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Scaling Back

July 1st, 2009 at 04:59 pm

Wow! It's been almost an entire month since I last blogged. Really fell off the wagon there, posting wise.

So, in the last month, DW and I have decided to make some changes. First off, we have cancelled the land line and the dial-up internet. We were paying $36 a month to Bellsouth (AT&T now, I guess) and $10 a month to Juno for dial-up. And $51 a month to Cingular (also AT&T now...scary). We've been looking to upgrade the whole telecommunications system for years. We only have dial-up at the house...way out where we are there are no plans to bring in DSL. And we haven't been able to make satellite internet work within the budget yet. Also, our house is a virtual black hole for Cingular. There are literally two spots in the house where DW could talk and have even a mediocre signal.

So what we ended up doing was cancelling Bellsouth, Juno and Cingular, and signing up for Cellular South with an unlimited data plan, and bought a Blackberry off of craigslist for $60. The Cellular South plan will be about $58 a month, but we have full coverage at the house. Also, since I have Cellular South as my work phone, we can talk using mobile to mobile unlimited minutes. And DW comes to my office at least twice a week anyway, because the library is literally next door (I can pick up their wireless internet at my desk), so between the Blackberry for email & facebook and the library, she is OK with her current internet setup. Actually, it's better for her, as it's faster than dial-up, and she's now free to walk about the house.

So, all in all, we cancelled $36, $10 and $51 and replaced it with $58. So we're $36 ahead.

The other decision was to cancel DirecTV. We're paying $84 a month right now, and have a contract (because of the HD service) through August. We're going to wait until after the Torchwood/Doctor Who broadcasts at the end of July to cancel it, and then only have to pay $20 in penalties.

So all in all, we should be saving about $120 a month soon. Not to mention the electricity from having two DVR's on at all times (about $8 a month).

1 Responses to “Scaling Back”

  1. ceejay74 Says:
    1246478845

    Well done!

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