A credit card with training wheels

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Does your daughter ever look at you less like her M.O.M. and more like her A.T.M.? If it seems like every time you turn around you’re reaching into your wallet to give your kid a little cash then the Bill My Parents SpendSmart card is the perfect solution.

It’s basically a pre-paid debit card that also works at ATMs and lets you fund it the from your credit card or bank account. You can add money in on a weekly or monthly basis, or just as needed for her desperate quest for the perfect pair of jeans. You get notified when purchases are made and, because it’s a debit card she can’t spend more than she has, which not only teaches her to make better financial decisions, but also doesn’t risk her credit rating.

It’s taken everywhere Mastercard is accepted and there is a nominal monthly, reload and ATM fee. Best of all, if it ever gets stolen or you see that she’s shopping like a Kardashian you can shut down that card faster than you can say, “OMG!”

So teach your kids how to spend responsibly and keep them out of your wallet.

** NOTE: To make search engines happy, for your sake and ours, please be prepared to add an additional 250 words MINIMUM to this description.  Give it your personal take, add an anecdote… you know, make it snazzy. 🙂

Suggested Tags

Bill My Parents, Debit Cards for Kids,Mastercard pre-paid debit card, Pre-paid debit cards, SpendSmart Card

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Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.

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Archive Your Family History with 1000 Memories

Opening a shoebox of old photographs is like unlocking the door to your personal history, flooding your senses with the moments (and the occasional misguided outfit) that shaped who you are. That’s assuming, of course, that you can find the shoebox somewhere in the depths of your garage. Or it’s not in your great aunt’s closet. Oooor, it hasn’t been lost to a flood in your basement. Our precious memories deserve better than this, don’t they? Don’t we all want to honor our old family photos, especially ones of friends and relatives who are no longer with us?

Time to bring your past into the present. 1000memories wants to help you get your photos out of shoeboxes and help you scan, organize and share them with your family and friends. Think of it like a “Facebook for yesteryear”— scan and upload your pics, then date and tag them with the names. Add stories, audio, video and memorable quotes too, and 1000memories will arrange it all in a beautiful layout for each family member, so you can string together your family history and everyone can upload their own personal collections.

Watch this week’s Twirl and check out Carley’s teenage fashion faux-pas (hey, cut her some slack— it was the 80s).

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.

New Digitwirl Episode: Seriously Simple Shared Schedules

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Is my husband going to be home for dinner? Does that business meeting conflict with basketball practice? Game night, girl’s night, date night… keeping everyone’s schedules straight in my work and family life is a herculean effort. To manage everyone’s coming and going, I need something more than just a place to jot things down (sorry, paper calendar). What I need is a system that truly supports me and helps me get through my day, one commitment at a time.That’s why I can’t live without Google Calendar. Let me count the ways I love it: I can use it anywhere (so every device I have gets me where I’m going), it’s easy to share schedules, so I can coordinate efforts with co-workers and significant others, aaaand it’s free.Watch this week’s Twirl to learn to see why gCal and I have a standing appointment.** NOTE: To make search engines happy, for your sake and ours, please be prepared to add an additional 250 words MINIMUM to this description.  Give it your personal take, add an anecdote… you know, make it snazzy. 🙂 

Suggested Tags 
free online calendar, google calendar, google calendar review, online calendar, shared calendar,shared family calendar

Byline

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems.  In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step.  Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur.  Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at <a href=”http://www.digitwirl.com/”>Digitwirl.com</a>, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at <a href=”http://www.twitter.com/digitwirl”>@digitwirl</a>.

Two Ways to Digitize Your Old Photos

Description:
By far one of the most common questions we get is “What do I do with all my old photos?” Frankly, we’ve all got shoeboxes full of them too, so we went off in search of a solution. First, if you’re only looking to digitize a small batch, maybe around 100, then there are lots of inexpensive flatbed scanners out there that will do the trick. Some even scan film negatives, which is a real plus. There are also a slew of portable scanners that are better used for scanning a low number of pictures. But before you press “scan” for the first time, let’s talk dpi (dots per inch). The higher the dpi, the better quality the image will be; however, the file size will be a lot larger as well. If all you want to do is post your pictures online after scanning them, 72 dpi is the best way to go. Scanning your pictures at 300 dpi will allow you to view them in print quality and you may even be able to print them a little bit bigger than their original size. If you really want to blow things up, 600 dpi is also available, but you should be selective about what you bump up. Now, if you have hundreds, yes, with an “s,” then you may be better off having a service such as Scanmyphotos.com take care of them for you. They have high speed scanners that turn your lifetime of photo memories into 300 dpi files burned conveniently onto a DVD. Their prices are reasonable ($79.50 for 1000 photos), but there are some details you’re going to want to let Carley tell you about in the video. Once your photos are scanned, you can load them on to external hard drives or even upload them to an online cloud service such as Dropbox.com for easy storage. Sorting through your photos is also a good way to separate the good, the bad, and the ugly. So check out this week’s Twirl for everything you need to know about digitizing your favorite photo memories. Then, just think of what you can do with all that space you freed up in that bottom drawer. Don’t let your lifetime of memories spend a lifetime in box!

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems. In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step. Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur. Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at Digitwirl.com, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at @digitwirl.

Frame your photos seconds after snapping them

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When you look around your house it’s probably filled with beautiful framed pictures from when your daughter was a baby or special events like your wedding. The problem is that your “baby” is now a fifth-grader now and you’re celebrating your 15th anniversary next month. Most of us stopped printing pictures when we made the shift to digital photos which makes our framed photos woefully out-of-date. Now all our memories are stored on our computers, our phones, or maybe still trapped on memory cards. Well we found a great way to get those digital memories off your devices and into a picture frame in a snap.

The Kodak Pulse Digital Photo Frame is a beautiful frame that holds up to 4000 pictures and has several different dynamic display options. You can send the photos wirelessly from places like iPhoto, Kodak Gallery, Facebook, and even upload them from a memory card or flash drive. But here’s where the Pulse really gets ours racing. You can create an email address for your frame and email photos directly to it from anywhere. So that moutaintop shot you took when you were skiing will be on display by the time you’re at the bottom of the slopes. It comes in a 7” and a 10” version and makes an amazing gift for loved ones who live far away or even just to have in your office so you can get updated pictures when you’re not around.

Check out this week’s Twirl and find out why being framed might not be such a bad thing.

How to choose a table

Tablets are the hottest tech trend around. They’re affordable, portable, and do all the stuff most of us use computers for. Part web, part book, part TV and all around convenience, but which one is right for you?

We’ll give you a basic rundown of what features to look for when you’re ready to buy one. Does size matter? (Heh.) Do you feel the need for speed? How much storage is right for you? From the new Kindle Fire and Barnes & Noble Nook Tablet, to other Android-based favorites like the Samsung Galaxy 7” and the Motorola Xoom and of course the Apple iPad 2, we’ll show you want to keep in mind before shelling out your cash.

Oh, and beware, the topic of tablets may trigger a twisted tongue. Or, maybe that’s just Carley.

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems.  In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step.  Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur.  Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at <a href=”http://www.digitwirl.com/“>Digitwirl.com</a>, or follow Digitwirl on Twitter at <a href=”http://www.twitter.com/digitwirl“>@digitwirl</a>.

Get the best deals online.

How do you know when your getting the best deals when you buy online? Easy, put Zingsale.com on the case. It’s your personal shopper, price predictor, and bargain-hunter all wrapped into one super-simple site. Zingsale constantly searches tons of online merchants to monitor products for when you’ll get the best deals online and then lets you know of price drops so you know the perfect time to press the “buy” button.
So click play and find out how you can get a price alert and turn every online shopping excursion into a bargain bonanza!

One place to manage bills, accounts and statements.

Remember a few years ago when you signed up for a frequent flyer account? You remember that number, right? Oh, and raise your hand if you’ve ever got charged a late fee for forgetting a credit card payment. How about having an online deal expire before you had the chance to take your belly dancing lessons? Who can keep track of all that stuff?

Manilla, that’s who.This awesome site and mobile app will keep track of all your utilities, credit card balances, frequent flyer numbers and even what’s next in your Netflix queue. Not only will it store all that information, and guard it with its life, it will even send you reminders so that you’ll never miss another bill payment again.

And, it’s so clever it can even allow you to make those payments right then and there.So now all you have to do is sit back and feel like the Goddess of Organization. Check out this week’s Twirl and see what left Carley in the dark about managing her busy life.

The best place to sell your cell

“What’s the deal? Doesn’t it seem like cell phone manufacturers time the release date of the next generation iPhone or Droid with the exact moment you plunk down money on the “current version.”

So, what do you do with the gadgets you’ve outgrown when you’re ready for the latest and greatest? Stash them in a drawer? Nah, too messy. Toss them? God we hope not, landfills are full enough already. We have a better idea, sell your cell, or computer, or e-reader (basically any of your electronic relics) on Gazelle.com.

This site will help you appraise your old electronics, tells you how much they’ll pay you for it and you sit back and collect the cash. Find out how to recycle and sell your electronics so you can get green, while being green.”

Tame your out-of-control inbox

Inbox overload. No one should have to suffer from this awful affliction. And yet tens of thousands, maybe even hundreds of thousands of email users are plagued by overstuffed inboxes every single day. But there is a cure. It’s a free service called OtherInbox, or “OIB” as the cool kids say.

OIB basically weeds through all your emails and pulls out the automated ones from the ones from real people and then files them in different folders. So, that sale site coupon will come into the OIB Shopping folder, but the credit card statement will go into the OIB Financial folder. Then you can look at what you want, when you want without having to sift through dozens of other emails clogging up your inbox. And best of all, that email list you ended up on, but never signed up for, well that can be moved into the OIB Unsubscribe folder where they’ll do the breaking up for you.

OIB works with Gmail, Yahoo and AOL and has a bunch of other nifty features we can’t wait to share with you. So watch how quickly and easily it tames Carley’s out-of-control inbox. Plus you can check out her adorable PJ’s.

Digitwirl is the weekly web show that offers simple solutions to modern day problems.  In 3 minutes, Digitwirl brings busy women the very best time, money, and sanity-saving technology, and then teaches them how to use it, step-by-step.  Digitwirl was created by technology lifestyle expert Carley Knobloch, who uses lots of technology to manage her busy life as mom of two and entrepreneur.  Become a subscriber to get weekly show alerts and exclusive deals at <a href=”http://www.digitwirl.com/