Electronic Gizmos and Gadgets

I now have a collection of electronic gadgets. Each one serves a purpose and saves worry, time, and hundreds of dollars. Let me explain. I am not counting the cost of WiFi at home because I would most likely have some form of WiFi at home with or without these handy gadgets.

Music:

Slacker radio has free service. I can run down the battery listening to music and not worry about not being able to get a phone call. It is refreshed with WiFi at home. The music is downloaded in a "Cache" area. Other services like Rhapsody and Zune charge money for music service. The fees start at $9.99. Savings are $119.88 per year.

"Smart" phone: Palm TX, Kindle

The advantage of a "smart" phone like an android or a blackberry is the ability to run applications and access the internet. The Palm TX has WiFi and is fast. Also can take notes, play games, keep contact information, run spreadsheets, read documents. The Kindle is slow and does not have Wifi. It does have 3G, however. Most data plans for cell phones are $15 to $30 per month. Therefore, I can use it as my connection to the internet when I am not in a WiFi spot. Savings on 3G: $180/year

Phone service

I use pay as you go I only pay 10 cents per minute. Mintues roll over and don't expire for a year. My phone also doubles as a watch, stopwatch, timer, and calculator. Most phone service is $30 per month. I pay about $70 per year. So, I save about $290 per year on phone service.

GPS

A GPS device. No service fees. Verizon charges $9.99 per month for VZ Navigator. Also can be used as a phone book for the points of interest. Savings of $119.88 per year. (That is about the cost of a GPS)

Camera

I know a lot of electronic devices have this built in. But at 12 Megapixel and 3x optical zoom and a good flash, the picture quality is much better than the built in camera of a phone.

My net savings by using all these gadgets instead of an all-in-one phone is $709.76 every year. That is not chump change. Although, all together, they get pretty bulky.