TV Re-Bound

Image by dhammza via Flickr

In past posts (here and here) I have bragged about how much money we saved by cutting loose our TV service provider (cable/broadband/satellite). And we did save money for a long time.

But Mr. Poorhouse, who is the architect of these schemes, recently discovered that we could save money by adding TV service to our Verizon FIOS and phone package. That's right, we will now get hundreds of channels or so of TV plus high-speed internet plus local and long distance phone service for less than we were paying for just phone and internet.

What we have been doing for two years is watching TV on the internet (mostly hulu.com). A resurrected computer is hooked up to our 15-year old TV as a monitor and 20-year old surround sound stereo system. At first, we could watch anything we wanted anytime we wanted. Then the networks started putting restrictions on how long shows would be available, or putting delays between when they aired and when they were available.

But we never watched anything in real time anyway, so that didn't matter to  us. As a matter of fact, since we got TiVO our TV watching habits had changed so that watching TV is a social occasion. Have a comment to make?  Just pause the show. Need a bio break? Pause. No problem.

Well, we ditched the monthly TiVO charge with everything else when we cut back two years ago. But internet TV allows you to do the same thing, so we didn't miss paid TV at all.

Now, I confess, it is an adjustment going back to real-time TV. Yes, we could get a DVR, but we aren't willing to pay the monthly service fee to Verizon. But for a savings of close to $30 a month, I'm OK with losing the pause function.

Besides, Mr. Poorhouse has now hooked up both the Verizon set-top box and the computer to the TV-as-monitor and receiver. So we have the best of both worlds. For less.

You may say it sounds like we watch too much TV, and we probably do. But, given that our entertainment budget is practically nil, it works for us.

What are your strategies for keeping your monthly TV bill down?

Debt Consolidation: Not the Right Answer for Us

This post has beeen included as part of the 83rd Carnival of Money Stories - Election Day Edition!" hosted by Simply Forties. Check out some of the experiences of others in this rock 'n roll money world.

A few days ago, I posted about the positive outcome that I think came from my conversation with the folks at Money Management International--the mortgage division.

I did not find the debt consolidation group to offer such a good deal. The same night I talked to the mortgage counselor, I went over the same financial details with the credit card folks. Now I've got a number of credit cards (too many). Some of them were just for low-rate balance transfers. Two of them I've used for spending. Two were for my business. Two of them were a big concern--high rates, late payments. The others, I was juggling more or less successfully. (Probably the wrong word.)

After going through the drill with the credit counselor, he suggested that they could lower my 30% rate to 15%, but the others would all stay the same or even increase. They would create a 5-year payment plan to pay off all the debts. I would pay MMI, and they would pay the lenders. And, oh yeah, it was going to cost me $40, that's 4-0, dollars a month.

Say what?

We got rid of cable or satellite TV, Tivo, our long distance plan. We've eliminated movies, eating out, music lessons, soccer, school lunches, new clothes. We've switched to a cheaper dog food, and haven't bought light bulbs for months.

"$40? I don't have $40 a month," I said, said I. I was disappointed, thinking about those 30% rates. "Can we just put some of the credit cards on the plan? Yes?"

Yes. That will be $15 a month. Cha-ching! I told them I had to think about it. So I thought about it. And I might have done it. But by that time my credit card company had come around (as I mentioned here) and lowered my rate to 10%

The moral of the story for me is that it's much better to negotiate with your creditors directly. $40 a month? Really?

The other thing to keep in mind when working with a credit counselor is that the credit card companies subsidize these organizations. If you follow the money, you will see that the settlement the counselor offers may be one that is not in your favor.

Polly's Pointers:

1. Try working with your creditors directly first.

2. If you do work with a credit counselor, make sure they are affiliated an organization such as the National Foundation for Credit Counseling.

3. Avoid paying someone to "repair your credit" or help you get out of debt.

I know that some of those organizations are served by my own Google Ads, and I wish I could tailor the ad services to screen them, but organizations that prey on the desperate and downtrodden are pathetic. Research the organization you are working with to make sure they are legitimate. Don't be afraid to talk to a number of people. You may even want to leverage your conversation with the original lender.

4. Debtor beware. Some of these places run out-and-out scams! They take your money, charge hefty fees, and never pay the creditors leaving desparate debtors worse off than before! Now here's the place in financial crisis where shame belongs.

Further Reading
Profit Possibilities by Elizabeth Warren, blogging at Credit Slips
Debt Relief Can Cause Headaches of Its Own

Reducing Expenses: TV Unbound

Image via Wikipedia We don't have cable or satellite anymore. We ended our TiVO subscription, though we watched everything through TiVO for a number of years. These eliminations have saved us $80 a month--money we couldn't afford to spend.

Yet, we were able to watch the Olympics, the conventions, and our favorite TV shows--legally.

How? My husband likes to call it "TV Unbound." We have an extra laptop since I don't need it for business any longer. Through the network websites (ABC, CBS, NBC), premium channel websites (CNN, Discovery, Disney), and aggregator websites, we are able to watch almost any show we used to record on TiVO. The few shows that are not available for free are usually available for purchase through iTunes, and while we aren't spending ANY money on entertainment right now, it would certainly be cheaper to buy a show occasionally than to pay for satellite, cable, or FIOS TV service.

Our most used is Hulu, which is affiliated with NBC, but carries shows from other sources including golden oldies. We're introducing our kids to The Partridge Family!

We've been able to watch what we want, when we want for basically no cost. We can no longer fast forward through commercials, but they are shorter and less frequent then on broadcast TV. We can still pause the program to talk to each other at our convenience, which, in my opinion, turns TV watching from mindless activity to a social event.

After all, the down-trodden and debt-ridden may need to escape more than your average bear.

Polly's Pointers

1. Look at your TV services and call your provider to see if they can lower your rates by packaging with internet or phone service.

2. Consider a Digital Video Recorder (DVR) card for your computer so you don't have to pay monthly service fees for time shifting to TiVO or other DVR services.

3. Eliminate channels you never watch.

4. Consider ditching premium TV altogether!

Since this post was published, we've changed our thinking about saving money on TV service. See how here.