Episode Summary
In this episode we discuss cell phones, television, and internet bills. What you’re spending across these three categories can easily add up to a few thousand dollars a year, and finding savings in just one area can save you a ton. We also give a quick update on our $5k investment competition.
Episode Notes
Mike and Maggie start with a listener comment about cars and safety and if people really care what you drive, and if that matters (hint, it doesn’t). We hope this episode will save everyone some money!
Mike + Maggie’s overall thoughts on each spending category:
- Cell Phones
- Mike has his entire extended family on one family plan and they settle up once a year. They use Cricket prepaid, on the AT&T network and pay $140 a month for 6 lines.
- Maggie’s husband uses verizon and recently went from paying $150 a month to $40 a month, thanks to Mike’s advice to switch to a prepaid cell phone plan. Greg got the exact same coverage with the same company and saved $1300+ a year.
- All of the major networks offer very similar quality and speed.
- The base service for a cell phone plan can be quite cheap, as low as $25-35 a month.
- The trick is to find and switch to a prepaid cell phone plan.
- TV
- Mike and Maggie both have not had cable for many years, and don’t miss it all.
- There are plenty of less expensive streaming services if you really need full access to network/sports channels.
- Maggie is paying for Amazon Prime and CBS All Access (just for Survivor back seasons), and has a free year of Apple+ Streaming.
- Mike has Amazon Prime (his sister is a credit card holder and you can gift free Prime to one other family member through that), Netflix and Disney+ (3 year deal).
- Maggie recommends turning streaming services on and off as you don’t need them all on at the same time. She will turn on HBO for a few months and catch up on HBO shows, and then turn it off and switch to another service and catch up on shows there.
- Look into getting a digital antenna. They are inexpensive and can often get you good quality on local network channels.
- Also, if you’re really feeling ambitious you could consider watching less TV. Mike and Maggie have slightly different views on if this should really be a goal.
- Internet
- Maggie is paying $50 a month for AT&T Internet. It suits their needs most of the time, but sometimes they get annoyed by a slower speed/things freezing.
- Mike is paying $95 a month for a gigibit of AT&T fiber internet. This is a splurge for Mike as it’s important to him and he does a lot of video editing so needs the speed.
Our top 3 takeaways for this episode:
- Do some research and understand what your options are, so you can make an informed decision.
- Prioritize what matters to you, and where you want to spend more vs. less.
- Consider turning things on or off and modifying your plans throughout the year.
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Show References