Do you know what you spend every year on your phone, TV and internet bills? If not, put on your guessing hat. How much does the average American spend annually on all three services combined? Is it … A.) $1,500, B.) $2,500, C.) $3,000 or D.) $4,000?
5 smart digital life hacks you won’t find on TikTok
Not long before my mother passed away, she needed medical tests in another state. She asked me to carry her COVID-19 vaccination card and said, “Be sure to put the card in a safe place where we can find it quickly.” There’s a much better way to have proof of that fragile card.
I showed Mom first how to save her vaccination card on her phone. Then, I showed her how she could access that card in seconds. Tap or click here for the steps to store and access your vaccination card on your iPhone or Android.
I love figuring out digital life hacks. They make life easier, save you money or teach you a new party trick to amaze your friends. Speaking of saving money, tap or click here for 8 proven ways to save on your streaming, cable and internet bills.
1. Find something you want to watch
Netflix has more than 15,000 titles, but now and then, you might find yourself saying, “There’s nothing on.” Netflix does an admirable job recommending what you might want to watch next based on your viewing habits. If you think it’s not working for you, or maybe the recommendations are based on your ex’s love of thrillers, do this:
- Go to the Viewing Activity tab in your account settings.
- Delete individual films and shows you’re not into.
- You can also select Hide All to do a complete reset.
If you’re still endlessly scrolling, go straight to the Celebrate the Oscars section. It’s only the award winners, broken down by genre and popularity. You’re bound to get into more than a few movies or shows here. You can find a list of 2021 Emmy-nominated shows and specials, too.
2. Change your font and use less ink
Here’s something I bet you never thought about: The font that you pick for your documents determines how much ink or toner is consumed when printing.
Let’s start with the worst font: Arial. It gobbles up over 20% more of your ink than other fonts. Unfortunately, it’s probably the most common font used on web pages.
Now, the best font to use when printing is Times New Roman. You’ll get almost 30% more pages printed using Times New Roman over Arial. Coming in a close second is Calibri. The problem with this font is that it doesn’t come across as professional. Instead, you can use Century Gothic as an ink-saving font.
Bonus tip: It’s a fact of life. Websites have tons of ads. That can get annoying when you want to print something to save for later. Tap or click here for the trick to print a webpage without any ads or other junk.
Working from home or streaming more? You may be facing a huge internet bill soon
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way many of us go to work every day. Millions of Americans are still working from home, which means they’re relying on their internet connection more than ever before.
More internet activity means increased data usage and potentially higher bills. That’s why many internet service providers took it upon themselves to remove data caps during the early stages of the pandemic. Tap or click here to see how this worked.