looking for ways to save during tough economy

[yourkiddin]

i took my tax refund and paid off all my bills. ok im out of debt except for truck, house and normal expenses. now looking to lower cell phone,home phone and cable bills. has anyone tryed this magic jack? is it for real? or what about vonage? i would like to get rid of home phone all together but would like to keep internet. currently have att/bellsouth home phone and internet. what are you guys doing to cut back?

 

[tx1961whaler]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I dropped my ATT cell phone plan (39.99/mo plan, really costs 50/month) and went with a prepaid plan. I don't use a cell very often at all. Put a hundred bucks on the pre-paid; kept the same number; minutes good for a year. $100/12 = $8.33 a month. Saves $40 a month, or $480 a year.

Dropped ATT long distance and got a Skype phone for long distance (unlimited US/Canada $2.95 a month)
http://shop.skype.com/phones/thomson-ge-28310ee1-cordless-phone.html

No cable. Netflix instead. Have an antenna and pick up over 10 stations.

Bring my lunch to work 4 days a week. Probably saves $150 a month

Drive a 20 year old truck to work. No payments there....

No payments on the 48 year old Whaler, either!

 

[mthieme]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I work with a guy who uses Magic Jack. He has makes calls all over the world. There are no usage fees. It's not a scam.

 

[yourkiddin]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

wow, never heard of this skype phone. sounds like something to check out.

 

[Landscaping Wiz 808]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I dropped my home phone service and use nothing but my cell phone. Long distance doesn't cost any extra on a mobile plan. That being said, work provides me with my cell and allows unlimited usage.

I get high speed internet through the cable company. Besides mortgage, my cable bill is my highest monthly expense, but I have to believe I get my money's worth.

Like tx1961whaler I cut back on other things. I keep the paid off truck running right, bring my lunch with me to work, and rebuild boats as opposed to buying new.

Now, if I can ditch my girlfriend I'll have some real bucks in my pocket. Oh S@%*, here she comes....

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

i have been using magic jack for 5 months. no problems. i have always had a prepaid cell, as i don't use it much. cheaper than any plan for me. the magic jack allows me to use the phone as much as i like, for almost nothing.

 

[mthieme]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I recently changed my land-line plan which is a few dollars cheaper. But this is penny-pinching. I really need to shed some unused property in WV which would save me close to $300 a month. I'm also starting some spring cleaning which amounts to the equivilant of a yard sale on eBay.
I've done many things along the way to keep the monthly bills down. Home improvements (insulation, etc.), solar panels, replaced incandescent lights bulbs with flourescent, programmable thermostat, etc.

 

[SS MAYFLOAT]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

The only thing this family has to cut back on would be our summer fun of boating. THAT AINT GONNA HAPPEN!

We use to go out to eat about twice a week. We stopped that when voters decided to vote for a state ban on smoking. Now there are many restaurants and bars that have closed up. We were amazed that this alone put extra cash in our pockets.

I quit smoking a couple of years ago not because of the health, but the savings from not buying them. Now if I can get my wife to quit, that would be a substantial amount of money saved for us and less tax for (censored).

Professional sports/races we enjoyed going to. It too got way out of line on ticket prices. So therefore, we watch them when we can on TV.

Vacation trips have been pretty much zero except for when we are able to meet up with some iboaters.

I burn as much wood as I can to keep from buying fuel oil. Now with the economy, EVERYONE is cutting and I can't find people who want their trees trimmed or taken down. This is because of the flood of people looking for free firewood.

From year after year for the past 30 years living from paycheck to paycheck, I have don't nothing but cut back until there isn't much to cut out.

Our only problem was the easy hand out of credit cards that put us in the poor house. There wouldn't be a bad economy if lenders would have said "NO" instead of issuing cards and loans for houses with knowing they weren't going to get their money back. I know I'm really PO'd for paying for someones mistakes that are not held accountable for their actions. Yep, Change is about all I ever have left in my pockets after paying the bills

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I forget the exact quote,but it goes something like this.
"I've done so much, with so little, for so long,that I can darn near do anything ,with nothing ,all the time."

 

[angus63]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I tried a different angle. I found a part time job on top of my full time job I can do weekday evenings so I can continue to do the things I enjoy on weekends. Work a little harder/ Play a little harder!!!!

 

[a70eliminator]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

My girls are 13 and 15 yrs. old now and mama went and landed a part time job, this will the first money paying job since the first baby came. This will realy help up have a little fun with the boat this summer. Last summer was a drag with gas prices way up.

 

[Shizzy]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

One thing the wife and I do is walk to the grocery store. we have 4 of those canvas shopping bags. Knowing I have to carry it the two blocks home and up two flights of stairs makes me think twice before I toss anything in the cart. plus we arent driving the car those 2 blocks there and 2 blocks back. We havent spent more then $80 on our weekly trip. Thats $40 tops per person per week to eat.

 

[Navy Jr.]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I decided to learn how to do appliance repairs instead of buying new or calling someplace like Sears to come out. Example: washing machine stopped in the middle of a load wife was doing last week. Tub full of clothes and water. Wife and I removed and rung out clothes by hand and put them in the dryer. I bailed out washer tub. Lid switch failed. Replaced with new part bought at local Sears. During the process, discovered a pile of rubber dust underneath washer. Hmmm. Bad motor coupling. Found video on YouTube on how to replace. Back to Sears for part. Took 45 minutes to replace. Motor and pump look like new. For both repairs I figure we saved about two hundred bucks. Hopefully the washer will be good quite a few more years.

Also do my own oil changes and other routine auto maintenance.

 

[ezmobee]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

Another vote for the pre-paid cellular. My wife and don't use our phones very much so the AT&T GoPhones work great. Stay away from Verizon's "pre-pay". There's is basically just another monthly "plan" without the contract. I can have a cell for as little as $25 for 3 months.

Also selling stuff on Craigslist has gotten me some much needed cash and storage space.

 

[thefairlaneman]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

If I could stop the cable bill and cell phones it would add up to over 200 a month but the wife says no way. She uses the high speed cable for alot of school related work and even though I refuse to own a cell phone myself she has one with all of the extras and she pays for our sons.....You can save alot of money on food if you plan meals and buy from places like ALDI. Also if your car is paid for and only worth 2 or 3 k stop the collision coverage. Things like having that old pair of shoes resoled instead of paying a hundred bucks for another pair just like them.

 

[Bart Sr.]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

Yes things are tight.We had cut here and there before I got LAID OFF two weeks ago.So we cut back more and discontinued several other items to make up for the shortfall.I won't know about unemployment benefits until tomorrow. This could go on for a long while.

Sorry about the whining but I am major league bummed out.

 

[ezbtr]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

I dropped personal cell($30 + a mo.), bought 87 Camry for $900 w/ 96K, needs no work, except an oil leak, gets 27-30 mpg and I drive fast, Yukon at 14 MPG sits mostly(still owe on it),saved $20 a mo. on car ins as I have multicar discount been making wonderful homemade stews, costs $7 to make and good for 3-4 meals for son and I(he loves it), cook almost every night, we go out maybe once a month, get DVD's from RedBox for $1.08 each, cancelled home cell as I have one from work unlimited mins., will cancel home land line soon(why the hell do I even still have it at $18 a mo.??) , buy Wrangler jeans as they were on sale for $12-17 a pair and Levis are triple???
Wear work supplied clothes to work, saves on wear and tear and laundry bill, make sons lunch and usually mine for work/school, swalk to store(across street) for groceries, but we've been doing most of this stuff since the divorce and dont mind and just NOW I get a full paycheck after being wage garnished to pay exes lawyer bill even though I proved she was lying, and won in court etc.....

 

[yourkiddin]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

its so funny that someone else says that the wife says no way to the cells and house phone. i dont think my wife gets it. she just got laid off and im probably 3 to 6 months from it myself. it makes no sence for there to be 3 cells and a house phone in the family. thats 230 dollars a month for us. its a daily argument within our household. now tonight while im at work on my days off mind you. trying to make a little extra,she says its time for our son to get his licence to drive. dont think i spelled that right. anyway i said thats great if he wants to get a job and pay for the difference its going to make the insurance go up. now another argument. who would of guessed that?

 

[Tyme2fish]

Re: looking for ways to save during tough economy

its anyway i said thats great if he wants to get a job and pay for the difference its going to make the insurance go up. now another argument. who would of guessed that?

That's not an arguement, that's a discussion. If you dis and then cuss, that's an arguement.