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I'm big on DIY. I work on my own cars, clean my own gutters, lawn and bushes, plowings snow, basic home repairs, COD oil, etc. I actually take pride on working on the house.
Knowing what it could cost to hire someone to do these types of things can add the satisfaction of what one is saving by DIY (if done well). Even reducing the size and/or scope of the work that is hired-out, by doing some of it oneself, can save a fair amount of money. And, in some cases, there's the added benefit of saving on a gym membership, lol.
We've made career and lifestyle changes that reduced the cost of using vehicles by nearly 75% compared to 10 yrs. ago (including using more gas efficient vehicles). This would mean more if gasoline prices were still where they were back then.
We no longer use a landscaping service or in-ground sprinklers (the latter was completely unnecessary and water wasteful as only one small patch of the yard doesn't get enough partial shade).
Not using heating oil eliminated associated costs (not to mention contract concerns).
A relatively small garden can reduce the grocery bill (sometimes we give away portions of bountiful harvests; esp. tomatoes, snap peas, and figs...still trying to get good carrot and jalepeno harvests).
AKA: how to save money in order to afford property taxes and other necessary evils.
How to save money living on LI without living like a cave man.
Aside from solar and grieving taxes, what are some of the things you are doing to stick it to the man?
Messing with cable/internet provider options, energy efficient appliances/LED lighting, wood/pellet stoves, etc...
Instead of us always just complaining about expenses and doing nothing about it except continuing to pay, let's brainstorm reasonable ways to cut costs here on LI!
In regards to dealing with expenses, esp. property taxes and the costs of municipal services, it seems to me (and I could be wrong) LIers are more concerned with protesting Federal issues than local ones that impact costs. Complacency toward misuse of municipal monies seems startling to me.
It seems like there are numerous instances in which tax revenues have been wasted, diverted, and misused. I've never seen/known of protesters calling for the resignation of a local elected official (and continue that protest until the official is gone). If it weren't for a NYS Attorney General (AG), I don't think any of these elected officials would be held accountable.
I think reducing the costs goes a long way toward affordability.
Totally. LI'ers love to complain til they're blue in the face and proceed to do nothing.
Just keep taking it up the whazoo with no lube.
Hence my quest to at least try and beat the man out of a few bucks.
I would love to cut cable out completely and just have internet but there are 1 or 2 shows that I watch that I don't think the new episodes are available until a few weeks to months later. That just won't fly for me. I gotta have my Walking Dead!
My cable/phone/internet with 5 boxes was at $240/month. I called CV -- they suggested I downgrade from a crappy preferred package to an even crappier package to save a whopping $10/month. I hung up, disconnected two of the boxes and stood on line with a bunch of disgruntled CV clients. The customer service rep was indifferent and told me that the two boxes will bring my bill to $220/month, and suggested I dg to the crappier package. She couldn't care less.
A day or two later I received a "How did we do?" survey from CV. I rated everything poorly and told them that I had just initiated a trial with PS Vue TV. I received a call from CV a few days later and the people in retention dropped my package to $185/month for a year.
I had a CV tech at the house a month or so ago and he said with the new owners it's gotten bad and will only get worse. I'm looking to go internet only on my new house but I gotta have my Walking Dead! If I can get new episodes online in a reasonable amount of time then goodbye triple play. Really, what am I losing? News 12? And, they upped the set too box price to 10 bucks a month! That's an easy 30-50 bucks a month for the average home. This digital crap really pisses me off. It was nice when you didn't HAVE to have a box to get basic channels. Whatever.
I had a CV tech at the house a month or so ago and he said with the new owners it's gotten bad and will only get worse. I'm looking to go internet only on my new house but I gotta have my Walking Dead! If I can get new episodes online in a reasonable amount of time then goodbye triple play. Really, what am I losing? News 12? And, they upped the set too box price to 10 bucks a month! That's an easy 30-50 bucks a month for the average home. This digital crap really pisses me off. It was nice when you didn't HAVE to have a box to get basic channels. Whatever.
It's completely ridiculous. I ordered a Firestick which I'll have my son jailbreak and then once we have everything in place, will drop the CV TV service. I have 2 optimum phone lines, one which has been my primary number for 21 years. I need to see about where to port that number. The 2nd phone line is 'free' and I used to use it for a fax machine, I'll probably drop that all together.
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