[jonasdatum]

Hello everybody. In an effort to save money I have decided to go totally celluar! Yes I've finally joined all you 21st century bumpkins ! I have a few loose ends to tie up, but my transistion should be completed soon. All in the effort to save money.

My only grand reason for even attempting to keep a land line in the beginning was to send faxes, but a number of online service have solved that problem.

The next phase of testing will involve figuring out the average amount of minutes I use a month. Currently I have a T-Mobile 5-fav flex plan that cost $55 a month rounded off. The base price for the plan is $39.99. That saves me $9.00 from my land line.

Now I am currently looking at AT&T and their prepaid plan and reluctantly a contract. I am trying ever so hard to to contract with anybody, but economically it might be in my better intrests. For you see Cingular/AT&T has bundle packages with their broadband and cable services. Currently I am screwed with Verizon's DSL, but their prepaid or contract services are my first choice. More research is required. My perliminary suggest that I go prepaid with AT&T/Cingular and negociate with their department (recommended by a Rep) to get a discount on my DSL if I switch that.

Once I figure out the average minutes I use on T-Mobile's Flex Plan, the sooner I figure out if dumding down my services further is economically viable. Then I can figure out by contacting the proper departments for both AT&T/Cingular & Verizon if I can get 'any' discount with a prepaid plan on my DSL.

The mission to save money doesn't end until your old and don't give a crap anymore.

Here are the websites I am looking at for free faxes:

http://www.ringcentral.com/plansandp...entralfax.html

http://www.onefax.com/all_plans.html

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forum...-provider.html

http://www.velocityreviews.com/forum...-provider.html

http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/009460.html

http://www.fax.com/

http://www.101fax.com/packages.html

Once I made the choice new options opened up that I never considered until I made the choice.

[Davec]

More can be less. Helping a friend shop for a low end Dell I noticed that free shipping was offered for machines $499 and up. The one we were looking at had a default configuration cost of $474. S&H was $109 for a total of $583. We added a $30 card reader to bring the cost to $504 and saved $79 over the cost without the reader.

[redposter]

And I gto to know that hp has some discounts for HP DV2700T also, they are offering a $200 off $999 or more promotion.

[hewee]

Originally Posted by Davec

More can be less. Helping a friend shop for a low end Dell I noticed that free shipping was offered for machines $499 and up. The one we were looking at had a default configuration cost of $474. S&H was $109 for a total of $583. We added a $30 card reader to bring the cost to $504 and saved $79 over the cost without the reader.

Good way to get the price down. I got my new Dell but I upgraded a lot on it but it was cheaper then getting the same thing from another model. You really have to look at all models and config each one to see they cost.
Also there was on my model the "Microsoft Works 9" that was listed but uncheck but it was free but you had to check the box to get it because it was not pre-checked.

[jonasdatum]

Originally Posted by Davec

More can be less. Helping a friend shop for a low end Dell I noticed that free shipping was offered for machines $499 and up. The one we were looking at had a default configuration cost of $474. S&H was $109 for a total of $583. We added a $30 card reader to bring the cost to $504 and saved $79 over the cost without the reader.

Did you consider just building a system with simular specs? If you build a basic system, it should cost perhaps $100 less.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by jonasdatum

Did you consider just building a system with simular specs? If you build a basic system, it should cost perhaps $100 less.

If you don't have the time or the knowledge though, it could get a whole lot more expensive in a hurry. There's a lot of people who wouldn't want to take the time or possibly mess something up by trying to build their computer themselves.

[jonasdatum]

The Joneses

[jonasdatum]

Originally Posted by jonasdatum

I spent some money I shouldn't have. I am not broke or anything, but the money was mismanaged and I have to pay the price.


For this serious but non-threatening spending I have forfeited my Xbox 360 Elite until Christmas 2008 and perhaps a few other actives I had planned on this summer.

So instead of purchasing the cereals I normally would at their retail prices I can only buy them if they're on sale. So will buy what meets physical needs and is palatable.

The diet will become even more stringent even though it is already! Some of the social-excursions for exploration and developmental purposes are now scraped.

However I will purchase standard reading material, physical development, and educational/career development materials.

Once the money has been made backup or I get a huge increase in pay, then I may revert.

Everything cost something, after crunching some numbers I have now concluded that I won't have 70% or so of my yearly income until later next year. If only I had not screwed up . I am very disappointed in myself, but self-pitty solves nothing! I have been tweaking my food budget more. I figured I could reduce the grain expeditures significantly. Think about it? I don't buy white bread, but I by weat bread, whole grain rice, and cereal in abundance. So since I have a quantity of grain prodcuts I can reduce the quality to a point.

I have also reduced my netflix.com account for a month. Don't forget I also have my new cell phone which should save me $10.00 a month or so.

As far as my laundry is concerned I am considering not using fabric softner anymore.

Then there is school. If I go back to school in the spring or fall it will deduct $2000 to $4000 next year. This is the problem I had in the beginning with saving - school cost. That is even taking into account tuition reinversement. Hence why it will take longer to save more.

What makes it worse is that I've had to take time off of work these past few weeks so I have lost 10% to 30% of my income .

My fault so I have to deal with it - heavy price paid Scholastic failure sucks. Must get rich very rich . Poor sucks rich good !

[hewee]

Do you live someplace where you can get a room mate to help pay the rent etc. If so that will help you out a lot also. Even more if you cook the meals together.

[jonasdatum]

Originally Posted by hewee

Do you live someplace where you can get a room mate to help pay the rent etc. If so that will help you out a lot also. Even more if you cook the meals together.

Roommate is out of the question. I toyed with it when I first go my place, but it turned out to be a bad idea.

[Drabdr]

Clark's big book of bargains... he's tight, but it has some good suggestions.

One of my own... put in a new programmable thermostat, and monitor it's usage.

[hewee]

Originally Posted by jonasdatum

Roommate is out of the question. I toyed with it when I first go my place, but it turned out to be a bad idea.

I hope all else makes things work out the best for you and got a feeling it will because you want it to and your working at it.

Originally Posted by Drabdr

Clark's big book of bargains... he's tight, but it has some good suggestions.

One of my own... put in a new programmable thermostat, and monitor it's usage.

You can also check out how much power things use with Kill A Watt.
I got the P4460 - Kill A Watt EZ but there is the cheaper P4400 - Kill A Watt and the Power strip one P4320 - Kill A Watt PS

I knew my refrigerator was old and a newer one would use less power but I pluged the refrigerator into the Kill A Watt EZ and it says I am using $1,820.00 a year.

So got to be looking for a newer one real soon. Darn Kmart had some models from Sears that were marked way down last month because new models were coming in so I should go look and hope they still have the last year models on sale because it was like almost $300.00 less.
But no matter what it cost I will save money on using it to pay for it because the one I got now is eating up to much money.

[jonasdatum]

Prevent Bankruptcy With These Tips
by Lisa Smith (Contact Author | Biography)
http://investopedia.com/articles/pf/....asp?viewall=1

Cutting down on expenses and luxury items. I myself had to eat out unfortunately. Didn't have time to cook for two days. The plus side is that I've cut down on what I ate at home as a result. It's been balancing act. For example I spent x on a diner burger, but for breakfast yesterday I had soy milk, vegetables, cereal, and tea. So I skiped on dinner. The leftovers from that burger will sistain me tomorrow.

One suggestion I liked was for people to buy smaller homes. Smaller homes equal smaller space which conserves heat, less to maintain, etc.

No cable TV, drive a used car, pay in cash. Don't forget to skip that $50,000 vacation. Try a $5,000 vacation.

[Farmgirl22]

Originally Posted by jonasdatum

Don't forget to skip that $50,000 vacation. Try a $5,000 vacation.

LOL!! That last part made me laugh--who takes a $5,000 vacation? I'd consider myself lucky if we've taken a $500 vacation in the last 2 years.

[Farmgirl22]

This is something that we've always done, I don't know how much money it saves, but I'd imagine it to be a quite a bit. We bought a water jug, put ice in it, and fill it with water. Every time we make an extended trip somewhere we bring it along and refill styrofoam cups (from like Sonic) and reuse the cups until they disintegrate and the water jug is good until it breaks or starts to leak.

If you plan enough ahead, you could also pack a small cooler with pop, bottled water, sandwiches, whatever you think you'll need on your trip to save some cash. Drinking during trips alone can get expensive when you figure about $1.30 for a 20 oz. bottle of pepsi, or about the same amount for a medium sized drink at a drive-thru.

Another thing we do is get the largest sized drink they offer, and another water (if we forgot our water jug) and share it. When the soda runs out (or we can't drink anymore of it) we switch to the water. A lot of times water at drive-thrus are free, but you have to request the largest free water they offer, or you'll get a cup the size of a sippy cup.

Anyway, those were just my thoughts of the morning. Have a great weekend!!