AT&T is the only phone/internet company, with the exception of a few cable companies like Roadrunner or Time Warner if you want a digital phone and cable TV. AT&T continues to harass their customers to upgrade, but we continue to decline to add TV to a package deal or upgrade to their new "higher speed" Uverse cable internet service. In an attempt to cut our budget, I decided to buy Magic Jack for our phone ($20/year), cut the phone part out of AT&T to have an internet-only account. Well, AT&T refused to let us have an internet-only account based on the modem we had; they said that internet-only accounts were being phased out to make way for their new Uverse cable internet service. If we wanted internet only, we would have to pay to have cable installed and then pay for Uverse instead of broadband internet. Ridiculous! After hours of fighting with them, I think the manager broke down and gave me something he really wasn't supposed to give me. New customers could get internet for $14.99, so even though I didn't actually qualify for the discounted rate, to keep me as a customer (rather than running to Time Warner), they gave me that rate. We actually don't use the phone at all, but instead use Magic Jack because it includes unlimited calls/unlimited long-distance/Caller ID/call-waiting. However, Magic Jack also recently went through a rate increase, but they offered their old rate to their current customers, allowing them to pre-purchase up to 5 additional years at the lower rate. So I went ahead and paid it so we won't have to worry about a phone bill for 6 years now. So, I have cut our phone budget by $25/month -- at least for 12 months, and then I will search again for internet. While the costs have gone up, I have found a way to make mine go down.
It seems like homeowner's insurance goes up every year, and in fact, this year, it would have made our monthly mortgage payment go up $5. Not a lot, but for someone trying to find an extra $350/mo now that Food Stamps has ended, every little bit counts. So I did a lot of shopping around and found better insurance for auto and home which made our monthly mortgage payment $5 less and our auto insurance $23/month less, a total savings of $28/month.
Unfortunately, I can't figure a way to lower our Medical while it increases. Due to government reforms and cutbacks, the kids' Chip insurance has increased. Instead of paying $5/visit and $5/prescription, I will now pay $20/visit and $35/name-brand prescription. That doesn't sound like a lot, but I am trying really hard to cut every dollar I can, not to mention that James' ADHD meds (which does not have a generic) are prohibited by law to be refilled without a new prescription every month, which means his meds will now cost us $55/month instead of $10.
So I gave it some thought and figured I'd have to try a different medicine that has a generic version so that the copay would be $10 (generic) instead of $35 (brand name). But I don't want to fix something that's not broken, and I don't want to mess with James' brain chemistry just to save $20/mo. Trying to find ways to cut expenses gets hard when the government requires fees for things you shouldn't have to have fees for. ADHD meds require a new prescription every month because they are classified as Schedule II controlled substances. It sucks having to pay a copay for a doc visit every month to get the same meds each time.
I also can't do anything about rising fuel prices. We had initially bought the house we did for its proximity to Rex's job. But obviously you can't count on living close to work because work moves, and so our monthly gas budget is significantly higher than it was during his Northside years. At least he's not driving to Houston and back every week! I dread the day we will have to buy a newer, bigger car. I don't know how we will find the money for guzzling gas, let alone a car payment and comprehensive insurance. I pray that our little sedans will hold out (and not be too tight a squeeze for growing kids) for approx. 5 more years till Rex's student loans are paid off.
According to my stupid-required-economics class, salaries lag only slightly behind rising prices. Supposedly, salaries increase within 6 months to a year to match the increase in cost of living. How many people do you know have lost their jobs and could only replace them with lower-paying ones? I can't believe the garbage they teach in school! That's not how the real world works! If it did, we wouldn't be in this mess. So, instead, I am trying to find an alternative way of living by not just pinching pennies, but digging for them.
Addemdum 4/2: Ooo! Ooo! I just read that Singulair will have a generic form starting in August! James has been taking it for allergies, but it costs $35 since there is no generic right now. Unfortunately, no such luck with Focalin-XR (ADHD).
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