$6000 – really?

So I was listening to the radio on my way home and heard an economist who was talking about how families now spend approximately $6000 on electronic media annually. Internet, cell phones/texting, cable television, tivo, pagers were his main points of reference. I went through our subscriptions/contracts and we’re way under his $6000 – we have cable internet, two cell phones, basic cable, and that’s about it. It is interesting, though, my parents didn’t have those choices, at least for most of my K-12 years. We got cable sometime when I was in high school, and that was really the only “luxury” I remember being available. $6000 would buy a lot of food – does the number seem high? Just something I’ve been kicking around for a little while and thought I’d reacquaint myself with my blog as school is gearing up soon…

2 thoughts on “$6000 – really?”

Wesley Fryer says:

August 25, 2008 at 5:25 am

I’ve been thinking about how high that figure must be a lot lately too, tho I don’t think our family is up to $6000 yet either. I’m interested in how many of those fees I can legitimately claim as “work related” now and therefore take a tax deduction for them. The number of monthly Internet charges for relatively small things (Ning ad removal fees, surveymonkey, etc) is increasing for me, and I need to take stock of those and see what I can eliminate.

I hope we’ll see more competition in the wireless arena to keep prices lower, esp by the time my preteens become teenagers and want their own cell phones!

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Wendy says:

August 28, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Wes –
That tax deduction option is intriguing to me too. I think the key is documentation and it should be a legitimate write off. And if it isn’t possible, it really should be. Another opportunity to educate our Congressional delegation.

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