Posted on 12/02/2014 2:30:05 PM PST by dennisw
The American middle class has absorbed a steep increase in the cost of health care and other necessities as incomes have stagnated over the past half decade, a squeeze that has forced families to cut back spending on everything from clothing to restaurants.
Health-care spending by middle-income Americans rose 24% between 2007 and 2013, driven by an even larger rise in the cost of buying health insurance, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis of detailed consumer-spending data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
That hit has been accompanied by increases in spending on other necessities, including food eaten at home, rent and education, as well as the soaring cost of staying connected digitally via cellphones and home Internet service.
With income growth sluggish, discretionary spending on things like clothing and movies, live shows and amusement parks has given way.
The data—drawn from 14,000 households that either keep diaries on their spending for two weeks or agree to quarterly interviews—helps explain why so many retailers are turning in persistently lackluster results, and why the household-products business has shown virtually no growth for years. It also helps illuminate why the consumer-led U.S. economy has been so slow to rebound from the financial crisis.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I’ve got to have a smartphone for my business, but I despise that bill. My plan is through AT&T right now, but I was recently told I need to investigate Ting. A couple said they were spending north of $200/month for their two iPhones. They said they have not changed anything about their usage, but are down to $50-$60 with Ting. I don’t know enough to recommend it, but I’ve heard good things about it.
For anyone interested:
“Cell phones are compulsive and addictive. I get by with talk and text but others are using their smartphones to the max racking up supersize bills.....”
That’s just not true anymore. Both of my kids have smartphones. My son’s bill (reduced for being a reliable subscriber to Boost Mobile) is only $45 a month for unlimited talk, text, and internet. My daughter pays $40 for her iPhone subscription.
If I could get reliable service where I live, I’d dump my $65 a month house phone like a hot potato. As it is, with *their* crappy reception, I’m the only one who has reliable service that doesn’t drop, crackle or cut out.
It’s getting better and, in a couple of years, I’ll only have a cellphone, too.
CHEAP HOME LANDLINES via VOIP___________
I can vouch for this VOIP. I paid two years in advance. When you do this it costs $130 and no taxes and other garbage tacked on. I use this for my home phone
They have other plans but this is my favorite
http://www.vestalink.com/pricing/?plan=basic
What you need is a router and an obi device which costs ~38$ at Amazon just as an example where to buy it http://www.amazon.com/OBi100-Telephone-Adapter-Service-Bridge/dp/B004LO098O/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1417566134&sr=1-1&keywords=obie
Also Walmart has a $10/month VOIP that my friend is happy with. http://www.walmart.com/ip/BasicTalk-Home-Phone-Device/23739626 The device to connect costs $10.
Youn also can buy basic talk direct from their website
I must be a lucky one...
My county killed the wheelage tax.. And my property taxes went down..
I live in Minnesota of all places.
Ting is a Sprint reseller.. so if sprint sucks in your area (well.. from sea to shining sea they pretty much suck) ting will suck just as bad.
“Years ago, no one “needed” a cell phone, computer, internet service, cable TV, Starbucks, etc.”
Yeah, well, my mother does not currently have a computer and guess what happened when she needed to shop for (and buy) a plane ticket two weeks ago? She needed to find someone with a computer to do it for her.
We got our first computer in 1998 and things have changed a lot since then. I am the ONLY person in my circle with a house phone. Everyone else uses cellphones only. We *did* have cable 25 years ago and most people had it. (Except for those who used rabbit ears.) Now we have satellite.
Everyone *does* need a phone and cells are now cheaper than land lines. Internet is now more important than TV and many people no longer subscribe to cable. (We’re about to cut that cord, too)
see post 43..... If you have a good internet connection you can go VOIP and dump the copper landlines.
Alternatively___ WALMART has a phone that costs only $15 per month that connects via the cellular networks. Its like a stationary cell phone that remains in your house, that you plug your conventional phones into.
The unit costs $69 then just $15 per month for service
You have to shop. My son’s phone broke and, last week, he bought a Moto G for $80 at the Boost Mobile store. He’s been a customer, so he only pays $45 a month for unlimited phone, text, and internet. If he was new, it would be $65 a month for all of that - with the cost dropping by $5 every three months that he paid his bill on time.
You have to shop. His phone is durable, gets fantastic ratings, and does everything that a smartphone should do... without a hitch.
Go to YouTube and check out https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFD0Nm2dOHw
Just look at every video that Marques Brownlee puts out. Check your reviews and pick the best bargain.
How do you know what their plans cost?
I had a freaking FIT when I found out that my daughter got a new iPhone (AN $800 PHONE!!)
Then I found out that she got the phone for free for agreeing to a 2 year contract of $40 a month. Unlimited talk, text, and internet for that price. She doesn’t even have a house phone anymore. That’s a good deal. Heck, I pay $35 a month for my flip-phone.
Yep. My family has phones & Hugh-speed internet because we can afford it. They will be the first to go in a pinch.
“Yeah, well, my mother does not currently have a computer and guess what happened when she needed to shop for (and buy) a plane ticket two weeks ago?”
I hear you. I understand that you can’t rent a car without a credit card either. I got by years ago without a credit card, but I’m not sure you can today.
“Yep. My family has phones & Hugh-speed internet because we can afford it. They will be the first to go in a pinch.”
True! Your qualifying statement is, “because we can afford it”.
We use Tracfone, too. Total cost of 2 tracfones and one home VOIP line is less than $30/month.
Thanks for the information. I didn’t know that. But I do know Sprint is awful here, so I won’t be switching to Ting. I’ll just keep paying AT&T. At least I can deduct it.
My BFF is hard into Dave Ramsey, but her JOB insists that she has a credit card. Then she needed a private CC to reserve a hotel and rent a car while traveling for work.
They won’t let you out.
Hubs has his work card (that’s mad at us because we have overpaid and won’t accept the balance back. They can sit on the money until he needs it again) and a personal card.
We keep lowering the available balance and the CC company keeps raising it. I want it to have about $2000 available credit. Right now we’re up to $6,500 and I’m going to have to call them to bring it down again. (zero balance on the card and I’m not breaking on that.)
I understand, I’m a Dave Ramsey fan too, but I don’t have any debt. A lot of jobs are dependent on credit cards. I’m not sure about the solution.
If anyone in the household is elderly or disabled I do not recommend Cable house phone or VOIP as the sole phone. Landlines are very reliable cable isn't.
We do have satellite TV. We live where the local over the air free TV signals can not reach us even with a good high grade antenna. We only live 10 air miles from the TV towers but terrain means everything.
net10 and some of the other discount pre-paid phones use AT&T’s network for some or all of their devices..
you don’t have to keep paying through the nose, you just have to use your nose to sniff out the carrier and device that works for you ;)
I'm surprised some candidate hasn't come with the promise of free Wi-Fi.
ahhh yes, but it is good tripe
as I recall, Gargantua’s unfortunate birth was the result of his mother’s over indulgence of tripe
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