{"id":1387,"date":"2007-10-17T05:00:18","date_gmt":"2007-10-17T12:00:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/blog\/2007\/10\/17\/recurring-monthly-costs-which-are-worth-it-which-are-not\/"},"modified":"2019-11-13T20:50:12","modified_gmt":"2019-11-14T04:50:12","slug":"recurring-monthly-costs-which-are-worth-it-which-are-not","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/recurring-monthly-costs-which-are-worth-it-which-are-not\/","title":{"rendered":"Recurring monthly costs: Which are worth it? Which are not?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I met some friends at a local restaurant Monday night. While chatting, we found ourselves bopping to the music playing on the radio. For more than hour, great song followed great song: U2, Eurythmics, The Police, Elvis Costello, The Clash, New Order. But the ambient noise made it impossible to know what station we were hearing. “I have to know what this is,” I said at last. “This could be my new favorite radio station.”<\/p>\n

I tracked down the manager. He told me we were listening to Fred on 44<\/a>, a channel on XM Satellite Radio<\/a>. I’d heard of satellite radio, but didn’t know much about it. When I got home, I did some research.<\/p>\n

As expected, there’s an upfront cost to obtain a receiver that can de-scramble the satellite signal. Unfortunately, that’s not the only cost. There’s also a subscription fee of around $10\/month.<\/p>\n

Alas \u2014 a subscription fee. They’re not deal-breakers for me, but they turn otherwise sure things into financial dilemmas. I don’t mind one-time costs, but subscriptions make me wary.<\/b><\/p>\n

I would love to purchase an iPhone, for example. The initial hardware cost is fine. I can justify that. But I can’t justify a $60\/month, two-year contract. That’s nearly $1500 for a device I don’t actually need. I stopped playing World of Warcraft because of the subscription fee. I loved the game, but in order to get my money’s worth, I felt like I needed to play more than is healthy.<\/p>\n

I view recurring expenses as potential money sinks.<\/b> Too often I don’t get value for what I spend. For three years I carried an $70\/month deluxe digital cable package so that I could watch high-definition television. But at most<\/i>, I was watching an hour or two of television per month! Besides, who needs to see Antiques Roadshow<\/i> in high-def?<\/p>\n

Over the past year, I’ve cut the number of magazines to which I subscribe, dropped to basic cable, and cancelled my Audible account<\/a>. These moves have freed over $100\/month. Eliminating recurring expenses has made a significant difference to my cash flow. Most of the time, I don’t even miss the things I’ve eliminated!<\/p>\n

Of course, we each probably have a few recurring expenses that are easy to justify due to the pleasure or utility they bring us. I’m willing to shell out for The New Yorker<\/i> because even though I only read about one issue per month, when I do read it, I love it. And if I find the time to listen to audiobooks again, I’ll re-subscribe to Audible \u2014 it’s a good deal when I actually use it.<\/p>\n

I can’t decide whether paying for satellite radio would be smart or not. I’ve signed up for the free three-day trial of XM’s web service. So far, I like it. I’d probably subscribe:<\/p>\n