Downsizing
I cut a lot of monthly expenses when I got the sudden notice about my job change. Now that the figures are in for the first month on the new income, I discovered it wasn't quite enough trimming so I'm cutting more. One item I had to look long and hard at was our internet access. We have business class service and it's a considerable expense, but it made sense back when I was a manager and working from home all those extra hours. It doesn't make sense now, but it's the best internet service I've ever had both in terms of reliability and customer service. Even the tech support is top notch and while I've only had to call them twice, I do the same type of support for a living so I know what constitutes top-notch. Add to this the fact that it is a contract plan with a hefty fee for early termination and I decided to leave this item out of the cost-cutting. However, I had forgotten that we didn't have the lowest price plan option and when I remembered that today I gave them a call. It turned out to be no problem at all to downgrade to a slower speed package and presto! - instant $60/month savings. We've had to do this sort of cost-cutting in the past as our employment status changed, but the difference this time is that it's not temporary. It's no longer a matter of cutting back on things only until the income increases again. Instead, it's a process of realigning our budget to fit the one we will be using once we hit the road in a few years. And it just so happens that the new monthly fee for our internet service is about what we can expect to pay for the use everywhere, even in the boonies satellite service that most full-time RVers use. Perfect.