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Economizing

It came as a stunning revelation to me when I calculated that I’m spending as much as Rs.400 per month on dispensable Web luxury. Here’s how:

  • Times Reader - $40 per annum
  • Flickr - $24 per annum
  • Domain - $35 per annum

All this roughly amounts to Rs.5000 yearly. Times Reader, I realized, wasn’t worth the $40, even though this was the heavily discounted rate over the actual $175. All the content is directly accessible from the web free of cost, albeit I’ll have to make do with constant scrolling and other distractions. I cancelled my subscription yesterday.

Flickr is another white elephant. Since I’m not really a photography buff, I don’t need the extras the paid account brings in. Though the free account shows only the 200 latest photos, it actually archives all. An image URL that points to ‘hidden’ photos will work perfectly. The workaround to this little annoyance is to store all image URLs in my blog. I’ll do it before my account subscription expires later this year. There’ll be no renewal.

I’m not to blame for the domain price going up drastically from $10 when I had first registered it. MelbourneIT, Yahoo! partner for domain registration and web hosting is the real culprit. I’ll switch to GoDaddy as soon as I’m a little less engaged from the current commitments.

My savings:

  • Times Reader - $40 per annum
  • Flickr - $24 per annum
  • Domain - $25 per annum

That’s a good Rs.4500 saved annually! My monthly Web expense will plummet to a measly Rs.40.

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