I recently discovered the Bonfire of the Brands website and book, thanks to the Good Consumer video I talked about a few days ago.

I really love the idea behind this site and I ordered the book. Below are a few excellent quotes (my titles in bold) from the website. I recommend taking more time to read it yourself—there is a lot of great content to be found.

The Basic Problem:

These are the facts: Chain stores dominate our high streets. Adverts dominate our media. And brands dominate our culture – to the extent that owning the right products defines what it is to be normal. For some people this isn’t an issue – they shop for pleasure, they love the big brands, and they feel comfortable being sold to all day. I’m not one of those people. Well, not anymore. I’ll give you three reasons why:

1. Non-essential consumption is a root cause of the situation we find ourselves in today – the environment, the economy and popular culture are all affected by the drive towards consumer growth.

2. Consumerism doesn’t work – in that it’s supposed to make us happy. Not in any sustainable way. Shopping is like a drug – the instant high is fantastic, but it’s never enough.

3. We’re starting to lose the choice. There are millions of consumer choices on the shelves. But alternatives to consumerism isn’t one of them. It’s virtually impossible to live brand-free and be normal.

Consumerism:

Buy Less Live More

If we don’t shift to a less consumerist and throwaway society, we’ll hit crisis after crisis, and it’s coming soon.

Think about it:

The Mark Of A Moron

It’s surely the mark of an individual to refuse to be branded. It’s daft to spend money on Nike clothes. The mark of a moron. Anyone who does so has been merely duped by the million-dollar marketing campaigns. To buy Nike shows a sheep-like nature and a lack of imagination and style.

Who in their right mind would want to be branded, like a cow? A brand identifies you as someone else’s property. It is the mark of a tamed and exploited animal. Brands promise freedom but they deliver the opposite: the worst kind of slavish conformity.

I’ve been tossing around the idea for a while now and I finally cut the cord on cable TV.

I had a package deal that included digital cable TV, a DVR, high-speed Internet and digital telephone. Of course they sell you on the package deal and they give you a pretty nice discount for bundling everything together. Years ago when we first started with the bundle the monthly cost was about $110. Prices have risen, not to mention we added the DVR service, and lately our bill had grown to about $140 per month. I finally grew weary of paying so much, especially considering the lack of quality content offered by cable TV. I would be happy to pay for about 3 of the cable channels and that would be all I need. ESPN, The NFL Network, and The Food Network are the only stations I miss. I would happily pay a fee to have those 3 channels, but of course that isn’t an option. I felt it was better to stop paying for all of the crap I didn’t want to watch and give free TV a try.

Not that I was ready to give up TV completely however. Especially this time of year with the NFL going strong. With digital TV broadcasts becoming more popular and mroe and more content available online, I’ve found that I miss cable a lot less than I thought I would.

Here’s what I’m doing to replace the cable:

My first step was to buy a cheap rabbit ears antenna and see what kind of reception I could get. I’m about 20 – 30 miles from most stations in my area so I have a bit of a challenge right at the start. I did some searches on Amazon and decided to buy the Terk Technology TV-1 Passive Indoor TV Antenna first. I was pleasantly surprised by this antenna, considering its low price. I immediately picked up NBC, CBS, and ABC. However, I couldn’t get much reception from FOX and that really hurts when it comes to the NFL on Sundays.

My next step was to try a Digital TV converter box and see if I could do any better. I had already requested DTV coupons a while ago so I was ready to make a purchase. Next I went to the Consumer Reports DTV converter box guide to find the top rated convert box. I decided to buy the Tivax STB-T8 Digital to Analog TV Converter Box and I’m really happy I did. This is one of the more expensive boxes available, about $40 even after the coupon, but I think it was well worth it. I’m now getting NBC, ABC, FOX, CBS, and several more stations and the picture is crisp and clear.

Some of the great features of the Tivax STB-T8 are component cables output, a program guide that shows you the next 4 hours of programming on a given station, a signal strength meter, and a nice-looking small hardware profile. It does not have S-Video out, but that is the only feature this unit is lacking. From what I could find, it looks like you have to spend a lot more for S-Video so I’m okay with skipping it.

I’m really shocked at how much higher the picture quality is now. However, I think I can do better than the cheap rabbit ears I’m using, so I also ordered a more powerful indoor antenna. Finding an antenna is a big project in itself. I highly recommend starting at HDTV Antenna Labs to start your research. You’ll find reviews of antennas, features you need to look for, and a link to a map that will pinpoint your address and signal strength in your area. This step is critical as it will help you determine how powerful an antenna you need to buy and this site will even color-code signal strengths and match them to specific antennas.

I decided to rule out outdoor antennas- I just didn’t want to be bothered with the installation and I’m not crazy about putting a huge antenna on my roof. I’m somewhat limiting myself by only looking at indoor antennas, but based on my experience with the cheap rabbit ears, I think a quality indoor antenna will be sufficient for me. After much research, I decided to go with the Winegard SS-3000 Amplified Indoor U/V Antenna. This antenna is about $60 and based on the reviews I could find it should greatly improve my reception. It hasn’t arrived yet, but I will be sure to write about it after I have it set up. I found this antenna to be a good compromise between price and features. Take a look if you can’t get by with simple rabbit ears.

I’m only a couple of weeks into my cable TV free life, but so far I would say it’s a success. I’ve had to spend a little money getting set up to receive free TV, but these costs will quickly be recouped after just a few months of smaller cable bills. Overall, I’ve cut a nice chunk from my fixed expenses and I had to give up very little in return. If you have been considering quitting cable I encourage you to give it a try. I think the digital TV transition has made the switch easier than ever, not to mention the large amount of content available on the Internet. I’ll write more about what I’m watching online soon.

What I’ve learned in one year of my debt reduction plan

September 2008 marks one year since I started this blog and made my ‘official’ commitment to getting out of debt. I remember one year ago making a budget and seeing that my spending exceeded my income. I had large piles of debt and very little confidence that I would ever get out of the mess. Once I learned about how to live below your means I began the slow process of chipping away at the mountain of debt.

It’s easy to make a budget at the start of the month and make a plan to pay off X dollars worth of debt. However, once you make that plan, you have to sit and wait. You have to wait for paychecks to arrive, statements to come in, money to be transferred, payments to be reconciled and finally the new statement the next month that validates your progress. This is all very boring!

Not only is it dull to wait for everything to progress from month to month, but what if you need to repeat the process for 24 more months? It can become very difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is very easy to doubt that you will really get there. I speak from experience as I have doubted my efforts just about every month. 🙂

How to overcome the boredom and keep working your plan:

• Track your progress regularly
• Be Patient and Expect mistakes

Track your progress regularly:

This can be as simple or sophisticated as you want. Anything from pen and paper to spreadsheets and graphs will get the job done. Use what is most comfortable for you and what you are most likely to update regularly.

I keep a budget and track my debt monthly on a computer, mostly using Quicken and Excel. I also update a whiteboard on my refrigerator each month with my new debt total and how much I have paid off so far. The whiteboard is something I see every day and that is the most effective way to stay motivated to stick with my plan. I highly recommend putting your debt progress somewhere you will see every day.

Be Patient and Expect mistakes:

Patience is great, but no matter how patient you are, you still need to prepare for set-backs. You will make mistakes as you work your plan. You will slip up and buy something that breaks your budget that you know you shouldn’t have bought. You will have emergencies come up that drain your emergency fund and maybe more and stop you from making as much progress as you had hoped that month. Know ahead of time that these mistakes will happen and don’t let them destroy your plan.

Acknowledge your mistakes, but move on to the next month and do your best to get back on track. Believe me, I’ve made plenty of mistakes along the way, but none of them have been as devastating as quitting would be. You’ll never look back and wish that you had quit, but if you do quit now you know you will look back and wish you had not.

In Summary:

• Make a plan
• Track your progress
• Be patient and expect mistakes

It’s not easy, but you have to keep working at it. I don’t like the fact that I could be looking at another year until my credit cards are paid off, but I have no other choice. Giving up isn’t an option. I have a plan, I know it works, I just need to keep going and do my best to speed up the pace every opportunity I get.

There are no secrets and there is no quick fix, but if you follow my advice you will be better prepared to stay the course and survive the long journey to debt freedom.