My Not-So-Glorious Cable & Internet Battle

Having cable is a hot topic in the personal finance community.  There is one camp that consists of people who have been able to cut the cord and slash their cable, ditching traditional cable, and subscribing to a streaming service like Netflix.   And the other camp, which I find myself in, have been unable to cut the cord because they like their traditional package and live sports too much!  Well, last month, my cable contract expired and my rates were set to jump.  I was torn in both directions and this was the closest I have ever come to cutting the cord.   I wanted to share this experience with all of you…check out my last battle with my cable and internet provider.

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I Turned Off My Data for a Week & Lived to Tell About It

November 2012 marked a big change in my life .  During that month,  I lost my “dumb phone” on a flight to St. Louis (still haven’t figured out how I managed to do that) and upgraded to my first smartphone.  For the longest time, I fought off the smartphone craze, saying things like “I don’t need it,” “I can live just fine without having the internet at my fingertips,” and “I don’t want to be one of those people addicted to their phones.”  Well, after I left the airport and realized I didn’t have my phone in my pocket, that change I had been fighting for so long was forced upon me.   Fast forward to summer 2016 and I was forced back into the “dark ages” for a week….I had to turn my data off!  The good news here is that I am still alive to tell you all about it and I learned a lot about our addiction to data during these “troubling” times.   I wanted to share this experience with you all, but please note the references to “struggling” or “tough times” or any other dramatic phrase have a major sarcastic undertone to it!

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3 Ways to Simplify My Finances

Life is short, we all know that.  Over time, small tweaks to financial habits can build up into a bureaucratic nightmare.  That’s what I think happened to me and it caused an unnecessary burden.  At the time of my decision, I’m sure getting that bank bonus was a great idea.  I’m sure opening this new cash back credit card that is slightly different than my hotel points credit card appealed to me for some reason.  There is nothing wrong with adding layers, cards, rewards programs like Swagbucks, etc. and I don’t want that to be the takeaway here.  But for me, it has become too much. I want simplicity and efficiency with my financial habit.  In this article, I identified three pain points in my current finances and propose solutions and action items for each.

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The Last Straw – Why I am Switching from AT&T for Internet

I did it folks!  The deed has been done and on 4/2/2016 – my internet plan will be changing.  After a long fought battle, the decision has been made.  There are quite a few reasons and I want to explain the steps, research and methods used to ultimately come to this action.  Please continue to read on how, what and why this occurred!Internet

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My Internet Price – Too High? Or Just Right?

Hello everyone!  Lanny here and I wanted to talk about my internet price for the speeds that I receive and the provider I use here in the suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.  I would love to gauge what the readers are paying, see their take at what I pay, see what speeds you are receiving and then this will allow me to either move forward with trying to negotiate again on the price or to succumb potentially to the big provider I have.  Here is the analysis of my internet.

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