Warning: this post has no fancy pictures. This is a big blogger no-no. I’ve decided that drinking beer for St. Patrick’s Day is more important that editing photos for this blog post. I hope you agree. 

I was having a regular Tuesday afternoon until I opened up our Century Link internet and cable statement. I’m enrolled in auto-pay so I almost didn’t open the bill. I was close to tossing it in the recycling bin without even looking. Thank goodness I didn’t because when I opened it up I saw a bill for $199.99.

Ahhhhh!

I thought I was going to have a heart attack right then and there. Let me back up and tell you how we got here.

Last month, Tom and I looked through our bills and realized that we were paying over $200 for internet and satellite. This is way too much for us since I don’t even want cable or satellite. I’m very content with my Amazon Fire TV and Amazon Instant Video (get your free trial here:  Join Amazon Prime – Watch Thousands of Movies & TV Shows Anytime – Start Free Trial Now). Tom is the one who likes satellite and cable in order to watch sports. He’s the breadwinner, so I don’t argue much.

But $200? It was enough to make me convince Tom that we could do better. And better we did. Or so I thought. I had called our internet provider, Century Link, to ask what we could do to lower our internet bill that was roughly $89 a month. They told me that they could give me fiber optic TV for only $10 more than what I was paying for internet. I was sold.

I called our satellite provider, broke up with them, and moved on with my life. That is, until I got the bill on Tuesday. Instead of being around $99 as promised, it was $199.99.  As you can imagine, I was livid. So I called them.

I talked to 4 different people over the span of two hours. Thankfully, my brother in law was around so he took care of the kids while I did the talking waiting.

Not only did they take care of the $199.99 bill, they gave me a $7 credit. Basically, I got paid $7 to watch TV and use my internet last month. Score. I also finally lowered my bill to $83, even better than what they offered me a month ago.

I learned some useful information. These providers give you fancy promotional deals that expire 3-12 months from when you sign up. But if you call before the promotion ends, they can extend it. Can you believe that?

[bctt tweet=”Call your internet/ cable/ satellite provider before your promotional pricing ends to see if they will extend it. #savemoney”]

The woman who set me up gave me all the dates to call so I can keep my promotional rate for the next year. I now have 3 dates in my calendar to call Century Link. Sure, it’ll be annoying and time consuming, but so worth it! I’m very glad she gave me that tip.

Unfortunately, we also just realized that we have been paying for electricity at our old apartment. Whoops. I thought I took our name off the account months ago. Looks like I didn’t do it correctly. Now we are in the process of asking for $200 from our old landlord. Not fun.

In other news, I spent a good deal of money this week.

Groceries:

Trader Joe’s- $99.26

Costco- $101.83 (this includes razors- why are they so freaking expensive?)

Other:

TJ-Maxx-$57.91 (blog purchases that will be written off + a new BCBG purse for only $29.99)

Amazon- $58.77 (diapers and toilet paper shipped monthly through Prime)

Lula Roe- $43.67 (treated myself to a birthday gift)

Medical:

Dentist- $75 (deductible for 2 fillings replaced and one new one)

Eye doctor- $60 for new contacts

Total: $496.44

I imagine next week will be better since I won’t need to do Costco, Amazon, or doctor visits. And I’m still celebrating the fact that I got out of a $200 bill.

Did I need a new purse? Yes. My last one lasted two years and is finally ripping. It was time.

Did I need a new Lula Roe top? No. But I always get money for my birthday. This is my early present to myself. My friend, Callie, hosted an online party and I couldn’t contain myself. If you haven’t tried Lula Roe. You need to. Comfiest. Clothes. Ever.

I’m a little obsessed with my Amazon subscribe and save account. I get 222 Huggies diapers and 32 rolls of Cottenelle toilet paper for only $58.77. Even though it is scheduled to go out monthly, I usually push it back because we don’t go through that many diapers or rolls of toilet paper a month. On the off chance we go through them faster, all I have to do is log in and ask Amazon to send it now. And they do. Like magic.

Join Amazon Prime now and get 20% off diapers: Join Amazon Family 30-Day Free Trial

I’ll tell you more about our decision to stop cloth diapering sometime soon. This blog post is too long today.

I got free Chick-fil-a on Tuesday, then used up a gift card on Wednesday. I love getting free Chick-fil-a. Getting it twice was even better.

As for food waste, we didn’t do great, we didn’t do bad.

We threw out celery that went limp, old salmon that I forgot about, and crab wontons. I didn’t pay for the salmon or the wontons, but they are still waste. Tom told me I didn’t have to count it, but that didn’t seem right.

How did you do this week? Over budget like me?