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I've kicked the idea around a lot as well. You just really need to do your homework. What I've found is that many of them start the push right before the summer and offer you a rate that is lower than the summer rate charged by the utility. However, that rate is slightly higher than what the utility charges in non-summer months and of course they want you to lock in a contract for a year or two. When I ran the numbers based on my actual usage at their rates, there was no savings at all. Same thing with the natural gas. I've just stayed with my utility and check out each of the offers as they come through.
Now my parents on the other hand who are part of a different utility, did save a good amount when they switched their electric and gas suppliers. A few people in the South Jersey forum that are also PSE&G customers like my parents have reported some significant savings and those folks are regular posters and definitely not shills.
i have two friends that each "work" for different energy companies. so if i ever switch, it will be to one of them. but i had a couple of these "resellers" as clients in my former job, and they seemed like skeevy operations. they could be completely legit, but there is just something about the whole process i do not trust, still
i got the other sirius account knocked down to $5 a month for 6 months. thats a huge discount on that account since ive had it so long and they have been billing automatically, i lost track of it. i paid $15 a month for the previous quarter.
i hope some of you guys have started putting out calls to reduce some bills. i need to think of other places to call.
i got the other sirius account knocked down to $5 a month for 6 months. thats a huge discount on that account since ive had it so long and they have been billing automatically, i lost track of it. i paid $15 a month for the previous quarter.
i hope some of you guys have started putting out calls to reduce some bills. i need to think of other places to call.
we got a lifetime subscription and it's paid for itself 2 times over. it's the grand poobah of bill reduction.
So jealous. I just renewed 2 cars and they were hardly willing to deal at all.
i just got 1 year for 99 on one radio.
then the next day i called for another account and got 6 months for 30 bucks.
all it took was saying "im calling to cancel my radio" "why do you want to cancel" "im trying to cut down my expenses" "what if i offered you 6 months for 30 dollars"
so if you are paying more than that, you should follow my simple script.
they probably offered lifetime deals because they figured they would be out of businesses within a couple of years. sirius/xm has lost an insane amount of money over the years.
Our household income is around 100K before taxes (actually this year looks to be arount 90K) and we are just getting by. No money left for savings/retirement.
Its just the 2 of us, we live a modest lifestyle
rent a house
1 car
cook most our meals etc.
just the basic cost of living expenses
wanted to get some opinions,
we make 2x the national average and still cant survive here in NJ!
We moved to PA because the cost of living was way to high. You can select what you pay for, but we had cut out so much and still didn't have enough to put into savings.
sorry I havent responded sooner, been busy.
I actually wasnt looking for an assesment of our situation, rather just input on the cost of living around here. Thanks anyway for all your input
Moving from the house may save a little money, however a 2 bed apartment in this area (essex cty) in a decent town would only save few hundred a month.
We moved from a 1 bedroom about 3 years ago, we were paying at the time around $1200 a month for the 1 bedroom with a garage for storage. We came across a small 3 bed house in the same town for $1800/month, rent has not increased since. Around here you cant touch a decent 2 bed apartment for much less than $1400. Yes, we could move to a cheaper area, this generally means moving further away from work which increases commuting costs, we already ran through these different scenarios.
I have some other topics I want to touch on....later
I understand your situation, most of nj is alot cheaper then essex and bergen county. Someone living in south jersey such as princeton or edison(have lived in both towns..and they are considered the luxury of that area too.) can't relate how exp the lifestyle is up here. As a matter of fact you would flip if you saw bergen county(by hudson river or GWB) prices. Essex is cheap compared to bergen county. A 2 bedroom rental in fort lee or edgewater easily starts at $2400 if you want something halfway decent. I live in edgewater and I am single. Granted i make alot more and I am single and live life with all luxuries, I am still spending about 80K after tax in maintaining my lifestyle here. I was actually looking to downgrade to fort lee to pay less rent but its not that much cheaper. I wish I could move to essex or central nj but my work requires me to be around this area. I would be so happy paying only 1,600-1800 for rent for a 2 bedroom. Currently i am paying 2,000 for a 1 bedroom 940sq ft in edgewater. To get to the point, I totally agree with you that its impossible to save any money in our parts of nj(unless you are living very cheap and under your means) making only 100K a year. To support my point i have other single friends that are barely getting by on 115-120K a year living in fort lee. Even though i spend 80k net for my living exp I am still able to save a substantial amount every month(13-15k) cause I decide to live below my means. The problem is that i think people decide to live at or above their means, and then complain that they have no money. I know friends that make 1/10 of what i do but eat out more then i do. Of course everyone has to have the latest gadgets and iphones too. I spend money on big things(my price of maintaining my cars is more exp then my rent) but i cut back on the little unneccesary things that everyone need to have. Its very true that its not about how much you make but how much you save and invest. Although I can safely afford to move into bergens mcmansions I haven't cause couple reasons. First I don't need all that space. Second I think real estate prices are way too exp esp in this area. Like you said most people that are making 100K could barely afford a 250K house. Granted bergen county has a higher avg income, but I know alot of people still can not afford housing around here. I want to wait another 1.5 years to see how the interest rate moves affect the prices. My assumption is when the interest goes up prices will come down more. Its all about supply and demand and when somethings more exp to buy there is less demand and will adjust to the market level. Anyone that says that renting is throwing away money is a fool, cause they don't know how to calculate the true costs and risks of ownership.
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perspective from bergen county
