Rose Cottage Ltd

This week’s post is not really about real estate, but about the constant rise in our general cost of living. I’m not here to quote a bunch of statistics, but to do some research and rework of monthly household expenses.

There are many expenses associated with “living” as well as with real estate. Rent or mortgage, food and water, utilities, property taxes if you’re a homeowner, insurance, etc., etc. Some of these you can control. Unless you signed up for an adjustable rate mortgage, that payment will remain the same for the length of the loan (barring those potential property tax increases.) But there are those little sneaky payment increases that can blow your attempts at staying on budget right out of the water. Two of the major culprits of this are utility companies and cable/internet providers.

You can’t do a whole lot about utilities since our state and local governments have allowed basically monopoly businesses to control who offers service and how much we have to pay. Constant mergers of cable and internet providers is rapidly presenting the same situation for those industries. Remember when you could get internet access through your land line for $10 a month??? So, on the chopping block this week is Cable TV and apparently I am not alone:

++ Rising cable costs entice customers to other options

The article mentions digital antennas. Here’s one I found on Amazon:

++ Receives free broadcast High Definition TV signals with enhanced gain, range and frequency performance

++ Extra long high quality coaxial cable (15′) included

++ Black on one side white on other

++ TV reception may vary, HD antenna reception depends on the home’s distance from a broadcast tower, the terrain, and the surroundings

++ No Assembly required; Made in USA

UPDATE: You can check your local area for channels available and signal strengths here.

There’s a higher-priced “Extreme Performance” antenna that runs around $70, but for most of us, this little $35 option might solve one major monthly budget problem since we only have to buy it ONCE!!!

This is a GREAT solution for renters who either can’t afford or aren’t allowed to put a normal, outdoor antenna on someone else’s roof!

If you or I can drop the cable portion of our monthly expenses, how much does that save? For some or for those who don’t even know what they’re paying for cable – you won’t think making a change is worth the effort. But for the rest of us – or for those who think paying $13 a month for a DVR box that is REQUIRED for cable service is ridiculous, getting rid of this non-essential might feel pretty good.

My Ultimate Choice: Winegard FL5500A FlatWave Amplified Razor Thin HDTV Indoor Antenna

There are a LOT of monthly expenses we can’t control like the price of a gallon of gas, the ridiculous expense of municipal water and sewer, and ever-increasing food prices. But instead of focusing on those, pick away at what you CAN control – and last I checked, watching TV was not a requirement for life.