by Forest on August 25, 2010
The initial 6-month promo pricing on our cable package just expired and our bill this month went up to $140. We had been paying $110 a month for cable and internet including the sports package ($5), a dvr ($15) and leasing a modem ($5).
So I did what any good PF Blogger would do and called them up and tried to get my price back down. (In this case, calling them up means logging on to customer service chat). Didn’t quite go as expected and they wouldn’t budge on the price (even when I threatened to check out satellite instead of cable) and the only thing they offered was a $150 Visa gift card if I locked in at the $140 rate for 24 months (which includes a $150 early termination fee). No thanks.
Why lock in for 24 months at a price I’m currently paying? Don’t you think to lock in for that long you should get some kind of discount? I understand that locking in would protect me from future price increases, but believe me, if the price goes up any more, I’ll get rid of cable in a heartbeat. I have plenty of options like hulu and netflix to tide me over. Oh yeah, and I have lots of books to read.
All of this had me seriously reconsidering cable. Bird doesn’t really watch tv so she left the decision to me as to whether we should keep the cable or not. After putting some thought into it, I decided I would like to keep it which led me to look over the details of the bill and see if there was anywhere we could be saving. Basically, the only add-ons were the sports package, dvr and modem. I have the sports package primarily to watch English soccer and I’m a pretty big fan so I didn’t want to get rid of that. It’s totally worth the $5 a month to me. The DVR is an expensive add-on and one we could probably get rid of but we’re not going to because, well, maybe we save $15 a month by not watching commercials! And it’s nice to have all those old episodes of Glee recorded. Which brings me to the modem…why am I paying $5 a month to rent a modem when I can buy my own? I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t even think about buying a modem until now.
So I bought a new modem at Best Buy for $90. It wasn’t the cheapest one, but it will eventually pay for itself now that I’m saving $5 a month for the rest of my life. I only wish I would have thought of this earlier, since I already spent $30 on renting a modem for the last 6 months.
So my new bill will be $135 a month. I asked a few friends for comparisons and it seems like I’m on the lower end of what people are paying for cable and internet around here. How much are you paying?
by Forest on August 23, 2010
Back in February when Bird and I were preparing to move into the townhouse, I called the electric company to switch the service over from the renter to us. The woman on the phone took my information and then asked if I was interested in any energy/money savings programs. Savings? Of course I was interested, but I had called from work and I didn’t have time to listen to her script, so I made a mental note to check out these programs sooner rather than later.
Well, February turned into late July and after I received a larger than normal electric bill (curse you, super hot summer (but the air conditioning feels so good!)) I finally remembered to investigate these savings programs.
I went to the electric company’s website and clicked on the Programs buttons. There were about 4 or 5 programs listed, but most of them were not applicable to me. However, the Cycled Air Conditioning program sounded promising so I called them and signed up. Here are a few details from the website:
- You receive a $10 credit on your bill each June, July and August.
- On days when homes and businesses are using a lot of electricity and purchasing wholesale electricity is more expensive, we will cycle your air conditioner condenser on and off in 15-minute increments.
- Your fan will continue to run.
- Interruptions usually occur only on the hottest days of the year when air conditioners must work harder to keep people comfortable.
- Available only for central air conditioners.
Basically, they sent a technician out to install a little control box near my AC unit and then like they said, they will cycle my air on and off when they need to during peak times. And I save $30 a year. 
Of course, I missed out on ten bucks this year because I didn’t sign up for the program until July. I’ve now been on the program for 3 weeks or so and I haven’t noticed any difference with the temperature in my house. Of course, it has cooled down a little bit lately so maybe that has helped as well.
Anywho, nothing like saving $30 with one simple phone call. You are hereby encouraged to look into any savings programs your utility companies may be offering!
by Forest on August 20, 2010
I wrote the other day that Bird and I were furniture shopping and that I would follow-up with our opinions after polling all of you and a few of our friends. So let’s jump into it.
Option A:
On sale for $1,599 down from $1,999 for the bed, dresser, mirror, and nightstand. Extra nightstand for $299. This one received a couple of votes but it was the most expensive option and it was Bird’s least favorite.
Option B:
The clear runaway winner in the voting. This package was on sale for $799 marked down from $1,700 for the 4-piece set. Extra nightstand for $200. I really liked this one and not just because it was the cheapest. Thank you all for validating my opinion!!!
Option C:
This one received few votes but most importantly it got Bird’s. The 4-piece package was on sale for $1,299 down from $1,799 and an extra nightstand would be $249. However, the store had a floor sample package of bed, dresser and mirror all for $556. The dresser alone usually retails for $649.
***************
That was all on Tuesday night. The sale runs through Sunday but I’m out of town this weekend and Bird was going to be busy Thursday so I felt like we needed to make a decision. FYI – I realize furniture stores have sales all the time, so it wasn’t like life or death, but I spent Wednesday thinking about furniture and that night, Bird and I were back at the store to do a more thorough comparison. I was leaning towards Option B and I think Bird was in love with Option C. By this point we had kind of thrown out Option A because it was Bird’s least favorite and also the most expensive.
After comparing B and C, we concluded a few things. B looks amazing in the picture, but not-so-much in real life. It was lower quality and just kind of cheapy-looking (maybe that explains the price!) The drawers didn’t slide very well and the wood/veneer looked really fake. C was made of a harder wood (higher quality) and would hold up longer according to the salesman. I told him I was concerned it might be too-orangey for our house (I felt like the lighting in the store was deceptive) and he said we could have 30 days with it in the house and return it for a full refund if we didn’t like it. That went a long way toward helping our decision. Being a floor sample, it had a few nicks here and there, but we gave it a good going over and there was nothing we couldn’t live with.
So we bought Option C! The salesman went to write it up and told us we were getting a great deal. He looked at the price tag and wrote down $556 for the dresser and mirror, then asked if we wanted the bed too. We pointed out that the price tag actually said the bed was included for the price. He did a double-take and was like, Wow, that’s a really good deal! We thought so too. We added two nightstands at full price but we still paid less than all the other options.
Retail price: $2,325
Sale price: $1,650
We paid: $1,226
Total savings of over $1,000
ps. Yesterday I was digging through our coupon drawer (what? doesn’t everyone have a coupon drawer?) looking for a Best Buy coupon (separate post) and I came across a coupon for the furniture store that was set to expire this Sunday! 10% off any item under $399. Of course the small print said floor samples were ineligible nor was it good for previous purchases. Our nightstands were not floor samples and I figured surely the night before shouldn’t count as a previous purchase. I buzzed over to the store after work and presented the coupon. Five minutes later I was walking out with an additional $56 in savings! Huzzah! Now we move on to mattress shopping…
by Forest on August 18, 2010
Bird and I are currently sleeping on the full-sized bed I’ve had since college and we’re using a dresser that was passed down from her grandparents so it’s at least fifty years old. It’s about time we upgrade and move our existing stuff into the guest room which now sits completely empty and unappealing to any guests.
With that in mind, we embarked on a shopping trip last night to scope out bedroom sets. We visited three stores and were a little overwhelmed by the wide variety and the range of prices.
We’re basically looking for a complete set: queen bed, dresser, mirror and nightstand. We saw sets priced anywhere from $500 to $3,000.
Here are three of our favorites and we’d love to hear your thoughts. Cast your vote in the comments section and I’ll write another post later that includes our opinions on each one along with the prices.
Option A:
Option B:
Option C:
by Forest on August 16, 2010
In preparation for our upcoming trip to Greece, we needed to renew Bird’s passport and update it with her new married name. My current passport will not expire until 2012.
Renewing your passport is actually a fairly simple process. You just need to fill out a form and then mail in the form, your old passport, your marriage certificate (if changing your name), new passport photos and a check to pay for the process. It seems a bit sketchy to mail off your current passport as well as the certified copy of your marriage certificate but they will return it with your new one. You can also use delivery confirmation and/or delivery tracking to minimize the risk.
I’m not exactly sure how long the process takes, but I know you can expedite it if you need your passport in a hurry and are willing to pay an additional fee.
As it is, it cost us $110 for the actual passport renewal fee, $9 for passport photos at Walgreen’s (kind of a rip-off) and about $2 to ship it all off to the passport office.
Just the first of many travel-related expenses to come, but one you might not consider right away.
by Forest on August 12, 2010
I wish he was mine but he belongs to my brother and his girlfriend.
I want a dog.
by Forest on August 12, 2010
I spent some time this morning looking through my book inventory on Amazon and decided to cull the ones that have dropped significantly in value since I originally listed them. My criteria was anything that is now worth less than 3 dollars is getting cut and I will either take them down to the used book store and try to sell them there or I’ll donate them to the thrift store.
In the end, I ended up cutting 50 books which brings my current number of listings to 98.
I also spent some time repricing the 98 remaining books so they will be a bit more competitive in pricing compared to when I listed them. That action already resulted in a sale 20 minutes later. Sales are still slow this month because I’m not picking up any new inventory, but that does means that all sales are pure profit.
UPDATE: I got $27 for my two boxes of books I brought into the used bookstore. Not too shabby.
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