About sixteen years ago, I met him for the first time. My trainwreck sibling brought home this adorable puppy he had no business adopting because he had not one thing in his life that wasn’t a mess. I was furious at my sibling – he didn’t even take care of himself, how could he drag
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February 24, 2010
Just as I started on a quest to explore options for my cell phone, I discovered entirely by happenstance that my parents were harboring yet another (financial) secret: Mom’s phone has been broken for weeks.
I’ve been paying $70+/month for their family plan. Without telling me, they’d requested new phones which reactivated their contracts 18 months ago which jettisoned my plans to switch their calling plans to something more affordable and sensible according to their usage. Then, again without telling me, they changed their plan to give themselves more (unnecessary!) minutes because they don’t pay or read their bills which meant another contract extension.
Totally frustrated by the parent-imposed roadblocks to trimming the budget, I’ve let it lie until now. Discovering that I’m paying a premium for basically one phone ticked me off, and I’ve researched several possible options to pick a plan that makes sense with T-Mobile’s Online Help Chat.
Important Definitions
Prepaid Pay By The Day customers enjoy Unlimited Nights and Unlimited Mobile-to-Mobile calling on the T-Mobile network. Pay By The Day customers incur two types of charges: A $1 per day ($1/day) usage charge and a $0.10 per minute charge (if applicable).
Prepaid Pay As You Go means that you refill the account and pay per minute for your incoming and outgoing calls.
Even More plans keep you on a contract basis but changing to one does not change your contract date, does not incur migration fees, and offers discounted phones that lock you back into a 2-year contract.
Even More Plus plans are non-contract plans, incurs a one time $35 migration fee, retain the contract date, and does not offer discounted plans.
Option A
Due to her much reduced usage, I can switch Mom to a prepaid plan and put Dad on an Even More individual plan for $50/month for 1000 mins, unlimited nights and weekends.
Cost: $50 early termination fee + new phone + [$30/month and usage charges OR just PAYG usage charges]. I would have to train them not to use her phone for anything but emergencies. Given her cognition issues, this may be a challenge.
Gain: Saving $20/mo on Dad’s plan, and if I go with PAYG for Mom, I wouldn’t break even for more than 6 months.
Option B
Wait three months until the contract is up, and then execute the plan above, saving $50.
Cost: new phone + prepaid usage
Gain: Saving $20/mo on Dad’s plan, and PAYG for Mom, I would break even in about 6 months. Depends on the cost of the phone.
Option C
Move them both to an Even More Plus plan, then switch Mom to a Prepaid Plan.
Cost: $70 in migration fees, still have a contract date through 5/18, and that’s before replacing the phone.
Gain: Forget it.
Option D
Move them both to an Even More plan with the fewest minutes possible ($60/month for 750, well over their current usage), wait three months while finding a replacement phone for the contract to run out.
Cost: None
Gain: Save $10/mo.
It’s Option D for now. I’ll save $30 between now and the contract expiration in three months, and decide what to do beyond that then.
February 23, 2010
Speaking of yelling “Lifestyle inflation!” at people, I’ve directed that at myself lately, to little avail. I should but cannot imagine going back to a regular phone.
iPhone’s latest antics are: not allowing me to pick up calls, freezing the screen on the call failure screen, refusing to clear it out even after I’ve stopped the call, and shutting down intermittently. Oh, yes, and refusing to accept calls at all, forcing people into voicemail hell, and then maybe informing me of new voicemails an hour or more later.
It’s ridiculous. One major drawback with having an iPhone is that AT&T and Apple get to play the blame game and hang the responsibility for dropped calls on the other guy. In the meantime, stuck in the middle, I feel like a orphan!
On the other hand, some of the functions – which are not limited to the iPhone – such as navigation, internet access, email access (I’m a junkie) are really very helpful in my recently nomadic lifestyle. The navigation is an amazing key to travel independence, and I’m loathe to give it up for a regular phone.
My contract with AT&T is up this month, what shall I do?
Working on the following assumptions:
1. I want another smartphone
2. I don’t want to pay more than I’m paying now ($65/month)
3. I’d prefer not to pay for the phone itself. If I must …. I think the ceiling is at $100. i
4. Trying to avoid as many one-time or recurring luxury fees as possible (activation, for one)
5. My ideal plan includes:
- ~1000 minutes/mo (friends are mainly on two different networks, family on yet a third. They won’t all consolidate to make my life easier!)
- unlimited nights and weekends
- ~300 texts/month
- unlimited email, web browsing and a decent navigation/mapping service
- Even while I have concerns about privacy and security issues, it’d be nice to have the variety of options that the iPhone currently offers for things like banking, stock tickers, and tracking investment apps. It’s not a requirement, though.
This isn’t going to be easy. It may not even be possible. But it’s research time!
Note: In light of my slenderized budget, even $65/month seems like a luxury but do bear in mind this is my connection to the world whether I’m at home or on the road (interviewing, meeting new people with whom I’ll develop professional relationships, being contacted for contract work, etc.)
February 22, 2010
As you know, I like to donate, whenever and however I can, to good causes. Sometimes the cause is tragedy. Sometimes the cause is an ongoing struggle, against cancer, against discrimination, against the “lesser” wrongs, for a better world.
Education is a worthy cause but I’m clearly not at Fund A Scholarship level. Teachers, however, I can help in little ways. With the myriad demands on their time, energy, and creativity, many teachers also face out-of-pocket expenses for classroom and administrative supplies: pens, notebook paper, copy paper, books. Fellow blogger-educators E.C., Frugal Scholar, TeawithBuzz, TeacHer Finance and others can certainly attest to the extra expenses expected of teachers. Knowing that, I’ve always sent any of my personal overages of office supplies to local teachers but wished there was a more substantial way to help.
Now there is!
My teacher friend just told me about a really cool program at his local used bookstore. When they buy books, one of the ways they offer payment is in store credit instead of cash. This bookstore, however, takes that concept one step further. They accept/buy books from patrons as usual. For those who wish to donate, their store credit is added to the School Fund. When teachers come in to buy books for their classrooms, they receive a discount in proportion to the current state of the School Fund. He’s received 25% off, 50% off, sometimes just a stack of bookmarks for the classroom.
He’s building his own classroom library which is, to my mind, a far better literacy advocacy device than any standardized test, and I’ll be taking my next stack of books to donate over to that Book Rack.
Good teachers are a rarity in our (in my opinion) overly standardized school system that elevates test scores above motivation, innovation, and inspiration. I’ve had few great teachers, but their life lessons, not just their lesson plans, have remained with me long past the time we spent in the classroom together. Good teachers with good books? Nirvana.
I would love to round up books in the SoCal area for a bigger donation, but I’m not sure how realistic that is.
February 21, 2010
I’m a bit of a klutz. I accidentally closed the Random number generator screen, when I was trying to take a screen capture of it, but the winner of the Uprinting Giveaway is …..
#1 Investing Newbie!
Congratulations! I’m passing along your info to the Uprinting folks.
February 19, 2010
My sous chef wouldn’t allow me to display all of yesterday’s haul in its true glory (and stole one of the grapefruits).
Though I love farmer’s markets, I usually hate mornings. The latter lends itself to instant gratification -it’s SO much easier to snuggle back under the covers after my frosty nose tests the air, generally, so I’m grateful to local produce markets that offer fresh selections at great prices when I emerge from my den, starving.
What came home with me?
2 huge bundles of spinach
2 slender bunches of asparagus
1 bundle of green onions
1 gorgeous head of broccoli
1 less gorgeous cauliflower
1 large bunch of green grapes (in the bowl)
3 grapefruits
4 Roma tomatoes
2 minneolas
6 bell peppers (trying to stand up in the back)
How much did it cost?
$18.24
I’ll also use the spinach in salads, and in some Indian recipes I’m hoping to make with a native cook-friend next week. The broccoli is wonderful steamed and maybe dotted with a little cheese — that was the first solid food I ate after my dental debacle two weeks ago!
P.S. the Chicken and Roasted Peppers turned out rather well ….
February 18, 2010
My regular decluttered clothing gets donated because it’s serviceable everyday stuff, but I’ve usually got nothing of Name Brand status that would hold up in a consignment shop except … all those bridesmaid dresses! At least six gowns of varying lengths and styles are in great condition and deserve to be worn again. (Well, one or two are of questionable style, but I know there’s someone out there to love it anyway.)
I may keep one or two just in case I have to attend anything formal again.
I searched for a good consignment shop either locally or somewhere not too far a lope in California, any recommendations would be quite welcome, but all the semi-local shops have closed up and gone online. I’d be 100% for the virtual consignment experience if I weren’t awkwardly sized.
Y’see, my bridesmaid dresses were all ordered in Junior Bridesmaid sizes, and frequently tailored to fit. That means it’d take a fairly small person to wear my clothes without passing out. I’d rather sell them in a place where the customer has a chance to try on the dress. Still, returns (if allowed) aren’t really my problem, right? So that’s one option.
Another possibility would be to look into Asian-centric shops to see if they would carry the dresses. My concerns with that method are twofold: most shops want to carry their own inventory, not used and tailored pieces; and (don’t hate me they’re my people and I know how they are!) I don’t like the way Asians do business in that town. Unless they were vouched for by one of the very few people I trust, I wouldn’t trust them. Heck, I don’t trust a lot of my blood relatives, their morals are too “what’s-in-it-for-me?”
From bitter experience as a consumer – much less in a business transaction where they give me the money – many of the folks who live and work immersed in this particular predominantly Asian community surrounded by their native kinfolk are stubborn and the idea of “customer service” is completely foreign to them. It’s not unusual for them to decide to completely change your order, be it housewares, gifts, or flowers for your wedding because “I thought this was better.” No, no, you found something cheaper!
*This actually happened several times to my bride-friend. She was far too nice, I would have lost my temper the second time that crazy shop owner thought to pass off an inferior product as a better choice for the same price.
But I digress.
The last option I’m considering is taking the pile to one of the resale shops on Melrose. Something like Plato’s Closet or Buffalo Exchange, but more upscale since those two chains specialize in casual wear. Not too upscale like the designer/new-only shops, but an eclectic shop that accepts formalwear. The very helpful young lady at Buffalo Exchange suggested a shop near her own: Wasteland.
Their recording describes year-round purchasing, seasonally, and an upfront pricing of your clothing with an immediate cash payment at 35% of their retail price. This sounds like the standard pricing policy across all the consignment shops I canvassed. If I sell with them, I’d be best served waiting until near prom season since I’m pretty sure I’ve missed Homecoming.
I briefly considered selling them on the blog, but …. dresses are so much more difficult than bags, shoes, or jewelry, aren’t they?
None of these options will be more than a pittance of the original money spent, but it’ll open up at least a foot of closet space and these pieces should go to good homes which is another version of repurposing.
February 15, 2010
Did you know it’s Girl Scout Cookie season? Carolyn and I were tweeting about it a while ago, I think.
Those with the connections have already placed their orders whilst others have had to eagerly await the intrepid entrepreneurs setting up their tables outside grocery stores. Alas, I’ve lost contact with my main dealer who would deliver so I’ve been waiting to buy retail with the latter group.
But you know what? I’ve been out there. Nary a Scout to be found. What happened??
It’s not an addiction anymore, but I do like to have two boxes of Trefoils on hand a year. They’re my indulgence. Of course, they don’t hold a candle to Walker’s Shortbread, but neither my arteries nor my wallet can afford that particular goody in high quantities.
Happily, I’ve got a friend who has never met a Girl Scout Cookie table he wasn’t willing to fund, so heaven help his finances but every Girl Scout with a quota should set up shop near him. It’s a guaranteed $20 sale, every time. He doesn’t even eat them, he just wants to support the Scouts and make the kids happy.
That means his ordered boxes of Trefoils will be my Trefoils.
My preciouses ……
