Cheap vs. Thrifty: Cutting the (Cable) Cord

We haven't had cable since moving back to the East Coast (almost 4 years!).  The only reason we had it while living in Alaska was because Kevin's initial roommate worked for the cable company and got it for free.  He left it connected as a favor when he moved out/I moved in.  I can't say either of us have missed it and we have gotten by with a combination of Netflix, Hulu, and the Internet.

For awhile we were rotating Netflix and Hulu and that worked really well.  I'd put Netflix on hold for awhile and we'd watch the shows available on Hulu Plus.  Suddenly Hulu Plus didn't have the same selection/only had what was available online for free.  For example, I had Hulu on hold over the summer and reactivated it in October, thinking we would be able to catch up on the current Scandal at that point but several of the episodes were not available (and the ones that were we could go watch on ABC.com).  That was really annoying to me so I cancelled Hulu altogether - we'll just wait and watch Season 2 of Scandal when it comes out on Netflix next year. 

We pay $20 per month for Netflix ($8 for the streaming and $12 for the 2 DVD at a time plans).  We also pay an extra $20 for the "turbo charged" internet service that gives us unlimited streaming (although sometimes I call Time Warner and can get on a promotion that lowers that price).  Forty dollars is a fraction of what we'd pay for a cable service and I consider it money well saved.

Pros of the Netflix-only approach:  The money saved, no commercials, accessibility, the ability to marathon a whole series and not have to wait weeks/months/years to find out what happened.

Cons: You have to wait until the season comes out on DVD.  I take the attitude that is my choice and if I inadvertently come upon a spoiler that is my own fault for not watching it in real time. I do often employ the hands over my ears, "I don't want to hear this, nah nah nah" approach if someone is about to say something about a show I watch (mature, I know).  I also stopped reading Slate because they had so many real time reviews of the shows I watch (among other reasons).  Another con is you don't get sports, so if you are the type of person who wants to watch golf on a Sunday afternoon or some other ESPN event, you won't get to. We don't watch sports so this doesn't bother us.
 
Overall the pros outweigh the cons for us and we are happy with our approach.

Here are some of the shows we've streamed over the years:

• Battlestar Gallactica - the whole series is available and even if you don't normally like sci-fi, you should try this.  The series actually winds down, rather than being cancelled mid-plot, which I really like.
• Numb3rs -  the whole series is available and a good crime show.  Same as BSG, the series winds down and has a conclusion.
• How I Met Your Mother - seasons 1-7 are awesome.  I personally think seasons 8 and 9 were pretty bad but I still watched them.  I haven't seen any of season 10 (on now) but I'll watch it when it comes out next fall just to have the resolution.
• The West Wing - if you haven't watched this yet you have many many hours of good t.v. ahead of you.
• Sherlock - season 1-3 of the current BBC version is available and it is good.  The episodes are 90 minutes each so they are more of a series of movies than a tv show.
• House of Cards and Orange is the New Black - we watched both of these of the summer and liked them.
• Weeds - we watched up through season 7 and then stopped.  I love Mary Louise Parker but the show got pretty repetitive and we never bothered with the final season.  We really liked it for a long time though.
• 24 - same thing happened here, I think we watched through season 6 or so and then never watched the final two seasons.
• Lie to Me - the first couple of seasons are good, we lost interest while watching the third (after which it was cancelled so I guess a lot of other people did too).
• Friday Night Lights - Kevin never got into this but I watched it and loved the whole series.  I think it has one of the best portrayals of marriage there has ever been on TV (between the Taylors).
• Coupling - A British series I watched several years back, it was like the British version of Friends and I liked it.
• Better Off Ted - a quirky sitcom that is pretty funny.  We were sad that it got cancelled (whenever it did get cancelled) because we liked it.

There are also shows we watch that are not available to stream (Big Bang Theory, Homeland, etc).  That is where the DVDs come in.  I try to keep the DVDs in constant rotation and if I've ordered a movie or show and we haven't watched it in a week or so, I figure we are not going to and send it back.

Also a plus, Netflix has really good customer service and is always willing to immediately replace a broken DVD or fix any problems (ask me about the epic Netflix prank I pulled on my dad some day).  One time they shipped me an extra DVD just because the one I wanted (I can't remember what it was now) wasn't available in my area so it would take a couple of extra days to get to me.  I am much happier calling Netflix than I am calling Time Warner that is for sure (I have an acceptance/hate relationship with Time Warner).  For that reason alone we'll be cordless for a good long while.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Shopping Estate Sales

We started shopping estate sales when we bought our house.  We've gotten some pretty great deals and I'm pretty sure shopping at estate sales falls squarely into the "thrifty" side of the cheap vs. thrifty spectrum.

Antique sewing table: $7.50

We bought two Hitchcock-esque chairs for about $10 each at Goodwill.  I really liked them and for the longest time, they were the only real dining room chairs we had (we had some nice folding chairs as a placeholder).  Before buying a house I didn't realize how expensive dining room chairs are (outdoor furniture too) and wasn't quite ready to commit the hundreds of dollars required to buy a quality set.  Then I saw an estate sale with these previewed:

We got 4 actual Hitchcock chairs for $100.  Actually, Kevin's parents bought us these for Christmas, thanks KMC2!

We went back the next day for two Nichols Stone chairs (one is pictured on the left).  The great thing about estate sales is that they are generally half off the second day and you can negotiate any price.  I was tempted to get the two Nichols Stone chairs the first day (they were about $90 total) but was willing to risk them being gone.  I was happy they were still there the next day and ended up getting them for $65.

I actually like how the chairs coordinate but don't match.  We now have 8 dining room chairs and if you are counting along, we got them for a total of $185.  I'm pretty sure we can't get one new Hitchcock chair for that price (they don't list prices online, which is a sign that they are too expensive for me).

The majority of the picture frames in our house have come from estate sales or Goodwill.  You can get really nice picture frames for $1-3, which would run you upwards of $10-20 new.  I also often buy art just for the frames.  Even if I don't love the art, it is often priced well below what even the frame is worth, so I buy it and replace the art.

Although we have gotten some good art that we left as is.  Framed art: $15

Plants in nice pots: $12 (it is an added bonus of being a cat toy).

More plants for $4 each.  They look pretty good along side my one and only art piece in the house.

We've gotten lots of other things that are not pictured, including some outdoor pots for planting, tools (once Kevin got a saw for $10 that was worth $100s), and household odds and ends.  If you have the time, estate sales are definitely worth perusing.  You can find estate sales in your area at estatesales.net and a guide to estate sales here. Happy thrifting!

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Additional Revenue Streams

This post isn't about saving money but making extra money.  We've started doing this in two ways: renting out our spare bedroom on AirBnB and dog-sitting.

Have you heard of AirBnB?  It is getting bigger every day and a new way of traveling.  The site matches "hosts" with extra space and "guests" (travelers) to create an informal bed and breakfast arrangement. We have pictures of us and our house up as well as description of the area and guests can book through the site.   We have complete control over who books our place and can decline a request for any reason.

The backbone of the site is the review system.  Both guests and hosts get to review each other after a stay.  It is a closed-review system, so you can only review someone if you have actually stayed with/hosted them. That way you don't have to worry about erroneous good or bad reviews.  We generally only accept people who have complete profiles (picture, description, etc) and positive reviews from other hosts.  We have made exceptions to this if it is clear they have just joined airbnb, it is their first time using the site, and get a good feeling from their profile (example was a retired couple who used to live in our area and were returning to visit grown children).  In general we feel like other hosts can take the risk on first timers.  We don't want to get greedy or take unnecessary risks.

We've done it four times and each time has been great and quite frankly easy money.  We plan to use all of the money we make through AirBnB on the house.  So far it has paid for about half of the bathroom remodel.

We also used it as guests once and had a good experience.  It was a situation where we were arriving late somewhere and leaving first thing in the morning.  We got a clean bedroom in a nice house for $50.  I shudder to think of the motel room we would get for that price.

We'll keep doing it until it doesn't seem worth it anymore or NY shuts it down (it is making a big dent in the NYC hotel industry and they've been lobbying the officials.  The attorney general has already subpoenaed records so we'll see what happens).

The other thing we've been doing is dog-sitting.  We dog sit for friends and family all the time - one summer I counted up the paws we were taking care of over the course of a few weeks and it was well over 30.  This past weekend was the first time we charged for it though.  One of Kevin's clients was heading out of town and asked for boarding recommendations.  Kevin offered our house for $30/day (about the same price as a kennel boarding situation with one walk).  It wasn't too much extra work for us and they got an in-home experience for their dog.

What Kevin failed to mention was that the dog was a dead ringer for my sister's dead dog.  Bear passed away quite suddenly earlier this year and Rooney looked exactly like him and even had some of the same mannerisms.  I actually had a really hard time, since I would sometimes jump when I saw her and definitely called her Bear by accident quite a few times.  It made me pretty sad since Bear was so great and I really miss him.

But we'd definitely dog sit again, even Bear-look-alikes.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Having a Fingers Crossed Car

This might just tip us over to the cheap side of the spectrum.... up until recently we had what I called a "fingers crossed car."  You know, I cross my fingers it will get us where we want to go without breaking down.  It was a hand-me-down from my dad - he gave it to me when my mom upgraded and he got her hand-me-down a couple of years ago.  We call him Diego, because at the time we got him we had a purple Ford Explorer (another hand-me-down) that I called Dora. 

Since I can walk to work we really only need one car.  Occasionally we do need two, and that is where Diego came in.  Unfortunately for him, we have decided not to put the money into getting him through the New York State inspection this year.  For the past two years he has stumped the mechanics and they can't figure out what is making the "check engine" light be on.  The mechanics ultimately give up and get it so it turned off long enough to pass inspection, but it came back on during the drive home.  It was an expensive process both times however, so we decided we'd rather put the money into a new car.  Or maybe we'll just drop down to one car for awhile and save the money. At various points we have had only one and we managed just fine.

Diego's future is the same as Dora's fate: auctioned off and the proceeds go to charity (we picked the U.S. Humane Society).   It was an easy process last time, USHS arranged everything and the auction company came and picked up Dora while we were at work.  A few weeks later we got a receipt for the tax purposes - USHS got 80% and 20% went to the auction company.  Now every time I see that model purple explorer I wonder if it is Dora.

Overall, Diego has been a reliable car.  He's only broken down on us once and although he might be ugly (and a bit smelly), he could still last a long time.  Hopefully he'll have a new life with someone else who really needs him.

Bye Bye Diego.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: doing your own (dog's) hair

We don't have a professional groom Kinsey, we do it ourselves.  We save quite a bit and see it as money well saved.

Here he is in need of a hair cut:

Sometimes I take off a lot, and other times I just trim around his eyes and beard.  Here he is after a home trim.

Still pretty scruffy but not as bad. 

Here he is after a major chop:

I will admit someone at the dog park laughed at him once and I also had a conversation that went like this:

Lady on the street with two perfectly groomed poodles:  "What kind of dog is he?"
Me: "A Brussels Griffon"
LOTSWTPGP: "Oh... I've never seen one... look quite that way before..."
Me: (shuffles uncomfortably).

But seriously, Kinsey doesn't care what he looks like.  If he doesn't care and I don't care, I would much rather spend that money on something else.  So home haircuts and looking scruffy it is for Kinsey.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Avoiding Food Waste

On any given day our fridge looks like this:

And this is the day after a (Kevin) grocery shop.

We rarely throw away food because it went bad.  I  always feel bad when I do, especially meat.*  The average family throws away 40% of their food ($2275/year).  We are way below that average -- some other family is throwing away A LOT of food!

I don't always feel like making what we have.

(pasta again?!?)

But we're thrifty, so I do.  We do one shop a week and make do (and the weeks Kevin does the shopping tend to be pretty lean).  We'll also often do "eat the cupboard" weeks, where we only pick up essentials (milk, fruit, veggies) and use up what we already have.  It has led to some creative combinations.  Baked beans, even rinsed off shouldn't be added to pasta.  On the other hand, basil pesto and coconut milk - delicious!

I noticed this vintage poster while internet cruising a bit ago.  Seems like good rules to live by.

(link)

Some of our vegetable scraps go into making chicken stock but one of my goals this summer is to figure out a composting system so we can recycle more/send less to the landfill.  Stay tuned for updates!

*As a former vegetarian, I feel very strongly that we not waste those lives.

Cheap v. Thrifty: Homemade Cleaning Supplies

I have a theory that all the pre-made cleaning solutions out there are a scam.  I'm talking about the soft scrubs, the greenworks, the you-name-it multipurpose cleaner.  I used to use these all the time and then I decided awhile back to try baking soda and vinegar.  I find that baking soda, vinegar and some elbow grease clean 90% of what I need to clean, and cleans it well.  For the other 10%?  Good old fashioned (and also dirt cheap) bleach does the job.

(Notice the "NOT" Soft Scrub bottle.  I just reuse a bottle from back when I bought such things).

No need for a separate plastic bottle of cleaner for the kitchen, the bathroom, the windows (skip the baking soda and just use vinegar on windows and glass).  It makes life simpler and much less costly.

Here is a recently cleaned with baking soda and vinegar stove top:

If you look at that picture and say it is still dirty, then I assure you it is user error (or standards) because that is how it looks after I clean regardless of what I used.

A quick tip for microwave cleaning (I told my mom to do this when I was visiting her last time and she was surprised how well it worked).  Spray down the whole microwave with vinegar.  Wet down a paper towel or microfiber cloth.  Microwave on high for two minutes and wipe clean.  Easy!  Before and after shots:

(We use these microfiber cloths in lieu of dish sponges and just throw them in the washing machine regularly. Between washes I often microwave them on high for a couple of minutes to kill anything that might be growing.)

My exception to the non-commercial cleaning products is wood cleaner.  For some reason we have a boatload of pledge and other wood cleaning products so I use them.  I think they are from Kevin's first house (he sold that 5 years ago) since I haven't bought any in years.  Once those are used up (we have a lot more wood in our house now so it will be pretty soon) I'll look into making a wood-safe home cleaner.  In fact, a quick Google search led me to this recipe: a quarter cup of olive oil, four tablespoons of distilled white vinegar, and two teaspoons lemon juice in a spray bottle.  I have all of those ingredients already.  Once I use up the wood polish in a spray bottle, this is what will be replacing it.

Repurposing Frames

I've already told you how much I love Goodwill for clothes shopping.  Well since buying the house I've discovered another reason to love that treasure trove: cheap picture frames!

On my last trip to the charity store, I scoured the frames section and came up with half a dozen frames for an average of $4 each.  I did buy a couple of new in the box solid wood frames for $6 each which threw off the average.  Most of them were in the $2-$3 range.

I cleaned them up with WD-40 and vinegar.  Kevin taught me that WD-40 is great to get stickers and other stuck things off glass and windows.

Some of the frames were framed art (vs. picture frames) and had sealed cardboard or paper on the back.  That is okay, just use a knife and a flat head screwdriver to peel it off.

Usually there are staples holding the art in; use the screwdriver to bend them back.

Pop the old art out and your picture in.   (The back will look a bit unfinished without the cardboard but once on the wall no one will see it.):

Voila!  A framed picture for a song.  I blurred out my niece's face to comply with my no faces rule, you'll have to take my word for it that she is adorable.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: A Series

I hate the word "cheap."  Maybe not everyone has bad connotations with this word but to me it conjures images of someone who stiffs waitresses, will let you buy her drinks but never picks up yours, is stingy about every dollar she spends.  That is not me and I get very offended when someone calls me cheap.  I prefer the word "thrifty."  Kevin and I strive to live below our means in order to secure our financial future and prioritize what is meaningful to us.  We find joy in traveling, spending time with family and friends, and pursuing our hobbies.  For us to do those well, it has meant driving old cars, (until recently) living in a tiny apartment, and not shopping or eating out very often.  I'm starting a new series: Cheap vs. Thrifty (feel free to tell me if I've gone over the line to cheap) where I tell you about some of the ways we save money.

Cheap vs. Thrifty: Six Rules for Shopping at Goodwill

I had many resolutions in 2012 including, (1) using a ceramic plate for lunches at work rather than disposable Styrofoam  (2) exercising five days a week; (3) only eating meat from animals who had some quality of life; (4) not buying any new clothes – only “new to me” clothes.  The exercising five days a week got abandoned very quickly and we did so-so on eating happy animals.  I succeeded at using a ceramic plate at work – either when I bought at the cafeteria or warmed up leftovers from home.  I also succeeded at only buying clothes at consignment and thrift stores – for the whole year guys – it was HARD.  You can find some good stuff with ease at high end consignment stores and with some patience at Goodwill.  Here are my six tips for a successful Goodwill/consignment store buying experience:

1. Do not be in a rush.  Some stores are better than others in terms of categorizing, but you need lots of time.  Leave your easily bored husband (or child if applicable) behind.
2. It’s okay to be a label snob.  I only look for brands I know and respect: Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, Gap, high end designers and department stores.
3. It has to pass for brand spanking new. Seriously, if it looks dingy on the hanger it will look worse after you've worn and washed it a few times.
4. Try everything on.  Seriously 2x.
5. If it is cheap enough, it is okay to take a risk.  It can always go right back in the donate pile.  I think of it giving to charity times two since hopefully they will sell it again.
6. When in doubt, leave it behind.  Unless rule 5 applies.

Over the last year I've gotten two cashmere sweaters for $15 each, two sweater dresses (one Calvin Klein) for $15 each, a new with tags Ann Taylor skirt for $12, old navy jeans for $7, various Banana and Gap t-shirts for about $5 each.  I love it when I get compliments on something –I never reveal that it was a steal, I just silently congratulate myself on my thriftiness (not cheapness).

I will admit that one of my first acts of 2013 was to buy some new NEW clothes (on sale -- can't go too crazy right out of the gate).  But I will continue to shop second hand throughout the year.