Tag Archives: personal finance

Underwriting on NPR finally pays off for Ally Bank – I’m dumping E-Trade Bank and opening an account

Posted on February 14, 2013 by

Since today is Valentine’s Day, it’s appropriate that I am making a big relationship change – I’m dumping my old bank and opening an account with Ally. Ally has been chasing me for years now.  I’m a huge NPR podcast … Continue reading →

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Being a packrat finally pays off after 16 years

Posted on January 6, 2013 by

I admit it… I’m not very good at throwing things away.  Ever since I left college 16 years ago, I have a hard time parting with anything that I think might be useful again some day. If you walk around … Continue reading →

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Simplify tracking shared family expenses with a Google Doc

Posted on December 27, 2012 by

We are lucky enough to live near lots of family.  This means that we always have someone to turn to if we need an emergency babysitter or want to borrow an extra mattress.  We also find that we tend to … Continue reading →

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Why I switched to an AT&T mobile share plan

Posted on October 29, 2012 by

After having spent the past two years optimizing my AT&T plan for the lowest cost, I bit the bullet and switched us over to a mobile share plan.  I’m not saving the money I had been, but I’ve picked up … Continue reading →

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If you never incur overage charges, you may be on the wrong mobile plan

Posted on May 7, 2012 by

Long ago, I did some research and switched us to a $15/month 200MB data plan from AT&T.  I had determined that neither of us ever exceeded 150MB (usually closer to 100MB), so it was an easy decision to switch from … Continue reading →

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I caved: we are abandoning Google Voice and signing up for a (gulp) paid text messaging plan from AT&T

Posted on June 2, 2011 by

As much as it pains me, we are about to start shelling out $20 a month for a text messaging plan for our phones. My wife and I are in our mid 30′s, and we were just on the wrong … Continue reading →

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Shortcut: Getting your money’s worth from shampoo and styling cream containers

Posted on January 16, 2011 by

Now, you might think I’m just cheap, but it drives me crazy that you can never get all of the product out of a container if it is a thick cream like shampoo or styling gel.  You can turn the … Continue reading →

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New TiVo and over the air antenna bring crystal clear, free TV

Posted on December 19, 2010 by

A week ago, I ordered a new TiVo premiere on the hope that it might allow me to actually cut out cable TV.  We watch so little television these days, and most of the shows we watch are on the major … Continue reading →

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Comcast, I think it’s time we started seeing other people…

Posted on December 10, 2010 by

My quest for cutting utility expenses didn’t actually start with AT&T, it started with Comcast. We are at the extreme low end of tv watching in our household.  It is pretty rare that we have the energy for more than … Continue reading →

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My mission: cut my AT&T phone bill by 30% (farewell unlimited iPhone data plans!)

Posted on December 6, 2010 by

Ever since my decision to pay to download two tv shows to my phone that I already had sitting on my TiVo, I’ve been thinking a lot about whether we are getting the full value for the money we are … Continue reading →

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