I've been doing a lot of soul-searching lately...
my cost of living has to be cut...
and there are some hard choices...
as well as some not-so-hard choices...
I had already changed back to AT&T...
for my basic home phone service last summer...
went from paying $85 p/mo to $28+...
I have "basic" service [$15] plus 120 min "long distance"p/m[$5]...
[and around here, 13 miles away is "long distance"...]
so over $8 goes to fees, surcharges & taxes,each month...
but I had a feeling I should keep it...
and since I just discontinued my cable TV & broadband...
as of April 30 [I'm paid up until then...]
and spent $22 for a Juno DSL membership...
it's a good thing...
Comcast TV & internet, $145 p/mo...
Juno DSL... $24.95 p/m...
a savings of $125.00 p/m....
I've also downgraded the size of my trash can...
from 95 gal to 65 gal...
saving $5 p/m...
with my cats, the 30 gal size was too small...
and only would save me another $5 p/m anyway...
I really struggled with paying my musicians union dues this year...
[$146.00...] I almost dropped it...
now I'm glad I didn't...
because...
I have a credit card through the union...
that will allow me to apply for a one-time grant...
because I got "laid-off"...
I fit all the criteria and if I "get" it...
they will pay $250.00 towards my bill...
I've also qualified for the gas/electric co's...
low income rebate of 20% of my monthly bill...
which amounts to $26.60 savings each month...
[I already use the balanced payment plan...
so my monthly bill was always $133...]
I need to call my cell phone company...
my contract is up in Dec...
and I could do things to cut my $65 p/m bill in half...
but there would be penalties if I did them now...
I just need to see if it's better to wait until Dec....
I've also experimented with buying lessor grades of gas...
and discovered that my car still runs OK on regular...
which can be $.20 to $.30 per gallon cheaper...
my tank holds 15+ gallons & I use about 20 gal per mo...
saving me $4 to $6 per month on gas...
though I don't yet know if the milage is affected...
so if you're playing along...
that's more than $160 p/m off my living costs...
I need to convince the critters to eat less...
and cheaper food as well...
and I need to "live off" what I have for a while...
with only occasional visits to a grocery store...
for basic supplies...
it's been a while since I went into "Food for Less"...
and others of that ilk...
just can't wait for my first foray into Wally World...
I don't think of myself as a snob...maybe I am...
sigh...
now if I could only find work...
and maybe redo my mortgage/credit card payments...
I just might make it...
2 comments:
Snob or not, I would look around at grocery options before committing to Walmart. I have found that, at least here, the meats at Walmart are so-so and the produce is downright awful. And, if you shop carefully, you can do as well at many other stores. Hopefully, you can find a small chain grocery, like my Food Lion store (I know, I love the name!) that will be affordable and of good quality too. And, the cats might gripe if you changed brands, but I bet they won't let themselves starve! Molly may not even notice. I'm convinced there has never been a dog alive that ate slowly enough to actually taste its food.
Oh, also - I have never seen much mileage or performance difference between midgrade and regular gas, at least in the cars I have owned. What I am seeing affect me the most is the ethanol added to all the gasoline brands here. You can't find 100% gasoline, and in my Subaru, the addition of ethanol has caused over a 10% drop in mileage, depending on the driving type. Where I got 30 mpg in mixed highway/city driving, I now get 26 - or less. Toodling around town was 25 mpg, now it's 21. Ouch.
Sorry about all the troubles you are having. Hang on, and have faith.
...hi Calico...thanks for the advice...
I NEVER plan to buy food at WW...we have a regional chain [Food for Less] that began here locally as a "budget minded"outreach[to a whole different demographic]of a local very high end store[Podestos]... there are a couple of others geared to bulk purchasers
[FoodMax, WinCo(Winn Dixie perhaps ?)
& of course, Costco...]I would buy food at Safeway[whom I LOATHE] before buying any food at WW...
the lure there is the kitty litter..
household products, etc that can be really high in other stores...& of course, packaged name brands...
I need to get used to looking around & pricing things...ie I found Trader Joe's boxed Organic Chicken Broth is $1.99 p/qt as opposed to the stuff I was spending $3.75 p/qt for at Raleys...
at this point... it's all about becoming educated...
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