Adventures in Debt

So this week I finally bit the bullet and managed to save some money on my home phone and internet service. I’ve been searching for a way to dump my current home phone provider, but given the fact that I wanted to keep my DSL internet service, my options were either limited or complicated. I would just get my internet on cable, however the actual cables in my neighbourhood are a little old, and so the signal degrades quite a bit by the time it gets to my house. Sure, I can surf no problem, but as soon as more people come on the line, like when concert tickets go on sale, my access craps out. So to keep my DSL access, I was going to have to do the dry loop method, which sounds more complicated than it is. The difficult part was going to be getting my home phone provider to actually split the service in a timely manner.

But then I received a flyer in the mail that changed everything.

It was from my old long distance provider, and they were advertising a new bundle they had: home phone service (not VOIP) with all the bells & whistles (call display, voicemail, etc.) AND dsl internet, all for $70 a month plus tax. Okay, settle down there, $70 is actually not a heck of a lot, considering I currently pay $34 a month for internet and anywhere from $45-70 a month for the phone. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the new bundle includes UNLIMITED long distance to Canada & the US! How great is that? After tax it comes out to just under $80, which means I’ll be saving anywhere from $10-20 a month. Not too shabby.

The windshield wipers on my truck needed to be replaced as:

1. They were winter blades, and thankfully, we’re no longer in winter.
2. They never cleaned properly because they weren’t exactly the right size for the windshield. This, even though they were allegedly factory sized ones installed by the dealership! But I digress.

I noticed that my grocery store had a stock of Rain-X brand ones, and seeing as I wanted to try them out, I returned to my truck to find the sizes I’d need…except my owner’s manual didn’t have the sizes for them. It had all the other specifications, from the size of the gas tank to the length of the interior cargo space, but nothing on the windshield wiper blades. So I pulled out my trusty cell phone and gave my dealership parts dude a call. Within 5 minutes he told me what I needed to know and off I went.

Can you believe that it took me only 10 minutes to install the new blades? This wasn’t because the Rain-X ones are easy to install, but rather because my old ones were easy to take off. (If you’ve ever installed your own, you know what a hassle it can be, especially the passenger side one, as the angles are all wrong.)

PLUS, these blades were $5-9 cheaper than any other ones I’d found so far! Very nice.

And the best part was, when I tried them out after installation, they actually worked. My windshield is now all nice and clean, and I’ve got an extra $20 in my pocket for my troubles too. Nice.