Posts made in May, 2012

Is My Charter Cable Bill Too High?

Posted by jefferson on May 30, 2012 in Saving Money | 34 comments

Part 1 in the “Our Bills” Series:  Cable TV/Internet/Phone

Today here at See Debt Run we are starting a new series where we will discuss some of our monthly bills, how much they are costing us, and steps we could take to potentially reduce them.  We welcome you to join in and compare our bills to your own, to see if  perhaps one of us is getting a raw deal!

First up in this new series is our Cable Television/Internet/Telephone bill, which we get through Charter Communications.  As a company, Charter has taken a beating in recent years, even declaring bankruptcy in 2009.  They were getting barraged by complaints of poor customer service, random rate increases, and sub-par offerings.  As such, we actually switched away from Charter to a competitor for a few years, but within the last year we came back on another two year contract.  I can honestly say that the company has cleaned up their act, and our dealings with them since coming back have been almost entirely positive.

That said, let’s crack open the bill:

Total Bill:  147.48/month

While this number is higher than I would like, it is at least $30 cheaper than what we were paying a competitor for similar services.  Both the phone and internet are requirements for my job, but the television is certainly a luxury.  We could certainly achieve our debt goals more quickly by reducing or eliminating this bill, but we justify the cost by considering that we very rarely go out, and almost never go to the movies.

I should note that the price for all of the items below is lower because we have them together in a bundle.  If we were to drop one or more of the services, the price of the others would go up.

—-< BREAKDOWN >—-

Television:  84.99/month
Charter Digital Plus w/2 HD Receivers, 1 DVR Rental, Digital View Plus, Showtime, TMC, Starz, & Encore

The television is so ingrained in the lives of Americans these days.  Nobody in my family watches a ton of television, but I will say that it is very nice to have at the end of a long day, when the weather is bad, or when your team has a big game.  We do also enjoy DVR’ing several of our favorite shows, and my kids enjoy watching kids shows and educational channels.

We don’t really watch the movie channels at all, but they are actually included for free in the price shown above (with a promotion).  If they were ever not free, we would certainly drop the movie channels immediately.

We could get this portion of the bill down another $10/month by taking back one of the HD receivers, and we will likely go this route in the near future.  Beyond that, this is about as cheap as Charter gets if you want all of the following channels (favorites of various members of my family):  ESPN,  Fox Sports Channel, Bravo, TLC,  HGTV, and the Discovery Channel.

I still hope for a pay-per-channel model of TV subscription to be released at some point, but I doubt it will ever happen.

Internet:  31.99/month
Includes Internet Cable Modem Lease

Charter has a reputation as a great high-speed internet provider, and I think this is pretty accurate.  We opted for the lower-speed tier, and still get nearly 15 mbps download speed.  This is considerably faster than the similarly priced option that we had with a competitor.

We use the internet connection for many things, including the writing of this blog!  More importantly, I work in technology, and having ready access to a high-speed connection is a requirement for my job.

Phone:  14.99/month
Unlimited long distance, voice mail, caller-ID.

I am sure that some of you frugalistas out there will tell me that this is the best way for us to shave some money off this bill, and you would be right.  We could certainly follow trends and go completely cellular, but as of yet– we haven’t been ready to make this leap.

Charter knows that land lines are on the way out and as such- has priced their phone service very competitively. We don’t make a ton of long distance calls, but it is great to have when we need it.

The sticking point for us has been the quality of signal that you get on a land line when compared with cellular.  We have tried multiple cell companies, and none of them get a perfect signal in our house.  Since I have to be able to to make work calls from my home, and occasionally sit in on long conference calls– signal quality is very important.

Taxes, Fees, and Wire Maintenance:  23.84/month

Rebate:  -8.33/month
We received a $200 gift card for signing a 2 year contact

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I am curious to hear how this compares with your cable/internet/phone bills.  Are we paying too much?  Do you have any tips for saving any money on this bill?

How NOT To Have A Fun Date Night

Posted by michelle on May 27, 2012 in Parenting | 24 comments

Spring Cleaning Makes Me Feel Rich

Posted by jefferson on May 24, 2012 in Minimalism | 23 comments

Before hitting the pillow for the night, Michelle and I both spent two hours last night frantically cleaning.  This type of mad cleaning spree usually happens only when we are having company over, but last night our motivation was different.  It was strange, neither of us mentioned that it was going to be cleaning night; we both just started attacking messes and didn’t let up until the baby started crying (while nearly 11 months old, she still wakes up every night sometime between 12 and 1).  Although Michelle stays home and does a wonderful job of keeping the house “presentable,” the deep cleanings take a seat on the back of the bus, as they should, when there’s a baby to be played with.

In a home with three kids and two adults, regular cleaning takes priority: dishes need to be done every day, there is pretty much always something in the washer/dryer, and the hardwood floors could pretty much always use a good sweeping.  I couldn’t tell you how many times my wife has exclaimed “I just cleaned that!” exasperated at some new mess that has popped up out of nowhere.  Today is our boys’ (now 11 and 8 years old) last day of school, which means they will be home in the day time and making even more messes!  They are responsible for picking up any toys that they get out, keeping their bedrooms clean, and helping keep the kitchen clean (if you get out the ketchup, you put it back in the fridge!).  They also each have a few other tasks that they are responsible for (like wiping down their bathroom sink and counter nightly, since Michelle and I are tired of scraping toothpaste and hair gel off their sink all the time).  The problem is that they are kids, and they don’t have much of an eye for detail.

So last night we really took things to a whole other level.  Every once in a while you have to clean under and behind where the eye can see.  Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it isn’t collecting dust (that you will be breathing in).  As such; we moved the couches and end tables around in our living room and vacuumed and dusted behind them,  we took down the air return vent covers,  we scrubbed every inch of the main bathroom, and much more.  With two people working simultaneously (and with the baby actually in her crib for a bit), we were able to be quite productive!

The spring cleaning that we started last night will hopefully continue for the next few weeks.  In spite of some missteps, I remain on a minimalist mission to dramatically reduce the amount of things that we own.  If we haven’t used something in over a year, what is the point of keeping it? Early in the year, we were able to fill more than a dozen garbage bags with old clothes and toys, and donated them to charity.  With a little bit of effort, I think we could easily fill a dozen more.  A big part of spring cleaning is getting rid of things that you don’t need any more, and it always feels great to lighten your load.

I titled this post “Spring Cleaning Makes Me Feel Rich”, because everything looks better in a clean house.  These beautiful hardwood floors that we put in a few years ago look so much better when they aren’t cluttered with lego spaceships, stray cheerios, and yesterday’s socks.  Our “well seasoned” living room furniture looks fresh and new when it doesn’t feature a pile of laundry waiting to be folded.  Our lovely kitchen looks like it belongs in a display home, but only when the dishes are done, the countertops are scrubbed, and everything is put away.  Somehow, even my coffee tasted better this morning, the sun shone a little brighter through my clean windows, and it just made for a great start to my day.

How about you?  Have you started spring cleaning this year?