More mundane post today. Not very insightful or profound.
We had decided that we wanted to save just a small amount of money on our entertainment expenses each month, so Michelle and I decided to switch to one of those satellite companies. Not only were we getting out services for about $5 less, but we’d receive some complementary movie channels for a limited time.
It sounded good all around. As persistent as this particular company had been with calling us and sending us literature, we figured we’d have no problems. They even fit us in on the first day of the year for installation. The problem was, our neighborhood requires a minimum number of trees be planted in each and every lot and, to add to the problem, we have a hill on the south end of our house. The satellites required for service were available during winter months, but would be nominally available during summer months (as the greenery took over).
With tears in our eyes and expectations of intense movie-watching quashed, we decided to reconsider our cable company’s offerings. Without going into details, we found out that we would be able to get similar service as to what was offered if we bundled with our telephone service for about $5 more for the next 12 months. After that, the price goes up $20, which is still less than the money we spend on DVD purchases each month.
Aside — We subscribe to the idea that if we are shelling out nearly $10 a piece for theater movies and $6 a piece for rentals, we might as well buy the DVD at $12-18 and plan on watching the movie at least twice. We buy probably at least one DVD a month, which easily pays for the difference in price we are paying for the “premium” services the cable company offers. Watch 3 movies and the cost is easily paid for and we get more than 1 movie to watch each month.
I’m not endorsing upgrading, just telling you what we decided to do.
We had always only had the most basic phone service with absolutely no features. Now we get features like caller ID, call waiting, forwarding, etc. Plus we get long distance, something we’d relied on cell phones and calling cards for in the past. The five buck increase is more than paid for at that point.
All justified. Still, I have a hard time with the ultimate cost after a year. It seems excessive, but I cant bring myself to move to low-speed internet, give up channels that my daughter likes to watch or give up improved phone service. It seems contrary to my belief in simplicity being the best thing and yet… The added benefits far outweigh the costs.
All the same, I gag when I realize how much we’ll be paying next January for all of those services. Egad. Hopefully my next year’s raise will justify the lifestyle choices, lol.
By the way, reverting to low speed internet access is almost painfully slow when you are used to >3 mbs (as much as 7 mbs). My in-laws asked me to clean up a computer they had while visiting over the holidays and the downloads for updates were excruciating at 256K. The added bonus to our recent decision is that we should receive download speeds up to 20 mbs starting at the end of the week. As the costs are already justified, this is just icing on the cake. ZIP!
I warned you this was about as uninteresting as a post could be. Don’t you wish you had the last 5 minutes back?