They say that the best things in life are free. But the inherent costs throughout 21st century consumer culture would perhaps suggest otherwise, given that most leisure pursuits and products come with at least some sort of cost attached. And due to the current economic climate across much of the world, people could be forgiven for watching their spending habits just that little more carefully, as they strive to stave off the hard-hitting effects of the credit crunch.

Indeed, the fiscal uncertainties that are rife throughout many facets of society have led many people on a mission to minimise their spending, and lead a more financially sustainable lifestyle. And the good news is that this doesn’t necessarily mean that wholesale changes need to be made to someone’s overall standard of living; all that’s required is a little common sense and some minor improvements to general money management skills.

Bills, for example, account for a significant percentage of many household’s financial outgoings, be it electricity bills, gas bills or telephones bills. With the advent of the internet era, however, the latter of these can be more or less eradicated altogether, thanks to the wonders of Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.

With traditional telephone technology, the user not only has to worry about the line rental costs, but they also have to consider the time of day and whether the telephone number they are dialling is local or not. In other words, there are a lot of factors that can affect the cost of a telephone call.

And for those who are trying to maintain a frugal lifestyle, it can be very difficult to monitor telephone call expenditure, which means it can be a lot more expensive than what they had initially budgeted for.

With VoIP technology though, such issues can be avoided. The user simply requires a computer and a network connection; enabling many to chat for free to anyone, any time – regardless of where the other person is in the world – so long as they too have the same VoIP technology.

VoIP headsets are available too, allowing users to chat ‘hands-free’ for as long as they want. And for those who prefer traditional telephone handsets, it’s also possible to use special VoIP telephones that connect to the computer either through the Ethernet or USB ports.

Of course, free calls may not be the only solution to combating the current global credit crunch, but it will certainly go a long way towards helping individuals and businesses to cut their costs. And if this demonstrates anything at all, then it must surely be that sometimes the best things in life genuinely are free.