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Old 02-11-2017, 12:12 PM
 
Location: 415->916->602
3,145 posts, read 2,639,593 times
Reputation: 3872

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Frugal living is probably my favorite place to go on city data. As i get older, I want to cut down on my expenses and the feedback i got on here was pretty amazing. Here's what I decided to cut back on (or going to in the next couple of weeks)

1) CABLE-I don't even use it anymore, so why pay for it? Dish Network WANTS to charge me $105 a month for 80 channels that i dont even use. As a matter of fact, I don't even watch TV AS MUCH anymore. When I do, I'm playing my video games, watching youtube, or watching live sports. (and that's how they get you) Well, im only paying 65 a month because my mother, and now I, have been loyal customers for over 16 years and they gave me a discount.

Next weekend, I'm going to cancel them. The only reason why im waiting that long is that i get extra rewards during the nba all star game weekend, so when they slap me with that big cancellation fee, I'm able to rack up more money. (The savings are way more than their $20 a month cancellation fee. It will last til this December. Until then, i can just use my savings to pay for the cancellation fee in a lump sum and then allocate those monthly savings back in to mysavings account.)


2) I finally decided to switch from Verizon to Total Wireless-which runs off of Verizon's network. I was paying $50 for unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data. Now I'm paying $36 for unlimited talk and text with 5GB of data. I LOVE VERIZON WIRELESS since every other carrier around my neighborhood is a deadzone. (metro, sprint, t mobile) Verizon worked flawlessly out here. But I do get more GB's with total wireless and im paying almost 14 dollars less. The only minor downside is that their speeds aren't as fast and i lost my mobile hotspot privileges but iit's good enough for me.

3) Misc stuff like address labels, grocery budget and flooring. I checked out some of the vinyl flooring you guys suggested and it's probably a better alternative for me than tile flooring. I did forget that the grooves in bettween each tile can get dirty so that was a good call. When I do the flooring, I'll take pictures of it!


I just want to thank you so much for being quite the asset for me. I live in California and my house and property taxes are expensive, so any way i can save money on variable costs, I'm down for that!!!
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Old 02-11-2017, 02:42 PM
 
5,724 posts, read 7,453,459 times
Reputation: 4518
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Old 02-11-2017, 05:38 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
5 posts, read 2,777 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by 49erfan916 View Post
Frugal living is probably my favorite place to go on city data. As i get older, I want to cut down on my expenses and the feedback i got on here was pretty amazing. Here's what I decided to cut back on (or going to in the next couple of weeks)

1) CABLE-I don't even use it anymore, so why pay for it? Dish Network WANTS to charge me $105 a month for 80 channels that i dont even use. As a matter of fact, I don't even watch TV AS MUCH anymore. When I do, I'm playing my video games, watching youtube, or watching live sports. (and that's how they get you) Well, im only paying 65 a month because my mother, and now I, have been loyal customers for over 16 years and they gave me a discount.

Next weekend, I'm going to cancel them. The only reason why im waiting that long is that i get extra rewards during the nba all star game weekend, so when they slap me with that big cancellation fee, I'm able to rack up more money. (The savings are way more than their $20 a month cancellation fee. It will last til this December. Until then, i can just use my savings to pay for the cancellation fee in a lump sum and then allocate those monthly savings back in to mysavings account.)


2) I finally decided to switch from Verizon to Total Wireless-which runs off of Verizon's network. I was paying $50 for unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data. Now I'm paying $36 for unlimited talk and text with 5GB of data. I LOVE VERIZON WIRELESS since every other carrier around my neighborhood is a deadzone. (metro, sprint, t mobile) Verizon worked flawlessly out here. But I do get more GB's with total wireless and im paying almost 14 dollars less. The only minor downside is that their speeds aren't as fast and i lost my mobile hotspot privileges but iit's good enough for me.

3) Misc stuff like address labels, grocery budget and flooring. I checked out some of the vinyl flooring you guys suggested and it's probably a better alternative for me than tile flooring. I did forget that the grooves in bettween each tile can get dirty so that was a good call. When I do the flooring, I'll take pictures of it!


I just want to thank you so much for being quite the asset for me. I live in California and my house and property taxes are expensive, so any way i can save money on variable costs, I'm down for that!!!
My biggest expense is my cell phone bill. We pay over $100 a month w/ t-mobile and I am thinking about downgrading to something less expensive. Tell me more about Verizon Wireless... would you recommend it to others? I currently have T-mobile and my service is outstanding. The customer service is great and I have been with them for over 10 years. Do you have to pay for a phone?

Thank you.
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Old 02-11-2017, 08:11 PM
 
3,963 posts, read 4,207,239 times
Reputation: 8666
I have to thank the frugal people who suggested Ooma to me as an alternative to our Verizon landline. We got the Ooma Telos and now pay a whopping 4 bucks and change per month for our old phone number. (We had that number for 33 years and didn't want to give it up, as so many people and businesses we deal with had it.) That has saved me about 44 bucks a month over what Verizon charged. And the service is great. No complaints about it at all so far. So thank you, fellow frugal folks! (Gotta love that alliteration.)
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Old 02-11-2017, 10:00 PM
 
Location: 415->916->602
3,145 posts, read 2,639,593 times
Reputation: 3872
Quote:
Originally Posted by blu_daisy View Post
My biggest expense is my cell phone bill. We pay over $100 a month w/ t-mobile and I am thinking about downgrading to something less expensive. Tell me more about Verizon Wireless... would you recommend it to others? I currently have T-mobile and my service is outstanding. The customer service is great and I have been with them for over 10 years. Do you have to pay for a phone?

Thank you.

I LOVE VERIZON. They treated me very well; that's why I felt really bad leaving them.

But if you're looking for a no contract service, then Verizon offers that too.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/

But most likely, you have to buy your own phone. I was a verizon customer since 2013, so I switched over my samsung when my contracted ended in 2015. But going back to the prepaid plan, it depends if you use heavy data or not. I use to pay $49 for unlimited talk and text and 3GB worth of data. Total Wireless, I'm paying a little over $35 and I get 5GB and still everything else unlimited. And the best part is that they use Verizon's network. So far, no major complaints. (Data speeds are very slow. Also, i only had the new service for one day)

I would recommend Verizon to everyone. Them and MAYBE ATT has very good coverage where I'm at. Sprint, T Mobile and Metro are deadzones in my neighborhood.


footnote: If you decide to check out total wireless, they have some deals where you can get their phones for free. (they are DECENT-certainly not fancy) You may need to buy their SIM card to activate their service, which was like $15 but Verizon makes you buy their sim card so you may incur some sort out of pocket expense before you get the service.

Here's for total wireless: https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home
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Old 02-11-2017, 11:30 PM
 
Location: Mid-Atlantic
32,804 posts, read 36,064,857 times
Reputation: 43543
I've left Verizon--twice--because of billing problems. I never did get all of my money back. At one house where my husband worked from home, he had to go outside to ensure that he didn't drop a call.

Right now I have ATT. I may be able to get a better rate with with another carrier, but coverage is spotty in my area.
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Old 02-12-2017, 05:13 AM
 
Location: Bella Vista, Ark
77,772 posts, read 104,280,990 times
Reputation: 49247
Quote:
Originally Posted by 49erfan916 View Post
I LOVE VERIZON. They treated me very well; that's why I felt really bad leaving them.

But if you're looking for a no contract service, then Verizon offers that too.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/

But most likely, you have to buy your own phone. I was a verizon customer since 2013, so I switched over my samsung when my contracted ended in 2015. But going back to the prepaid plan, it depends if you use heavy data or not. I use to pay $49 for unlimited talk and text and 3GB worth of data. Total Wireless, I'm paying a little over $35 and I get 5GB and still everything else unlimited. And the best part is that they use Verizon's network. So far, no major complaints. (Data speeds are very slow. Also, i only had the new service for one day)

I would recommend Verizon to everyone. Them and MAYBE ATT has very good coverage where I'm at. Sprint, T Mobile and Metro are deadzones in my neighborhood.


footnote: If you decide to check out total wireless, they have some deals where you can get their phones for free. (they are DECENT-certainly not fancy) You may need to buy their SIM card to activate their service, which was like $15 but Verizon makes you buy their sim card so you may incur some sort out of pocket expense before you get the service.

Here's for total wireless: https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home
I have to say, customer service wise Verizon can't be beat. We moved here 9 years ago and the Verizon reception was awful. We still had over a year on our contract. At first, we asked to get out because of reception they said No. After a few months, they saw we rarely used the service and actually contacted us about ending our contract.
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Old 02-12-2017, 02:41 PM
 
Location: Henderson
1,110 posts, read 1,899,069 times
Reputation: 1039
Quote:
Originally Posted by 49erfan916 View Post
Frugal living is probably my favorite place to go on city data. As i get older, I want to cut down on my expenses and the feedback i got on here was pretty amazing. Here's what I decided to cut back on (or going to in the next couple of weeks)

1) CABLE-I don't even use it anymore, so why pay for it? Dish Network WANTS to charge me $105 a month for 80 channels that i dont even use. As a matter of fact, I don't even watch TV AS MUCH anymore. When I do, I'm playing my video games, watching youtube, or watching live sports. (and that's how they get you) Well, im only paying 65 a month because my mother, and now I, have been loyal customers for over 16 years and they gave me a discount.

Next weekend, I'm going to cancel them. The only reason why im waiting that long is that i get extra rewards during the nba all star game weekend, so when they slap me with that big cancellation fee, I'm able to rack up more money. (The savings are way more than their $20 a month cancellation fee. It will last til this December. Until then, i can just use my savings to pay for the cancellation fee in a lump sum and then allocate those monthly savings back in to mysavings account.)


2) I finally decided to switch from Verizon to Total Wireless-which runs off of Verizon's network. I was paying $50 for unlimited talk and text with 3GB of data. Now I'm paying $36 for unlimited talk and text with 5GB of data. I LOVE VERIZON WIRELESS since every other carrier around my neighborhood is a deadzone. (metro, sprint, t mobile) Verizon worked flawlessly out here. But I do get more GB's with total wireless and im paying almost 14 dollars less. The only minor downside is that their speeds aren't as fast and i lost my mobile hotspot privileges but iit's good enough for me.

3) Misc stuff like address labels, grocery budget and flooring. I checked out some of the vinyl flooring you guys suggested and it's probably a better alternative for me than tile flooring. I did forget that the grooves in bettween each tile can get dirty so that was a good call. When I do the flooring, I'll take pictures of it!


I just want to thank you so much for being quite the asset for me. I live in California and my house and property taxes are expensive, so any way i can save money on variable costs, I'm down for that!!!

There is such a feeling of satisfaction saving money. I'll even go extreme measures at times because an idea pops into my head. I used to live in a neighborhood that folks would put perfectly good or easily repairable items by the curb on trash day. I would collect these items for sale on Craigslist or donate them to thrift stores. I've received lots of free firewood from tree trimmers, get free compost from the local land fill, free roof tile (only needed to replace one broken tile) from local construction site, and yes I asked for permission. I got the Sunday paper for free from a neighbor, my wife cuts my hair. I could go on and on about this topic and have picked up quite a few tips from the contributors at this forum. I'm not poor, I just enjoy the "sport" of saving, but I can only push this so with my wife LOL.
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Old 02-12-2017, 06:59 PM
 
Location: Brooklyn, NY
5 posts, read 2,777 times
Reputation: 15
Quote:
Originally Posted by 49erfan916 View Post
I LOVE VERIZON. They treated me very well; that's why I felt really bad leaving them.

But if you're looking for a no contract service, then Verizon offers that too.

https://www.verizonwireless.com/prepaid/

But most likely, you have to buy your own phone. I was a verizon customer since 2013, so I switched over my samsung when my contracted ended in 2015. But going back to the prepaid plan, it depends if you use heavy data or not. I use to pay $49 for unlimited talk and text and 3GB worth of data. Total Wireless, I'm paying a little over $35 and I get 5GB and still everything else unlimited. And the best part is that they use Verizon's network. So far, no major complaints. (Data speeds are very slow. Also, i only had the new service for one day)

I would recommend Verizon to everyone. Them and MAYBE ATT has very good coverage where I'm at. Sprint, T Mobile and Metro are deadzones in my neighborhood.


footnote: If you decide to check out total wireless, they have some deals where you can get their phones for free. (they are DECENT-certainly not fancy) You may need to buy their SIM card to activate their service, which was like $15 but Verizon makes you buy their sim card so you may incur some sort out of pocket expense before you get the service.

Here's for total wireless: https://www.totalwireless.com/wps/portal/home
Thanks for the info, 49erfan! I think this is a great deal compared to long-term contracts and you still get unlimited talk and text. I think the 3GB is more than enough, but I wonder if they charge you extra if you go over the 3GB. If I go over the data limit, t-mobile just reduces my speed. I am thinking about more ways to save and you gave me some great food for thought.
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Old 02-12-2017, 09:49 PM
 
Location: 415->916->602
3,145 posts, read 2,639,593 times
Reputation: 3872
Quote:
Originally Posted by blu_daisy View Post
Thanks for the info, 49erfan! I think this is a great deal compared to long-term contracts and you still get unlimited talk and text. I think the 3GB is more than enough, but I wonder if they charge you extra if you go over the 3GB. If I go over the data limit, t-mobile just reduces my speed. I am thinking about more ways to save and you gave me some great food for thought.


If you go over your data limit, i think it's 20 dollars for additional 3Gigs
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