The $56/Month I Stopped Wasting

Good morning {{first_name|Reader}}.

Long week. Twelve-hour days with the team, pushing hard before the holidays. Not at much time for the gym, but I knew that going in, so I made sure my nutrition was dialed in. Sometimes you control what you can control. And for me this week, that’s what was going into my gullet.

My son turned 10 this week. We celebrated last weekend. Double-digit birthdays hit hard—makes you realize how fast they grow up and how much you want to be the kind of person they remember. The kind who showed up. The kind who made intentional choices instead of just drifting.

Still resisting the urge to buy trivial things during the holiday chaos. Still building this newsletter. Still cutting out the noise to make room for what actually matters.

This week: a watch I'm not buying, the subscriptions I canceled to fund what I am building, and why I quit video games to wake up at 4:09 AM.

I’m always looking for feedback. Let me know! Reply to the email. A few of you did last week and it made my day.

I don't own this watch.

Full transparency: I came across it while researching watches you probably haven't heard of yet. Sure, I've heard of Monta before—American micro-brand, solid reputation—but I'd never given the Atlas a second look. By now you know GMT watches are my favorite complication, so I wanted to dig into this one and bring it to you.

Monta represents something I respect: American-made, independent, tool watch philosophy. Instead of chasing trends or playing status games, they’re making practical watches for people who actually wear them. As someone who values function over flash, their entire lineup fits that mindset.

This watch is for the enthusiast who knows. The value hunter. The guy who wants quality without the waitlist or the AD games. You're probably not buying this to impress strangers at a party. You're buying it because you did the research, you know what you're getting, and you don't need external validation.

The problem it solves? High-quality GMT watch you can actually buy without breaking the bank or begging a dealer. No waitlist. No markup. No artificial scarcity. You save, you plan, you buy. That's it.

Let's talk about what you're actually getting for $2,150.

The movement is a MONTA Caliber M-23 self-winding, mechanical movement with bidirectional rotor—a Swiss GMT module that's proven and reliable. It's not an in-house movement. It's not COSC-certified. And if we're being honest, that doesn't matter to most people. COSC is a nice-to-have, not a deal-breaker. This movement works, it's serviceable anywhere, and it won't cost you $800 every time it needs attention.

Compare this to Swiss watches at 2-3x the price—say, a Tudor Black Bay GMT at $4,500 or an Omega Seamaster GMT around $5,000. What do you get with those that you don't get here?

You get Swiss Made on the dial. You get brand recognition. You get slightly better finishing and a manufacture movement. You get resale value that holds better.

What do you get with the Monta that's comparable? The specs. The water resistance. The build quality. The wearability. A bracelet that's honestly as good as anything Tudor makes. You're not getting ripped off at $2,150—you're just not paying for the logo.

This watch will depreciate. Let's not dance around it.

Micro-brands don't hold value the way Rolex or Tudor do. You'll lose 20-30% if you sell it in five years. Maybe more. And that's okay. Watches are not investments. Most are not designed to hold value. This is one of them, and that's fine.

For the price, it's a solid watch that will last decades, from an American company that stands behind their work. If you're a new or aspiring collector and you want one GMT watch to wear with everything, this is a legitimate option.

Would I buy it? If I were just starting out and wanted one watch to do everything, I'd seriously consider it. For me right now? I'm passing.

Why? Because I'm at a point where I want brand heritage and resale value. I'm prioritizing watches that hold their worth because I'm building a collection I might pass down. That's not a criticism of Monta—it's just where I am.

Who should skip this? Logo chasers. People who need brand recognition. Anyone buying watches to impress others. If you're honest with yourself and that's you (it's me sometimes, I'll admit it), this isn't your watch.

If someone has $2,150 to spend on a watch, is this the move? It's a solid move. I'd also tell them to look at Marathon if they want American-made tool watches. But the Monta Atlas is a legitimate contender at this price point.

It's a great watch from a solid American company. It's just not the watch I'm buying right now.

This Week’s Breakdown

Starting net worth: $XXX,XXX
Contributions (savings): $X,XXX
Investment additions: $X,XXX
Market gains: $X,XXX
Ending net worth: $XXX,XXX

(premium subscribers will see our actual numbers below)

This past year my wife and I audited every subscription we had. Not because we saw a charge we didn't recognize—I always knew what we were subscribed to. I just got sick of watching money leave my account every month for things we weren't using.

Some people call it "trimming the fat." I call it getting real about where your money goes when you're not paying attention.

We have almost no time to watch TV anyway. Other than Dancing With The Stars (see last week's newsletter), we're not sitting down to binge anything. And streaming prices keep climbing. It used to be cheaper to ditch cable and go streaming. That's no longer true.

More importantly, I want that money somewhere else. I'm building this newsletter. I'm investing in my family's future. I'm not going to bleed $50-60/month on entertainment I'm not consuming just because the charges are small enough to ignore.

The mindset of "it's just $10 per month" is toxic. It's toxic because you forget how many times you tell yourself that. These services are priced intentionally to make you feel like you're not spending much. But it adds up. Little things always add up—whether it's money, habits, or cookies.

I have all subscriptions linked to my Chase Sapphire card. Keeps them separate from bills, groceries, and utilities. Makes them easy to see. (Yes, I love my Chase card. No, they're not paying me to say that.)

Here's what we found and what we cut:

Total canceled: $55.95/month.

What we kept:

$55.95/month × 12 months = $671.40/year.

According to a recent CNET survey, the average American spends $1,080/year on subscriptions. We were below average, and we still found plenty in waste.

How long were we paying for stuff we didn't use? Throughout the year we noticed we weren't using these services as much as we thought we would. For some people who aren't on top of this, it's easy to forget and keep paying for years. We caught it after about 8-10 months per service.

Where did that $671 go? Not to a watch fund this time.

I redirected it to building this newsletter. I paid an ad agency to design and run Meta ads and I'm paying $2.50 per each new subscriber through ads in other newsletters. I'm investing in tools, strategy, and growth. The goal isn't to save the money—it's to reallocate it toward something that actually builds value.

Most people, according to that CNET article, are spending over $1,000/year on subscriptions. If you cut half of that and redirect it, you're looking at $500+/year toward something that matters. That could be a watch fund. An emergency fund. A Roth IRA contribution. A side business.

The point is: stop letting money leak out in $10 increments and start pointing it somewhere intentional.

Did I Miss Anything?

No regrets. None.

You know what I do now instead of scrolling through streaming apps looking for something to watch? I spend more time with my family. I started playing piano again. I work on this newsletter. I'm not rotting my brain on content I don't even remember two days later.

Subscription creep is designed to happen. These companies know exactly what they're doing. They price services low enough that you don't feel the sting of one charge, but high enough that when you stack five or six of them, you're bleeding real money.

I'm auditing that Chase card every month now. Locked in for 2025. If I'm not using it, it's gone.

Again: I like nice things. I just refuse to be owned by them.

Let's talk about what I gave up this year to make room for this newsletter.

Not just money. Time. Attention. Focus.

I stopped playing video games. Not because I hated them—I didn't. But I was spending hours every month on something that wasn't building anything. It was a time sink disguised as relaxation.

I stopped doomscrolling on my phone. Twitter, Instagram, Reddit—just mindless consumption. Fifteen minutes here, twenty minutes there. By the end of the week, that's time I'll never get back.

My wife and I drastically cut back on eating out. For a family of five in Alaska, a sit-down restaurant runs us $80-100 by the time we're done. We were doing that multiple times a month. Now? Rarely. We cook at home. It's cheaper, healthier, and honestly tastes better most of the time.

And here's a big one: I haven't had alcohol in over a year. We'll talk more about that in future editions, but going completely sober has been one of the best decisions I've made. It saves money, sure. But more than that, it saves mental clarity and time. No hangovers. No wasted weekends. No regrets.

None of these things were bringing me joy. They were drains on my focus.

I was spending my time on things that weren't aligned with my goal: stopping work in my 40s. Building something that lasts. Creating a legacy my kids can be proud of.

Video games didn't get me closer to that. Doomscrolling didn't either. Eating out every week wasn't moving the needle. So I cut them.

I wake up at 4:09 AM every weekday. (Yeah, it’s an odd time) That's when I work on this newsletter. That's when I work out in the garage gym. That's when I do the work that actually matters before the rest of the world wakes up and demands my attention.

Each newsletter edition takes 1-2 hours to research, write, and format. That's 7-10 hours per week when you add in strategy, engagement, and planning. Where did that time come from? The hours I used to waste on things that didn't build anything.

Running this newsletter isn't cheap.

Compare that to the hobbies I quit: video games cost me maybe $20/month in subscriptions and occasional purchases. Eating out was costing us $400-500/month. Alcohol? Easily $100-150/month.

The newsletter is more expensive than the hobbies. But it's infinitely more valuable.

There are email newsletters out there that were built and sold for tens of millions of dollars. I want to get paid for writing. Period.

I can write anywhere, anytime. This newsletter can help me build a legacy for my family and change our generational trajectory. That's the plan.

The goal isn't just income, though that's part of it. The goal is to bring like-minded people together. To grow. To talk about things we actually care about. It's hard to connect with people today at a deep level. Social media is all noise. I want this newsletter to cut through that.

Am I making money from it yet? Not much. But I'm not measuring success in month one by revenue. I'm measuring it by growth, engagement, and whether I'm building something that lasts.

I chose Beehiiv after trying everything else—Substack, ConvertKit, MailChimp. Beehiiv gives me more ways to build, grow, and eventually monetize. The analytics are better. The monetization tools are built-in. The ad network is real.

Is it worth $130/month? For what I'm building, yes. If you're just starting out and testing the waters, start with a free platform. But if you're serious about building a newsletter into something real, Beehiiv is the best tool I've found.

If you're thinking about starting a newsletter, here's my affiliate link. I'm not getting rich off referrals, but if you use it and Beehiiv works for you, I get a small cut. More importantly, you get the platform I genuinely believe is the best option right now.

The Monta Atlas is a great watch. I'm not buying it because I'm allocating that money somewhere else.

I canceled $56/month in subscriptions I wasn't using. That money is now funding this newsletter.

I quit hobbies that weren't building anything. That time is now going toward something that could change my family's future.

You can't do everything. You can't buy everything. You can't spend time on everything. So you choose. You choose what you're building, and then you cut everything else.

I'm choosing this newsletter. I'm choosing intentional spending. I'm choosing to wake up at 4:09 AM and do the work.

What are you choosing? I’m curious…

Hit reply and let me know. If there's enough interest, I'll do a deep-dive edition on how I'm building this from scratch.

Watches mark time. The choices behind them mark intentions.

—Ian