Jay_Gatsby
Thinks s/he gets paid by the post
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2004
- Messages
- 1,719
I loved it.
Or as Thoreau said, we have become the tools of our tools.
"The things you own end up owning you." - Tyler Durden
I loved it.
Or as Thoreau said, we have become the tools of our tools.
Yeah, me too. I have never owned a cell phone and don't plan to get one. No cable either, although I do have a TV that I use for watching DVDs. And dial-up Internet is good enough for my needs.No cell phone? Spouse and I are surprised to find out that we're members of "America's Most Exclusive Club":
America's Most Exclusive Club - BusinessWeek
I occasionally watch TV (but prefer the computer or a good book), I use the dryer a couple times a month (but still hang up a significant minority of our laundry), I use the dishwasher every week or so (but still wash a lot of dishes/pots/pans), and we don't have air conditioning. If the grid is destroyed by a hurricane this month then we'd just party like it's 1799...
Yeah, me too. I have never owned a cell phone and don't plan to get one. No cable either, although I do have a TV that I use for watching DVDs. And dial-up Internet is good enough for my needs.
Air conditioning is nice, but unnecessary. I resisted for several years but finally had it installed to please DW. Since then, we've used it about 10 days a year.
I walked through a large mall today, en route to one of the food court. It struck me that there was nothing in the mall that I wanted - let alone needed - to buy. Over half the stores sold cheap clothing at expensive prices (typically out of ill-lit stores with loud music. BTW: am I the only person on earth who realizes that Hollister is a town in north California?). Most of the balance were small shops selling electronics, including cell phones and related "plans" and paraphernalia.
Yeah, me too. I have never owned a cell phone and don't plan to get one. No cable either, although I do have a TV that I use for watching DVDs. And dial-up Internet is good enough for my needs.
Air conditioning is nice, but unnecessary. I resisted for several years but finally had it installed to please DW. Since then, we've used it about 10 days a year.
I walked through a large mall today, en route to one of the food court. It struck me that there was nothing in the mall that I wanted - let alone needed - to buy. Over half the stores sold cheap clothing at expensive prices (typically out of ill-lit stores with loud music. BTW: am I the only person on earth who realizes that Hollister is a town in north California?). Most of the balance were small shops selling electronics, including cell phones and related "plans" and paraphernalia.
try dsl or cable, you will never go back to dialup
and now a days with all the promos, its really not much more than dialup. you can get dsl for $20/month
try dsl or cable, you will never go back to dialup
and now a days with all the promos, its really not much more than dialup. you can get dsl for $20/month
That's what we signed up for before the gov't mandated period ended. Actually our modem broke when we had a dial-up. So, in order to postpone the purchase of a new computer we signed up for the AT&T DSL instead. The price went up to $15/mo. in spring, I think.Actually $10 a month from AT&T if you find the link.... it was mandated on one of the mergers.... for some reason they increase mine after a year.... maybe I did not read the fine print...
Yeah, me too. I have never owned a cell phone and don't plan to get one. No cable either, although I do have a TV that I use for watching DVDs. And dial-up Internet is good enough for my needs.
Air conditioning is nice, but unnecessary.
So.... your plan is to be the richest corpse in the graveyard?
I call it the 'Frugal Death Spiral'.
Learned about it on this forum. T-Mobile pre-pay and 'Gold Status'.
The first year will cost me $32 for the phone, charger and a $25 card. Add $100 (1000 minutes plus 1 year) to achieve 'Gold Status'. So $132/12 = $11/month the first month ( a little less if you can stretch that first $25 worth). After that, just $10 extends you for another year and rolls over your unused minutes, and adds 35 minutes. I rarely use even 10 minutes a month, so unless my habits change, I won't be spending more than $10/year for many years.
-ERD50
I'm on T-Mobile prepaid, too. Spent $100 the first year for 1200 minutes (there was a 20% bonus when I bought in) and then $10 per year to keep the service alive. I still have 1100 minutes left.
I do imagine it's hard to changeover from save, save, save to save, spend, spend......After all, you've been saving for 20+ years.
I think perhaps you have read too much into my post.So.... your plan is to be the richest corpse in the graveyard?
It's one thing to list all the things you're doing without if you can't afford them, or if you're spending your money in other areas (Travel? Boating? Theater?), but I didn't see that in your post. Just a bunch of boasting about how much money you don't spend.
The ultimate goal of money is to be spent. It is a store of value. On it's own, it's just paper. In a retiree's portfolio, it's not even paper. It's just a number on a computer. If you're not spending it, why did you bother saving it? Why not give it away to someone who will appreciate it?
I agree that there is no point to accumulating merely money for the sake of doing so. I do spend money on travel and hobbies (including sailing), some of which are not inexpensive.
I do not spend money on electronic gadgets, but that reflects my preference rather than any deprivation. If someone wants to spend money on them, that's fine; but there should be no complaint that they are necessities and the cost of living is too high.
While income taxes may be relatively low, the combination of property taxes (on more expensive housing ), consumption taxes (recycling deposits, fuel surcharges, GST that didn't exist 20+ years ago, etc.), and Ontario's health tax (oops, sorry, "Premium") all add up to create an increased strain on modern paychecks, compared to the Boomers' early years.
But doesn't it go by choice how big a house people want to live in or how much to consume?
Would that be before or after correcting for inflation?Of course. My point was that a modern family "consuming" at the same rate as a comparable family from the 70's is spending more of their budget on the same items, due to the proliferation of recycling deposits, environmental disposal fees, delivery surcharges, spectrum licensing dues, green taxes, and all the other "hidden" taxes the government has encumbered numerous consumables with.
Of course. My point was that a modern family "consuming" at the same rate as a comparable family from the 70's is spending more of their budget on the same items, due to the proliferation of recycling deposits, environmental disposal fees, delivery surcharges, spectrum licensing dues, green taxes, and all the other "hidden" taxes the government has encumbered numerous consumables with.
Of course. My point was that a modern family "consuming" at the same rate as a comparable family from the 70's is spending more of their budget on the same items, due to the proliferation of recycling deposits, environmental disposal fees, delivery surcharges, spectrum licensing dues, green taxes, and all the other "hidden" taxes the government has encumbered numerous consumables with.
Your BIL probably pays big $ for a package with lots of minutes, so he thinks nothing of making a bunch of calls over nothing.
And here's another way that impacts us - it really bugs me that so many parents get the 'unlimited texting' for their kids. So their kids text my kids and we pay for each text. "Oh, it's only $15 a month" - making me sound like a cheapskate (well, I am), but that is $180 a year, and look at the taxes/fees on top of that too.
It adds insult to injury as I know that texts cost the carriers almost zero $ to support.
-ERD50
I use this plan as well. Got it for emergency use, but some of my buddies got my number so I now use the 1000 minutes over the course of a year. But, still pretty cheap cell service.
The item that I end up replacing every 3-4 years is my home computer. My Dell laptop cratered the other day so I go out and buy another one. I wondered how I got along with out pc's, but now I feel I have to have one. I enjoy reading online news papers, forum boards and do all my financial stuff online. But it still galls me to spend several hundred dollars every few years when an item like a tv last much longer. I'm still using my old RCA Home theater tv I bought back in the mid 90's. Oh well......
BTW, speaking of my new laptop.... I decided to try Google Chrome instead of FireFox. This browser moves much faster IMO. Time will tell on how it compares, but so far so good.
In all honesty I don't see why you'd need to do this. We have a computer from 10 years ago.
Yeah - but you guys dig a pit and cook the pig in your back yard.My impression is that food takes up a smaller percentage of today's average budget than it did in the 1970s.