Catch me tomorrow morning on WTHR Weekend Sunrise at 7:45 AM! Here’s a sneak peek of some of the money saving tips I’ll share.
Lights, phones, heat, cable, water, sewage, and trash . . . they’re the bills that you pay every month automatically, oftentimes without even thinking about it. However, there are plenty of ways to save on even these bills. Sometimes it will take a few minutes of your time, but it could save you a bundle in the long run. Here are some simple strategies to implement to save.
Cable: Overall, my opinion would be to ditch it entirely. Online streaming offerings like Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, and even network websites offer you many of the options that cable provides (maybe a day later but come on, you can wait a day for your shows, I promise). The King of Free is very proud of the homemade antennae he made by using a YouTube tutorial that we use to pull in local stations like WTHR. 🙂 It cost him a grand total of $3.49 to construct and pulls in more channels than we’d ever need. But if you *must* have some sort of cable package, I would highly encourage you to call your customer service rep to ask for a discount. The question, “Is that the best that we can do?” never hurts. You might be surprised at the answer you get. You can also request the “Poverty” or “Poor Man’s” package to get a stripped down very basic package (but if you ask for a basic package it will be more expensive and have more channels).
Lights/Heat: Obviously you want to monitor your usage of lights & heat. Simply making an intentional practice of turning off the lights and setting your thermostat to adjust during the day while you’re not at home will be helpful. Also unplugging small appliances on a regular basis will help you save big bucks, too. Space heaters, lamps, toasters, coffee pots, desktop computers, tvs, and the like actually eat a whole lot more energy than dryers and refrigerators. So take an extra step or two to pull the plug nightly or during the day while you’re gone. I’d also highly recommend an Energizing Indiana Energy Audit. An energy professional will walk through your home with you, making suggestions to increase your efficiency (which will decrease your bill). You’ll receive a box filled with light bulbs, shower heads, sink aerators, and more. Our technician even changed our light bulbs for us. And by the way, it’s completely free! Right now is the best time to seal up cracks in your house before the fall and winter weather arrives. Take a few quick steps to caulk and weatherstrip now to save in the long run. Also, be sure to occasionally sweep out the back of the refrigerator to make sure it’s in good working order. Oftentimes, it gets clogged up with dust and hair.
Water: Have a leaky faucet or a toilet that runs nonstop? Fix it NOW. Do not waste a second. Your leaks could be doubling your water bill. It’s worth hiring a plumber if you don’t know how to make the repair yourself. Get on it.
Phone: We ditched our landline years ago. And I use a cell phone that has the least amount of minutes and no texting. I do have an old iPhone that I use on the WiFi (there are plenty of free texting apps out there). Shopping around and asking lots of questions about discounts and deals will go far. Repeatedly asking, “Is that really the best we can do?” will help. Be kind but firm in your negotiations and don’t be afraid to ask for a manager if you don’t get anywhere. The worst someone can say to you is “no.”
Internet: I constantly get asked what to do to reduce internet bills and I need your help! Tweet me your suggestions or leave a comment with your best tip. We keep everything stripped down to a minimum and don’t bundle *even though* it would only be $10 more. That $10 over the course of the year = $120 I could spend somewhere else. What else do you suggest?
How do you keep your regular bills as low as possible?
I don’t know that it really saves us, but we are on the electric company’s budget plan- we pay the same amount each month regardless of our use- so it’s the same in January (when we use the most heat), July (the most a/c) and say, April, which, if we’re lucky, we don’t use much of either. It’s nice for budgeting purposes. We settle up and readjust in September each year.
Great tip! We do this with our gas bill but not our Electric. It went down by $10/month this year. WOOT.
we’re all electric here. Oh! And we got a water heater blanket a few years ago- inexpensive way to insulate that big metal tank.
Nice! I know that *sometimes* the energy audit programs will pay for those & even insulate pipes for you.