Last week I decided to shut off the phone in our smaller cabin. We don't have enough rental business there to make it worth paying the $17 a month to keep a phone year-round on vacation hold, and then activate it for three months at $35 a month. Up until this year there was no cell phone coverage here, but lately Verizon and ATT customers have been able to get limited signals, so that's what I'm telling people. Besides, many of the people who rent from us claim they are glad to get away from phones and computers.

Then, this week I've decided to stop leasing the big 250 gallon propane tank over there. It costs $48 a year, and the cabin is only open during the hot season, so people probably don't use the heater at all. If the situation ever changes, we can buy or rent a smaller propane tank, or put in some electric space heaters.

This spring, we thought we could put a Vacancy sign out on the highway and get drop-in business that way, but we haven't worked up to it because we'd get a lot of traffic coming down here, just looky-loos curious about what is down at the end of our driveway. And our other cabin was so busy this year, we didn't feel the need.

These decisions sound easy, but it's a little bit of a wrench to let go and admit this cabin will never be busy enough to pay its own way. We do get a little bit of income from it, mostly fishermen who want a basic bed for the night, and it's perfect for that. We don't pay extra for the satellite TV, so no need to cancel it to save money.