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How to save $1,000 AND find more time for you

andviv

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I've decided to start this simple thread for a big reason.

I was talking to a few co-workers who were complaining about life's expenses and some were saying that a few hundred dollars a month would make a difference. I told them that was very easy to get. I told them how, with one phone call, they will be able to have extra $100 a month. Obviously they wanted to know how. My 'secret' was:

Call your cable company and cancel your TV subscription.

I am certain that all of them were paying at least $70 bucks a month. Most spend $100 or more. That means an average mid-class household in this country spends around $1,000 a year in TV. They also agreed that they did not watch that much TV anyway, and that there were not that many shows they were following. Only one was a real fan and watched many shows and followed many series. It was his 'fun activity'.

A week later, when one of them started the same conversation about needing extra $100 a month I asked them how many of them had cancel their TV subscription. Wanna guess the answer?

It is very easy to complain about how hard life is. There are simple things YOU can control NOW. Without depending on anybody. As Nike says... Just Do It.

Of course, the answer was 0. Not even one had canceled the service. Something they had said it was of no real use or benefit. Go figure. They couldn't even come to cancel one of the movie packages. Not even get rid of the other packages and keeping the basic one. I guess $70 - $100 a month for a service you don't use/enjoy is more important than your long term financial picture.
 
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Rawr

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YOU stay away from my NBA obsession!!!! :greenchainsaw::010:

TV is largely overrated, but there are many other ways to save that and more - for example, stop going out to eat so much. But isn't the point to work smarter and make more money and not be a frugal shack occupying hermit who fears to indulge in any of this life's pleasures?
 

Runum

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I think the real focus is to get your money working for you so someone else can pay for you to enjoy life's luxuries. It is so much more rewarding to have someone else paying your cable bill each month. However, in order to get there you may have to cut back until the ball gets rolling.

I think Adres' coworkers and mine are related. Everyone is into complaining about their plight but they work against themselves to fix it. They all drive the nicest cars and live in large houses but you bet they know when payday is. They are also the loudest to scream if there is any delay to the paychecks coming. They will even write the checks and mail them before they have the $$ in the bank. Then they have to pay insufficient funds fees. The next month comes and they do it all again. Far easier to complain, moan, and blame than work toward a solution.

Good luck to all.:cheers:

Greg
 

CRBFL

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I did almost the same thing, but different. I cut all of my household bills...Extra roommate! The difference in expenses has been nice. It's going to worthwhile causes- donations, paying off debt, education, and a few extra beers here and there.
 
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kurtyordy

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I work with the same people, complain that they pay more for cable than electric, then ask my why I do not have cable.

When I explain that it would be x hours a month of my working to pay for it, times 12 months, times normal estimated retirement age of 60 (need to speak in thier terms) that I would tacking on an extra year of working just to pay for cable. They just do not get it. Oh well, I live my life, they live theirs. Someday, my giant tax bill will be subsidizing thier lifestyles unless of course we straighten this country out.
 

M-M

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I have only the basic package and really don't watch much. I used to watch more, but now I concentrate on work. However, I do have the Sports Package, as I "have to have" my soccer. Being from Germany it's my passion and, while I could, I really don't want to do without.
What I did instead was get my bill cut nearly in half for a year with a little bit of negotiating. So it really works out well.

I agree that it's easy to save money. My wife and I just decided to sell my car, as we didn't really have a need for 2 anymore, since I started working at home. That's a big chunk we'll save each month. We don't each out much (maybe once a week, and then never fancy restaurants), but I also don't think that frugal can be considered a good way of life. Temporarily maybe, but not long-term.
 

carlhuber

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Cable TV? What's that? The only time I ever had cable was when I was in college and it was in all of the dorms. Every one of my coworkers has it...they spend so much time talking about about either planning their lives around watching stuff they end up hating, or hating paying for it, or never watching it...I don't understand it either.

If you have it and you watch it and you enjoy it? Fine; it's your entertainment budget. But if you sit around complaining about it, then you're what - keeping up with the Joneses?
 
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andviv

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center_02.jpg
 

hakrjak

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Cable TV is such a rip off -- Don't even get me started on that one. We watch a lot of TV in the evenings, so getting rid of it isn't an option for us -- But every month when I see that $130 bill (We pay for cable modem & TV on the same bill) -- It irks me big time. I've checked and the dish isn't much cheaper, once you factor in the increased cost of your cable modem once you "unbundle" the services. The cable companies have got us by the short & curlies..

- Hakrjak
 

MJ DeMarco

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I did almost the same thing, but different. I cut all of my household bills...Extra roommate! The difference in expenses has been nice. It's going to worthwhile causes- donations, paying off debt, education, and a few extra beers here and there.

Welcome back Chuck!


Speed+ for the quote and the post ... vroom!

I've decided to start this simple thread for a big reason.

I was talking to a few co-workers who were complaining about life's expenses and some were saying that a few hundred dollars a month would make a difference. I told them that was very easy to get. I told them how, with one phone call, they will be able to have extra $100 a month. Obviously they wanted to know how. My 'secret' was:

Call your cable company and cancel your TV subscription.

I am certain that all of them were paying at least $70 bucks a month. Most spend $100 or more. That means an average mid-class household in this country spends around $1,000 a year in TV. They also agreed that they did not watch that much TV anyway, and that there were not that many shows they were following. Only one was a real fan and watched many shows and followed many series. It was his 'fun activity'.

A week later, when one of them started the same conversation about needing extra $100 a month I asked them how many of them had cancel their TV subscription. Wanna guess the answer?

It is very easy to complain about how hard life is. There are simple things YOU can control NOW. Without depending on anybody. As Nike says... Just Do It.

Of course, the answer was 0. Not even one had canceled the service. Something they had said it was of no real use or benefit. Go figure. They couldn't even come to cancel one of the movie packages. Not even get rid of the other packages and keeping the basic one. I guess $70 - $100 a month for a service you don't use/enjoy is more important than your long term financial picture.

I have an analogy in my book about this and I hope to post some tidbits of it this week. If anyone ever wonders why everyone can't be successful, just point your browser to this thread: Lack of vision, inability to sacrifice, and unwillingness to delay gratification.
 
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WestCoast

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This is a no brainer for me. I would rather spend my time reading forums like this, getting ideas, reading books, etc.

Don't own a TV, don't care about HDTV whatever either. It's amazing how easy it is to focus on business when there are less distractions :smx7:
 
T

TheGreatBear

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Maybe we should persuade a big fund to short cable TV companies, then send people to show bankers how forcing a cut of cable TV to deliquents can lower default rates. Then the bankers force people to cut cable TV and the stocks crash :D.
 
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AroundTheWorld

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The real cost of cable is the time suck.

Yes, the timesuck and the crap on the airwaves - - - it is hard to find anything of value! We don't have a TV.

Well, that's not true anymore.

Someone that works with my hubby brought a TV to our house one day.
He can't stand it that we don't have one.
It sat by our couch for a month - untouched.
I finally threw a blanket over it.
It's a table stand until we figure out what to do with it.

Anyone want a TV?

++ Andviv. Great Topic.
If you interviewed 1000 successful people about daily habits, I'll bet TV wouldn't be on the list.
 

verticalx

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I recently read a book called a a million bucks by 30 and it starts out slow lane and moves towards rei but the book was all about saving money the author started out living on ramin and eventually changed it to live on $100 a week of "fun"money and had set goal for saving money so after reading this book i believe that if the discipline is there people will make the sacrifices to get the money they need
 
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Bilgefisher

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Cut the cable 4 years ago and haven't gone back. You pay $70 a month to get 30% commercials. If I need to watch anything, I get plenty of free TV on the internet.
http://www.tvunetworks.com/
 

Runum

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Agreed. We got rid of our sat. dish about 7 years ago. Getting them to stop service took 4 months and I thought I was going to have to get violent to get them to take their stuff back and leave me alone. I did fulfill the contract but they just wouldn't quit.

I agree. I spent money to advertise and sat in front of the box for too many hours.

Here's another suggestion along the same vein. We spend money to buy shirts that have logos on them that advertises for the company that made the garment. So instead of being paid for advertising we willingly pay to advertise. Crazy.

Great thread Andres. ++++ speed

Sorry Andres I guess I already speeded you on this thread.
 

Jill

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Great thread starter, Andviv! Rep ++

To the original predicate. If you asked my husband or friends what one "life quote" they hear most often from me they would all say without hesitation,

"Don't complain about what you permit!"

Don't come to me complaining about your situation unless you're prepared to make every possible adjustment to change it. I'm not your priest. (as my late father used to say to his golfing buddies!) Come to think of it, I came by my "tough love" approach quite naturally!

I just exhorted someone on another thread,
What are you willing to sacrifice? Your ego? Your free time? Your luxuries (alcohol? soda? candy? tobacco? nice car? movies? cable? travel? nice clothes? Starbucks? dining out? online gaming?)

I love my cable. I would never tell anyone to cancel theirs . . . unless they complained about $$ !! Those people who refused to cancel theirs remind me of my old basset hound. He would sit on the front porch howling about the nail he was lying on. It hurt just enough to complain, but not enough to get up and move! In almost every case I know of, people are where they are in life because of the choices they make.
 
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mtnman

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I love my cable. I would never tell anyone to cancel theirs
There can be other reasons lol. I cancelled mine recently to read more books. I love it in a way, and hate it in others.

I will add that's extremely important when eliminating one activity to improve another, to nip the associated habbit as well. My negative habbits seem to migrate to something else if left unfocused.
 

PEERless

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Agreed! Cable = Bad! And satellite. And all other methods of paying someone to inject crap into your head.
 

Jito

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I like watching my cnbc in the morning. But I will soon be canceling my tv. Guess I'll get my new the old fashioned way - reading. I like watching movies more than cable programming anyways.
 
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fanocks2003

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I don't mind watching tv. I think your success has to do with how you use your time, when you are working. For example: How much can you do in 3 hours that you wouldn't be able to accomplish in week if you had one week to do it (the more time we have, the more we squander it because we think we have all the time in the world. An illusion). The more efficient you are with the time you use for work/investment etc the more free time and money you will have to enjoy life also. Because without enjoying life, then why work for richness? In Sweden we call that approach: Babylonsjukan or directly translated Babylon sickness.

Cutting passive expenses when starting out is just common sense. If cutting passive costs aren't your way of doing it, then you will have to earn a lot to keep up (that almost always equals stress related situations). The poor guy has an easier time getting rich than the middle class with debts all over.
 

Eric

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Here is what I did to save money, make more time for myself and not give up my TV.

My cable bill was about $95 a month including $30 for internet and a $20 credit from my HOA.

I called the cable company one day and said I wanted to cancel my service because I could get a better deal with dish. I had no intention of canceling my service, I just wanted a better deal. They told me I could down grade my internet connection and only pay $15 a month instead of $30 and they could give me a discount off of my cable bill for 6 months.

After 6 months, if I still wanted to switch, I could call back and they could "work with me again".

So my bill went from $95 a month to $35 and even though I down graded my internet connection, I really didn't notice any difference in speed!

I also have a DVR, so I just record everything I want to watch. Even if I'm home, I don't watch it until its done recording. That way I can just skip all of the commercials. I can watch a 30 min show in about 17 minutes and a hour show in about 40 min.

Saves time and money while not giving up any service.

I also switch car insurance and saved a TON... While getting more coverage! (and no, I didn't call geico lol)
 

andviv

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Well, my intention with this thread was not to create a discussion about how good or Bad the TV was.
The intended point was that, as mentioned by some here before, if you need more money AND more time (two common complaints I heard at my workplace) then this is a simple, effective technique to accomplish both.
Thanks for the rep+
 
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CarrieW

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I personally watch very little tv.

we can do without cable no problem we have done it before. but now that we have cable internet we have to keep a min. cable pkg. I added one upgrade so the kids have nickoloden and cartoon channels. to me its worth the cost.

I wont cancel cable but to save money we moved 12 hours away! and actually we ended up moving twice lol.

we moved from pa to ga to save on gas(shorter commutes) heating oil, electric, car insurance, private schooling, health ins, and more. overall the cost of living difference was about 1725 per month! when we moved in january the difference is 2325 per month from what it was in pa.
 

stielle

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I recently read a book called a a million bucks by 30 and it starts out slow lane and moves towards rei but the book was all about saving money the author started out living on ramin and eventually changed it to live on $100 a week of "fun"money and had set goal for saving money so after reading this book i believe that if the discipline is there people will make the sacrifices to get the money they need


I read the same book. it was a good easy read, quite amusing too.

I also don't have Cable. I have TV and watch DVDs on it. I personally have a small collection, but my girlfriend has about 800 (she used to manage a movie store.)

I also got an extra roommate, lowering my monthly expenses even more. I've gotten my total living (rent and utils) to under $500. I haven't lived this cheap in years. Its fun and I don't feel poor at all. Nor do I feel like I'm missing out on anything.
 

PEERless

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^Tsk! Missing the point. Delete your screen. Get news from RSS. Done and done.
 

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