how do you afford it all?

In the Big Apple for a couple of days on business, with my new role at ABS, which I hope to tell more about when I have more time. (Yeah right, where am I going to find more time?) Have a deadline this Wednesday. Had a great meal last night, so thrilled about it I want to tell the world. Starbucks now has a Caesar Salad with Grilled Shrimp! For just $5.95, I think it’s the best deal around, and it was quite tasty too! Good to see a few winners showing up with Starbucks. And spent my late night last night browsing at Fairway, happen to be staying right across from it; an excellent market! Giant cherries and other munchies!

As an aside… there’s lots of great nice new technology-based services, and while it’d be nice to have all of these, I can’t figure out how people afford it all. Think of all the things that the average American consumer allegedly can have, for a low monthly price, as they say::

Cell phone: $39.99 a month
Standard Cable: $49.82 a month
Broadband Internet: $42.95 a month
TiVo: $12.95 a month
Online DVD rental: $17.99 a month
Satellite radio: $12.95 a month
Napster: $9.95 a month

+ TypePad: $4.95 a month
+ 3 Magazines:
+ Newspaper:
+ Health club membership:
+ Xbox Live: $5.99 a month

That’s $186.60 a month, or $2,239.20 a year, plus applicable taxes and fees. And this doesn’t include all the initial hardware and electricity. Maybe this is where all people’s disposable income is going..