Tired of playing Internet traffic cop at home, I went looking for help—something in addition to common-sense best practices. I found www.netnanny.com. This subscription-based service is an amazing addition to the parenting tool arsenal.

Here are just a few of its key features:

• User-specific Profiles – I can customize permissions for each user in the family, allowing more or less control as needed.
• Internet Filtering – There are over 30 categories to filter with multiple settings for each.
• Social Network Activity Monitoring – Net Nanny will notify you when there is new activity on social networking accounts or when a new account is established.  Further, you can actually access that account to see their friends, photos, chats, etc.
• Remote Monitoring – Log into the reporting module from anywhere.
• Web Search Tracking – You may be surprised what your kids are searching!

Watch their 2 minute video for even more information:

Do you have a AAA card–or an Entertainment Book?  I’ve got one of each and between the two of them, I could be getting discounts all over town.  But for some reason, I don’t take advantage of them anywhere near as much as I could.  My habits are no different online.  That’s why I give the Upromise toolbar two thumbs up.  It makes sure that you take advantage of any available savings whenever you happen upon one of their affiliated shopping sites.  (Not familiar with Upromise?)

If you or someone you know is using Upromise to save money for their kids’ college education, you’ll appreciate the value in this toolbar.  Of course you could go shopping through the Upromise shopping site directly—but who bothers to think of that?  Not me.  Just install the toolbar in your browser and you will be prompted whenever you reach a shopping site affiliated with Upromise.  Their site claims that members who use the toolbar save more than 5x more than members who don’t.

If you shop online—and you use Upromise, this free tool is a must.