March frugals

[Tradd]

Just realized by looking at thread list that we didn’t have one for February.

Fun diving at the WI mine where I had cave dived the last two winters is no longer allowed. As a result, I’m only using about 3/4 of a tank of gas a week. All my shopping is very close. I’m doing a day trip up to Madison this coming weekend for a pool session (free) and I’ll fill up on cheaper gas up there. Two hours each way.

We’re into Orthodox Lent so no meat until Orthodox Easter (April 24).

Weather has been mostly high 30s/low 40s so heat is either at 61 where stays or I’ll sometimes shut it off. I just get too hot. My gas bill was $60 for the last month but it’s the hot baths. Stress relief.

[Yppej]

I have started looking at what is really needed for the 60K service on my car per the owner's manual vs what the dealer is telling me is required.

[happystuff]

I've been trying to keep the grocery shopping down from once a week to once every two weeks - maybe twice every three. Also needed a new pair of pants for work and remembered to file for the clothing allowance.

[Alan]

We cut the cord last week on our fiber internet connection and that providers several hundred channel tv lineup at a cost of nearly $200 per month. Replaced them with our cell phone providers 5G home internet service and Sling TV streaming service. Net savings of just over $100 per month.

[Rogar]

I have started looking at what is really needed for the 60K service on my car per the owner's manual vs what the dealer is telling me is required.

Worth looking into. The neighborhood quick in and out oil change chain tried to sell me several hundred dollars worth of 30,000 mile services that are not indicated as needed in my owners manual in the glove box. I trust the mechanic down the street for most routine things and he's a lot cheaper than the deal ship or the fast lube place if I decide I need something.

[Rogar]

We cut the cord last week on our fiber internet connection and that providers several hundred channel tv lineup at a cost of nearly $200 per month. Replaced them with our cell phone providers 5G home internet service and Sling TV streaming service. Net savings of just over $100 per month.

Is the cell phone service home internet provider an equal alternative to fiber wifi for home computer uses? Being the perennial luddite I'd assumed 5G would not be as fast. Just curious as I'd not heard of this.

[Alan]

Is the cell phone service home internet provider an equal alternative to fiber wifi for home computer uses? Being the perennial luddite I'd assumed 5G would not be as fast. Just curious as I'd not heard of this.

I've been pleasantly surprised by the 5G speeds we've been experiencing as we've tested its capacity at home and on the road during our 2 month winter meander around the gulf coast.
We signed up for the service at the beginning of our trip with the idea that we'd cancel once we returned home. Since 5G speeds are dependent upon proximity to towers, it was going to be a crap shoot as to quality of service although it turned out we had excellent service in various stops in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Kentucky. Our only snag was nearly non-existent service on Mustang Island, Port Aransas Tx.

Once we arrived home in early February, we were notified by the provider (T-Mobile) that we qualified for a limited time offer granting us half price for life on home internet which brought the monthly price for service down to $25. That's when we decided to do a month long comparison to our existing service to see how it stacked up.

Our home fiber connection gave us download speeds of between 300 and 500 Mbps (megabits per second) while the 5G gateway provided speeds ranging from 150 to 300 Mbps. I spent weeks experimenting, streaming movies on 3 different TV's at the same time from each service, looking for buffering issues while also surfing the internet and playing YouTube videos on my laptop and my wife's iPad. The result being, we couldn't tell the functional difference between the two services. It seemed like a no-brainer to switch, especially since with the gateway, we can take our home internet with us when we travel.

[Rogar]

That's interesting, Alan. Thanks for the explanation. Something to think about. I wonder if that will be the wave of the future. The technology changes fast.

[Yppej]

Negotiated a higher rate on a CD.

[rosarugosa]

Our Jan electric bill was the highest we have ever received. Probably one reason was that Oggie loved to sleep in front of our little electric stove, and indulging his every desire was pretty important at that point in time. Since he passed, we haven't used the little stove at all, and we've been more attentive to turning off lights, etc. Our electric bill for Feb was $100 lower, so surely these actions helped.