The balance between paying down debt and savings

[Tradd]

What my library said via email about the Economist when I asked.

“Libby lost The Economist to a competing product called PressReader. We have that service too. Unfortunately, PressReader didn't add the magazine to the package we are already paying for. We would have had to pay for The Economist separately, and they asked an exorbitant amount. We decided not to add it at that price. Sorry.

“It's frustrating, but the options for library access to online content are very limited. Providers can charge crazy rates, and libraries have to suck it up and pay it, or say no because there's nowhere else to go.”
NOTE: university libraries have the Economist, but if you are not a student, with a university email, you’re out of luck.

[Tradd]

Tradd, you are inspiring me to looking into canceling some subscriptions I have gotten suckered into.

@Tybee

Did you find any subscriptions to cancel?

[Tybee]

Hi--I did, thank you, a streaming subscription for Paramount, I think it was? Still need to do something about a weight loss program that is 59 dollars a month--either use it every day or drop it.

Acquired a new one, for the concierge doctor, so I have to cut back somewhere else.

[Tradd]

My favorite YT frugal channel is Frugal Queen in France. I remember her blog from years ago. Anyway, I found she had a video on my question.

[Tybee]

That house is so aspirational! I love that question, "How does this debt make me feel?"

That is how I feel about my mortgage.
I am definitely the anxious type she describes that cannot split my energy.

[Tradd]

Hi--I did, thank you, a streaming subscription for Paramount, I think it was? Still need to do something about a weight loss program that is 59 dollars a month--either use it every day or drop it.

Acquired a new one, for the concierge doctor, so I have to cut back somewhere else.

Is the weight loss program Noom?

[Tybee]

No, I tried that one and it did not work for me. Also Weight Watchers. Or I did not work for them, maybe. Made me obsessed with thinking about food and I gained on both.

[catherine]

That house is so aspirational! I love that question, "How does this debt make me feel?"

That is how I feel about my mortgage.
I am definitely the anxious type she describes that cannot split my energy.

I agree! I watched the whole thing, minus the parts about children and pensions. I agree with Tybee, the question "how does debt make me feel" is key.

My issue is that the way it makes me feel and the way it makes DH feel are totally different. To try to get him to understand the impact debt is having on our quality of life (particularly mine, because I'm the one working to service it), I went onto Ramsey's free "EverydayDollar" site, where you can construct your budget in a very user-friendly way. I input the money we will be getting in in November, and I prefilled the fixed expenses for him, and I asked him to simply go in and fill in the discretionary expenses, matching the expenditures against the income.

Well, he came in whining that he in't understand it. "Why are things so hard?? What's wrong with paper and pencil??" I told him, of course paper and pencil are fine, but that means you have to constantly adjust manually which is a major pain. "I think we should do this together." he whined.

I specifically wanted him to take the first pass so that he couldn't "blame" me for restricting our spending. So HE could see that the incoming and outgoing aren't lining up. Especially as I am into my 70s, I'm darn lucky that I am still working, even though my income was down 40% this year.

I really want to channel Dave Ramsey right now, when he so cleverly dresses down clueless people. I want to tell DH to put on his big boy pants and grow up.

Anyway, mini-vent over--Tradd, thanks for that video. I'm going to check out other ones, and I'm going to ask DH to watch it. He might feel less threatened by this nice British woman than he would by a no-holds-barred Dave Ramsey.

[Tradd]

Frugal Queen wrote that in her early days The Tightwad Gazette and Dave Ramsey were big influences.

[iris lilies]

Hi--I did, thank you, a streaming subscription for Paramount, I think it was? Still need to do something about a weight loss program that is 59 dollars a month--either use it every day or drop it.

Acquired a new one, for the concierge doctor, so I have to cut back somewhere else.

oooo! Keep us informed and how much you like your new doctor. I called mine “a direct care physician “because that’s how she advertises her services. I pay a little less than $1000 a year. She expanded her practice and it covers a few towns now. The last few times I’ve been to the doctor office I see the nurse practitioner, but that’s fine with me, I’m not a very sophisticated user of healthcare services.

The last time I talked to her via email she said she was booked about a week out. That’s not very much in my mind. I can always get into see a nurse practitioner within a day or two.