Miscellaneous Monday
Many of you know Elisabeth’s blog, Optimistic Musings of a Pessimist. Elisabeth is such a thoughtful writer, I love her blog and am ever thankful to San for her organized NaBloPoMo for introducing so many of us to each other. Elisabeth sometimes has guest posts, and when she asked me if I would be interested, of course I said, Yes! So pop on over. Speaking of Elisabeth, she recently wrote about ice cream, and mentioned how much she loved the pistachio gelato she had in Spain. I decided I wanted to try some pistachio gelato with whole pistachios included, so I bought the Talanti brand, and it’s delicious! Is it as good as a cone eaten while walking cobbled streets in Europe? No. But it’s really good.
My husband Ted, in addition to being handsome and funny, is the brainy type, and recently had an essay published in an academic book, Meditations on Resistance: An Inquiry into AI, Critical Media Literacy, and Social Justice. Ted’s contribution to this anthology is titled Friction, Misinformation, and Manipulation. It’s a scholarly piece on how the loss of editors and fact checkers in the media has affected the consumption of news and our understanding of ‘facts’. Sobering indeed. I haven’t read any of the other contributions, so I can’t speak to them, but Ted’s is really good, and it’s cool to see his name in a book on our shelf.
What else. Well, I have recently found 2 painless ways for us to save money. The company we use for both our homeowner’s insurance and our car insurance sent me a letter saying that they are also a broker for life insurance, and that they might be able to save us money there. I’ve always gotten life insurance through my jobs, and hadn’t really considered that it might be less expensive elsewhere. But I gave them a call, and they found me a policy that gives me more coverage for about 45% less in premiums, with a rate guaranteed for 20 years. At that point I’ll be inching toward 80. I snapped that up, and saw my first improved paycheck the other day.
The other savings is our cable/internet. Our internet/cable provider is very expensive, and the options here are not great. We use Xfinity, which used to be Comcast. Our other option is AT&T, which we tried once but it was horrible and VERY slow. We have trees that block us from getting a signal for a dish, and our attempt at an antenna gave us a couple of local channels, but they were all Spanish language, and none of us speak Spanish, so that wasn’t useful. Until recently we could not unbundle our Cable from our Internet, so we had both. More recently, Xfinity is giving more options, so I had been toying with the idea of dropping the Cable, since we so rarely watch live TV anymore, but I hadn’t gotten any further than thinking, “Oh, interesting, I should look into that.” Well, last weekend, Ted and I were walking around downtown, and he mentioned that he was interested in getting a new phone and maybe a new apple watch, because the batteries on his weren’t lasting very long anymore. I knew he was eligible for an upgrade, so we went over to the Verizon store. There, he traded in his phone and watch for new ones, and the cost was very low. The salesperson asked if we were interested in switching to their 5G internet. I was at the store a couple of months ago with Maya, and the 5G internet was not available to us then, but now it is. YAY! So we signed up for that, brought home the equipment, and gave it a test drive. We’re going to make the switch. We’re paying about $180 a month to Xfinity for cable and internet. We’re going to be paying Verizon $45 a month for internet, and drop our cable. BIG SAVINGS! We can also get a bit of savings by linking our HBO/Hulu/Netflix subscriptions through Verizon, so we will do those too. If it turns out we miss live TV too much, maybe we’ll sign up for live TV through Hulu or YouTube. Doing so would add about $70 to our bill, so I’m not sure we will miss live TV that much. For now, we’re going to see how it goes without it.
Lastly, politics. I was happy to hear of Trump’s conviction last week in New York. I am always shocked when I hear people say they were better off during his presidency than our current one. That is not at all how I remember that time. I remember it as being an incredibly embarrassing and stressful 4 years, with the last year of course being one shit show after another.
Yesterday’s FB memory popped up, and was me reposting one from St. John’s church in Washington, DC. I really didn’t think things could get worse than that, but of course January 6th the following year proved me wrong. I am worried about this upcoming election, afraid that another Trump presidency could mean the end of free and fair elections in our country. I know that sounds somewhat hysterical, but I look at other countries that have gone down the road of fascism, and this seems really, really familiar.
Well, that got dark quickly, didn’t it? Sorry about that. Any painless money saving tricks you’d like to share?
33 Comments
Elisabeth
That ice cream looks delicious!
Congratulations to Ted on the publication. What a thrill!
Thanks for guest posting today.
I will admit…the political turmoil in America has made me extra happy and contented to be Canadian. I don’t weigh in on the political spectrum in the US because it is not my place and I have exactly zero sway over what happens seeing as I cannot cast a single vote. But I agree that not only in the US but in so many other parts of the world (including issues here in my beloved Canada), things just seem…grim.
Painless ways I save money – sounds like a blog post for me somewhere in the future! You know I love to be frugal and have all sorts of things I do. My favourite is likely to buy reduced produce at our grocery store. They’ll mark down items that are soon to be expired or have some sort of cosmetic blemish – say a bag of bell peppers, which I need to cook immediately for a chili and curry anyway. Why not get them 50% off! I always look over everything carefully to make sure it’s not compromised, but often it’s just a bruise or something that’s misshapen.
J
Oh Elisabeth, I HEAR YOU on the political stuff! I wish this scary time were only the US. Ugh. After they cleared the way for Trump to go hold his bible in front of the church, I asked Ted to work on getting his paperwork, since he was born in Canada. I do not want to leave the US, I love my country, but it makes me feel better to know we have a way out if we need it!
J
Also, I love your idea about the produce. I think one of our stores actually has something like that, I’m going to look at it more closely.
Birchie
Wow on your internet savings! That’s a huge win.
I’ve always been puzzled at how people remember history vs how I remember it. I remember our monthly company meetings in 2008 and how all the numbers went from green to red in October 2008, and being shown the door in November 2008. After the all time stock low in March 2009 my personal experience was that everything bounced back. But yet I hear that “Obama caused the recession” [before he took office!] and “how bad things were” during the Obama era – really?????
J
Birchie, I KNOW! My husband was laid off in 2008, I was laid off in 2009. It was a tough time for us. But we both were working again by mid-2009. I think it was a slow recovery. But I don’t blame Obama for it. I blame Clinton (for the mortgage rules) and Bush (for the wars and tax cuts).
NGS
My phone is slooowly dying. It won’t hold a charge. The memory is full more times than it’s not (don’t you dare tell me to download an app – this girl ain’t got no room for that). But the idea of switching phones and doing all that rigamorole stresses me out so much. But your story about saving so much money makes me think that my quality of life would be a lot better if I just dealt with the phone issue! You are an inspiration.
J
Hmmm. Maybe set aside a couple of hours, go to your provider, bite the bullet and get the new phone, and then treat yourself after with a nice lunch date with your husband!
Lisa's Yarns
Yay for saving some money! We haven’t had cable in 10+ years. Phil had it when he had roommates before buying a house and I had it when I rented a condo as the HOA provided cable as part of the owner’s dues. I don’t miss it, though. We have this flat antennae thing that sits on our tv stand so we are able to get the local news channels. I would miss having access to CBS because I like their news programs and we used to watch wheel of forture every night as part of Paul’s bedtime routine.
I want to believe the Trump’s conviction will make a difference but I’m pessimistic that it will. His base will follow him no matter what. I think back to the time when Trump said he could shoot a person in the middle of 5th avenue and not lose a vote… but I hope I am wrong!
J
Lisa, I tried the flat antenna thing years ago, when we were without cable, and it didn’t work for us. Sigh. I wish they would work, it would be nice to get local stations, but I suspect we will figure out some sort of solution. We so rarely watch live TV, even the news, we watch on youtube.
Nicole MacPherson
Yay, you’re at Elisabeth’s!!!
Congrats to Ted on his publication. I don’t have any good money saving techniques that I can think of right now, except for colouring my hair at home. But you’re blonde so I don’t know if it would work for you or not – probably not, I think blonde is tricky.
J
Yeah, I colored my own hair in my 20s, and it turns brassy really easily. I could save a ton of money though, that’s for sure! But it wouldn’t be painless.
Margaret
Congratulations to Ted! I too remember the 45 years as terrifying, embarrassing and awful–but all that some people remember is the cheap gas. There was a reason for that! I’m not brave enough to get rid of cable although I rarely watch. 🙁
J
We’ll see if the no cable sticks or not. I think having a set price in mind ($73 a month) is good. I can think, ‘Oh, I miss watching X or Y…but do I miss it $73 a month worth?” Probably not. And if we don’t have cable, we won’t have to watch the Presidential debates! SOLD!
Ally Bean
We dropped cable a couple of years ago and now use streaming services exclusively. It’s a delightful feeling to be untethered. I don’t know if we have 5G here yet. We have Verizon for our cell phones and now I’m curious.
J
Ally, when Maya got a new phone in March, 5G was not here yet. I signed up to be notified, but never received any notfication (unless I requested it be email and it went to spam, entirely possible.) So I was thrilled when the salesman told us we could try it. SO easy to set up, and it has been working great so far.
nance
We’ve been waiting and waiting for Verizon internet to become available in our area. It could save us a huge amount of cash.
Congrats to Ted for being published! That’s awesome.
Try the Talenti sorbets. They’re incredible.
As far as the previous administration and its chair sitter–I honestly believe that the people who claim they were “better off” or “liked his policies” are either millionaires/billionaires who want to continue hiding their money, or they are the wilfully ignorant and uneducated who love the fact that someone who is as uncultured and boorish as they are is platforming the exact traits and opinions they’ve had to soft-pedal in polite society for most of their lives. They feel so seen, so legitimized, that they have become a majority power, and there’s no way this mob can give that up. They are why the rest of us, the real voice of America, has to vote in November.
J
Nance, I hope the 5G comes to you soon. You have to keep checking. They said they would notify us, but we never got any notification.
I love love love sorbet, and intend to try some of the Talenti flavors at some point. Hard to restrain myself though, and no one else eats it. I need friends, clearly! (My local friends are no longer local, sadly, so not too many options to invite anyone over for sorbet…maybe I could give some to a neighbor…)
UGH on the jackass. It’s so stressful, I truly, truly hope he loses in November. And that we don’t go to war because of him.
Daria
Hi Julie,
the world is going to shits. I am so worried about my kids. I HOPE that newer generations will be better at working with people than us… I stopped watching the news a long time ago since it negatively impacts my mental health. Russia, Ukraine, Israel, gaza, elections, gah. I can’t.
Ways to save money…
Eat the food we have, not the food we wish we had.
Purchase stuff in advance (plane tickets, airbnbs, Christmas and birthday gifts).
Not buying stuff just for the sake of it.
“Don’t touch the thermostat!” – that’s for my husband who is either always cold or always hot.
Use up what we have – food, clothes, cleaning supplies, etc.
Can you even run for president if you are convicted and/or in jail?? #thinkingface
J
Daria, I KNOW. It’s so hard to be well informed and keep your mental health. I have to limit my consumption of news for sure.
I agree wholeheartedly on your list! The thermostat is an issue around here too. And it’s going to be mid 90s here today, so I know we’re going to need the AC in order to sleep tonight. SIGH.
Jenny
Julie, at least you live in CA- I live in a RED state. Not that it will matter much if Trump is elected again, but at least you’re surrounded by like-minded people. Yes to everything that’s been said here, with the addition of… WTF happened to Roe v. Wade? Oh, I know… Donald Trump happened. It’s scary to think what could happened with four MORE years.
On a lighter note…. I enjoyed your guest post! I always like reading these guest posts and learning the backstory of blogs I’ve only started following (relatively) recently.
J
Jenny, I feel you on the Red state thing. And yes, if we had had Clinton instead of Trump, we would not be in this place with such a lopsided Supreme Court. It’s scary. The vitriol that has been levied against poll workers worries me. The election deniers and threats of violence worry me. UGH! All I can say is, people need to vote. In EVERY election, because it’s not just the President and Congress that affect our lives, there are a lot of local people as well. Sigh.
I also enjoy Elisabeth’s guest posts!
Kyria @ Travel Spot
Nice work on the cable. I had Xfinity also and I only had internet. I signed up at about $29 intro offer in 2015 and I think it was for the first year. So then it jumpted to like $49 after that, but it kept creeping up! I called them when it was around $60 and asked them to reduce it, told them I would quit, and they did nothing, but then it seemed a pain to change so I also did nothing. It then got as high at $75, which is when I switched to Sonic, which was $39. I left about a year and a half after switching, but FYI Sonic also had a lot of hidden charges! They charged $10 a month for a landline, which I did not need or use, and another $10 for the hardware, which you had to use theirs (with Comcast I had my own router). They are all scams. I will be interested to see how you feel about Verizon in a couple of years. Side note, my brother did swap my grandma (who lives in Tiburon) recently from cable which was like $175, to internet with YouTube TV, which is about $90, and so far she is happy!
I always scan the reduced shelves; in Safeway they are right near the bathroom usually. There is not a lot of produce, but there is often flavors of things that other people don’t like, and I often get good deals there. I also usually buy muliples of anything I know I like if it is on sale. Obviously this doesn’t work with perishables as well, but it is great for canned things or TP etc. I also usually stick to in-season produce as it is cheaper AND tastes better. So I don’t buy for specific recipes; I usually make my recipes around what is on sale/fresher.
J
Kyria, I also wonder how we will feel about Verizon in a couple of years! I printed up my final bill for Xfinity, and see that over $60 of our bill is equipment rental and broadcast TV fees. So having our own modem would probably have been smart, instead of using theirs. Verizon doesn’t charge a monthly fee for the hardware, so that’s a savings right there. I’ve been snooping around our Apple TV, and there are some local channels with free apps, at least for news. That was our biggest worry about not having cable.
Oh, I’ve gotten some deals on those Safeway shelves too! Not produce, but things like vitemins, hair spray, and a couple of food items. I forget to look there, but when I do, there are definitely deals to be had. Thanks for the reminder.
Rachel
So exciting to see you on Elisabeth’s blog!
I love both your money saving tricks. I feel like we should get an insurance person or some money person to look at our things someday. we have car insurance and house insurance and life insurance and they aren’t *that* expensive but I don’t have time to look into it. Well done you!
Also, Talenti is so good! I forgot about it till your post and now I want some noooow.
And we don’t have live TV either and don’t miss it. And if you miss it you can always get it back! Nice work on that bill too 🙂
J
Thanks Rachel! I felt really good about both savings!
San
Congrats on Ted’s publication (I bookmarked the link and will have to read his piece!).
I love your money-saving tips. I should look into this myself, as we have phones with Verizon and also pay for Internet through Comcast and the bill just keeps going up.
Can you believe I have not had pistachio ice cream?
P.S. Thanks for the mention and I want to also emphasize how thankful I am for all of you guys you make NaBloPoMo fun again these last few years!
J
San, I don’t think you can read Ted’s piece without buying the book, which is expensive.
When I called Comcast to cancel, they were sad. Said we had been with them since 1998. I didn’t say, ‘that’s because we never had any other option before now’, but I thought it. We tried AT&T, which was REALLY slow. There are trees that block a dish or antenna. We asked in March about Verizon 5G, and it wasn’t available yet. So this was JUST available. We went on the Verizon website back in March and asked to be alerted when it was available, and they never did. But anyway, YAY!
Pistachio ice cream is subtle. I really like it, but I definitely want the nuts in there, so the Talenti brand is a good fit for me.
Tobia | craftaliciousme
What a great way to save up some money. So cool. We decided to forgoe the netflix subsription for a while since we have singed up to abozut every service available. We’ll see how we go about it.
Other than that i dont really have a tipon saving right now. I feel like I need to add services right now.
Congrats to Ted for his publication. It sounds interesting. But also very academic.
J
Tobia, Ted and I were having the Netflix discussion today. We like to unsubscribe from services when we’re not using them, and turn them on when something comes out that we want to see. A good way to save a bit of money, for sure, especially since we subscribe to a lot of services!
Melissa
Good pistachio gelato is fabulous, I’m very picky where I get it from. It’s amazing that you found a good one in a carton.
Congratulations to Ted, the book sounds fascinating. (That is me being honestly nerdy, not flattering)
My husband goes through all our insurance and utility providers every 1-2 years to see if he can get a better deal. The first year he started doing this he saved about $1000 on our yearly bills, so it is worth shopping around for us.
J
Wow Melissa, that’s impressive!
We’re saving a lot this way, for sure. I think I will save about $1,800 over 12 months with the life insurance, and then probably another $1,400 over 12 months for the internet/cable. Add to that we’re saving almost $5,000 this year on our health insurance (which is likely a one year thing, so we won’t have that next year), and goodness, perhaps we can afford the new flooring we’ve been wanting!
I’ve checked into the internet before, but we’ve never had any real options, and the last time I checked a couple of years ago, we couldn’t unbundle our TV cable from our internet without it costing us money (though that did change maybe last year and I didn’t take advantage of it). I wish I had checked out the life insurance sooner, for sure.
Regarding the gelato, the big caveat is that I haven’t had any other kind than from the grocery store. I’ll have to try a good gelato place and see how it compares.
Ernie
I got a chuckle out of your ending note ‘that got dark quickly.’ So funny. Oh, wow. You are saving quite a bit there. This makes me wish we were more aware of all the different options for TV. I need a new phone desperately, but have not prioritized it because I can’t decide if I should get an apple phone. I had no idea you could get a discount and link your HULU and whatever to your cell service. Hmmm. We get out cell service thru Walmart. I hate it, but it is cheap. Anyway, something to think about. We saved a bunch recently by switching our car insurance. I’d been with Allstate since I get my car insurance decades ago. Progressive is saving me a bundle.
I look forward to reading your guest post on Elixabeth’s blog.
J
Ernie, the option to change our internet is brand new. We’ve tried AT&T in the past, but it was REALLY slow. For the last 20+ years, our only options were AT&T and Comcast, so we were very excited when Verizon came available, and is so much less. Of course a big part of our savings is that we got rid of cable. The HULU is linked to our internet actually, not our cell. We don’t want to watch commercials, though, so we decided not to take advantage of that.
I’ve shopped for car insurance a few times, and haven’t found anything cheaper than Geico, so that’s what we have. We’ve had several fender benders, and they’ve always been great.