Can't Afford to Go Premium?
When I first joined Wealthy Affiliate, money was a little tight, and I felt I could not spare the funds to go Premium. However, as I interacted within the community, I came to realize that Premium had some distinct advantages that I really needed. This caused me to begin to feel badly about my situation, but I felt there wasn’t much I could do about it.
Yet, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the problem was not money—it was a matter of priorities! I needed to get my priorities straight. Let’s face it…we find the money to pay for what we WANT to pay for. How else can you explain the bad, awful habit of smoking—both cigarettes AND the other stuff? How can you explain $5.00 cups of coffee and tea beverages... every day? Or, what about a $50.00 bottle of spirits? Finally, how do you explain $125.00 a month—or more—television?
- The astute among you probably see where I am going with this.
Let’s see, the investment for Premium is $49.00 per month if paying by the month.
1. The average cost of a pack of cigarettes in the USA is $6.37 with NC being the lowest ($4.38) and NY coming in as the highest at $10.45 If you only smoke one pack of cigarettes a day…at $6.37 per pack, you will spend $6.37 X 30-days or $191.10 per month on cigarettes.
Summary:
Average: $6.37 per pack in (USA) ~~ $6.37 X 30 = $191.10 per month
Low: $4.38 per pack in (NC) ~~ $4.38 X 30 = $131.40 per month
High: $10.45 per pack in (NY) ~~ $10.45 X 30 = $313.50 per month
THAT'S ONLY ONE PACK PER DAY!
When I smoked, I consumed 2.5 packs daily! That's a new car payment!
Bottom line: If you smoke, you can afford to go Premium!
2. Many of us swear by our daily addiction to our “mocha choco lattes” or whatever the heck they are called these days! Nothing wrong with that…wait! There IS something wrong with that! They cost almost as much as a pack of smokers! The last time I checked, they were about $4.45 each for a 12oz drink.
- So, at $4.45 X 5-days/week X 4-weeks = $89.00 per month
- Make your own coffee at home for a huge savings!
Bottom line: If you drink Starbucks coffee, you can afford to go Premium!
3. I went into the ABC liquor store about eight months ago to buy some Kahlua. While there, I became curious about the price of Chivas Regal scotch whisky, a brand that I used to drink many a moon ago. I was floored by the sticker price of $51.00 or more, depending on the size of the bottle and the specific “model.”
Bottom line: If you drink alcohol, you can afford to go Premium!
4. One of the first things my wife and I did when I lost my job , and we had to cut expenses was to FIRE our cable TV provider, Direct TV. We were paying about $120.00 per month for awful service and so-so TV programming. I did my due diligence (research) and finally settled on the following:
- Digital antenna ($89.00 – one time cost—no recurring fees)
- Roku streaming device ($69.00—one-time cost—no recurring fees)
- NetFlix ($8.99 per month)
- Hulu ($7.99 per month)
BREAK THE BONDS OF CABLE! 
So, for an initial one-time cash outlay of $158.00 ($89.00 + $69.00) and an ongoing monthly fee of $16.98 ($8.99 + $7.99), we were able to realize a net savings of $120.00 - $16.98 ($103.02) per month.
Bottom line: If you have a cable or satellite bill, you can afford to go Premium!
Perhaps, none of these four situations apply to you. If so, that's a good thing, on the one hand. But, I believe the WA Premium to be a true necessity. If you agree, you'll have to be creative, but you'll have to come up with some way to raise or save the $49.00 per month.
Give me some feedback. Agree? Disagree?
Can you think of some other ways to trim the household budget or raise the funds so you never have to utter those words: "I can't afford to go Premium!"
I have sort of preached this for years to anybody (family wise) for years, no limit to where you can go if you want it badly enough. Cheers
Wayne
Reply
More recently I realized there was simply no way to move forward without WA. I was running in place.
When I read the title of this post I instantly thought of all the things you mentioned!
Cheers!
I've cut way back on splurging for food and it makes such a difference to my expenses.
For me, it came down to prioritizing what I wanted for my future, so WA is at the top of that list.
As you said everything is about priorities and human beings are so good for finding excuses for themselves, so they won't feel guilty. But we are the one in control, so if you failed it's your fault. It's why in order to accomplish my tasks here, I cut off my time spent on things I like but that won't make any change in my life.
Priorities, priorities...
I know why now, I remember I've read the comments and blog policy within WA.
I would like to apologize here if I said something wrong, it wasn't my intention. I respect WA community a lot, so again Sorry. My mistake.
We all learn everyday good or bad things are always a lesson and today I've got my lesson thanks to WA and its great community.
Fortunately I do not smoke.
But quite often I used to go to restaurant, for pizza, beer or two...
(one of the biggest lie is: "Lets go for a one beer" - right;) )
Seriously - More beers I had, more careless I got.
In the morning I check the wallet and 50 Bucks are "missing".
For sure it is great to go out and talk with friends.
It just
- does not need to be every weekend and it
- does not need to be that amount of beverages
- it is OK also to buy a six-pack and hanging out at home.
Thank you Joshua
Mike
By the way, I lived in West Germany (at the time) for a little better than six years. I lived in a place called Kaiserslautern (and for a short while, Vogelweh). I loved every moment and got to travel quite a bit. At the time, I was with the US Air Force and could not visit Czechoslovakia although I wanted to.
Continued success,
Joshua
