Why I hate Mr Money Mustache Part II Cable and Internet Edition

Here's the latest Why I hate Mr Money Mustache Series.  Disclaimer I don't hate anyone, I'm jealous in a couple ways, but I also am not a Mustachian.......Here you Go 

I always read Financial Bloggers alike and many people for that matter scream to the heavens, STOP WATCHING TV, cut your cable cord and save money.    They will then go on to talk about how they stopped spending so much money and in Mr Money Mustache's case "Cut your Cash-Leaking Umbilical Cord". 

Well Guess What?  I want to watch TV!  I want to watch sports, NFL, College Basketball, and any other show that I want to see right this minute!  There I said it, I think the reasoning is completely logic.  Here's goes: 

For example let's say you spend $50 month on the Internet for example, maybe $9/month for Netflix and another $9 for HuluPlus, i don't know, humor me for one second.  So there you are spending $68 for "Cutting the Cord"  Congratulations to ummm saving money? 

Don't get me wrong if you are able to get rid of TV and Wait for It......The Internet then good work, you are Frugal beyond your years and can put that $68 in a monthly account and make 10K in 20 years(no calculations actually done).  But every time I read an article about saving money on Cable TV it still involves the Internet.  So I skoff(not spell checking this word).   

I do think there are many out there spending too much for cable and Internet.  If you are spending $200/month and you are not getting paid to be Movie critic on the Internet, I think you have a cable and Internet problem. However if you are paying the small amounts of $40 or $60 month to have the luxury of watching the Green Bay Packers on Monday Night Football then this seems reasonable.   

 

 

The goal like with Cell Phones and my favorite Republic Wireless and for many across the board is to save as much money while still getting the highest quality product possible.  So I skoff(yep one more time for good measure) at the idea of cutting Cable TV, because most of the time it's not really true anyway and you are using the Internet to stream TV.  Like every purchase, it's important to do the research and get the most for your money.  $480/year is a lot of money to many people and don't get suckered into that $70/month $840 year after the 12 months are up, look for a deal with other providers, reach out to the customer service and get that bill lowered.  Just Remember It's OK to have Cable and the Internet which most seem to lull over. 

*********UPDATE***************

We made a decision to cancel our DirecTV service and go with the above mentioned Internet Plus option through Comcast, we are fairly new into the conversion, so I want to do a separate blog post explaining the cost breakdowns and if it actually works for us.

How We Are Cutting Costs on Our Cell Phone and You Can To......Republic Wireless Review

So it finally happened, I got fed up with paying over $200 to have a cell phone.  Sounds crazy but so many people out there are doing the same thing whether it's with Verizon, At&t, T-mobile, or US Cellular. 

One sunny day I was looking at my bills and realized there wasn't a huge amount I could change, my mortgage payment's staying the same, my student loan payment is fixed, what really can I cut?  Then it hit me, I am personally paying $80 every month to be able call a few people, send a boatload of texts, and search the Internet on my train ride home.  $80, that's $960 year, that's almost a $1000, that's crazy.  Doing some calculations on bankrate.com  if you would invest $80 monthly into the stock market and received a 8% return, you would have 119K!!!  You can't buy a Rolls Royce Phantom with this money but at least a huge down payment!  Who am I kidding we wouldn't buy this car, but you see what i'm talking about now.  I didn't want to give up my cellphone, so I needed a solution.



I decided to check out some personal finance blogs(tons of great info out there) and came across a really interesting concept with phones which made a lot of sense to me.  The idea is to use Wi-Fi as much as possible when making phone calls, sending text messages, and checking the Internet.  If for any reason you are unable to connect to those it goes through the Sprint network.  I liked the concept and I liked the price even better.  Here's a Republic Wireless Price Plans below:
                                 



For me there was a ton of Pros and a few Cons.

Pros

• New Moto X Phone for $300, less than retail price
• Monthly Plan similar to mine, except $50 less month
• No 2 year Contract

Cons

• Quality of Service
• Initial Expense of phone and only 1 phone option

I did the math and came to the conclusion that after 6 months I would break even and save $300 in the first year alone and as much as $465 if I went to the $10 Cell and Talk plan. I'm not even taking into account that if I stayed with Verizon I would have bought a new Iphone 5S which starts at $199.99, if you take that into account I would be ahead after 3 months and saving money, like I'm sort of rich rapper guy throwing dollars everywhere. Here's the breakdown:

Month	Verizon Wireless	Republic Wireless $25 Plan	Savings	Republic Wireless $10 Plan	Savings
1	80	$330	-$250	$330	-$250
2	80	30	50	15	65
3	80	30	50	15	65
4	80	30	50	15	65
5	80	30	50	15	65
6	80	30	50	15	65
7	80	30	50	15	65
8	80	30	50	15	65
9	80	30	50	15	65
10	80	30	50	15	65
11	80	30	50	15	65
12	80	30	50	15	65
Total	$960.00	$660.00	$300.00	$495.00	$465.00

I bought the phone and took the plunge. Here's my review over the past 2 months of owning the new Moto X and joining Republic Wireless.(P.S. this link saves you even more if you join)

I purchased the phone online and used a promo code, similar to the link above and received the phone less than a week later in a Republic Wireless box with a shiny new Moto X inside.  Starting service could not have been easier, a few clicks and an email address here and there(Moto X is a Google Phone so having a Gmail account makes everything go smoothly).  I wanted to test it out since you have 30 days to return the phone, so I kept my Iphone and Verizon during this time, also because RW assigns you a phone number(you can change to your old number with a couple clicks as well) based on your area.  I had a couple small issues and huge pros alike, check out what I went through shown below:

Small Issues

• I couldn't receive text messages from Iphone users because my imessages was still turned and my phone number was still registered as an Iphone user so all messages were trying to go to my new Moto X phone and would reject.  I actually blame this on Apple more than RW but it was an issue for about a week until this was eventually fixed
• Sending picture messages in the first week or two was either extremely delayed like a day or two or the user did not receive them at all.
• Overall voice/service quality is lower than my original Verizon phone.  My wife probably notices it more than I do, I would say if Verizon is a 10 for service, RW has been an 8 for me.

Huge Pros

• Moto X phone is amazing!  I have been so impressed with the apps being just as good and in some cases better than Apple.  The Google Voice recognition(similar to Siri) is great, I couldn't be happier. The screen size, resolution, and camera are better in every aspect.
• My bill since I have started has amounted to a total of $22.05, with a $12.25 bill coming.  I started with the 3G plan and it worked well, I switched about 2 weeks ago to the $10 Cell and Text plan and haven't missed a beat along the way.
• Everything being connected to Google has been great, from Google Hangouts, Play Store, Gmail, the previously mentioned Google Voice, just great, much more friendly than every Apple product and Cloud system I have ever used.

Overall I have really enjoyed owning my new Moto X and being apart of Republic Wireless, it is a great way to save money and not to sign a contract for 2 years and pay $100 month to own a phone.  I highly recommend Republic Wireless, I have gone through the first 2 months of RW releasing the Moto X and it has been great.

 If you want to cut your cell phone bill and make the switch make sure to use this link to save an additional $19 by using this referral link http://referrals.republicwireless.com/a/clk/20z49M or clicking on this Republic Wireless hyperlink.  Any questions or concerns, let me know and I can tell you first hand!

Why I Hate Mr Money Mustache

Why I'm Jealous of Mr Money Mustache and Hate Him at the Same Time Part I of Many. 



Let's keep it simple I think retiring at 30 is amazing and I'm jealous.  Now here's why I think many of the concepts used don't work for the majority. 

Riding a bike to save $10,000 just doesn't happen.  Here's how this scenario works for someone who lives in Chicago.  I like 8 miles from work, I jump on my bike and ride to work sweating like a mad man in the 20 degree weather.  I get to work after my hour long trip, take of my coat and drenched shirt, well I don't want to spend any money so I go to work and smell like I haven't showered in days.  This doesn't work!  What do you expect people to shower in the sink?  Move closer to my place of work.....Great idea I just raised my 
rent/mortgage by about $1000, new article would how I spent $12,000 year but Bike to Work.  I'm not even going to mention people who live in the Suburbs or Rural Area. 

Here's a better article title and one that appeals to the every day person.  How I Saved 1 Million Dollars Riding the Train, Walking to Work, Driving a Beater!!! 


Here's the 3 options you will run into and here's how we can save some money doing it. 

1.  You live far enough away from work and public transportation that you have to drive, not peddle 30 miles to save $10,000 and die of frost bite on your way to work, your not Lance Armstrong, this ain't happening.  


So in my eyes having a car payment is just about one of the worst things you can do to get stuck in a rut for probably the rest of your life, check out my decision and pros and cons of selling my Benzo de Lorenzo).  So I had the luxury of living in the city and selling my vehicle, most people don't.  So if this is you we need to downsize, sell your car and get a beater, like a 1997 Mercury Tracer perhaps, a fine vehicle if you ask me.  In my Blog(http://financeandfitnessdreams.blogspot.com/2013/05/money-mindset-owning-nice-car.html)  which says that if you have a car loan that it should be only 10% of your income, so if you have 1 car and make 50K(average American Income), you are allowed to have a $5000 loan, the rest must be paid for in cash.  If there are 2 members and 2 cars are needed this would still be the same since there are 2 vehicles, assuming the house hold income is 100K, the total car loan allowed would be 10K.  But that's my criteria if you were to buy today.  If you want to really WIN, you can't have a car payment, I don't care if it's 0%, you owe some rich guy at the bank money, period.  Sell your car and get a cheaper one, that's it 1 sentence.(Side note I'm not including Van or Car Pooling but also great ways to save money)

2.  You live in the City, but you can't or won't Ride your Bike or Walk to Work.  That's cool, you are going to save money and be almost as cool as Captain Planet. 



So you are most likely taking Public Transportation, train or bus or fairy for those really cool people you are saving money and the environment.  Using Chicago as an example it costs $100/month for  a pass to ride every in the entire city of Chicago, which is amazing in itself.  But get this my work says we like the environment and want to save you a couple extra dollars we will give you $30 month to get to work.  That's crazy I'm now down to $70 month to get to work, but wait there's more(Insert Realllly Cool Infomercial Here), any money that is taken out is taken out pre-tax which is not only reducing my overall taxed income but lowering the cost of the monthly pass.  Based off the criteria I filled out on rideshare.com( I have no idea what tax bracket I'm in, 25% just felt correct.  So I'm paying $52.50 month to travel in the city and if you live in Chicago this covers pretty much everything.  So what you spend on a tank of gas I spend on getting to work, it's worth hanging out with strangers for 45 minutes while I listen to a podcast or read my book. 

 

3.  You Do Live Close Enough to Work to Bike or Walk, and apparently save $10,000 a year, spend this on Twinkies and Malt Liquor please. 

Being able to walk or ride your bike is pretty exciting, it doesn't work for everyone, but if you have the option to make that choice consider yourself in a good place.  It can certainly save you a few dollars in expenses and get you a little exercise which is what FFD(Finance and Fitness Dreams people, getting the FFD tattoo tomorrow?) is all about.  I would not however pick up where you are living now and move closer to work, but if it's an option to consider in your purchase or rental decision.  For example when I first moved to Chicago I had 2 options, both similar places in nice neighborhoods, 1 was a 10 minute walk and the other was a 20 minute bus ride, made my decision so much easier, but remember that every one's work can change from year to year, which it did for me, less than a year later.   

So in Summary I think Mr Money Mustache is correct that you can save some money by riding your bike to work or wherever, but that's just not a reality for 99% of the population.  Henry Ford and George Stephenson invented cars and trains, whatever mode of transport you are using let's make sure it's paid off or is a low number on the budget.  Comments are appreciated even if you think I'm crazy or agree with me completely.  Thanks for reading. 

Finishing up a Sprint and Saving for Vacation with Grocery Money

As I update my sprint to paying down my student loan, I made a bold claim that I was going to pay off a portion by the end of July, well I am happy to say I am still on my way, it's going to be tight though, because I have been holding off on using my "man fund" to pay off the remaining balance.  I just made a payment on 6/18/13 so the balance should be right around $800 with a little over a month to pay off, then it's party time!!!  LOL No it's on to the next debt, the borrower is slave to the lender and nobody wants to be a slave.

My next plan of divide and conquer is to plan and cash flow my vacation, no credit cards, no savings that I apply to debt, it will be 100% be cash flowed by cutting back!!! Cut it out you say guy from Full House!  Oh we will, I tell you, we will.

So our plan is to travel to San Francisco and possibly up or down the coast to some nearby cities.  The cost can vary and according the San Francisco visitor's bureau, tourists staying in a hotel spend $244 per person per day.  We are going to go about this a little differently, since we plan to vacation in early September we have about 3 months to save, we will then take the amount that we save and use this during our trip, if we have a $100 total we better find someone with a couch who lives in San Francisco.  The good news to start is our air fare is taken care of, we made the right move last summer and accepted Delta's offer for some free vouchers and and extra day in Nicaragua, BOOM, airfare paid for.

So because my wife doesn't like sharing any details about money and the fact that I love my wife and my marriage, I will only share the money we save, not any incomes or what we have budgeted for.  We will keep things simple, if I have $100 budgeted for and only spend $30, then more of the BOOM! saved $70 for "San Francisco is Fantastico"(patent pending).  This will also include money budgeted for eating out, this is our real vice where we spend far too much money.  The same plan will apply $100 budgeted, spend $40, and yep you got it BOOM Baby!!!! $60 saved.  Based on this while I don't have a concrete number my projected savings we will need is probably about $1000, which is about $300 or $400 month, so that's a lot of savings, but I love a challenge.

Here are a couple of simple plans to save a few extra dollars:

1. Make a list every week for our Groceries and project what we will spend before we go.  I did this and came within a dollar it was kinda freaky actually.  This way I know what I'm spending before I ever step into the grocery store.
2. Cash only.  I take out my budgeted money after each paycheck and only use that to pay for groceries.  If I want the chocolate cookies dough and it's $2 over what I brought, I politely ask to have it removed.
3. Do not eat out.  This will be the hardest to accomplish.  This will involve wait for it, making coffee and breakfast at the house, eating leftovers and sandwiches I brought from home, and even planning our dinners for the week and taking it out the night before(nice little Pot Roast in the slow cooker right now).
4. Say NO.  This also rings up as one of the more difficult things to do.  Say no to eating out, say no to that work lunch with everyone.  We are not going to totally cut off the eating out for lunches, but 1x a week is the limit.

The message here is finish up a sprint and let's save some money to go on vacation, because honestly do you want to wait till your 65 to go on cool vacations???????? 

I would love to see some comments on how you save on groceries and going out.  Thanks for reading.

Night Out on the Town

So my wife and I decided that we eat out far to much, it may have helped that for 2 months we didn't have a kitchen, literally!  So for the first 2 weeks of September we were in our old habits of grabbing a pizza for delivery on Friday night and if we didn't feel like cooking to go grab something.  We did budget a small amount to go out to eat, but usually we would just ignore whatever money we put in and go way past the budget whether on my wife's tab or our joint checking account, for some reason if it goes on the wife's card it doesn't cost anything in our minds, we in fact are crazy!  So here's our plan of attack to stop from spending so much on going out to eat.

The envelope plan well sorda.  So we decided to not use our debit/credit card for any meals where we eat out(with the exception of lunch for my wife).   So every 2 weeks we will take out $60 and put it aside for going out to eat(side note don't search eating out in google images, not what I expected, I'm a little scarred).  The goal is to stop us from eating out so much and as an incentive any money that we don't use will go towards our Hawaii trip in November.  So far we are 1.5 weeks in and that $60 is still sitting in my headphone bag(our version of the envelope), so far so good, I will let you know.  Is there anything you do that helps you to save money instead of eating out?  Share baby, share!