of your land line.

PowerPoint has been around for 25 years now, and while it was first geared toward people who had to present in business meetings and salespeople, the program has now become synonymous with anyone who has to give a presentation of any kind; no matter if you’re a salesperson or a 4th grader.

Over the past few years in college, I gave numerous presentations and PowerPoint presentations were not only expected, but required for all of them. However, after reading the expressions on people’s faces while giving presentations over the past few presentations I’ve discovered something: no one cares.

Perhaps it’s just presentations that people don’t want to go to, perhaps it’s the fact that PowerPoint slides often have too much information on a slide. Whatever the reason, I believe that it’s time for people to start coming up with more creative ways of giving presentations.

I think, especially for those in more creative fields, there should be requirements that they have to give presentations that are far more creative than a PowerPoint presentation; and no, I don’t mean passing out candy or throwing t-shirts at the audience. Marketing professionals are expected to be some of the most creative people in the business school and they’re giving the same presentations as accounting majors, something is wrong there.

Another problem I have with PowerPoint presentations is that the audience has become numb to the presentations. They have taught an entire generation how to stop paying attention. They have also taught that same generation how to rely so heavily on one program.

In the corporate world, people often turn something that can be said in two to five minutes into a 20 minute presentation because they feel as if they need to have the visual aid of a PowerPoint presentation. What a waste of time.

Your life is currently a jumbled mess. You can no longer figure out what time you need to feed your cat because of your busy lifestyle. So, you decide to go pick yourself up a netbook and a smartphone thinking that life will get less complicated. Well, my friend, I believe that life may just get a bit more complex with that many electronic devices hanging around…unless you can utilize them properly.

Speaking from experience, I currently own a full size laptop, a netbook, and a Palm Pre and I use them all but it has taken me just about a year to figure out how to utilize them all to get the most out of owning each electronic.

I’ll start with the smallest: The Smartphone. In my honest opinion, everyone could use a smartphone. I think they’re great for doing just about anything you could possibly need. With a data plan, anytime you need to find anything the internet it is only a few clicks away. I basically use my phone to schedule my days and surf the internet…oh and make phone calls. I just decided that if you’re going to carry a small device to make calls and text during office meetings, then why shouldn’t it also surf the internet and have a good scheduler?

Secondly, I think having a laptop (or other personal computer) is important…vital even. In our “connected” society, having a full sized computer is imperative in most cases. There are so many things that you can do with a full sized computer that the smartphone can’t do, like (until recently) copy and paste. Multitasking on a personal computer is a breeze. Also, at least I find it to be true, it is so much faster and easier to type and find things on the internet with the computer. If I have my phone in my pocket, but am only a room away from my computer, I am going to get up and go search with my computer.

So, that’s when I get to the netbook. For months, my netbook laid lifelessly to the right of my laptop, plugged in and just sitting there. I’m sure that you’ve noticed by now that my life revolves around staying constantly connected. So, how did I finally begin utilizing the netbook with my phone and laptop always around? When my laptop started acting up badly (I can’t unplug it without it immediately losing power), I started traveling with my netbook. Now, I carry it everywhere. Even when I’m sitting at my desk with my laptop open, I typically leave my netbook on and on a site like Facebook with another instant messaging program open. This makes it easier for anyone who needs to get in touch with me to get in touch with me.

I think it’s all a balancing act between the three if you own them and you have to figure out if they are necessary for you.