I didn’t leave the house today and therefore didn’t spend any money! Maybe I should stay at home more often The daughter was too sick to go to school. The Son and I did lessons at home today. I did contact Comcast about the error on their latest bill. They’ll be crediting $39.98 to our account next month to make up for the charges that were erroneously added to our bill this month. The Husband happened to mention that our cable bill was $40 higher this month because they’d charged us for the two service calls they needed to make. I told him to let me take care of it. I did! Those service calls were necessary because of problems with their equipment, not ours. We have to pay the whole bill this month but the credits should be applied on the next one.

The Husband is really, really unhappy with Comcast’s quality lately and makes comments daily that he thinks its about time to dump them. I’m deathly afraid of losing my high-speed connection. There’s no way I’d survive if I had to go back to a dial-up. And I’m just not at all convinced that Qwest’s DSL could compare to what we have with Comcast.

Anyone have personal experience with DSL and cable? I know people who’ve only had dial-up and DSL love DSL. But then I think anything would look good when compared to dial-up. The question is can DSL really compare to cable?

The other problem is that if we were to switch away from Comcast for our Internet, we’d lose our package deal on basic cable. Not that we watch much TV or the channel selection is great, but up here on the mountain, our TV reception stinks. Without cable, I fear we wouldn’t get any TV reception at all.

I surfed by Stop Buying Crap today and found these two funny, yet thought-provoking, posts: Four Things I’ll NEVER Buy and Four MORE Things I Won’t Ever Buy.

So I’ve decided to write my own version of this list. Here are four things I’ll NEVER Buy:

Boobs. I put the “flat” in flat-chested and that’s just fine with me. My minimal mammary glands were more than enough to provide nutrition to both of my babies — each for nearly 3 years. I even tandem nursed during the 6 months of overlap between when The Son was born and The Daughter weaned herself. If it were up to me I would have blessed myself with a little more in the boob department but I’d never for a second consider butchering my body to insert foreign objects into it. Even if the surgery were free. Not even if someone paid me to do it.

Bling of any type. I’ve got a simple gold wedding band and a beautiful, simple strand of pearls that my mother handed down. That’s all the jewelry or bling that I will ever need.

Premium cable. Due to the cable monopoly situation in our area and my admitted addiction to high-speed internet access, Comcast is a necessary evil in our household. But adding another $50.00 to our monthly bill so we can have access to more channels? No way! I’d sure back up an a la carte idea, though. I’d love to have the History channel, Animal Planet, and USA. But those channels ain’t even close to being worth $50/mo.

A tattoo. Truth be told, I do understand the appeal. But I’d never, ever, under any circumstances, get one. And I’ve made it very clear to both of my kids that they are free to get tattoos as long they intend to be completely financially independent afterward. Why? Because the idea of permanently altering one’s body is abhorrent to me. Yes, my ears are pierced but it’s been years since I wore earrings. Yes, my daughter’s ears are pierced (more on that decision some other time perhaps) and, yes, she wears earrings occasionally. And yes, I’d probably let The Son get his ear(s) pierced at some point if he really wanted to. He has absolutely no interest, though, so maybe that’s just a chicken-sh*t faux open-minded attitude.