You know how it is: you're shuffling home at 2am after another ill-advised festive shindig, and you need to pick up some milk and onions and stuff. But they won't take your Switch card. Or Maestro, or whatever it's called now. Cash only, and there's no cashpoint for miles. So you head home, onionless.

Life would be so much easier if everyone in the world took Paypal. A big yellow 'Pay Now' button on every shop till, like in your eBay emails. This would be especially great in January and February, when your Paypal balance is riding high after you've eBayed off all your unwanted pressies. Hey, it's just common-sense recycling.

Skype, of course, does accept Paypal – and many more payment methods besides, including lesser-spotted forms of plastic (Diners, Solo), Ukash and Moneybookers. No idea what Ukash and Moneybookers are? Then head for the all-new Ways to pay page, where you can find out about the oodles of different ways to pay for Skype credit, Skype vouchers and other Skype stuff.