Let's talk money, shall we? Earlier this week when I was home with Keri while she was sick, I decided to make good use of my time at home. I have been meaning to figure out ways to cut expenses. A couple of years ago, we signed up for a program through our cable company. We got digital cable, high speed internet, and home phone service for one hundred dollars per month. After the promotional period was over, our cable bill jumped to two hundred dollars per month. Isn't that crazy?
At that time I was still in school and things were pretty hectic. I just kind of shrugged off and didn't really want to deal with it. For some reason, I have these tendancies to choose a company and stick with them. I could use my cell phone provider or my insurance company for example. Since I am now paying on my student loans, and making monthly payments to the college for a course that was not covered, I really needed to get focused on cutting expenses. I am spending near two hundred dollars per month on my education.
I called our cable company to disconnect the home phone service. I also told them I was shopping for a better cable deal and did they have anything to offer me. No. Fine. I switched over to Direct for HALF of what we are currently paying for cable. AAANNDDD we get a free DVR upgrade.AAAANNDDD we get a receiver for three bedrooms plus the living room. For HALF what we were paying with the cable company.
My dad ordered me this wonderful device called a Majic Jack. If you haven't heard of it, I suggest you Google it. With Majic Jack, you pay for the software, then pay for one full year of service. Did I mention this is a landline service? Anyway, the total cost for a year of home phone service is roughly twenty dollars. As in PER FREAKIN' YEAR!!! It has caller id, call waiting and voice mail is provided. The really cool thing is, you get an email every time you have a voice mail. My dad bought the equipment and paid for our first year of service.
I figured this will save me about 530 dollars per year. It also includes nationwide long distance. We can talk to out of state friends and relatives to our little black hearts content. Now, the only down side as I see it, is that your computer has to be on for the phone to work. If you shut down the computer the phone wont work.
So far, these changes will save us about seventy dollars per month or 840 dollars per year. It's not much, but it's a start!
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5 comments:
I'm excited to hear about how the Majic Jack works out for you. I've been hesitant to get something like that because I'm paranoid. I don't know what I think will happen if I don't have the regular phone service, but if it goes really well for you, I'm going to bite the bullet and get one, too. Were you able to keep your same phone number, etc?
We did have to change our number, but the money I am saving per month is well worth the change. We all still have our cell phones too.
Seventy dollars a month is actually quite a bit. Good for you. We still have our land line but we did disconnect the long distance service from it - saving 25 dollars a month.
At the grocery story today, I put several items back on the shelf before checking out. I'm really trying to think before I buy.
Again, remember your college degree is a great investment. Don't become discouraged while you pay it off.
That's fantastic! I'm all about cutting things out here and there. We're down the the bare bones on a lot of stuff, but I still think we could do better. Good for you!!
I will Definitely have to check that out.
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