Sunday, February 22, 2009

Simple Folk

Frugal is the new chic...

So says a woman interviewed in this New York Times article touting the new cost-saving fad of pay-as-you-go cellphones. I guess y'all can just call me a trendsetter then. Excuse me while I preen myself on my chic-ness.

This woman goes on to say that in hard times like these [emphasis mine], paying 120 dollars a month for a cellphone is a waste of money.

Well, knock me over with a feather, why don't you?

Who would like to inform this particular financial genius that spending that much money on cellphone service was always a waste of money? And who wants to tell the media that those of us who weren't invited to the overspending party of the last 6 years or so are tired of our lifestyles being touted as the latest fad? Gosh, isn't watching our pennies fun! What do the simple folk do?



Apparently, the New York Times is trying to give the Wall Street Journal a run for its money as far as hard-hitting financial reporting goes. It's a race to the bottom, folks - soon these professional financial journalists will be informing us that watching videos at home is cheaper than going out to the movies.

Oh, wait - they already did that.

25 comments:

  1. I think I said it before, but we rarely rent a movie to watch. The library has them for free!

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  2. That New York Times--those folks are so helpful...

    I heard a rumor that next they are going to do an expose exclusive on how much cheaper it is to eat sandwiches at home that to eat out--crazy stuff!

    Blessings!

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  3. no. Way!

    Oh. I'm sort of a financial moron.

    Got it.

    Thank jeebus I married a financial superstar.

    Just don't push me in front of the bus!

    Pleeeeezzz!

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  4. $120.00 a month for a cellphone is a waste of money? How about cell phones for kids?
    My 10 year old daughter came home from school and told us that most of the boys in her class have cell phones.

    Why on earth would a 10 year old need a cell phone?
    None of our kids have cell phones. There is a phone in the office at school. That is sufficient.

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  5. I pay $68 a month and feel bad about it but it's got long distance and V-cast and I'M SCARED YO BE WITHOUT IT.

    I never use it though.

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  6. $120 for ONE CELL PHONE????? Are you freaking kiddding me?

    I think we pay about that much for three cell phone numbers.

    Wow, I'm feeling thrifty! This is NOT a usual state of affairs! I'm gonna just bask in it for a few hours. Or seconds. Whatever...

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  7. Man, I need to jump on this bandwagon and start teaching classes on how to live cheap. I had the best teacher of all...my dad. He grew up during the Depression of the 1930s.

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  8. These posts of yours are making me feel brilliant. Who knew that I was such a financial genius? Would it be wrong to post all this on my resume?

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  9. That's why I read your blog....to find out the latest in fads.
    Thanks for keeping me in the groove.

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  10. Well, to be fair, the pay as you go cell phone didn't exist several years ago. However, now that I can get out of my contract without paying the $200 penalty fee, we have gone with the pay as you go phones. It now only costs me $10 a month for mine and my son's phones vs. the $150+ a month we were paying for our Sprint phones. Yes, he needs a phone as the school office doesn't allow student phone calls. Of course, he's in high school, which makes a bit of difference.

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  11. Pay-as-you-go has been around since at least 2002, when we got one. They weren't as popular, though.

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  12. “Frugal is the new chic,” ROTL. So many moms out there have beeen "chic" for years! ;)

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  13. When will your book come out? I KNOW it'll be a bestseller.
    Whenever Mr. D and I grill out in our back yard we always ask each other what the simple folk are doing--we also ask this while playing catch in the back yard with the boys. I bet the experts will tell us soon that that free exercise is also healthy for us.

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  14. That video is excruciating. It's communicating your feelings about the NYT's top financial tips perfectly.

    I didn't know Richard Burton could so visibly want to be elsewhere.

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  15. I'm thinking "excruciating" has a connotation in the King's English that we Americans are not aware of. Here it means painful. Is that what you meant?

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  16. We pay slightly more than that for five cell phones, ours, my parents', and two of our kids in college, all on one plan. But then you already knew that woman was nuts.

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  17. Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I've also learned this really cool thing. Did you know that you can make FOOD grow out of the DIRT? And I can make my own bottled water with a bottle and this cool pipe-y thing that sticks off of my sink.

    Don't tell ANYONE!!!

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  18. Heather, you are the chic-est of all...

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  19. Hubby has been using a pre-paid phone for years. Now I need a magazine to do an article on How to Save Money when you already DO all the things the other magazine articles have told me to do.

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  20. Oh Heather, you crack me up!! Long live the proletariat!

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  21. I bet it's cheaper to color your own hair, too! ;-) Awesome! We should write a poor folks blog. Snort.

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  22. So funny! I love visiting your house, er, blog.

    Bev

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  23. I'm a moron. I not only signed up for $135 for 2 years for 2 phones, I bought the insurance for the phones at another $12+/month. I can cancel the insurance thing, but I'm stuck for at least another 1-1/4 yrs on the contract. I got suckered in by all the cool gadgets on the stupid thing. And the getting to check my email and watch videos. And.. OMG! If I was my kid I'd SO ground myself for life right now! LOL!

    OK - All you younguns - Listen to Ms. Chic here and learn from this old broad's stupidity. UGH!

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