sirius dilemma
so when we decided to get a prius to replace my totaled aging VW [oops], it came with a fun luxury: 3 months FREE use of the built-in sirius/XM radio. i figured that it would be fun for a few months, but i never thought i would subscribe. after all, it’s not like i have to commute hours to work or anything, and was it really that much better than regular radio?
as it turns out, i’m a little sheepish to say that i kinda-sorta love it. i have already discovered some artists that i really like that i didn’t listen to before [mumford + sons, ray lamontagne] and quite honestly having a great mix of songs playing at all times makes driving so much more enjoyable.
my favorite stations:
#28, the spectrum
even though the description makes me feel old
seriously, though, i like that this station switches up older tunes [perhaps some beatles or early REM] with brand new releases from a variety of artists, from wilco to florence and the machine. i would say my radio has been stuck on this station 85% of the time.
#35, XMU
love it, but sometimes a little out there for me. again: i feel old
i love all of the above artists, but am less likely to know the tune to any given song that plays on XMU. less familiarity = less singing = less fun. but i still really like it.
i’m doing all kinds of rationalization to feel okay with subscribing to the service, which costs $12.95/month. a mere $0.43 a day — far less than a starbucks beverage [which i don’t drink, especially now]. despite previous attempts at tracking our budget, i have to admit that josh and i pretty much just freestyle it most of the time, with two rules:
✔ mandatory automatic savings each month (goes into separate ‘day care’ account, plus a little bit into retirement — adding up to ~10% of our income)
✔ pay off all credit card bills in full every month, no debt allowed
. . . and we don’t worry unless this isn’t happening. this has worked for us so far, but doesn’t allow for a lot of visionary thinking about what can be afforded and what cannot.
that said, i still feel a little guilty about signing up for this, given how many new expenses we’ve added recently [car payments, phone upgrades, the higher rent in our current apartment], not to mention our upcoming very expensive [but worth it] little project. then again, it’s $12.95! not much more than the cost of ONE yoga class [and i haven’t been going there as often, either, not that it’s necessarily a good thing!].
do you subscribe to satellite radio? or, do you have any other regular ‘guilty-pleasure’ purchases or subscriptions? i also get massages every other month or so. honestly, i only feel okay with that because i can usually pay for it with blog earnings! [and that’s about all i can pay for — but i’m not complaining!].
great post
blogger susan [currently going through treatment for hodgkin’s lymphoma] wrote a fantastic guest post on positive thinking on the chic life a little while ago, and it really touched me this morning. check it out!
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