Cutting the cable bill

 This is another fine tune your finances fine tune your life segment brought to you by the bacon McDouble and the hot n spicy, because that is what I just ate

Ever since I’ve moved to Utah I have had issues with my Internet provider. When I called them to set up internet, I was surprised to learn that they were 10 dollars more than the internet provider from Arizona.. When I brought that up to the phone salesman, he stated the market was different in Utah thus the price increase. I’m sorry to me it doesn’t make sense. Maybe I need to take an economic class. So this goes on for years. At first I get the economic package then they convince me to get the t.v. Package. When the contract expires, I again downgrade to the economic package. At one point I had 10 cable channels for free then they put something on my line that stopped that. When I upgraded again I told them something was on my cable preventing me from getting t.v. They basically said that’s impossible and 2-3 weeks later I had the install credited back to me because I was right.

Anyway that’s the back story. 

Lately this internet provider has been on my CONTROL list. I’ve been able to reduce my phone bill from 120 to 40 dollars a month my Amazon has been cut in half as well as others. This internet seems like it just can’t be controlled and they are getting more bold and smarter. For a while you could simply tell them I’m quitting and they’d offer you a better rate. THAT DOESN’T HAPPEN ANYMORE. 

Let me show you how this dishonest company operates.

First they offer a low rate on your internet. As of right now the lowest they have is 19.99 a month. So you call them and tell them I want internet for 19.99 a month. If your an existing customer forget it. They will not offer that to you. If your a new customer they will entice you with a combo offer. If you chose internet you might as well get cable for 15 more a month. Heck you say. I can’t even get cable for 35 a month. So you say sounds good. The next month you get your bill. It’s over 60 BUCKS. You look through it and notice a 19 dollar “tv” charge. Yep a tv charge. Now your bill is DOUBLE what you thought it would be.

Well finally after all these years I finally beat them at there games. At least temporarily maybe permanently. How? Well after discussing it with my wife and really narrowing down our needs vs wants we came up with a few solutions. First of all we switched to a cheap unlimited phone plan. We have another phone number along with it unlimited data on 2 lines for 40 bucks a month. Now this adds 35 dollars to our monthly bills because we were already paying 5 dollars for my daughters line. This reduces our current internet bill by 50 dollars a month. It’s still a adjustment game but my daughter is still streaming shows on our Amazon account. Yes our internet is slow at times but honestly for the most part it doesn’t bother us. We are willing to sacrifice a little now for a lot later. Here’s another tip they may help if someone else wanted to survive off a unlimited phone plan. Try downloading your movies and shows onto you tablet during slow internet or using public Wi-Fi then by using a usb to HDMI adapter watch it on your t.v. When there a will there’s a way. Unfortunately cutting expenses is not in everyone’s goals. 

So I’m saving the best news for last. While researching what internet plans and my next strategy for negotiating with my provider, I came across a low income option for internet. Now because my thoughts have changed when it comes to utilizing any help you can get I decided to have my wife apply. She was accepted and guess what we will now have high speed internet (half the speed we used to get but still plenty) for less than 10 bucks a month. Granted it is that when I get my first bill.

One more note to include. Not everything worked as plan. One issue we ran into was our cell phone provider completely cut off our unlimited data after 18 gigs were used. I believe we would have had enough internet IF we didn’t watch so many shows. We actually were on limited internet for a weekend. We watched old video cassette tapes as well as DVD. It was actually kinda nice having only a handful of options to watch rather than an entire Amazon Library.

Reason 2B to use assistance programs

 It's about 1:15 a.m as I start writing this. Why am I up so late or up so early per your preference? I now have a job where I work graves. It is just a job to me. It is not a career or a job that will continue to brainwash me thinking that if I search elsewhere I will be bankrupt with medical bills. Not true and for now and forever I will reserve the right to quit a job if I so desire to. Right now I want to give this job a chance and even though my feet hurt and my back is sore every night I still have much to learn.

So here's another reason I am ok asking and or applying for benifits. P.s. just a disclaimer here. I 100 percent qualify for every program I have applied thus far. I may not soon because of my job status but I havn't lied on any application. My income was within the limits they set. We only use the medical benifits if we need them I actually get letters reminding us to take our kids in for wellness checks. I don't believe I need to do that! They are not sick they are healthy and I dont need a doctor to tell me that. I've already been through that. I myself have been in once and my wife….well she has not gone once. So trust me we use the doctors sparingly. If we notice an issue we will go. I hope and pray we won't.

So I don't know if anyone out there have watched any polygamy shows. There's Kody and his sister wife's who will eventually be heading for financial disaster because they suck at money. There's my 5 wives. They were only on 2 seasons but much more likeable than sister wives in my opinion and then you have this other show on Netflix called 3 wives one husband. Now Let me ask you something. These are religious people who through commandments are following teachings of God to have multiple wives and have lots of kids. You would think God would provide a way for them to eat. Right? Yet 2 of the 3 mentioned above have been on food stamps as well as multiple bankruptcies!  AND I am putting an accusation out there that 3 wives one husband's does use them too! I believe most if not all sects here in Utah are on social welfare including those who live close to me. I'm not saying they don't work hard I am saying they have alot of mouths to feed and probably cannot afford it all. 

If I'm saving a car payment and paying less for my lives expenses than someone else who is driving a new car and has a snap card why should I be punished? I'll take a snap card too if I qualify and pay an extra thousand off my debts or into my retirement. Yes they give me a thousand dollars a month and yes I agree it's rediculous.

Reason 142 I went on public benifits.

Here’s another one.

I have A lot!

Any new parent may find it a shock that infant formula is so expensive. Now you can go on and on about how it takes research to get the formula just right but in the end that doesn’t make sense unless they are CONTINUALLY CHANGING THE FORMULA! and besides that other off brands do sell it ALOT cheaper so that again holds no merit. It’s kind of like Apples excuse of why their airPods are over 200 dollars. (They cost 150 to make...) NO THEY DON’T!! The reason they say that is because the people who are involved making them make 50 k a month. They make that because the consumer pays them!! It would be like if I were to start a shirt printing company and decide I want my wages to be 50k a month. So now my shirts are 5k each because it cost 4950 to make the. The actual cost would be more like 5-10 dollars per shirt!

Enough ranting. Actually my whole blog is ranting.

So why is formula so expensive? Do a quick google search and you’ll find a great paper/article done by someone at Hawaii university who basically spells it out. Government. The reason I barely could afford it and even sold plasma to pay for it is because of the WIC program. They pay a quarter of what they sell it in the store. What I know now I wish I would of just dropped my pride back then and joined wic.

This is another reason I’m ok with assistant programs. Yeah. Don’t need them but I just bought my first brand new sectional because of them and oh it’s so comefortable.