The economy sucks. I'm unemployed. We've lost over a third of our net worth in the past 6 months. It's time for a good, hard look at the monthly budget.
The thing I'm looking at the hardest are the monthly recurring bills. Any savings here is recurrent savings, and the savings compounds.
First on the chopping block was the TV service. I've had DirecTV + a DVR for nearly 10 years, but $64/month is far too much in this day and age of Hulu and Amazon's Video on Demand service, paying that much (or really anything) for TV is simply unnecessary. I bought a digital/HD antenna, and we'll use that for local news, breaking news, and the occasional TV show. For everything else, it's the internet.
Speaking of internet, my DSL needs a trim too. I'm still on the $50/month plan with 4 static IP addresses. I don't need those anymore. (In fact, I really never did.) I can get to $40/month for a single dynamic address. I might even consider going to $25/month which drops my bandwidth from 3/.75 Mbps to 1.5/.4 Mbps. Although now that I think about it, that might impact the whole "watch TV over the internet" plan. Hmmm....
We already don't have Netflix; we use the library for DVDs. And some things just can't be easily cut: water, sewer, garbage... Although for that last one, I suppose I could distribute my garbage across my neighbors' partially empty bins the night before. But I don't think I'm quite that desperate yet.
And as for my mobile phone service, it's too soon to switch. I'm an iPhone guy now, and I need my smart phone capabilities. But I am hopeful that other phone manufacturers will get their act together in 2009 and truly compete with the iPhone. Ditto for other mobile carriers vs. AT&T. And then I'll happily shop for a new phone and plan, for less money.
Unless the user experience sucks. Then I'll stick with the iPhone. After all, some things are worth paying a little bit extra for.
The thing I'm looking at the hardest are the monthly recurring bills. Any savings here is recurrent savings, and the savings compounds.
First on the chopping block was the TV service. I've had DirecTV + a DVR for nearly 10 years, but $64/month is far too much in this day and age of Hulu and Amazon's Video on Demand service, paying that much (or really anything) for TV is simply unnecessary. I bought a digital/HD antenna, and we'll use that for local news, breaking news, and the occasional TV show. For everything else, it's the internet.
Speaking of internet, my DSL needs a trim too. I'm still on the $50/month plan with 4 static IP addresses. I don't need those anymore. (In fact, I really never did.) I can get to $40/month for a single dynamic address. I might even consider going to $25/month which drops my bandwidth from 3/.75 Mbps to 1.5/.4 Mbps. Although now that I think about it, that might impact the whole "watch TV over the internet" plan. Hmmm....
We already don't have Netflix; we use the library for DVDs. And some things just can't be easily cut: water, sewer, garbage... Although for that last one, I suppose I could distribute my garbage across my neighbors' partially empty bins the night before. But I don't think I'm quite that desperate yet.
And as for my mobile phone service, it's too soon to switch. I'm an iPhone guy now, and I need my smart phone capabilities. But I am hopeful that other phone manufacturers will get their act together in 2009 and truly compete with the iPhone. Ditto for other mobile carriers vs. AT&T. And then I'll happily shop for a new phone and plan, for less money.
Unless the user experience sucks. Then I'll stick with the iPhone. After all, some things are worth paying a little bit extra for.
I cut back the DSL to a single dynamic address as well (and now use http://www.ddns.nu to get an external DNS name for my dynamic address). Also, check your utility service -- we pay less for only using one small trash can (instead of one or two bigger ones).
I hear those iPhones can be hacked these days... T-Mobile has an "unlimited" data plan for only $6/month (on top of an existing plan)... It's not super fast, but it gets the job done.
Then there's the $100 hair cuts...
Posted by: David Creemer | December 25, 2008 at 11:38 PM
Haircuts are going too. Just didn't want to suffer the public embarrassment of talking about my metrosexual ways. :-)
Posted by: Dave Cortright | December 26, 2008 at 04:56 AM