As Janet Jackson so eloquently put it in the ‘90s - ‘The best things in life are free’. Whether you’re with her on this one or not, I’m sure one thing we can all agree on is that the worst things in life are those services that charge infuriatingly unnecessary admin fees! However, thanks to the wonder that is the World Wide Web, these sorts of sneaky service charges are quickly becoming a thing of the (offline) past. Here are a few of the internet’s finest fee-dodging programs and services to get you off to a good start in 2015. International bank transfers: One for the ex-pats! If you’ve ever moved abroad or tried to transfer money to a friend or relative who does, you’ll be familiar with the fact that most banks are still living in the dark ages, charging around $40 in administrative fees on international transfers. Richard Branson’s latest project Transferwise.com functions as an online middleman, completely eradicating any nasty bank fees, instead charging a tiny $2 per transaction. Bill payment services: sites such as UOB Singapore and PayTrust save you money by cutting out so called ‘convenience fees’ where companies charge a fee for offering you the option of choosing to pay your bill online - which is about as inconvenient as it gets! International phone calls: Paying for your phone calls is so 2012. Services offering free instant messaging and talk time no matter where you are in the world (as long as you have a decent internet connection, of course!) are now so readily available that we’re convinced the phone networks will be obsolete within the next 10 years. Check out Viber, Line and Skype. Avoid ATM fees: Mastercard’s ATM hunter is a mobile app which tells you the exact location of any ATMs in your vicinity, as well as information on which of those involve banking surcharges. Couponing Services: Various coupon providers are available online, offering codes for shoppers to achieve discounts at checkout before making an online purchase. Before buying anything online, it’s worth entering the store name into the search bar so see if they have any coupons running, as it could save you a substantial amount on your order. Price comparison sites: these sites are pretty self-explanatory! Search the name of a product on sites such as PricePanda to ensure you’re always paying the lowest price on your purchase. Budgeting apps: Apps such as Mint Perfectsen are saviours when it comes to taking control of your finances. Not only does this service automatically pay all your monthly bills on your behalf via access to your personal banking, but it also monitors your spending and alerts you when you’re approaching your monthly limits, or when you’re about to be charged interest - before it happens. So whatever your New Year’s resolutions are this year - be sure to check out these services, so you can add ‘taking complete control of finances’ to your list of achievements so far. Not a bad start to the year!

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Katie Paterson is a Researcher for global money-saving platform, Flipit.com. With a strong focus on social network, e-commerce and m-commerce trends, Katie has an insatiable appetite for analysing how the world shops. Follow Katie on twitter: @KatieFlipit