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It’s Time To Cut The Cable and Home Phone

Posted on September 7, 2012 by Jacob

Cut the Cable!

Today, I’ve got a special offer for all the wonderful readers of iHeartBudgets. I am going to give away a 4 day cruise to the Bahamas to everyone who reads this post! You read that right, 4 days of all-inclusive fun in the tropic sun, visiting places like Jamaica and Nassau. Swim with the dolphins, eat like a king and let your worries melt away. All you need to do is cut the cable and home phone!

Cable is Ridiculous

How many channels do you have with your premium cable package? Do you even know? Do you know what’s playing on channel 766 at 8pm on Thursday? You should. You’re paying for all that goodness on the QVC channel that you never watch and for the whole channel dedicated to infomercials that gives TV time to Chuck Norris to hock the “total gym” than he ever saw with Walker: Texas Ranger. You are paying for hundreds of channels you will never watch playing crappy shows that no one should ever lay eyes on.

Enter: The internet. Invented by Al Gore sometime in the 90′s, the internet has grown exponentially. They have even put TV shows and movies on someone else’s servers so you can stream them to your computer. Not only that, but many of your favorite shows can be viewed FOR FREE using the show’s network site or by simply looking it up on HULU.com. If you want a more premium service, Netflix and HULU Plus both off a paid-for service that allows you to watch entire seasons of your favorite shows and a bunch of movies from the convenience of you home computer (still MUCH cheaper than cable). Heck, they’ve even built in those applications into TV’s, digital media receivers, and even video game consoles like the Xbox and Nintendo Wii.

Here’s how we do it. We have internet only through the local cable/telecom company for $45 a month (after taxes/fees). We used to get a slightly better deal, but we had to call every six months to try and get it lowered because our “deal” ran out. I got sick of it, so I went with a cheaper plan, but it’s still quick enough to allow us to stream our favorite shows/movies. We downloaded HULU Desktop (not an affiliate link) and created a quick account to keep track of our favorite shows. THIS IS COMPETELY FREE! We then “subscribed” to our favorite shows and ones that looked interesting.

Now, we go to our “queue” when we open the application, and it tells us how many “unwatched” shows we have available to watch. Shows usually arrive about a week after their LIVE air date, so we kind of know when to expect a show to come up. There is no rush and no need to be home with the TV on at a certain time to watch the show. We also don’t have to worry about recording it, because it’s recorded and ready for playback whenever we want. They do typically remove shows after the season is over, so we try to watch within a week or two for the show popping up in our queue. We have followed shows this way for 4 years now, and we don’t miss cable one bit!

For movies, we have a couple of options. Right now we’re on a Netflix free trial for a month because it also came with a $50 coupon to restaurants.com. SWEET SCORE FOR DATE NIGHT! We can watch movies featured on there, but let’s be honest; their streaming selecting is not great. Their DVD service still offers the better titles, so you can go that route if you choose. Most likely, we’ll cancel the service. The other option is your local Redbox movie station. There are over 33,000 Redbox kiosks nationwide, so I’m sure there’s one near your home. They have a better title selection for movies than Netflix, and for those who don’t watch a ton of movies, it’s a cheaper options. It’s something like $1.29 for a DVD rental for one night. The last option we don’t use anymore (because I can’t get my free subscription anymore) is the Xbox marketplace. The Xbox marketplace had a great selection of movies, and we watched movies on that for a year. It does require a $5 a month subscription to Xbox LIVE and you still have to rent the movie, so not the cheapest option, but still CHEAPER THAN CABLE.

Home Phone

You really do NOT have any excuse to have a home phone these days, unless you are running a small business with a home office. And even then, it’s not a home phone, it’s an office or work phone. Cell phones don’t have long-distance fees, can access the internet and should take care of all of your telephone needs at home and away. The only reason people typically get a home phone is because the stupid cable companies decide you need one as part of their “bundle”. Why? I really don’t get it, but the only explanation I can come up with is that they want to assign you a phone number that they can sell to every spammer on the planet who only seems to call you during dinner just when you are about to bite into a juicy cut of meat! Do they only work between the hours of 5-7pm? Seriously?! But really, cut the cord (literally) and ditch the home phone service. Since you’re cancelling your cable, there is no package deal for this anymore and you can “Cut. It. Out.”

Mullets are for winners. Uncle Joey is a winner.

The Numbers

So now that we’ve decided that cable and home phone are for those people who like companies to hook up a vacuum to their wallets and suck every last dollar out in return for infomercials, let’s look at the real cost of your cable “bundle.”

Internet/Cable/Home Phone Bundle Deal = $100 a month for 12 months. $120 a month after that. Let’s also tack on 15% for “taxes and fees” to land us at an even $115 a month.

Internet Only = $45 a month after taxes and fees……forever.

Savings = $70 a month.

So you can cut the cable and home phone today to save yourself $70 a month! Now, you may be thinking “whoop -dee-doo, $70 flippin’ dollars, who cares?” But it’s $70 a month savings. Every Month. Forever. That’s $840 a year savings by cutting out hundreds of channels you don’t need (we won’t even get into the time suck that cable is). That’s puts you in a nice interior cabin of a very nice cruise ship that’s setting sail for the sunny Bahamas about this time next year. Can you hear the ship’s horn biding farewell to all the broke people who are stuck in their homes watch reruns of “MASH”?

So be brave today. Take back your life and your money and say “sayonara sucker” to the cable company. Tell them to take back their “bundle” of junk and have them hand you back your bundle of cash. And the best part; you won’t regret it for a minute. There are MUCH easier ways to watch your favorite shows and movies, and they won’t affect your budget in the slightest. And while you are enjoying life free from the grips of your local cable company, rest east at night knowing you are going on a sunny Bahaman cruise less than a year from now…

Comments: Have you “cut the cable”? If not, what channels can you not live without, and have you checked to see if you can watch those shows using another, cheaper service? And, be honest, how many of you have watched the entire Chuck Norris total gym infomercial? Be honest now…

Michelle’s Frugal Finds: Emeals!!

Posted on September 5, 2012 by Jacob

You may have noticed our “I <3 Emeals” button on the right side of the page and we’ve mentioned it a few times in previous posts. Well, I am here today to tell you a little bit about it and let you in on a super awesome deal!

Adjusting to motherhood was a little difficult for me. After having our son I had NO time (or energy) to sort through all our grocery circulars and pick out deals and coupons, make a meal plan based on those deals, go to 4 different grocery stores then come home and make dinner, prep food for lunches, etc. I used to do all of that every week. I LOVED making my meal plan! But those days are over. No, I was busy dealing with a VERY slow eater, some pretty serious medical issues, barely being able to keep the dishes done and vacuum. So, I signed up for Emeals.

This is how it works. Emeals shops all the stores (country wide! So there are LOTS of options for places to shop), they grab all the deals, make a meal plan and shopping list out of it and send it to you every Wednesday. (see example below )

You choose your plan based on amount of people in your family (3-6) or (1-2), then based off of store (ALDI, Kroger, Publix, Ralphs, Safeway, Wal-Mart, Whole Foods or “any other store”), OR specialty menu. The specialty menus include Clean Eating, Gluten-Free, Low Carb, Low Fat, Portion Control, Vegetarian, Natural & Organic. What’s even better is that you don’t have to sit and debate forever which plan you want. If you don’t like your plan after a couple weeks, switch it to another, no problem!

This is how I work it. Emeals sends me 7 dinner ideas for 3-6 people with prices based on if I’m shopping at Whole Foods. I chose the 3-6 person plan because of portions (I do not want to cook every night of the week, I would much rather cook 2 – 3 times a week and have left overs). So I circle the meals I want then highlight the ingredients for those meals on my shopping list or cross out everything I don’t need. Then take my edited list to the store. I also chose Whole Foods over Natural & Organic or Clean Eating because they are almost the same plan, but the Whole Foods grocery list also includes prices. So when I go shop for our meals, I can compare my Fred Meyer prices to what I would pay at Whole Foods. Sometimes it’s cheaper at Fred Meyer, often times it’s very similar, sometimes it’s actually cheaper at Whole Foods! I like knowing I’m getting the best price! (Whole Food’s 365 brand is my FAVORITE! Such good prices!)

So I go through, pick 2-3 meals depending on what else we have going on that week, dinner at a friends or a pot-luck means I don’t have to cook 3 times and I can get away with 2. I save even more money by buying my chicken cheap and freezing it, we buy 1/4 grass-fed organic cow every so often from my Aunt and Uncle so that keeps our beef cost way down and I usually try and pick a vegetarian meal every week also. Now, we only get the dinner plan. Jake gets free lunch as a perk of his job, and I just scrounge up whatever I can find throughout the day, but Emeals did just start offering a lunch plan (that can be used at any store) if you want to think about it even less!

Select “Join” and then input your information to sign up!

You will not be sorry you did this. I LOVE Emeals for the ease of use, so convenient to just add a few random items to their pre-made list every week. And the best part, the meals are actually GOOD! We’ve only been disappointed by 1 so far and we’ve been using it for several months now (and I subbed some ingredients in that meal, so maybe it was my fault? Lol)! I mean, it’s $5 a month, how could you go wrong? At the very least, you get some awesome, EASY, recipes out of it!

This is not a sponsored post and we did not receive any compensation to write this. We do, however, receive a small sum if you sign up for your Emeals plan through our affiliate links. We personally use Emeals and love it and really do save a ton of money and time each month. There is no obligation to use our links, but if you do, we want to sincerely thank you for choosing to do so!

Get Out of Your Hole Without Living In a Cave

Posted on September 4, 2012 by Jacob

Get Out of Your Hole Without Living In a Cave

As someone who has definitely spent way too much money for the 26 short years I have lived on this earth, I should be the first to tell you that buying expensive things can definitely drain your cash supply faster than Justin Bieber running from the paparazzi. After blowing through my inheritance, I had to really scale back my spending; otherwise I would end up in more debt than I already had. I stopped eating out so much, stopped buying clothes every week and started shopping as cheaply as possible. I paired my monthly expenses down to about $1,200 a month at one point, including $400 a month for rent. And though many would praise that as frugal living and being smart with my money, I think it was a ridiculous way to live, and if I could go back, I would spend more money.

Getting Out Of Your Hole

I have counseled a handful of people financially, and have found that most of them are not financially stupid. They understand that they need to pay their bills and should probably spend less than they make. The only thing they are lacking is a financial plan. I helped them track their spending, get on a budget and make plans to reach their financial goals. For most, the first financial goal when finally deciding to get on a plan is to get out of debt. And that’s where I usually start, because I believe that getting yourself out of debt is the most financially freeing thing that you can do with your money.

To start, I advise that you write down all of your debts, and use the ol’ Dave Ramsey snowball method, placing them in order from the smallest balance debt to the largest. The idea is that you can pay off your smaller debts much quicker, and then use the freed up money from that payoff to put toward your next smallest debt. You then gain momentum, like a snowball rolling down a mountainside, rolling your extra cash into a large sum of money to pay down debt each month. The best part about this method is that when you are debt free, you then have a huge snowball to throw at savings, investing and giving. We used this method to pay down multiple debts and will pick it back up when we are making some more cash.

Now, once you have identified your priorities and resolve to get out of debt, I do recommend cutting back on excessive spending in areas that won’t help you reach your goal. But, I don’t recommend cutting so much out of your budget that you end up buying things that do not last and hating your life because you have no money for a date night. I’ve done that. It really did not do any good in the long run, and actually cost me more in many instances.

Frugal Extreme: Bad Idea

At one point during my “frugal extreme” period, I was living with 4 other dudes in a cheap apartment in a university district. The apartment was so old and crappy that the “management” didn’t repair the old, broken, almost-falling-to-pieces staircase up to our apartment, they just painted it black every year to try and hide the rotting wood (that surely has collapsed by now). I had a nice truck leftover from my spending extravaganza, but most everything else I owned was poor quality.

My clothes were from places like Old Navy and Ross, my bed was donated from a friend and I’m pretty sure I still used my backpack from 8th grade. Which means I slept horribly, my clothes basically dissolved in the dryer and my backpack was probably the ergonomic equivalent of having a Bruce Lee flying sidekick to the lower spine. Also, living in such a fine estate with a nice vehicle allowed the locals riff raff to peruse our dead-end, no-streetlight road and help themselves to my $1,200 in-dash DVD player and case of over 100 CD’s (all legally purchased). DOH!

Conscious Spending: Good Idea

What I really should have done is figured out my priorities. I should have picked a few things to cut out of my budget completely and then set a standard for the purchases of things that were staying in my budget. I said earlier that I wish I had spent more money during this time of my life. What I meant was that I wish I spent more money in the areas that were important to me and stopped spending money in areas that were not going to help me reach my goals. When I cut back to the extreme, I ate horribly , I hated everything I owned AND it ended up costing me more in the long run.

This may be a bit controversial, but I suggest to anyone who is climbing their way out of debt to go ahead and buy that $200 REI jacket. Heck, it may be a long climb to financial peace, you might want a nice waterproof jacket to keep you warm. Keep your spending cash in the budget, and ACTUALLY SPEND IT! Take your significant other on a date, once a week (I suggest two dates at home, two going out). SPEND YOUR MONEY WHERE IT MATTERS AND DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT IT! Too many “get out of debt plans” involve completely depriving yourself to the point of exhaustion, and guilt you for any spending that doesn’t go to bills and debt. BEING IN DEBT DOES NOT MEAN YOU CAN’T BUY NICE THINGS.

How We Spend Our Money

Ok, now that I’ve thoroughly freaked out every financially prude person out there, let me explain how this works practically at our house.

If you’ve been around for a while, you know that we don’t make enough money to pay our bills. We do have substantial savings, and are almost breaking even at the end of the year, but we’re on a pretty bare bones budget. We have found that cutting out nicer activities or items might help us put some money toward our debt or help us save a little money, but we would miss them more than the money lost. We have cut out many places in our budget down to the lowest amount possible, sometimes giving up certain things altogether. We don’t have cable, pay the minimum for internet, share a family phone plan with others, and don’t spend on cars, golf, or other hobbies. We have set our priorities and have been able to direct our spending towards those things without compromising quality or the budget. This is how we can spend more and save more at the same time.

We still tithe, my wife makes amazing, super-healthy organic meals (like, everything is organic), we buy (or find) nice clothes to wear, we enjoy good wine occasionally and both have spending cash each month. We try to go on 3 or 4 dates a month (though with a little one at home, this is tough), we still go on vacations and have family outings to places like the fair each year. We can do these things because we exercise conscious spending. It really all starts with a priority list (have I said that enough yet?) and then making some firm decisions to only spend where it matters to you. And hey, if your priority is golf, then cut out the crap you don’t need to get there, but don’t cut the quality of the things you do keep in your budget.

Comments: For those that are still paying off debt, do you still buy nice things? Do you find that being cheap ends up costing you more in the long run? What are some examples of areas in your budget that you compromised on to save money, but your purchase didn’t last? And who has two thumbs and is winning his fantasy baseball team? This guy.