My new quest...starting at Qwest

So anyone who knows me me well, knows how hilarious this is for me. I have an idea...I have a new itch.

I've always considered myself a somewhat frugal person... well, maybe the word frugal isn't right... thrifty. I've been rather creative with saving money, especially with my home decor and clothing. I will admit that my saving money on clothes helps with the fact that I buy twice as many clothes (or four times as many) as I should. I got on a coupon kick last year and LOVE (and obsess) over saving grocery money.
So I've been inspired by so many others over the past year or so. People who have really cut back and simplified their life. I know some change comes from necessity, but I truly believe that everyone could find ways to cut back.I told Mike that starting Jan 1st 2011... I'm taking a challenge to really cut out ANY and ALL unnecessary spending. I started telling Mike all the 'fluffy stuff' we were going to go 365 days without. We've talked about everything from getting rid of TV to cutting out fountain drinks. (only the 75 cent 2 liters... don't worry, I'm not cutting soda totally out... I'm not really for that yet!)There was an Oprah re-run on Thursday that I took as my final sign. Why am I waiting until January? If I'm really going to commit... why not start with things I can change now?!I want to keep a record of everything I'm changing, goals I'm setting, and progress along with set backs. I realize this means airing a bit of our financial 'dirty laundry'. Mike and I have been real smart in some areas of our finances... but not smart in others. We are far from perfect, and I won't pretend that we have anything figured out. What seems like 'frugal living' to some may be total excess to others, this is a personal challenge I'm taking.I know the road will not be easy... I know that there will be times I breakdown... and I know there will be times I absolutely HATE it. I'm excited to see the kind of accomplishments we can achieve with some discipline and dedication!
So I'm happy to report my work today...I called Qwest this morning and talked to the nicest lady... Betsy. I told her I was looking to cut back our month-to-month expenses. She was so happy to help! She didn't try and talk me out of anything or try and sell me anything new.
(Now... first off... I will admit that I have not been involved in our family's finances. In fact, I haven't known Mike's salary for the past few years. He pays the bills and I get an allowance. The allowance works fine... except when I keep a debit card in my wallet. So this is a world I have not been a part of for a long time. I'm rather upset with myself for going all these years without being involved... but the truth is, I'm not good with managing money. But that's got to change.)
We 'bundle' with Qwest... which saves us a bit. Mike's work pays for our Internet and I was under the impression that we had the basic home phone service. We canceled long distance because we can use our cell phones... so I didn't think there was much to cut back. I was wrong.
A basic land line in Utah is $12 a month. Now add taxes...ridiculous...and it's actually $20 a month.So our $25.99 a month service (before taxes) was NOT basic. I asked for the basic package, and only added caller ID for another $9.
Betsy was awesome... and said that she could give me a couple loyalty promotions (to which I thought "what the *#$! are loyalty promotions?! and why have I not gotten any before?!!!" but it came out of my mouth to Betsy as "thank you so much!") 50% off our home phone bill for the next 4 months... AND... $30 off our TV for 3 months. (our TV is through Direct TV, but the discount comes from Qwest) WHA-HOO!

Now speaking of TV...
I called Direct TV... and I talked with Jared... who was no Betsy! He was bothered with me and kept trying to talk me out of things.
We had a package that is no longer offered, so it was a pretty good deal... but... there was still a lot we didn't need. I dropped us to the lowest package that still had ESPN and HGTV. We dropped the additional sports package (big sacrifice for Mike) and canceled the protection plan. I also stopped service on the DVR in the basement and have to send back the receiver (they send you all the stuff to send back the receiver... prepaid shipping label and all!)

Qwest home phone service: from $40.61 a month... to $29 a month Direct TV: from $99.92 a month... to $61.99 a month
Loyalty discounts: total over the next 4 months... $58 for phone and $90 for TV

GRAND TOTAL :$49.54 a month... that's $594.48 a year. And an additional $148 for... loyalty.

I'm not going to pretend that we are making huge sacrifices around here. I realize that many people live without caller ID and HGTV. I'm just cutting back the things we really don't use anyway. I was SHOCKED at the things we were paying for... things I didn't even know we had... let alone were paying for!
We still live in excess... I know that. There's lots of work to do... lots of learning.

So there it is... my progress for today.