Have you ever crunched ALL the numbers to see how much your car, cable bill, or house really costs? I bet they cost way more than you think they do. Our brains are programmed to just grab the little information that we remember vs if we crunch all the costs associated with something to find the true cost. We remember the rent or mortgage amount coming out of your account instead of extended list of associated costs like:
$1650 mtg
$275 maintenance
$100 electricity bill
$135 property taxes
$20 condo insurance
$1650 is a big difference from that actual cost to run my loft $2180!
This is fun. Let’s do it for my cable bill. I only get basic everything on my cable. I don’t need the lumberjack channel. All I need is BNN and CNBC so I can get insights to trade my portfolio. Unfortunately it comes in one of the bundles and it costs more. Add it all up to see if you can save more money….
$69 cable
$53 cell
$40 internet
Minus my 10% discount for bundelling them all together. When ever the prices go up I’ll call and threaten to cancel. My goal is to keep my products all around $150 before taxes. I went a year without cable but I missed BNN and CNBC. :/
Do the same for your car. We think of the payment and say to ourselves” I can totally pull that off each month for that stud mobile” but do the math. Say that payment is $650 a month plus….
$200 fuel
$200 insurance
$50 a month for yearly license charges, maintenance, oil, wipers, and fuzzy dice.
$1,060 is a HUGE difference compared to $650.
Do this to all of your bills to see how much extra cost there is and then plug the actual number into your yearly budget. $7,800 vs. the actual $12,720 for the yearly car cost might get you to get rid of it or downsize to a put put. Ask yourself – self? Will that $12,720 can make me happier or more secure as a trip or in an savings account. What do you think?
Love your money and it’ll love you back with a better life!
Have a great week,
Dave
