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Cutting Cable/Phone Bill out/Hubby Doesn't Know it
My husband and I have been married for a year (we celebrated on June 1). We have both expressed that we want to buy a house in 2014. We are renting right now and we want a baby. However, we are over our heads with bills and stupid expenses. After talking with a coworker who just bought a home and praying to God for wisdom over how to be financially responsible, I am about to get real gritty about cutting some luxuries out of our budget so that we can save and invest in our future.
Our cable bill, which is a bundled package went from $130 a month to $175. I am also re-evaluating our insurance policies, auto & rental. I'm also cutting out gym memberships and my husband's xbox subscription. The cable bill is in my name and I want to get rid of it and get basic cable. My husband is opposed to this, because he's a huge sports fanatic.
I'm thinking about cutting it out anyway because I would rather have money in the bank and have it go towards debt than to have 18 ESPN channels where my husband can cheer on his beloved Cowboys...
Has any loving wife cut luxuries even without their hubby's approval? LOL!!!
Re: Cutting Cable/Phone Bill out/Hubby Doesn't Know it
I've never cut anything without a joint discussion/decision.
But, I HAVE made 1-2 large purchases without his input...it didn't bode well for us. Lessoned learned.
Can you figure out if there is another local provider who can get you the same or similar package for less money? Or, is there one sports channel he watches more than another that he could stream live on his computer using wireless?
I feel for ya. Cable is so expensive and let's be honest, do we really need 160 channels???
You sound like you are off to a good start in evaluating your expenses.
Keep in mind that insurance companies often give discounts for bundled policies if you have your auto and renters, etc. with them.
Not discussing household decisions that impact your husband sounds like bad-news-bears. Act like an adult and discuss this with your husband. Lay out how much it is costing and how much you could save each month if you were to cut (or cut back). Explain how you could finanancially reach your goals much much sooner (maybe put together a timeline showing savings growth over time). Sometimes men react better when the logic behind a situation is laid out clearly for them.
Goodluck!
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Feel free to post a budget and we can help you find things to cut.
I agree with both posts above. Making a decision that impacts him without a conversation, and even worse a conversation where he has expressed how important his sports channels are, is just asking for a fight.
If heis having trouble visualizing the expenses this is what I suggest. Count out a bunch of monoply money in the amount of your take home pay. Then take some blank papers and write on them each expense and the cost. Then with him allocate the monoply to each expense. This gives a really good visual of where the money is going and how cutting some expenses can help increase savings.
I would also suggest making cuts to other areas first before cutting his beloved cowboys. We also use to love our specility cable channels. We started by cutting other areas and as we watch the savings grow and debt come down we are more motivated to make other cuts. Just this morning my dh suggested lookiinto cutting out cable all together. If I had suggested this a few months ago we both would have faught the idea.g I
As an Eagles fan, I say cut the Cowboys games!
Just kidding ... on a serious note, like PP have said, are there any other areas that you could cut before cutting cable? We also discussed cutting cable but we both watch too many sporting events that it wouldn't be worth it for us so we cut back in other areas - like going out to eat, our YMCA membership and shopping for clothes. I definitely wouldn't just cut it without talking to him though. My husband would have a fit if I did that - as I would to him if he did that to me.
To answer your question: No I haven't made a decision like that without mutual discussion first.
My suggestion is what PPs have stated: Compromise. Find something that you can live without and agree to make that sacrifice if he will agree to cut out the cable. Also, try to be optimistic about it- My H loves watching football too but we don't have cable so he and his friends have certain sports bars that they love to go to for a exciting game. It's a tradition that could be fun starting. Offer to go with him!
When we were saving for the wedding, I agreed to cut out my monthly manicures and he cut down how much he spent on golfing. It was a compromise we made together and I bet if you can come up with something like that it will make you both feel good about saving money.
Sorry, but if you make cuts to his things without discussing it with him first you are going to get into a lot of fights. If you cut your gym membership and then discuss with him that he either has to give up his XBox subscriptions or the higher tiered cable package. It seems to me that you didn't budget for the true cost of the cable package but only for the temporary special offer.
I know I would be beyond pissed if my wife cancelled one of my things without talking to me about it ahead of time.
It takes two grown ups talking about finances to keep the communications open. So far by your post and initial response you are only thinking of yourself and not the team.
great advice. To the OP another thing that may help is coming up with something of yours to cut out... Shoe shopping? Manis/pedis? iPhone/dataplan? Something to prove you are making sacrifices too, rather than just asking to give up his funsies.
Id say very gently to you that you are not honoring or respecting your husband by doing something behind his back.
Discuss. Come to an agreement about the cable. If you still don't agree, go with his decision and find another route.
Cutting out cable and his xbox live is probably not going to make him happy, especially as a sports fan. I understand you're trying to cut costs, but honestly for my husband and I our xbox live subscription is one of our best deals for entertainment. We buy the 12-month subscription every year (always on sale). Even when it's not on sale it's only $5 a month, as opposed to $10 a month if you pay month-to-month.
DH is a big sports fan too, so having access to ESPN3 on the xbox is really nice. Sure, there's not currently any football games on there, but there is baseball, tennis, soccer, and others. Plus, I remember last year being able to watch the NBA finals on there even though we didn't have cable.
Let's be honest, sometimes guys really do need their sports. We haven't had cable for 2 years, but we have gone out to eat quite a bit to watch games we couldn't stream over ESPN3 or elsewhere on the internet.
If your husband is such a big Cowboys fan, make sure you know of ways for him to get his sports fix without the cable he's used to. Is he content just watching the play-by-play? Will he go over to somebody else's house? Will you two go out to eat every time the Cowboys play?
Our tv is actually from 1990, so we would need to buy a converter as well as the antenna. Not worth it in our opinion, since one of our rewards after we finish this bout of saving money is going to be buying a new tv anyway. The way we have it it's making us find different ways to spend our time instead of in front of a tv. I would never want 100+ channels anyways.
My point about xbox live being a good entertainment value still stands though.
**6.30.12** I have found the one whom my soul loves.
wow, yeah in your case it wouldn't be a good decision but if you ever get an HD TV I highly recommend it.
I agree with previous posters that you should be open and talk to your husband before making any decisions, but I also wanted to add:
Not many people know that your cable bill is totally negotiable if you have the patience. You can get your bill cut by quite a lot of money just by calling them up and keeping them on the line for a long time complaining about this and that, quoting a better deal you found for a different service, saying you're going to cancel, etc. Eventually, if you keep at it, they will cut you a deal and, if you push, even lock in that deal for a year. My husband calls up Comcast every year to negotiate a better rate when our rates go up. Right now we are paying only $39.99/month for high speed internet and basic cable, and we've had our account for a few years now. It's hard to do and a bit stressful, but I promise if you make those calls and are persistent, it works. Maybe make your husband do it since he wants his channels so badly. :-)
Wow! I didn't know this was going to be a good response! Okay so here is the deal:
Rent $1150 (which we just moved in)
Cars (2): $900
Car Ins: $140 (Full Coverage for 2 Cars)
Cable/Int/Phone: $175
Cell Phone: $300/mo (we are ending contracts this month and going to "pay as you go" options)
Toll: $100 (I have to commute on the toll ways to get to work, if I don't it will take me an extra 30 min to get there)
Gas for Cars: $175/month
Electric: $100
Gas/Water: $50
Income: $90k/year
School Loan Payback: $100/mo
I know he wants his channels and I've talked to him about it, he's canceling his fitness subscription (which was $40/mo) and his xbox subscription (10.00/mo).
I think that would be a decent idea (to go out to eat when the Cowboys play), but sometimes he would like to watch the game in the comfort of his home (just like many men). I'm going to try to see if I can downgrade some of the package, because it's really becoming way too much.
We had to cancel a trip for my 30th bday because of lack of finances.
Can you pay the $60 a year for xbox instead of the $10 a month?
That saves $60 for the year right there.
Also, you might only end up saving $20 for cutting the cable down to basic. If all it cost is $20 a month for him to have a simple luxury, let him have it.
One more thing, I would totally sit in traffic to save $100 a month.
Just my .02, hope that helps.
<a href="http://s4.photobucket.com/albums/y126/wayfastwhitegirl/?action=view
im not trying to be snarky, but If you are parting for wisdom about financial responsibility, I feel that fretting over $100 cable and $10 xbox when you pay $900 a month on cars is kind of like missing the forest for the trees. O course I totally understand you have to start somewhere and I commend you for that! Taking those first steps to get on track is difficult. And I understand that the car payment is what it is. Butthink about this. Had you guys just gone for very basic cheap used vehicles and drive them for a very long time and not upgraded to newer vehicles, that would be $900 per month you wouldn't be paying out, so then you wouldn't need to be gritting your teeth trying to decide what small enjoyable activities to cut out of your lives.
granted I don't know your situation or how you ended up with car payments so expensive, but that is a LOT of money to pay for 2 cars each month.
aside from the cable issue, if you are truly looking for ways to be financially responsible here is my advice. Pay your cars off. Soon as you can. Drive them until you can't take care of them any more, service them regularly. Take good care of them so hopefully they will last longer. Even when things start to go wrong with the car (because inevitably it will) remember that a. $400 auto repair bill once in a while is sooooo much more affordable than a monthly bill of $400. My rule of thumb is that folks shouldn't get rid of a car until its at least 10 years old. Theb when its time to get a new one, go used, go cheap, and go as baic a you can yet still be reliable. Yes I realize most people my age would gasp at the horrid though of that- driving used cars with 175k+ miles that are a bit rusty and terribly outdated. But my husband and I haven't had car payments since before we got married. And the last time either one of us bought cars they were gently used fairly basic models that cost around 10k so the payments were somewhat affordable. (We don't have smart phone/ data plan either). Our friends wonder how we are so lucky to have such nice things around the house or to rarely have money troubles.. But if we take your budget as an example, between not having a car payment and not having smartphones, that's over $1000 per month that we save compared to you and most of our friends, that's $12000 per year, or essentially over $60k since we got married 5 years ago. Imagine where you might be today with that extra 60k..
Sorry for the long post. And again I love that you are taking on your finances and getting in better shape. But anytime you consider taking on a monthly payment for any reason in the future (car, phone, cable, etc) the best way to decide if its worth it is add up the monthly cost for a year, then add up the monthly cost for the next 5 years and see if its truly worth it, or if you'd rather spend that money some other way. Looking long term and big picture, paying attention to how much things truly "cost" long term, and realizing what you "want" and what you realistically need and can afford are all key to financial responsibility.