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Works for Me Wednesday:Magic Jack

We are right now trying this new gadget that is out....I am hoping that it will help us cut some costs by eliminating out home phone service. Many folks out there are switching to using only cell phones with no land line service. We saw an advertisement about this product and decided to try it out.

Here is a little more information about Magic Jack:

Magic Jack is a newcomer to the VOIP (voice over internet protocol) family of internet phoning. It's quick to install, easy to use and the price can't be beat for making unlimited local and long distance calls in the United States and Canada. But is Magic Jack too good to be true?

Like most products, Magic Jack has it's good points and it's not-so-good points. It will be up to you to decide what is most important to you in internet phoning and to choose the product that should work best in your situation.

Magic Jack Pros

Low cost to try out. For $39.95 plus shipping and handling, you receive the USB device and the license to use it for unlimited local and long distance calling for one year. Each additional year is $19.95. There are also multi-year packages to purchase at a discount.

International calls can be free if you are calling someone who also has the device. For example, if you have a family member that lives in another country, you can purchase a Magic Jack and mail it to them. Then you can call them for free and they can call anywhere in the US and Canada free.

Includes many features such as voice mail, caller ID, call waiting, call forwarding, 411 and 911.

Save on your cell phone minutes by using it to make calls from home.

Uses any ordinary landline telephone, including cordless phones. Headsets and your computer microphone and speakers can also be used.

Magic Jack Cons

Your computer has to be turned on to use Magic Jack.

Service can be intermittent. New company with growing pains, I don't recommend relying on it for your only phone.

Directory assistance, or 411 is advertising based if you call it from your phone. If clicking on the soft phone screen that lives on your desktop, you are taken to a web site to look up phone numbers.

911 is through a different system than the 911 you call from a regular telephone. When setting up your Magic Jack it will ask you the physical location of your phone in case of calling 911. Until this service is a lot more stable, I would not rely on their 911 in an emergency. Another reason for keeping your landline phone.

If your internet service does not work during a power outage, you will be without this phone service also. Unless you have a cell phone that will work, this is another reason not to cancel your landline phone service. Make sure you keep a phone that doesn't use electricity on hand for emergencies.

As with most or all voip services, you must have a high speed internet connection to use this service. These services include broadband, DSL, WiFi, FIOS, cable internet or WiMax. It is not recommended for use with satellite internet.

If you are interested in having a service that allows you to make free long distance calls, give Magic Jack a try. If dumping your current landline phone service is what you need, investigate the other VOIP services that are available and that have a longer track record of performance.

So far we have had some bad connections...and experienced the computer being turned off and forgot that it has to be on for the phone to work. But we have cell phones too.....4 different ones to be exact so .....no big deal.

The service of $19.99 year as opposed to $360.00 a year...well that's a not brainer for us. And as you might have guessed......right now "It Works For Me!"

Wordless Wednesday: Family

Coupon Tip of the Day! Where Do you Get Your Coupons?

Where do you get your coupons??


Sunday Newspaper
It will have usually 2 inserts in it; Smart Source and Red Plum----
Occasionally there will be a Proctor and Gamble insert..(usually monthly)
Occasionally there will be another insert by General Mills
You will need to have at least one copy of the Sunday Tennessean everyweek...the more copies, the better.
Get your own subscription to the Sunday Newspaper...Be sure to get your yearly subscription on a special deal....Don't pay full price for your subscription.....wait for a deal.

Small Town Papers
It will usually have one insert in it ...Smart Source every week.

NOTE: One holiday weekends...There will be no inserts in either of these papers.

Other Sources:

Ask friends, relatives, and co-workers for their extra papers. Let it be known that you are a couponer and will gladly accept any extra coupon inserts from anyone who doesn't use them. You might be surprised how many you can collect this way. Elderly neighbors seem to be especially eager to save their coupons for others, so be sure to ask them. Kroger will have the Sunday Paper on sale for $1.00 on Monday!

Get coupons at the store. Keep your eyes peeled at the store and pick up any coupons you find on tearpads or in the blinking dispensers. If there are extras, pick up multiple copies of these. A lot of times, this very item will be on an exceptional sale just a few weeks later and you’ll be more than glad you picked up that handful of coupons!

Store magazines, booklets, or flyers. Many stores like Publix will have booklets, or flyers with store coupons and maufacture's coupons in them...these are great sources for coupons...pick up several when you can.

Print coupons out online. (CAUTION: PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER BEFORE YOU PRINT COUPONS ONLINE-YOU CAN AND WILL GET VIRUS THAT WILL CAUSE YOUR COMPUTER TO CRASH--SEE PROTECT YOUR COMPUTER SECTION ON MY BLOG (seekinghisface2.blogspot.com)FOR MORE SPECIFIC INFO ON HOW TO DO THIS) If your store accepts “printables,” this can be a great source of coupons. You can do a search for "printable coupons" and it will bring up many different coupons. You can also do a search for a specific item and see if there are any printable coupons. Most of these sites allow you to print two coupons per computer every few weeks. The coupons offered on these sites usually change every month. Check out the list on the sidebar for some of my favorite links to printable coupon websites. I usually only print a coupon that will match up to a sale that week. If you print them all just to have them, you are wasting your ink and time as you will probably not get them matched up and spend them... Bear in mind-you can print your coupons in black and white to save on color ink!!!!

Here is a list of sites that have printable coupons:

Coupons.com
Freebies4Mom
Master List of "Bricks"


Coupon Services are a great place to get coupons. There are a few other online sites, including eBay and The Coupon Clippers or The Coupon Master where you can routinely buy extra coupons from. Be careful, though, and carefully calculate what you are spending as to what you are saving to determine if this is a good deal or not-you can easily go overboard. However, if it's a really good deal--ie a high dollar coupon- and it is going to save you lots of money and you're able to afford it in your grocery budget, then go for it! I usually only buy the coupons that are not offered in our region. I usually get my coupons from ebay. I know many people who have saved hundreds of dollars buying coupons from The Coupon Clippers or The Coupon Master.

Walgreens: $5/$25 coupon (good Wednesday and Thursday only)

Walgreens just released a $5/$25 coupon which is good for Wednesday and Thursday of this week only (June 10-11, 2009).