Butterfly hair clips and low-rise jeans: Like it or not, Y2K is back in fashion.
Well point out what households were and werent paying back in the day.
In some cases, it was cheaper to live during Y2K.
Lets take a look.
You brew coffee at home, you dont walk into Target and you refuse to order avocado toast.
(Can you sense my millennial sarcasm there?)
Instead, we had landlines.
In the year 2000, most people still didnt have a cell phone.
The number of people with mobile phones would rise quickly over the next few years.
But at the time, almost everyone had a landline.
Which was cheaper, cell phones or landlines?
Its a little complicated.
On landlines, you might pay somewhere between $40 and $50 for your basic phone service.
But that wasnt the end of the bill.
There were also long-distance fees if you were calling another area code.
A single hour on an international call could easily cost anywhere from $60 to $100.
Costs could be somewhere around $1 per minute.
The line wasnt going to be of any use unless you could actually get service.
These cell phone plans could sometimes cost more than the landline they werent all $15.
Especially if you talked over the allotted number of monthly minutes or talked at the wrong time of day.
(It cost less to talk on nights and weekends, especially over the next few years.)
It wasnt entirely uncommon to suddenly get a bill that was $200+ after a particularly chatty month.
Today, almost no one has a landline, but everyone has a cell phone.
Thirty to 60 dollars in todays money is the equivalent of about $16 $32 in 1999.
How can I save money on my cell phone bills today?
One of the biggest things you’ve got the option to do iscomparison shop budget carriers.
If you leverage them right,prepaid cell phonescan sometimes be a good deal, too even in 2024.
We didnt have streaming services.
Instead, we had cable.
THE MORE YOU KNOW: In 1999,Netflixwas just 2 years old.
At the time, it was a movie rental service that ran through the mail.
So like going to Blockbuster, except if Blockbuster delivered to your door.
Which was cheaper, cable or streaming services?
When it comes to Y2K bills, there was generally a basic cable package for about $13.
But if you wanted more channels, you paid progressively more expensive rates.
It could easily get into the hundreds of dollars.
Lets look at a range of $13 $125 in 1999.
That would translate to about $24 $234 in todays dollars.
Now, its not hard to wrack up $24 or more in streaming service subscriptions fees every month.
If youre paying more than $234 for streaming services in 2024?
Lets look at some ways you might save so you might maximize on the value over Y2K prices.
How can I save on my cable and streaming services today?
Believe it or not, theres a ton of differentfree streaming apps.
You might not even need to pay for any streaming services.
Now, some people do still have cable in 2024.
If thats you, remember you cannegotiate your cable bill.
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We often didnt have health insurance premiums outside of work.
Instead, we didnt have any health insurance.
To be fair, Medicaid expansion still hasnt reached all 50 states in 2024.
But in most places, the ACA has improved access to both public and private health insurance.
Which was cheaper, health insurance during Y2K or health insurance post-ACA?
In 1999, 15.5% of the population was uninsured for the entire year.
In 2023, that number was just 7.7%.
And not all of the newly-insured people are getting their plans through work.
In a lot of instances, theyre getting it for free or with very low premiums through Medicaid expansion.
How can I save on my health insurance today?
First, check to see if youqualify for Medicaidor a subsidized plan through theACA marketplace.
If you must be on your employers plan, options are few and far between.
We didnt have Spotify subscriptions.
Instead, we bought whole albums on CDs.
We didnt have music streaming in 1999, per se.
Napster did launch in mid-1999, with LimeWire coming on the scene not a year later.
But if you didnt want pirated music, youd just buy the entire album on CD at Media Play.
Which was cheaper, CDs or Spotify subscriptions?
For users, Spotify subscriptions are undoubtedly cheaper for the volume of music you get for the price.
Artists tend to be compensated even less fairly than they were for album sales, though.
How can I save on my music streaming subscription today?
Theres actually not a huge need to pay formusic streaming subscriptionsin 2024.
Another option if youre paying for an Amazon Prime subscription anyways isAmazon Music.
All Smart Credit Card Users:
Debt can get out of control fast.
(Inflation, amiright?)
That doesnt mean you have to let your debt run your life.
We didnt have food delivery apps.
Instead, delivery drivers were employees.
(Usually you were calling from a landline.)
The delivery drivers were employees.
And they did usually have to provide their own vehicle and maintenance of it.
But drivers did get to keep 100% of their tips.
And depending on where you worked, it could pay more than the kitchen staff was making.
Which was cheaper, delivery direct from the store or food delivery apps?
It was undeniably cheaper to get delivery direct from the restaurant.
Even then they were nominal usually between $0.50 and $2.00.
How can I save on food delivery app orders in 2024?
Pittsburgh-based writer Brynne Conroy is the founder of Femme Frugality and the author of The Feminist Financial Handbook.
She is a regular contributor to The Penny Hoarder.
