Budget tips, please! (Austin, Round Rock, Rollingwood: 2009, rent, credit card)

[CptnRn]

The Book Exchange on Manchaca near Stassney is the best deal I've found for used books.

Half price books and you get that discounted another 50% if you bring in a book in the same category.

Inexpensive entertainment: If you already have a high speed internet connection. You can download Apple iTunes for free for mac or PC, and then download free music every week as well as some movies and numerous pod casts. Also most television series shows are available to watch for free from the network websites.

If you have a cell phone with a rate plan, but use it primarily for emergencies, look into changing it over to a pay per use plan. I just looked into this for my wife and I with AT&T and it looks like we can cut our annual cost by $500 by going to the Pay as you Go Plan. Buying a $100 pre paid usage card once a year will probably cover our needs.

[cls88]

CptnRn,

Are there any other charges on your cell phone plan, like a monthly charge? Currently I am using the pre-paid phone, which I have to top $20 every 3 months no matter I need it or not. As a result, I have over $150 balance and growing since I only use it for emergencies.

If I ever stop topping it, I'll lose all the balance. That's really sucks.

[ATX Homeboy]

I started my own vegetable garden for the first time. Takes up alot of extra time but it's been peaceful and fun. Don't know if it's really saved me anything because all the start up costs: Seed, plants, rabbit wire, etc.

Only problem is I gotta 'coon or 'dillo eatin' everythin' so I guess I'll haveta trap it.

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by cls88

CptnRn,

Are there any other charges on your cell phone plan, like a monthly charge? Currently I am using the pre-paid phone, which I have to top $20 every 3 months no matter I need it or not. As a result, I have over $150 balance and growing since I only use it for emergencies.

If I ever stop topping it, I'll lose all the balance. That's really sucks.

We use Tracfone and you can buy a one year activation for about $100. That comes with 250 minutes and if you need more, you can easily add them.

[CptnRn]

Originally Posted by Moonlady

We use Tracfone and you can buy a one year activation for about $100. That comes with 250 minutes and if you need more, you can easily add them.

I don't want turn this into an advertisement for AT&T, I have no affiliation with them, but this looks like a pretty good plan and they have one of the biggest networks. To answer your question, with the AT&T Pay as you Go plan you can buy a $100 prepaid card which is good for 365 days, and is charged at a rate of $0.25/minute, which equals 400 minutes for the year. There are smaller card amounts but they are also good for shorter periods of time.

There are no hidden fees that I can see unless you want enhanced features.

Rate Plan Details
Anytime Minutes $.25 per minute
Mobile to Mobile minutes Not Included
Long Distance No roaming or long distance charges across Pay As You Go nationwide coverage
Roaming Charges No roaming or long distance charges across Pay As You Go nationwide coverage
Daily Access Fee N/A
One-time activation fee None

Included Features
Basic Voice Mail
Three-Way Calling
International Text Messaging for Prepaid
Call Waiting
Call Forwarding
Caller ID
Long Distance

[cls88]

Great information! Thank you Moonlady and CptnRn.

[ILikeSmartHippies]

I believe Sun Harvest and Newflower Market (which is on W Wm Cannon) are the same company. Umm.. or is that Sunflower?

[ILikeSmartHippies]

Originally Posted by CptnRn

If you have a cell phone with a rate plan, but use it primarily for emergencies, look into changing it over to a pay per use plan.

I cancelled my cell phone long ago and since moving to Austin, which supposedly has a lot of free wifi everywhere, I have been using wifi calling on my laptop or iPhone, using Skype. This is kind of hit or miss because it needs wifi. Sometimes places say they have wifi and it isn't working.. and of course wifi is only good when I'm not moving around.

For the past 3 mos or so this has worked OK though. It is a bit strange, like living back in the 1980's, because everyone assumes "i'll call your mobile"... yet this is not really true mobile calling, it is more like partially-available-when-away-from-home-mobile.

I think for anyone near UT, there is so much free wifi in the area, pretty much a cell phone plan is not necessary. go skype and twitter using wifi instead.

Austin is ranked pretty high on hotspot availability.. in the top 10 in the nation if I remember correctly..

[Moonlady]

Originally Posted by ILikeSmartHippies

I believe Sun Harvest and Newflower Market (which is on W Wm Cannon) are the same company. Umm.. or is that Sunflower?

LOL, Newflower is Sunflower in markets outside Texas. Sun Harvest has been in Austin for a very long time. At one point Wild Oats bought Sun Harvest and then Whole Foods tried to buy Wild Oats but supposedly Sun Harvest was going to spin off on its own with new investors. But I think I heard that one of the original owners of Wild Oats started Newflower. OK, now I'm confused.

But I do know Sun Harvest and Newflower aren't the same!

[mimimomx3]

I saw a sign for 'Sprouts' on Bee Caves today by Mopac?? Any competitor to HEB is good!