Work:

• Car Pool – Now that my wife and I car pool, we actually drive 5 miles more per day, but save $10/day in parking. There’s also more freeway driving, so we get better gas mileage.
• Bag Lunches – My wife takes food to work rather than eating out now, which saves a lot. I eat lunch at home & take care of leftovers, so we don’t waste food.

Utilities:

• Cancel Home Phone – Not really necessary these days with skype, cell phones and email, unless you need to use a fax machine, but then there’s always eFax.
• Cut Cell Phone Bill – I realized that I don’t text enough to need an unlimited plan, so I switched. Of course, once I’m eligible for a new phone, it will be hard to resist a Blackberry with a data plan.
• Cancel Pest Control – We had it for a while and it seemed to have worked, but now we’ll see how we do without it. So far so good.

Entertainment:

• Cancel SIRIUS – Two recent rate increases made this an easy decision & I don’t listen to it for more than an hour or two a day.
• Cancel Book/Movie Clubs – My wife loves these and even though she sent books back, it was still a charge on our credit card and wait for a refund. I’m glad to be rid of these.
• Don’t Renew Magazines – I’m a firm believer that everything in magazines can be found for free online. They’re a waste of money and trees. My wife is letting all subscriptions lapse.
• Lower Netflix Plan – One movie at a time is enough for us right now, especially with a RedBox around the corner. We may cancel it entirely in the future.
• Record Movies – I took advantage of free Showtime this month on AT&T U-Verse and recorded a bunch of movies that were on our Netflix queue.
• Buy Used Books – Many used book stores will also buy books in turn for credit, so you can then buy books at half price.

Home:

• Switch to CFLs – Almost every light in our house is a compact fluorescent and those that aren’t don’t get used much.
• Cover Windows – During the heat of the day, block it by keeping blinds and drapes closed.
• Open Windows – When it cools down outside, open windows and turn off the air conditioning.
• Recycle – We saved our aluminum cans and plastic water bottles to take the recyclers. We don’t buy those anymore, but family members save theirs and the CRV goes to our son’s account.
• Sell Baby Stuff - Craigslist is great – you can get barely used baby items at great prices & turn around and resell them for about the same price. You, basically, got to use it for free. A local Craiglist type site is SactoClassifieds.
• Swap Baby Stuff – If you have a baby, chances are you know others who do as well. We swap, or rotate clothing & toys among friends & think of it as free off site storage.

Food:

• Veggie Garden – Its fun and worthwhile not having to buy lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. It’s also healthy and educational for our son! He loves picking tomatoes, even if they’re not ripe…
• Eat Less – Generally, we over indulge, so if you split a meal in half or leave enough for lunch the next day, you can save money and lose weight.
• Generic Food – Many name brand foods have identical generic counterparts that cost much less & taste the same.
• Ditch Bottled Water – Our fridge has a water filter, so why not use it? We refill bottles and rarely buy them anymore, which is also better for the environment.
• No More Soda – A while back I stopped drinking soda. I’ve had some a few times at BBQs, but I don’t buy it.

Other ideas that we could implement to save even more money:

• Cancel Cable – We would still have Internet, but I think we’d be miserable without decent TV
• Cancel Netflix – Getting rid of the lowest level they offer would save almost $10/mo
• Turn Off Computers – I tend to leave my desktop PC on all the time as I never know when I can jump on and get some work done
• Change Thermostat – Since my body tends to run warm, I’d be miserable during the summer
• Reduce Water Usage – Once they start metering water, we’ll need to decrease our sprinkler timers.
• Change Auto Insurance – I’m a faithful kind of guy, but if I need to, I’ll shop around for cheaper insurance, like at esurance.

What is the increase for? According to the rep I spoke to, it’s for copyright fees imposed on them, that they previously absorbed, but have now decided to pass on to customers. This is simply the cost of doing business for them. Not only do we have phone and cable companies passing on taxes and surcharges, now the radio I listen to in the car wants to tax me!

I politely informed the representative that it is a poor business decision, because they will lose more customers because of this, which they can hardly afford in this economy. Either they can absorb a couple bucks a month like they used to, or they can lose many times that amount for each subscriber who decides enough is enough. They will likely lose us as customers and will need to refund what we’ve paid for the next three months of service – over $60! The next payment would include the fee & be around $75! Multiply that a few hundred, or thousand, times and that’s going to hurt.

That’s the real cost of doing business…

It looks like Adam Carolla, of Loveline, The Man Show and Crank Yankers fame, is leaving terrestrial radio. Well, actually, he may be being forced out as the station is being turned into another Top 40 cesspool. I’ve been a pretty big fan of his for quite some time, but since I got SIRIUS satellite radio, I haven’t listened to much on the FM dial. Unfortunately, now there’s going to be nothing worth switching to when Howard Stern is a rerun, which is fairly often.

Apparently, he will be doing a free podcast instead of his morning talk show. What I really wish this departure from radio meant was that Top Gear America, on which he was to be a host, was going to be aired on American TV. Some sources claim that the series is still in the works, while Jalopnik states that NBC has cut the show because of Knight Rider’s failure. I hope that the BBC is able to sell it to another outlet. If Top Gear America can find the light of day it will likely include Adam Carolla, professional race car driver Tanner Foust and HGTV home improvement star Eric Stromer.

Some fans may remember this gem from a few years ago where he hung up on Ann Coulter and called her a bitch. Few people, if any, have the balls to do that. Check it out, it’s priceless!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4hacmvSPaI[/youtube]

One of my favorite channels was the Punk channel, in addition to Faction, Alt Nation, Sirius Hits 1 and the two Howard Stern channels. A few weeks back, about the time the new AC/DC album was coming out, the Punk channel started playing nonstop AC/DC. I was frustrated, but thought that after the album came out, it would go back to normal. Apparently not. There was an update to the channel listing the other day and the Punk channel is no more. Alt Nation was moved. Everything else I tuned in to was untouched. Here is what the Chicago Tribune had to say about the changes:

Sirius XM said there will be no increase in the subscription fee or need to change or upgrade existing radios for the basic service, but that doesn’t include the “Best of” packages.

XM subscribers will have to pay extra if they want a “Best of Sirius” package with such premium draws as Howard Stern, Martha Stewart Living, Playboy, NASCAR and the NFL. Sirius subscribers will have to shell out more for a “Best of XM” lineup that includes Oprah Winfrey’s Oprah & Friends, the NBA, the NHL the PGA and The Virus, which is home to Gregg “Opie” Hughes and Anthony Cumia.

Among the Sirius channels going away are Movin’ Easy, Punk, Sirius Disorder, The Strobe, Boombox, Backspin and Universo Latino. XM channels being retired include XM Sports Nation, the Weather Channel, XMX, X-Country, Fungus, Rhyme, Raw, Beyond Jazz, Fine Tuning, The System, Chrome, Viva, Aguila, Caricia.

E! Entertainment Radio is going away for each service’s subscribers.

New channels for XM include Elvis Radio, Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Radio,  “Little Steven” Van Zandt’s Underground Garage and Outlaw Country, Jimmy Buffett’s Radio Margaritaville, Jamie Foxx’s The Foxxhole, Eminem’s Shade 45, NPR Now, Blue Collar Radio, Cosmo Radio, Catholic Channel, Doctor Radio, BBC Radio One, World Radio Network, The Coffeehouse, Faction,  Jam On, The Grateful Dead,  Underground Garage, Hair Nation and, as of Jan. 1, The Bridge.

New channels for Sirius include Sporting News Radio,’40s on 4, ’90s on 9, The Loft, Willie Nelson’s Willie’s Place, enLighten, B.B. King’s Bluesville, Escape, Cinemagic and Sirius XM Book Radio ,which XM subscribers have known as Sonic Theater.

Sports talker Chris “Mad Dog” Russo’s Mad Dog Radio will launch soon for all subscribers, Sirius XM said.

I wasn’t really excited about the new channels coming over from XM. We chose to go the SIRIUS route because of the differences in lineups. I’m not into listening to sports on the radio, so I could care less about that. I don’t need religious or spanish channels. Oprah? Nope. What I was getting excited about, as many people on SIRIUS were talking about, was lower prices and à la carte selections. Unfortunately, it looks like that didn’t happen as I imagined. Now it looks like prices will remain the same, but you will pay extra for the additional channels available from SIRIUS, or XM in our case. Prices start at $7/mo for 50 channels, but a Gold package including Stern and “Best of XM” channels is $15/mo. So the $13 we’re currently paying, which includes Stern, looks like a better deal.

So, what do the new channel line ups look like? Take a look:

SIRIUS Channel Lineup

XM Channel Lineup

I can’t say that I’m upset about the changes, but I am a little disappointed. We didn’t lose anything, but I sure hoped there was a way to cut costs by eliminating the channels we don’t listen to. I guess, since there is no more competition in satellite radio, it could have been worse…