I should start this off by saying that we've never been huge TV people. I mean, sure-- we watch it. We've just never required the awesome sum of channels that some others have.
We've had "antenna" cable for probably 11 years. We didn't really want cable, but my in-law's kind of built it into our Christmas gift when K was born and that was kind of them. They knew that we wouldn't have it otherwise. Though they've offered to upgrade, we just wanted to stick with cable enough to get some reception and that was it.
Here's the thing. Cable has gone up. And up. And up. What used to be $10 was now $25. It isn't like more services were being provided. Over the last year, it seems like every two months or so, TWC would take another channel or two away.
We couldn't take it anymore.
At the turn of the new year, I told M that it was his job to make cable go away. I like to watch the morning or evening news. Other than that, shows could be watched on the internet.
He checked out several antenna and converter boxes.
He checked out Apple TV.
He checked out Fire TV.
What did we land on? We now have Amazon Fire TV with an Amazon Prime subscription. He also bought a Homeworx converter box/antenna set. With the converter box/antenna alone, we have MORE channels than we had with cable. I might also add that the reception is crystal clear where with TWC, it was some sort of snowy reception all of the time.
How much did this project set us back?
Well, we bought the prime subscription when it went on sale in January for $72. We bought the Fire TV the next day when they happen to have that on sale for $84. Both of these items purchased on sale, with free ship (because of the prime subscription) together cost $25.00 out of pocket. We were able to use our Cashback bonus with our Discover Card which made it so very affordable. The antenna and converter box cost $42. To toss cable ended up costing us $67.
We'll take it.
I will say that if you are TV addicted, this is NOT the solution for you. We get local channels, but don't pull in Fox. That's fine. There are some shows that we'll have to watch on the internet but I'm quite okay to NOT have Fox News. We pull in shows, but some rotate and are available at some times, but not others. (Netflix does the same thing is what I've heard.)
It works for us.
Showing posts with label Pinching pennies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pinching pennies. Show all posts
Sunday, February 22, 2015
Monday, August 12, 2013
Month 1: Reworking the household budget
Last month I had Hubs sit down with me. I reported that according to our credit card statement, we were bleeding money. I could see a couple of glaring things that both of us could stand to change.
1. Hubs was given a $20 bill and told that was his used CD allowance for the month. $20 was the agreed upon limit a while ago. Somehow, the Discover card reveals that $20 was not what he spent. I told him that I didn't want to see The Exchange, Buy Backs, Best Buy or any other type of CD retailer on our credit card. $20 was the limit-- including tax. He agreed and said that if he wanted to purchase more, he would trade some of his old CD's. He has traded old CD's the last two months.
2. I agreed that though it is a seasonal addiction, I would NOT participate in any school supply sales unless it was something that I didn't have an K required for school - on the actual list. People drink. I find a new box of crayons intoxicating. :deep breath: How much I love new school supplies! At any rate, I did as I agreed. In fact, K required a zipper pouch for her school supplies. She made one with Miss L during sewing lessons and all it cost was the $2.50 for the zipper. Since then, we made a few pencil organizing pouches to go inside of the zipper pouch. I told her that to corral the colored pencils and to keep the regular pencils separate, the little pouches would be good. It would keep her from always grabbing a colored pencil when an actual pencil was needed. I even made a pouch for the crayons. (I know.) The box to the crayons was sliced by a box cutter and wouldn't last. Now the box is in a velcro pouch and all she has to do is open up and they are in there. I cut the box top and the tab off. It is quite lovely.
3. The weather has been kind and we have left the air off.
4. Watering plants has been done with the rain barrel water only.
5. We've tried on all of K's school clothes from last year, used the parts that are reusable (which are actually a lot) and ordered a minimal number of shirts. I scored a huge pile of new shirts (with tags!) at the uniform swap at our church, but those are for next year. We're good to go for school.
6. The most glaring thing on our statement was the number of times the grocery was visited in a month. I cut Hubs off. I realize that it was like ripping a giant bandaid off of a scab. Oh, it hurt him when I did that, but Walm*art would appear on the statement 3-4x each week with purchases totaling $25-40. All he went for was bananas! We have, as a family project, worked hard to go to the grocery only once a week. Everyone tells me the needs and I am the one to do the shopping. I have been hanging out at the local discount store and we've been getting roughly the same types of things. I do watch regular ads, but most of the time, there's nothing that I can use. We eat healthy and frankly- that isn't cheap! We found that Starkist has sadly decided to discontinue the size of tuna pouch Hubs eats, so we've been gathering those. It was out of the grocery budget and he even told me, "I know it was hard for you to spend over what we said, but I thank you!" We have stock piled his tuna. We're good for a while.
7. We have not eaten out at all. Nothing. Not one morsel. We're never big on it anyhow, but a drive thru a few times a month still counts. (Out shopping, hungry . . . you know the deal.) I traded my Morningstar veggie burgers for homemade. I made 28 patties of two different varieties and spent $5 or less for what would have cost $26. or so. We baked banana oatmeal cookies for K's lunch. (We all loved them!) We truly try to watch and use leftovers.
8. Hubs makes one run to Sam's Club and has kept that bill to $100 or just hovering there. This past month added a few school foods-- Gogurt, mozzarella cheese sticks and Clif Kids bars. That helped the cost to shoot over $100 but he's been very good about watching it.
9. For the bathroom spiff, we've reused hardware and just repainted. Works for us. That stuff is expensive! Right now, the medicine cabinet has been spray painted and I'm hoping to move it into the shed before rains come. It's solid, but needed some love. Spray paint to the rescue!
10. I've stayed away from walking all through Target when all I need is just a few things. Chickadees (Goldfish) and Annie's Organics Mac & Cheese are Target staples for us. Just like a car on auto drive, I can go to them and right back out.
11. We changed our insurance company and have saved a bundle. In fact, the renewal for insurance company A came in and I compared it with company B that we will be switching to. The same insurance (with basement back-up added to the house) will save us $1277 per year. The renewals came in with some significant increases. That saves $106.41 per month and will certainly help towards that nasty water bill that we expect in the near future.
12. My Lipitor card was renewed so now I'm back to a $4 copay. That's better than the $25 it went to. About 9 months after its issue, I think it maxes out and rolls to my normal insurance copay. Thank goodness for that card! Thank goodness for both!
We're working it. In just one month, it has made a significant difference. We'll report our findings next month to see if we could see something else that we could squeeze a little. For this month, we expect expenses to include the plumber, purchase of the surround for the tub and two license plates, please!
1. Hubs was given a $20 bill and told that was his used CD allowance for the month. $20 was the agreed upon limit a while ago. Somehow, the Discover card reveals that $20 was not what he spent. I told him that I didn't want to see The Exchange, Buy Backs, Best Buy or any other type of CD retailer on our credit card. $20 was the limit-- including tax. He agreed and said that if he wanted to purchase more, he would trade some of his old CD's. He has traded old CD's the last two months.
2. I agreed that though it is a seasonal addiction, I would NOT participate in any school supply sales unless it was something that I didn't have an K required for school - on the actual list. People drink. I find a new box of crayons intoxicating. :deep breath: How much I love new school supplies! At any rate, I did as I agreed. In fact, K required a zipper pouch for her school supplies. She made one with Miss L during sewing lessons and all it cost was the $2.50 for the zipper. Since then, we made a few pencil organizing pouches to go inside of the zipper pouch. I told her that to corral the colored pencils and to keep the regular pencils separate, the little pouches would be good. It would keep her from always grabbing a colored pencil when an actual pencil was needed. I even made a pouch for the crayons. (I know.) The box to the crayons was sliced by a box cutter and wouldn't last. Now the box is in a velcro pouch and all she has to do is open up and they are in there. I cut the box top and the tab off. It is quite lovely.
3. The weather has been kind and we have left the air off.
4. Watering plants has been done with the rain barrel water only.
5. We've tried on all of K's school clothes from last year, used the parts that are reusable (which are actually a lot) and ordered a minimal number of shirts. I scored a huge pile of new shirts (with tags!) at the uniform swap at our church, but those are for next year. We're good to go for school.
6. The most glaring thing on our statement was the number of times the grocery was visited in a month. I cut Hubs off. I realize that it was like ripping a giant bandaid off of a scab. Oh, it hurt him when I did that, but Walm*art would appear on the statement 3-4x each week with purchases totaling $25-40. All he went for was bananas! We have, as a family project, worked hard to go to the grocery only once a week. Everyone tells me the needs and I am the one to do the shopping. I have been hanging out at the local discount store and we've been getting roughly the same types of things. I do watch regular ads, but most of the time, there's nothing that I can use. We eat healthy and frankly- that isn't cheap! We found that Starkist has sadly decided to discontinue the size of tuna pouch Hubs eats, so we've been gathering those. It was out of the grocery budget and he even told me, "I know it was hard for you to spend over what we said, but I thank you!" We have stock piled his tuna. We're good for a while.
7. We have not eaten out at all. Nothing. Not one morsel. We're never big on it anyhow, but a drive thru a few times a month still counts. (Out shopping, hungry . . . you know the deal.) I traded my Morningstar veggie burgers for homemade. I made 28 patties of two different varieties and spent $5 or less for what would have cost $26. or so. We baked banana oatmeal cookies for K's lunch. (We all loved them!) We truly try to watch and use leftovers.
8. Hubs makes one run to Sam's Club and has kept that bill to $100 or just hovering there. This past month added a few school foods-- Gogurt, mozzarella cheese sticks and Clif Kids bars. That helped the cost to shoot over $100 but he's been very good about watching it.
9. For the bathroom spiff, we've reused hardware and just repainted. Works for us. That stuff is expensive! Right now, the medicine cabinet has been spray painted and I'm hoping to move it into the shed before rains come. It's solid, but needed some love. Spray paint to the rescue!
10. I've stayed away from walking all through Target when all I need is just a few things. Chickadees (Goldfish) and Annie's Organics Mac & Cheese are Target staples for us. Just like a car on auto drive, I can go to them and right back out.
11. We changed our insurance company and have saved a bundle. In fact, the renewal for insurance company A came in and I compared it with company B that we will be switching to. The same insurance (with basement back-up added to the house) will save us $1277 per year. The renewals came in with some significant increases. That saves $106.41 per month and will certainly help towards that nasty water bill that we expect in the near future.
12. My Lipitor card was renewed so now I'm back to a $4 copay. That's better than the $25 it went to. About 9 months after its issue, I think it maxes out and rolls to my normal insurance copay. Thank goodness for that card! Thank goodness for both!
We're working it. In just one month, it has made a significant difference. We'll report our findings next month to see if we could see something else that we could squeeze a little. For this month, we expect expenses to include the plumber, purchase of the surround for the tub and two license plates, please!
Friday, August 9, 2013
The great insurance switch.
We've talked for years about how we were terribly dissatisfied with how our current insurance handled our hailing of 7 years ago. We had to fight tooth and nail to have the house re-roofed, but they were fine to continue to hand out checks to fix my 9 year old car-- $4300 in total for that alone. (I should add that it was the same RAV that was totaled 6 months later.) We were suspect to think that we would be able to save money. We had that thought, but then the thought of slogging through insurance garbage didn't appeal to me. We had insurance. It did cover our damages-- with arguments-- but it worked.
When we bought Barbie (the Yaris) in December (the 20th, K's birthday and why not buy a new car RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS?), I called the insurance company right before we left. While I was told the car would be covered and it wouldn't be an issue, we would be the people buying a car 45 minutes away from home that would be hit, squashed or something awful happen and the insurance would say-- sorry!
I phoned and to switch from the 1997 Toyota Tercel to the 2013 Toyota Yaris, it increased our premium by $65 per month.
Per. month.
I told the lady that I found that to be extremely dissatisfying as we had been customers for so long, had no record of accidents or tickets and always made timely payments. I told her that I would need to check around. I didn't mean it as an idol threat. It was what it was. I was done.
A few years prior to that, I called to see why the insurance rate on our cars went up and at the time, they told me that both cars were considered to be old. "My RAV is only 3 years old." She babbled something on about age and replacement and where I agreed with the Tercel, old and no longer made, I couldn't get why the RAV, a vehicle that is seen on the road all the time.
She continued on talking about insurance and extreme amount of claims and so forth.
"So, because there are people out there who don't pay their insurance and those who commit insurance fraud, I am being punished for their actions."
"Pretty much."
So back to the insurance at hand. My cousin was talking about her insurance. She gave me the contact information and we started talking back and forth. Hurricane Sandy reports were coming through with big bad stuff about insurance and so forth. I had seen some things about insurance company "b" and told them I needed to ask them about it.
Then I dropped the ball. That was January.
Seeing that bills are going up and finances are staying stagnant, I decided to go back to the insurance company and work with them. They were able to answer my questions about Hurricane Sandy claims, which is exactly what I thought was the issue. We've been working back and forth and in the end, on car insurance alone, they are saving us $73.00/month for the same exact coverage.
$73.00!
Our homeowners policy is less as well and I added a water back-up policy.
Our fine, fine city decided to ignore EPA mandates starting far back in the 1970's in regard to sewer and water upgrades. They had the money then to handle such things. They kept putting it off and putting it off. Now, they have 30 years to get upgrades handled (though I'm told that the city wants it done in 18) with $900 million in costs and no federal or state money to handle it. Our water and sewer bill is estimated to go from $80/month to over $200 or more a month. I'm looking at needing to cough up at least $120 more per month and I'm trying to squeeze a bit in order to find it.
Never mind that the savings account wants fed, college fund and general bills.
Trimming a bit here and a bit there. In this case, I was able to trim a lot. Hooray!
When we bought Barbie (the Yaris) in December (the 20th, K's birthday and why not buy a new car RIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS?), I called the insurance company right before we left. While I was told the car would be covered and it wouldn't be an issue, we would be the people buying a car 45 minutes away from home that would be hit, squashed or something awful happen and the insurance would say-- sorry!
I phoned and to switch from the 1997 Toyota Tercel to the 2013 Toyota Yaris, it increased our premium by $65 per month.
Per. month.
I told the lady that I found that to be extremely dissatisfying as we had been customers for so long, had no record of accidents or tickets and always made timely payments. I told her that I would need to check around. I didn't mean it as an idol threat. It was what it was. I was done.
A few years prior to that, I called to see why the insurance rate on our cars went up and at the time, they told me that both cars were considered to be old. "My RAV is only 3 years old." She babbled something on about age and replacement and where I agreed with the Tercel, old and no longer made, I couldn't get why the RAV, a vehicle that is seen on the road all the time.
She continued on talking about insurance and extreme amount of claims and so forth.
"So, because there are people out there who don't pay their insurance and those who commit insurance fraud, I am being punished for their actions."
"Pretty much."
So back to the insurance at hand. My cousin was talking about her insurance. She gave me the contact information and we started talking back and forth. Hurricane Sandy reports were coming through with big bad stuff about insurance and so forth. I had seen some things about insurance company "b" and told them I needed to ask them about it.
Then I dropped the ball. That was January.
Seeing that bills are going up and finances are staying stagnant, I decided to go back to the insurance company and work with them. They were able to answer my questions about Hurricane Sandy claims, which is exactly what I thought was the issue. We've been working back and forth and in the end, on car insurance alone, they are saving us $73.00/month for the same exact coverage.
$73.00!
Our homeowners policy is less as well and I added a water back-up policy.
Our fine, fine city decided to ignore EPA mandates starting far back in the 1970's in regard to sewer and water upgrades. They had the money then to handle such things. They kept putting it off and putting it off. Now, they have 30 years to get upgrades handled (though I'm told that the city wants it done in 18) with $900 million in costs and no federal or state money to handle it. Our water and sewer bill is estimated to go from $80/month to over $200 or more a month. I'm looking at needing to cough up at least $120 more per month and I'm trying to squeeze a bit in order to find it.
Never mind that the savings account wants fed, college fund and general bills.
Trimming a bit here and a bit there. In this case, I was able to trim a lot. Hooray!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)