Random 5 for April 6, 2025 – Changes, benefits, haircuts, cable, letting go

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Popping up finally! Yay April!

Changing grocery stores – Since we moved four years ago, we have continued to go to the grocery store near the old house. We know the layout. It’s easy peasy in and out. The negative is that it tends to be more $$ than other options. We’ve been occasionally going to another grocery store closer to our home. It’s cheaper but there are some things I prefer at the old store. I set up an on-line account at the new place which includes digital coupon clipping. If we go often enough, we’ll get the layout down pat. Sometimes you must make yourself change and eventually it becomes routine.

Cash back – The new grocery store allows us to get cash back if we use a debit card. So many places are charging extra if you use a credit card that I am carrying more cash than I used to. Another benefit to the new store.

The intrepid customer – I got a haircut at a new place this week. I like it and it’s close to home. There are two other places I was frequenting depending on availability. One hiked its prices out of my comfort range. (Seriously they cut and dry my hair in 30 minutes. I don’t need a high-priced cut.) The other doesn’t have anyone answer the phone. You leave a message, and someone will call you back. My problem is that I may not be at home when they call back and if I give them my cell phone number, I won’t have my calendar on me.  So…new person got a try. Reasonable and good cut (and you all know how I whine about haircuts!)

To snip or not to snip – The beloved husband is reeling from a 100% increase on our cable bill. (Yes, 100%, that’s not a typo!) We were on a “special” deal that expires at the end of the month. The new amount is insane. We don’t watch a lot of TV, just in the evening after dinner. He is investigating streaming services. If we get one that closely matches our usage we will save a lot of money. (A LOT OF MONEY!) Hopefully it won’t be annoying, but you get used to whatever you have. Stay tuned for that saga. So far it’s taken at least six phone calls, all with conflicting information. It can give you a headache. We divide the chores here and I’m glad he has the TV connections on his list.

Letting go – I’ve blogged frequently about downsizing. Clothing is easy. It either fits and you like it, or it doesn’t and you don’t. When it comes to other things that you like but don’t use, it’s a dilemma. We have some “perfectly good” things that we waver on but it’s time to ditch them. Last week I sold one of my sewing machines. It was a specialty one that I haven’t used in a decade. Common sense says get rid of it, but the heart was hanging on to my youth. This week will be lamps and some artwork. The beloved husband is getting rid of leftover (perfectly good) building materials. Sort of quoting Lady MacBeth, “out you damn stuff!”

So how was your week?

 

71 thoughts on “Random 5 for April 6, 2025 – Changes, benefits, haircuts, cable, letting go”

  1. 100% increase for cable? Oh that’s outrageous. We ditched ours years ago, never miss it. For what it’s worth. I need to find someone to cut my hair, but so far personal recommendations have been for stylists who aren’t taking new clients.

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    • My last stylist went up to $70. I liked her but that’s high. My hair doesn’t need special styling. I asked several but most went to a high end salon nearby so I tried one I drive by on my way to Starbucks. Worked out. I always find this stressful. I’ve had some wonky haircuts. Good luck.

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  2. Good for you downsizing! It is hard to get going on, but feels so good once the extra stuff is gone! I love digital coupon clipping – so much easier! Glad your new grocery store and hairdresser are working out. I know what you mean about letting go of places you are used to and like. But it sounds like the new places are working out pretty well. As to cable, we cut it off years ago and haven’t missed it. Streaming services work out just fine. If you are an amazon prime member, you can stream through them. Also if you want you can get Hulu or something similar and do fine with it. You can do it! And you will save a ton of money!

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    • You’re right. Yesterday I was going through artwork to donate. We have only so much wall space. There are two pieces by an artist I love but they have been packed away for a decade. They are numbered prints and it’s time someone else enjoys them fully. For some reason those kinds of item are the hardest for me.

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  4. I can’t believe it’s been four years since you moved already. I remember you blogging about it. Wow.

    I’ll complain right along with you for haircuts. I can’t believe the prices they charge for a simple cut and blow dry, and the stylists are not that good. If I could reach the back of my head, I’d do it myself like I did during covid. It’s just too difficult to get back there. I had a great stylist in Florida who I really miss.

    We got rid of cable a couple of years ago. With Smart TVs, there are so many apps with entertainment to watch. Sometimes I just watch youtube videos or podcasts. Not to mention, if you have an antenna, TV is free, which we also have. There are a lot of channels on antenna but also a lot of commercials that way.

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  5. I commend you getting rid of stuff. I hate streaming services, though we have them. It used to be that the commericials are what paid for the TV shows, so you watched them for free or a minimal cable fee for all the channels, and you got a good 9 months of episodes. Now, you pay for the streaming service so you can watch them, they still have commericials, and every show has only 8 – 12 episodes for the entire year!! It’s so absurd.

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    • We have ad-free Netflix. I don’t mind ads during the news because that’s not a continuous story. When you are watching a show, it’s disruptive. Sometimes there are so many commercials, you forget where you are in the story. Our cable bill is going up to over $500 (and no, we don’t have any premium stations). That’s a lot more than my first mortgage. Subsequent phone calls brought it down to under $300 (still a lot). We already have Prime and Netflix. If we add one streaming service like YouTube or Hulu, plus the internet fee (we have to use the cable company for that), it should be under $200. The other thing is that all those services are highly taxed in our state. I was stunned when I saw the taxes. Even the taxes on my cell phone are close to 50% of the bill. Insane!

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  7. I laughed at the Macbeth quote. It’s funny that we all remember that line (spot not stuff). I suppose every play should have at least one memorable line.

    Habits make life easier. Even when it’s sensible to try something different, the old familiar ways are hard to change. Although every time I’ve moved, I’ve moved too far away to be tempted to come back to the old place.

    I’m past the point of wanting a spectacular haircut. Besides, I enjoy my hairdresser so much, I couldn’t possibly change.

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    • I don’t go back when I move. It’s disappointing. Last summer a package I ordered from Lands End was sent to my old address. The new folks were kind enough to contact me to pick it up and then gave me a tour. Yikes! It’s a middle-aged couple with two youngish kids. There was clutter everywhere. The kitchen counters were full of snacks, purses, books and other things that didn’t seem to have a home although the house had a lot of storage. I was happy that they kept the pond though. Hairdressers in my area have gotten very $$$. I was at a point of going to a walk-in place for a $20 cut when I tried this one. It’s in between cheap and outrageous so I’m happy. At this point, I always look the same no matter how my hair is cut. I don’t do major changes. I’d really need a facelift to look different! 🙂

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  8. Kuddos to you for getting rid of stuff. We are always doing that, but somehow clutter finds its way back. Glad you are happy with your haircut.

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    • I swear I write about this every year. I do what I think is a major cleanout only to find that there is still a lot of stuff here that is not used. How does that happen? I’m happy to have a reasonable hair place close by where they answer the phone.

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  9. I agree, clothes are easier to declutter. It’s the bigger items I have trouble with. Like the crock pot I have never used and keep telling myself that maybe I’ll need it some day.

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    • I have three crockpots. I use two of them (one is 4 qt and one is 6 qt). It the small one for dips that I never use. I got it free with something and thought it was a great idea. It is yet I never use it! Hmmm…maybe that should go.

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  10. Our go-to grocery store, (Farmer Jack’s, a Michigan grocer which was comparable in size to Kroger), shut down suddenly in 2006. The company (Bormans) went out of business. I could go into that store today and find everything as it was the only place I (and my mom) had ever shopped for groceries. Suddenly I had to scramble for another store and chose Meijer. But it was huge, the size of a Walmart, which I did NOT care for. I was lost for months and just got acclimated and then they remodeled a year or so later!

    That much of a price increase for cable is outrageous! I cancelled my cable in 2010 and have my landline through AT&T, so I have internet at Comcast and it is $124.00/month which I find high. AT&T raises my phone bill every few months – it is now $85.00/month and I’m trying to decide whether to “port” my landline number to a cellphone which is allowed since apparently AT&T will phase out all landlines by 2029 anyway. They claim there is a shortage of copper wiring. I find I can get the news online and if I want to watch old TV or some older or newer movies I do so on Amazon Prime and do so occasionally.

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    • We have Prime and Netflix. Thinking of going to either YouTube or Hulu and getting rid of the cable. The cable price has backed down but it’s still cheaper to stream. I just hate to learn a new routine.

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      • I’m not big on any new routine to be honest. There is a lot available on Prime. I saw YouTube and thought about it as my ad blocker often keeps me from watching YouTube … every so often it goes through a phase, where I can’t watch anything, no matter what browser I use. Someone told me once to say you are going to Dish satellite TV and they might give you a deal that way.

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        • We told them we are going to streaming. They came down some but not enough. We use Prime but it’s a more complicated thing as we need two different remotes. We are watching Castle reruns on Prime. No commercials! Yay!

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          • I would be very confused – my TV is from the 1990s! We had the identical one upstairs and one downstairs, a 19-inch I think as there were so many TV shows at 10:00 p.m., sometimes three and it was better than staying up every night. The one downstairs is still there and was only used for recording. I just popped onto Amazon and looked at Castle. I had never heard of that show – I will put it on my watchlist (whenever that will happen) as it looked interesting. No commercials is even better – I know you can opt for no commercials for a fee, but I watch Prime video seldom. I watched “Everwood” a couple of years ago and loved that series and also watched “Madmen” and enjoyed that series too. I have not watched TV since I got the VPN on this laptop in January and on the Castle show it said “disable your VPN or this show will not work.” Interesting.

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  12. We have Hotwire which we affectionately call HotMess. It’s okay I suppose… I don’t really watch TV. I tend to watch YouTube for news so I can pick what I see and hear. As you say, trying to get a price out of anyone for services is a headache producer. I am trying to hang on to Sirius because I really enjoy it. We get Sirius in the house on an old Bose system. I continue to purge to keep from not busting out of the house. We really did a huge downsize when we left Missouri and moved to Florida. It wasn’t painful then but I find it painful sometimes now when I think of something I miss OR we buy to replace something we left there. I think we are really lucky we have limited space and storage because we seriously don’t need anymore stuff! Kate, it really is hard to get rid of things the heart is hanging on to. I still have my 73 year old teddy that my godfather gifted me when I was born. Toothpaste Bear is still in very good condition except for a bit of toothpaste. I worry about what will become of him 🙂

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    • I thought we downsized a lot when we moved here (and we did) but there is a lot of room to do more. There are some things we just don’t do anymore. I have a few pieces of embroidery and crocheted items that my mother did but other than that, don’t have anything else from my childhood.

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  13. I have shopped at the same grocery store for so long but then again I haven’t moved around much either. We just recently switched our cable service to a streaming one and saved $100 a month. It was a company that was local to our town. Now that company has been bought by Comcast so I don’t know what’s going to happen.

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  14. Can’t believe it’s been four years already since you left the pond. Wow. Just saw all your frogs agreeing with me. And I’m with you about quick hair care. I go to a barber. My hair grows like the lawn so after many hit or misses…too short like I enlisted, too long back too fast, me and Alex finally hit our stride; takes 15 minutes, tops. I remind myself, many women have hair loss so I’m lucky it grows the way it does.

    About changing anything…routine as you get older comforts and though one should be brave and willing to leave their comfort zone, it’s hard. Even with points. And cable? Talk about extortion. My internet is now 83 big ones a month. They know I can’t live withou it, the bandits they are.

    Wonder what Gus is doing on this rainy Sunday. Don’t know about there, but drizzly here.

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  15. Andy is always searching for a good deal on streaming services. He’s the master of canceling services and waiting for the same company to offer a new, special deal. But like yours, then it expires and they start doubling the price. They’re counting on that automatic renewal due to convenience. It’s the same strategy Microsoft (and now StarlinK) offer the White House: free services for a year or two to get you hooked, then they start charging but the government doesn’t want to go through the hassle of changing companies. This is why bidding on contracts from the outset is ultimately more cost-effective.

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    • It’s a game I don’t like to play. Too much trouble! We are limited to one cable company (underground utilities) so streaming is the only other option and yes, that auto renewal is a bitch.

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  16. I haven’t had cable TV in over a decade. I did put it in briefly when my mom came to live with me during her last months of life so she could watch her shows. It was expensive then (2015) – I have no idea what it would cost now!
    Good luck! I think you’ll be glad to make the switch.

    Deb

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  17. It’s tempting to try a cheaper streaming service. That said, all these tech companies seduce you with starter subscriptions and than whammy you when they expire. Maybe contact your provider and negotiate a reduced amount. The worse they can do is say no and then you can drop them like a bad habit. Don’t expect them to make it easy; they count on the onerousness to keep people in their column. Good luck and congrats on the new haircut-finding a new hairdresser is so fraught with anxiety who actually does a good job is a rare happening anymore (good thing I have hats to cover up the latest scalping).

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    • He has called our current provider at least three times and got three different prices. Perhaps the fourth is the charm? Our cable company is 3 times the cost of a streaming service (if you can find one that fits instead of needing two or three). I hate wasting time on this stuff. Reminds me of Sirius. Comes free for 6 months with the car but then the price rockets. You have to constantly call to get the price down. Nope, I don’t need it. I don’t spend a lot of time in my car so I never activated it in the current car. I like places that have PUBLISHED prices that you can do an actual comparison.

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  18. When I look at all the stuff I’ve saved through the years for “just in case” – it’s just a tad overwhelming. AND now that “just in case” has come and gone, it’s easier to let go which I WILL do. My neighbor is having a yard sale in a week or two and I’m going to donate a bunch of things to her for her sale (which she’s happy about) and a lot of the “just in case” clothes are finally going to the Thrift Store. A lot of my husband’s “just in case” tools are useless because he’s unable to do a lot of fixing up like he used to so that’s an easy project. So I’m just saying that as we age I think it’s a lot easier to turn loose even though there are a WHOLE LOT of memories in the stuff, the clean closet/house/garage are mighty darn nice too!!

    Hugs, Pam

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    • You are right. We have to come to terms with what we CAN do now compared to what we DID do back then. There are a lot of things I no longer have any interest in doing. Sewing is one of them. I still have 2 sewing machines but we’ll see. I’ll keep the regular straight stitch but the overlock may go. My husband is wrestling with music and shop things. Interest and energy change.

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  19. We don’t have cable in the apartment. Or streaming. Instead, we borrow DVD’s from the library to watch in the evening. It’s a big time saver since we don’t just click on the TV. And a $ saver. And a stress saver.

    Now, I stay current on the insanity in D.C. by watching the Late Night hosts on youtube during the day. Laughing at the insanity keeps my stress to a reasonable level.

    Good luck with the downsizing. I still have “pockets” of stuff that I need to deal with ~ paperwork, photos, genealogy, etc. We try to get out and do things on the nice weather days while dealing with decluttering on cold, wet days OR hot, humid days. Maybe by the time our lease expires we will have ONLY what we need, use, and love. 😀

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  20. I go to three different grocery stores when I shop because each one either has a product or a price I can’t match at the others. A haircut you can live with at a decent price is hard to find. Congrats. The woman who med my needs moved a few miles away so I make the trek. Cable, internet, and streaming make my head hurt just reading about it. I look forward to hearing how you move forward. Downsizing is something I can do without a backward glance. Of course, that means sometimes I get rid of something I should have held on to so I didn’t have to replace it.

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  21. I can relate to all of these dilemas, especially new grocery stores and getting rid of the things that mean so much. I’ve been buying/selling things on FB Marketplace. Lifestyles have changed, along with our needs. I’ve benn finding comfort in my old stuff getting a second chance at life.

    Good luck with the cable. I look forward to hearing the solution.

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  22. Change is tough, but glad you are benefitting from some of the changes – grocery store, hair cuts. The tv bill…ouch!!! And navigating all of that technology-oriented stuff is a true pain. When you’re done downsizing at your place, do you want to come do mine??

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    • It’s easier to downsize for someone else because I just look at the facts, not the sentimental or fantasy size. The sewing machine I downsized was mostly used for tailoring and alterations on clothing. At this point in my life, I don’t make clothes, just home items. I have some artwork I’m donating. I like it but have limited space to hang and I doubt any subsequent house will be any bigger.

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