Save Money on Bills!

This is a big one, especially for those of you who are just beginning to toy with the idea of a budget. You think "Where can I cut down?" and "What can I cut out altogether?"... Everything you have now may feel like a necessity but you can more than likely trim some of the fat, so to say and it ADDS UP BIG! Start here:

Cable/Internet/Home Phone-  
Cancel these if you can! There was a time when people lived without Cable, Internet, and a Home Telephone (I know, can you believe it?!).Go outside, spend time with kids, read!

Bundle all of these services together for a cheaper rate. If you only have 2 of these services, it might be cheaper to ADD a third service. Check with you local cable company.

Remove or reduce some of the channels or features. Premium/movie channels, DVR (recording device), special subscriptions, call waiting, long distance, etc. all add up to a higher bill. Call your cable company and ask them how you can save money on your bill (this will work with just about any service) and see what they suggest!

Auto/Home/Life Insurance- 
 

Bundle all of your insurance with one company. Saves you time AND money.


Shop around every 6-12 months! This is a HUGE one. Call around (or Internet shop) to somewhere around 3-5 companies to see where you might stand with switching insurance. You might be pleasantly surprised.

Ask about what discounts may be available. Ask if they have a list so YOU can check it and be sure you are getting what you are eligible for. My insurance company gives a multi-car discount for auto and lets us keep a car that we no longer own in "storage" which gets us our discount and costs less than $15 per YEAR!

Change driving status. If you worked when you signed up for insurance but no longer do, change your driving status to 'pleasure driving' instead of 'commuter'. This does bring your rate down (not driving in rush hour, back/forth to work, etc.) and saves $!

Raise your deductible. Now, some may argue with me on this one, but if you need to lower the amount that is going out of your bank account each month (even if it's only a temporary change), this one will make a big dent. If this worries you, make sure you have a little extra in savings (assuming you have one) to cover yourself in case of an unexpected event. This will also work for homeowners/renters insurance.

Mortgage-

Raise your deductible. Just as I said above, if you raise your homeowners deductible, it will save you money. If this worries you, make sure you have a little extra in savings (assuming you have one) to cover yourself in case of an unexpected event. If you have an escrow account (where they pull taxes/insurance automatically and it's calculated into your monthly payment), this can decrease your monthly mortgage payment. Normally, most mortgage/loan servicing companies I have dealt with review your escrow account around every 6 months. They look to see if they are charging you enough money to add up to your tax bill and insurance premiums and if they're not, they may raise your payment or request an escrow shortage payment. They also look to see if they are charging you more money than they need to be in which case, you will most likely receive a lower monthly mortgage payment. When you call your insurance company and lower your homeowners insurance, be sure to give him the fax # and contact information for your mortgage holder and ask your agent to fax an updated binder to them. At this time you have already either requested your mortgage company to reveiw this information contingent on a binder being faxed, or you will hang up with your agent and call them directly afterward. You do not need to request this if you are told by your mortgage company that your escrow account will be reviewed within the month.

Car-

Keep tires inflated. The sidewall of your tire displays this information for you. Most places allow you to use FREE AIR just by asking; especially if you purchased something at their location.


Drive at 55-60 MPH. This can save you hundreds per year!

Keep up all maintanance. This will cost you less in the long run and prevent many headaches not to mention lengthen the life of your car.

Cell Phone-

Examine your useage. I cannot stress this enough. Personally, I go through a certain company that uses minutes that 'rollover' to the next billing cycle if you don't use all of your minutes. In the bill, they call the actual minutes used from your plan 'rollover minutes'. To me, this sounds like the total under "rollover minutes" would mean rollover minutes that I have used, also meaning I went over my plan minutes! But no. Come to find out that for 3 years (!!!) I was paying for 2100 minutes when I was only using around 1000 simply because I didn't do the math on my bill. Their wording may be tricky, but all I had to do was check numbers against eachother.

Reduce your minutes. If lowering your available minutes would make you 'go over' on them, cut down. Use the home phone if you have one. Use a pay phone or email. Wait until after dark if you have free night/weekends. This can save you a good amount of money.

Reduce or eliminate text messaging, web browsing, and data plans.  Review how many text messages each line uses per month and see if you REALLY need unlimited family messaging, 1000 texts, unlimited browsing, etc. See what options you have to choose from and if you can save a few bucks here.

Ask for discounts. My husband receives an almost 20% discount on our bill simply because he is employed by a company the our cell company provides a discount to. Not only do we receive a discount on our whole bill, but we also receive 24 hour (instead of 9am-9pm) customer service, speedier and friendlier service, and he didn't even have to provide them proof that he worked there! I'm not saying you should lie, but I am saying it was simple to get our discount applied and it was immediate.

Gym Membership-

Cancel your membership. This is a luxury that can be gone without. Excersize at home. Take the dog for a walk. Play with the kids. Right now, I am into the 30 Day Shred by Jillian Michaels and lovin' it. Also, my cable company provides me with free excersize TV on demand- tons of great excersize programs for free in my living room. Maybe yours does, too!

I will be adding more to this list.. watch out!