Making it work

A while back I mentioned getting a second job...well that's not going so well.  It could be where I'm looking (mostly in retail venues) and it could be the economy.  Either way, the fact is that I don't have that 2nd job so we're looking around to see where we can cut corners a little more. My monthly inheritance from my grandmother's estate runs out next month so Rico and I have to come up with an extra $300 a month.  So far this is what we've come up with...

•  Reduce Comcast cable from HD/DVR/HBO Digital package (yes we're spoiled) to basic cable.  We talked about getting rid of cable completely, but when we spoke with Comcast, to get rid of cable means upping our price on internet to the same price it would be without basic cable (we currently get a reduced rate because we have two services through them).
• Reduce our Netflix from 2 at a time to 1 at a time (we won't get rid of it completely just because we stream a lot of movies this way and it's free with any portion of this services so it's free access to lots of movies on demand.  We watched the the first 5 seasons of Lost and 4 seasons of Heroes this way and it's really convenient.) This also keeps us from going out to movies as much.
• Lower our cellphone plan from 700 to 550 shared mins per month.  We very rarely go over 550 anyway and we'll have rollover minutes as well so we most likely won't ever go over that.  I also got rid of my texting plan all together.  It was only $5 a month anyway and I figure if I pay per text, it's still going to be cheaper than the plan (that shows you how many texts I actually use).
• Rico's 401K loan payments end in Sept so that's an extra amt coming in that is currently tied up.
• We're going to try to rearrange the storage unit so we can get rid of that completely. Hopefully sell some stuff or just move it to the garage.

I mentioned giving up one car as an option - I'd be willing to get rid of my car.  That would mean one less payment + half the insurance, meaning about $450 a month.  But I think we would drive each other crazy if we went to a 1 car family, considering we'd have to change our work schedules and work around each other if we wanted to do something that the other didn't want to do.  

If I'm lucky - which I'm not counting on - my 2 year review is coming up in June/July.  They didn't do one last year so no raise.  Maybe they'll make up for it this year....we can only hope.

Enough of this depressing subject!  Today is a gorgeous 70 degrees with bright blue skies.  Perfect for grilling hamburgers and airing out the house!  Have a great weekend!