When I was growing up, it seemed like t.v. shows ran all new episodes from September to May. These days, however, it seems like you can’t go an month without having a rerun. I’m a Law and Order SVU fan and for a couple weeks in a row, in February and March there were reruns…and its only March? There should be 3 more months of new shows!

If you’re like me and get upset when you sit down to watch your favorite show only to discover you just saw it a few weeks back, you can now use Rerun Check to find out if your show will be a new episode or a rerun. You can even request an email or subscribe to the RSS fees to you can be notified whenever a new episode is going to run.

Check it out at RerunCheck.com

Many people start the year with diet resolutions. The diet industry knows it if the number of books, magazines and weight loss commercials being highlighted this month are any indication. But instead of spending a fortune on weight loss information and advice, why not visit Traineo.com? Traineo is a free resource that will help you set your weight loss goal and track your progress. It has a community forum and groups, plus you can identify “motivators” who will receive information about your progress so they can help you stay motivated.

To sign up or learn more, visit Traineo.com.

When it comes to managing my life, particularly if I’m way from my computer, if I can skip or speed up a step I’m more likely to stay on top of things. Google Calendar allows me to quickly add events from my phone through SMS.  I simply scroll to Google in my contact list and choose the option to send an SMS, type my appointment and hit send. Google even texts back that the appointment was received.

To set up the mobile option with Google Calendar:

1. Visit your Google Calendar online.
2. Click on the “Settings” option.
3. Click on “Mobile Set up”
4. Check to see if your Carrier is supported.
5. Enter your country and phone number, and then click “Send Verification Code”
6. You’ll receive a message back with a verification number. Enter that number in the “Verification Code” field on in the mobile settings on your calendar. (If you don’t receive the code, you can request it again through the Mobile Set up in the Settings.)
7. Click “Finish Set-up”.

To send a text of a new appointment:

1. Add Google Calendar’s SMS number to your contacts 48368
2. Send a text to the SMS number. Enter the appointment, date and time for example “Dinner 3/4 8pm” or “Soccer Saturday 10am”
3. Google Calendar will text back that it received the appointment.

You can also have Google Calendar text your appointments to you. To receive the next item on your appointment schedule text “next” (without the quotes) to 48368.  Text “day” to get the day’s appointments or “nday” to get tomorrow’s schedule.

One of the great things about the Internet is the ability to research great deals on everything you need. The trick is to sort through thousands of resources to find the deals you want and need. Over at Wise Bread, they have made the deal finding a little bit easier. On its Deals Roundup page, Wise Bread lists the day’s best deals, coupons and freebies from the best bargain sites on the web.

The major package shipping companies provide tracking services, but you have to know the URL of each site’s tracking page to use it. Or you can use PackTrack.com to trace a package from USPS, UPS or DHL. It’s a no-frills site so it won’t confuse you or slow you down. Its features include:

• Customizable quick-access buttons.
• Package tracking log for fast re-tracking.
• Access to multiple carriers’ tracking on one fast-loading web page.

PackTrack is free to use! To learn more, visit Packtrack.com.

Have you ever said to yourself, “Someday I will …” (insert dream). Perhaps someday you’ll visit Rome. Or someday you’ll write a novel. Or someday you’ll start your own business. At LifeTango.com someday starts today.

LifeTango is a more than just a goal setting site. It uses social networking features to help you get support, feedback and tips from others with similar goals. The site will help you brainstorm ideas for your goals, give tips for keeping motivated, and allow you to track your progress.

Learn more and sign up for free at LifeTango.com.

As you know, I’m a productivity nut because I’m organizationally challenged. I’m always look for great resources to keep all my tasks, notes and other materials accessible. SpringPadIt.com is a new web-based notebook site that offers all this and more. Much like Google Notes or OneNote, you can create a variety of notes to organize tasks and projects. It offers a variety of premade templates such as budget tracker and fitness tracker. A clipping feature lets you clip notes or recipes to save in your note book.  Springpadit also lets you flag (for priority), tag (for easy search), and write note on your notes. It offers drag and drop functionality to move your notes and items around for easy access. A big plus for me is that you can see all your tasks in one place across a variety of notes.

Because its a web-based program, you can also access other web-based resources such as restaurants, contacts, and maps. You can share your notes with others (with other users or through Facebook, Twitter and email) and have reminders emailed or texted (sms) to you or one of your contacts.

My only beef with the program is that I haven’t found a gadget to add it to iGoogle, and it doesn’t look like I can text notes into the program from my phone. But for a free service its very robust and easy to use.

Check out SpringPadIt to learn more.

Phone service has changed a lot over the last few years. Unlimited long-distance calling for one fee made a huge impact on my business. I went from paying over $100 a month just in long distance to one low fee  ($25). But now things have gotten even better. I can call anyone, anywhere in the world for free using Skype.

Skype has been around for awhile, but I hadn’t really seen the value in it. No one I knew had Skype so it didn’t seem worth it to figure it out. But recently I’ve noticed more and more podcasters and small business owners had Skype so I wanted to learn the advantages.

The biggest advantage is that its free. Its free to download and its free to call others who also have Skype.  For the business crowd, Skype offers conference and video calls, mobile Skype and instant messaging. Through Skype applications you can have a virtual receptionist and even record your calls (which is great for podcasts!).

But Skype isn’t limited to internet calling. You can call landlines and cell phone for a fee. The cost is extremely affordable using Skype Credit in a pay-as-you go manner or through a subscription. SkypeOut calls are about 2.1 cents per minute or for $3.00 a month you can have unlimited calls throughout the United Stats and Canada ($10 worldwide).  For about $60 a year you can get a SkypeIn number whereby people can call you from landlines or cell phones.

Skype is very easy to use. In fact, the program walks you through a test call to make sure its working correctly.

I’m not sure Skype will replace other services the way cell phones are replacing landlines, but there’s no doubt that there is a place for Internet calling especially when its so affordable.

Visit Skype to learn more.

It is possible to much of your grocery shopping online. But if you don’t live in a delivery area for one of the grocery stores that deliver, you still need to go to the market to get fresh items.

I hate grocery shopping. The very worst part is the unloading and putting the items away. But I also don’t like the actual shopping. I can’t find thing I need and almost always forget something.

Dave Cheong had a similar problem and he found a way to fix it. He created at the grocery shopping helper which is an online program that can help you organize your shopping trip by providing you with a list of all the items you buy sorted by the isles they are found in. No more back tracking or hunting. Simply take the list, mark the items you want to buy, and head straight to the store and isle.

You do need to do a little leg work before using the program by creating the list of items and visiting the store to find out what isle they are in. But once done, it could save you loads of time in the grocery store.

Check out the Grocery Shopping Helper here.

In a tight economy, its more important than ever to make your money go as far as possible. Part of that is making affordable choices. But it also involves making informed choices. ConsumerSearch.com has a great resource where you can read reviews of the products you’re thinking of buying.  It searches the net for product reviews in several categories, analyzes the reviews, and then recommends the best picks.  Not only does it suggest the best picks, but you can see where the reviews came from and what they said. And if you want to buy the product in question, it provides links to at least one, but sometimes several online stores.

While finding information on the Internet is easy, it can be time consuming to find and visit multiple sites looking for reviews. ConsumerSearch.com makes it quick an easy by synthesizing the reviews into one spot. Visit ConsumerSearch.com to learn more.