Save and Conquer

We just switched over from a dynamic IP to a static IP for our Internet connection. I won’t go into the technicalities of that here, but we expect it to provide better “up time.” It will prevent the regular disconnects that we have been having, which is especially a problem for my wife who uses software at home that needs to check out licenses over the Internet from work to run. Some of the software packages just quit without allowing you to save when they lose their license. The downside of switching to a static IP is that it costs more.

Our monthly Internet bill was $30. Our bill will now increase by $30. As with all bills, we feel the pain when they increase.

One way to keep your budget intact is to offset any increase in expense with a decrease elsewhere. You just have to find something that you can change or give up that costs as much or more than the new expense. In my case, I have a commute that is 13 miles each way. It would be nice if it were shorter, but moving is not an option. I normally drive a truck that only gets 16 mpg. (The mileage is that low because I often get stuck moving slowly in traffic at a few commute bottlenecks.) I also own a motorcycle that I have not used for commuting for quite some time. It gets more than 50 mpg. There are two days a week that I must use the truck, but the other three could be on my motorcycle.

If I use my motorcycle 12 days a month, I will consume 12 days * 26 miles / 50 mpg = 6.24 gallons of gas per month. Whereas my truck uses 12 * 26 / 16 = 19.5 gallons of gas over those same 12 days. The cost for a gallon of the cheapest regular gas right now in my area is $3.47. The cost savings per month will be (3.47 * 19.5) – (3.47 * 6.24) = $46. I am hoping that gas prices will drop, but they would have to drop below $2.30 to bring the monthly savings under $30. That’s not going to happen. Another way to look at it, is that at the current gas price, I only have to ride my motorcycle 8 days out of the month to save $30.

So, by commuting on my motorcycle 8 or more days a month, I will more than pay for the added expense of our Internet upgrade.

The Internet upgrade was a choice. We always try to balance any increases in our monthly budget expenses due to choice by reducing the cost of something else. In this case, I am willing to sacrifice a bit of comfort. I will not only gain a better Internet connection but I will decrease my commute time since motorcycles can use the freeway carpool lanes here.

Making trade-offs like these are a relatively painless method to keep expenses under control and stay within your budget.

Stumble it!