Sometimes you have to just move on...

I really needed closure on this. And all I've gotten is silence. So I reached out one last time, and still got nothing...abso-frikkin-lutely nothing.

I thought we were friends, but apparently....I was wrong. Thank you, Lord, for the friends I do have, who love me unconditionally.

What's your most expensive hobby? (Past or present)

I saw this topic on a message board recently. We all have hobbies. How much money have you sunk into one, and do you have any regrets?

The easiest one I can think of was my paperback book collection. I read/collected Nora Roberts, VC Andrews, John Grisham, Sidney Sheldon, Christopher Pike, Nicholas Sparks, etc. Libraries, psh, I wanted to own them.  I didn't normally buy the books brand new, I searched used book stores, but it was still a hefty chunk of change.

Yep, own them I did. Where they sat in boxes after I moved from my Marietta apartment in 2007, and sat in boxes in Woodstock, sat in boxes in Columbus, and finally, when we moved into our house in Smiths Station, I pulled them out of the boxes and started listing them online to get rid of them for whatever I could. At first, I wanted to save the books in case my future kids had the same book interests as me. Who was I kidding? VC Andrews, even though I read those in high school, were garbage. Filth that I shouldn't have read, and filth I certainly don't want future kids of mine to read. Nora Roberts was the typical smut novel, but those will always be around. The rest...well, I just didn't have room to set them on a shelf, and I decided it was pointless to keep them in a box.

I've sold quite a few in the last few months, but I'll be taking the rest to a yard sale at the church at the end of the month.

What's been your most expensive hobby?

Thinking about starting another blog....

I've been thinking alot lately about starting a new blog that's not necessarily about my personal journey, like this one, but something designed to be a benefit to others. I'm at a stand still trying to figure out the theme of the new blog. I want this to be a blog that can possibly grow outside the readership of just my Facebook friends.

I've been thinking about finances from the view point of a young military family, or a college student. 2 areas I have personal experience in, and two times of my life if I had known then what I know now, how much different my life would be. The problem is, I'm not sure if I can incorporate both of those and it be effective for both audiences.

If you fall into either of these categories....military (or family) or college student, or just out of college,  would you be interested in a blog like this? A blog about finances from a realistic point of view rather than telling you to save 25% of your paycheck when you can barely afford to put gas in your car to get to work? If yes, are there any specific topics within this theme that you would like to see?

If you have any comments or suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Thank you!

Continuing to look for ways to save more money...

Recently, we made some pretty significant changes to our regular household utilities. For starters, when we bought the house, we got ADT security. For ADT to work, you either had to have it connected to a land line, or they had to install a cell box for it to be compatible with your cell phone. With the land line, there was no one time fee, and the monthly cost was $29. The cell box was a $250 one time fee, plus an extra $13 per month.

We figured we probably were going to need a land line eventually, and we hadn't really gotten a feel for the house, to know if we had crappy reception on our cell phones yet, so we decided to get a land line from AT&T for $37 per month. It was more per month than the additional $13 was, but it didn't include the $250 start up fee, which we just didn't have available at the time.

Well, in 8 months time, we BARELY ever used the land line. And on at least 4 previous occasions, when one of us would try using it to call the other, or vice versa, we found that it wasn't working. When I called AT&T to ask about it, they said they saw no issues on their end, and that if they had to dispatch a tech, it was going to cost us an additional fee. WTH? Usually, we got the phone back to working after messing with the connection on the wall, etc etc, but I finally got fed up! There was NO SENSE in having a land line, that sporadically didn't work, to where if my house was being broken into, they had no way to call.

So, we discussed it and decided that we don't really have a need for a land line right now, we should just bite the bullet, pay the extra $250 as a one time fee, and pay ADT $13 more per month and save $37 from AT&T. So we did. Good news? When we called, ADT was running a promotion on the cell box for existing customers, and it only cost $142, not $250. Score!

Then we started talking about cable and Internet. When we first moved into the house, Our cable and Internet was $80 per month, 6 month promotional period, for standard basic cable. After the 6 months, it jumped up to $108. I knew it was going to, but even after it did, I was still irritated with it. So I called to see if they had any promotions, any way we could cut it back down. Nope, nothing. Would not even entertain the notion. The customer service, frankly, sucked. She wasn't polite, wasn't accommodating, and wasn't even sorry (except in a condescending tone). Pisses me off that cable companies have such a damn monopoly. They are the only cable company we can get out here. Our other options are dish, direct TV.

So after a post on FB, and some research, we decided the hell with cable, we were going to get a Roku box (one time fee of $100), with Netflix (monthly $10) and Hulu Plus (monthly $8). For local news channels, we'd need a digital antenna (got one for $90...but there are cheaper options available). The plan was to drop cable TV, and keep only cable Internet, which I KNOW that cable companies have the ability to do, except yesterday, when I went to make the call to do just that, The same rude lady answered the phone again, and with her condescending tone said "we don't offer Internet only, you have to have basic cable as well. We USED to offer that, but people were misbehaving and rigging their cable line to get cable TV without paying for it."

Well, damn, I thought. What was I going to do now? Solution? Eat crow, and crawl back to AT&T, who I had just cancelled my phone service with, and sign up for DSL only with no phone line (which they clearly have marked on their website). Intro rate is $25 per month for 12 months. After 12 months it's only $48. The cable Internet portion of our cable bill was $50. It's a faster connection speed than the cable Internet, and it's a great intro rate, and still a good regular rate, which I wont be hacked off about after the first year is over because it's still affordable. Instead of renting a DSL modem for a small fee every month, I have to buy a modem. Through AT&T it was $75. Yeah, I know, I probably could have gotten one cheaper at target or walmart, or something like that. Whatever, I fell victim to the convenience of buying it through them. AT&T had better not disappoint me though - this DSL connection had better work, unlike the sporadic issues with the phone line!

So, in short, recent one time fees:

ADT Cell box: $142
Digital Antenna: $89
Roku Box: $100
DSL Modem: $75
Total: $406

Savings Per month:
Was paying:
Cable TV + Internet: $108
AT&T Land Line: $37
ADT Security: $29
Total: $174 per month

Will now pay:
Netflix: $10
Hulu Plus: $8
AT&T DSL: $25 ($48 after 12 months)
ADT Security: $42
Total: $85 per month

Savings of $89 per month. The $406 in one time fees will have paid for themselves in only 4.5 months. I think it's well worth the change :)

Life Insurance - Lets try this again

If you have dependents, you need a life insurance policy. GET ONE. Don't let your loved one lose their house or starve because you didn't prepare for them appropriately!

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/yourmoney/107543183.html

Check out the article above.

Consequences of no life insurance are a NO BRAINER. If the breadwinner were to pass on, how would bills be paid? The article points out that life insurance is less than the cost of a few pizzas per month, or the cost of cable for the year. There's NO EXCUSE to not buy it.  Dave recommends that at a minimum, you have 10 times your annual income in life insurance. Why?

I probably actually should buy a little more insurance. The policy I have isn't accurate anymore, based on my salary. Hmmmm.....

VICTORY!

"Our members are important to us, and we appreciate your patience while this case was investigated. After a full and fair review of the information, we have approved the emergency room services for date of service September 15, 2010. We approved the emergency room services based on the fact that your physician instructed you to proceed to the emergency room...."

WAHOO! I only have to pay my ER copay of $150!!!!!

So close I can taste it....

We filed our tax return this weekend, and in about 2 weeks, we'll be getting a refund of about $4K. I am incredibly thankful for this refund this year, but I know that in the future it won't be so big due to the recent tax withholding changes we've made. $1K of this will finish paying off the cruise we're taking in May for graduation, and $3K will go to the car. That will leave only $2500 left to pay on it, and I'm trying to think of whatever I can to scrounge up loose coins here and there to pay on it as I can.

I wish I had some stuff I could sell.... :( Maybe I'll be able to scrounge some stuff up over the next few weeks. Every little bit helps.