Hi! So when I introduced myself over in the welcome thread, I outlined a few baby steps (really, tiny itty bitty baby steps) that I'm starting with. To help me keep track, if y'all don't mind, I thought I'd put them here, where I can see those little bits start to add up. I'm rounding to the nearest $ since I'm good with multiplication tables but not decimals. :)
In the past few days, I've done away with:
Netflix: $96/year ($8/mo)
Pandora One: $36/year
Magazine sub: $69/year
XM Radio: ~$54/year (I only ever renewed if they did it for $24 for 6 months, plus the various fees/taxes/blahblah).
And I figured out how to "check out" an e-book from my local library and have it zipped right over to my Kindle. That's AWESOME. I have bought (a large number) of e-books over the past few years, so this is really very good news.
My next step--and I might need someone to hold my hand and explain to me why it really is the best thing to do--would be to consider ditching my unlimited data plan on my iPhone and going on a "share everything" plan to save $10/month. My husband uses negligible data but is paying for 3GB every month anyway. He's also paying by the text for text messages. My daughter just has a wee flip phone at the moment, and only uses it for emergencies - I had AT&T block internet access on it so we wouldn't get unexpected data charges.
My unlimited data has been my security blanket for FIVE YEARS. We live so far off the main road that we cannot get cable, FIOS, or even DSL, so I pay through the nose for mobile broadband. Expensive and limited -- what a twofer!
So my iPhone, with its grandfathered unlimited data plan, has been my salvation. No limits! No checking obsessively to make sure we haven't "gone over." But the truth is that I use somewhere between 3 and 5 GB a month, and my spouse uses way less than 1 GB. We can easily keep under the 10 GB limit and save money. Right? I'd love to be either talked into it or talked out of it.
In the meantime, I'll be over here in a corner, petting my unlimited data while I still can.
Oh, and feel free to add your own baby steps here; I can't be the only person feeling their way here. :)