Decrease Your Household Bills
posted in apartment, budget, debt, frugality, home, save money |No doubt if you’re involved with Personal Finance, you’ll have figured ways to reduce your bills by some.
“Ways You Can Decrease Recurring Household Bills” from the Real Estate Journal brings it up but I think they’re missing a few key points.
They are working on cutting their bills down - but it seems they also went for more bang for their buck! They didn’t reduce prices, they allowed themselves to be upsold on their cable and internet. They didn’t look to decrease their bills, they looked for more for what they were paying.
It’s not that getting more for less is bad, but when your goal is to reduce spending, keeping bills at the same levels is detrimental and counterproductive. So you get ten more channels for the same price - great! Now you have more to watch instead of doing something with your life. Maybe that’s a bit too harsh, but do we really need 100+ cable channels when you know nothing is on that is going to satisfy you?
At the end of our test we racked up a net savings of $323 a year. Not bad, but we hoped for more after negotiating through the tangle of phone trees and inscrutable pricing plans. We actually let ourselves be talked into paying more for an upgraded service from one provider and struck out completely with two others. On the bright side, we’re no longer completely in the dark about our electric bill after hearing a clear explanation of it for the first time.
I think that one line (emphasis mine) is the saving grace. They got a better explanation of one of their bills - my problem is why didn’t they do this sooner? You should very clearly understand every bill you are paying - if not, why are you paying it? Why are you getting that bill? Will you pay my bills if I send them to you?
I’ve found an effective way to help my budget is to sign up for the budget plans with the utility companies - I’ve done it with gas and electric. They give you an estimated bill monthly, and after a year’s time they reevaluate it - I saved a ton going this route, although I initially overpaid, at the end of the year my next year’s bill was much cheaper - but I monitored my usage and made sure I wasn’t abusing the system. Personal Responsibility!
Have you had any experiences lowering your bills, or getting a better understanding of them?
