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!"