This post is part of a 13 money resolutions for 2013 series. You can check the first post for an updated list of the following ones.
Since we have started working together towards your 2013 money goals, we have already tried to cut the fat and eliminate any waste from your budget.
But one sneaky area people don’t always think about is monthly or regular expenses. Yes, you need electricity, heat, gas at home, and probably an internet connection. I will argue on the cable and the gym membership, but let’s say you have one of those as well. Time for a review.
Monthly memberships (gym, magazines, sorority or alumni association…)
Do you use them all? Do you watch enough TV to justify your cable package? Do you go to the gym regularly? Can you afford a $100 membership and delay your debt payments or the date of your financial independence?
Some fees look normal, like a monthly banking fee, or the unlimited local calls fee on your mobile. But do you know some banks offer free banking? You may not be making enough local calls to make up for the cell phone fee?
My Guatemalan cellphone provider loves to add fees that people don’t want or need, like an ”sos” fee, that is a kind of concierge service to help you when you need. I don’t think they solve much of your problems, but unless you ask, they will charge you $3 per month for it. And every time you change your plan, here is the fee popping up again.
You may also have an insurance on your cellphone, in case it gets stolen. Review the terms, it is likely that unless you get hurt in a violent mugging, you won’t get the price back, and with depreciation you shouldn’t get much at all. Some of those fees are redundant with your credit card cover and your home insurance. Keep only what you need.
Utility bills
You can easily change companies nowadays, using friendly calculators to estimate how much you will save by switching provider, and then they do the switch for you. $20 less on your electric bill is $240 per year that you are overpaying at the moment. If you are happy with your provider you can call them and ask for a better package, saying you are considering switching and want to know if they can make an effort.
Mortgage or rent
Again, time to go look for a bargain, or negotiate. As a tenant, you can try to negotiate your rent, to be frozen or even decreased at the end of your lease. If you have a mortgage, look for deals to refinance and get the best interest rate you can. Those are big items that save a lot of money if you are able to get a better deal.
The list goes on.You can get a fee free credit card, a card that has no ATM withdrawal fees, stream movies and watch TV shows online, keep the supermarket cards you really use or share the membership with friends and neighbors, review your personal insurance premiums, car insurance, breakdown cover, travel insurance…
Review ALL of your monthly expenses, and keep the ones
you absolutely need (or ditch them)
you entirely use (if not reduce)
you can’t lower (or negotiate).
It is easy, I promise. You shouldn’t have to talk to your utilities company for more than 10 minutes to slash your rate. Comparison sites are user friendly as well, some even offer cashback on the switch. And just like that, you find even more room in your budget to accommodate those amazing goals you made for 2013.
If you are already comfortable with your budget, you can transfer automatically the savings you made with those steps on a savings account. You won’t miss the money since you are already spending it monthly. You can also set up a new debt repayment.
Have you gotten rid of services you weren’t using or reduced your monthly bills lately?Â
This post was featured on the Outlier Model, thank you!
Great advice Pauline. I cut my cable completely and just purchased a one-time $30 fee over the air antenna. I get to watch current shows and don’t have to worry about the bill.
Sounds awesome! Is it legal?
Yes, completely legal. Most major broadcast networks send their signal over the air for free.
Didn’t know that, it’s really neat!
I reduced my cable bill $15 per month and it only took about 10 minutes.
Great! I put a calendar reminder every year to make sure they keep my discounted rate as well.
Cell phone bills are super sneaky. I recently caught a $10/mo charge for a “premium service”. Some number was sending me a trivia question once a month, and I’d never signed up for it. If I hadn’t reviewed my bill, I would have wasted $120/yr on a scam!
Good thing you checked it out! So many people don’t and get charged for nothing.
I always try to review my bills to ensure that the companies I am with aren’t sneaking surcharges and unwanted fees to my bill. It’s hard to remember though. Great reminder!
I made a calendar reminder a month before my deal expires because every company has a different date, so that makes it easier.
If only our utility companies weren’t monopolies! I’d love to switch out one or two of them that have pretty high base rates. As in, even if you’re not getting service, you still have to pay per month if you own the property… no choice in the matter.
I hear your pain! Same here the choice is pretty limited so I can only make sure I reduce my own consumption.
Insurance on cell phones is a rort (Aussie term for scam). I know so many people that have thought that they were covered and ended up having to buy a new phone because the insurance only covers such a small amount of things that can go wrong.
What a rort! I have only extreme sickness and death/repatriation cover, all the rest I take responsibility on my own, insurance companies are there to make money not to help people.
I have my semi-annual call to comcast where I get them to leave my bill the same or lower it. It is a bit of a pain, but I save some serious money doing that.
Also I am lucky that my utility providers here aren’t that bad (actually better being in the city than being in the surround counties where the rates are much worse). So our rates are reasonable, but sometimes I wish there was a little competition to see if we could drive prices a little lower.
Nice that Comcast obliges! Of course if you relax a little they take advantage, but keeping the rate down is worth it. I can see here that the rates are terrible and yes the providers need to supply some low populated zones, that is one advantage to live in the city, you get better deals and competition.
I love this series and you’ve certainly had some great tips! We just reviewed our cell phone bill and realized we could save about $30/month by switching over to my mom’s plan. We also just refinanced our house and saved an additional $70/month there!
And just like that, $100 extra! With a little work it really adds up.
This is a great series Pauline! We regularly do this, usually twice a year. You can really find some savings at times by just looking at your bills and seeing what can be cut. We were able to cut about $20/month off of our gym bill a few months ago because they were charging us several fees for services we did not use.
Sneaky fees! They are the hardest to spot because you assume your cost is the total at the bottom and don’t necessarily go over each fee. With a careful eye one can trim a lot.
I need to call the satellite TV provider. You can usually get some sort of deal and our last one ran out a few months ago and I’ve just not gotten around to it. I did cut the internet bill in half this year. I am also switching to a prepaid cell phone when my contract is up. We only have one choice for utilities, but I do try to keep the thermostat lower to save, but it’s been below zero at night for the past week, so I think that will be a bust this month!
In the UK my utility company offered free insulation, it is part of their being green and help people save policy, if they don’t they get fines to offset their footprint, I don’t know if they have similar policies in the US, making your home as energy efficient as possible is a great saving over time.
I check my utility bills every month for unexpected charges. When I find them, I call immediately to get them cleared up. Two months ago, I called DirecTV to find out about a cost to re-aim my dish if I moved the trailer. Apparently, I would have been charged the full installation fee, even though the dish was already installed and hooked up!
Then I went to turn on the TV and discovered that my service had been suspended because I was “moving.” Called and got that straightened out. Then I checked my bill and I was charged a reconnection fee! Had to call a second time to get them to drop that fee.
Of course, there was also the time that they wanted to charge me an installation fee when their service provider for my area went out of business and took their equipment, leaving me with no service. I think I spent an hour on the phone that day fighting that charge!
I hope the customer service number is free! Looks like a terrible company… I sometimes give up for my sanity but when it is too much money I keep fighting!
I always try to look at each of my bills each month for extra or misc expenses. With online billing, I suspect some companies think that you won’t take the time to open up the online statement and will simply pay the bill without looking. I once had several misc charges on my cell phone bill. When I asked what they were, they magically disappeared next statement. Strange?!
Total bad faith IMO, but as long as it works for them they will keep applying them! Good thing you checked them out.
We usually review our bills once a year, but this year, after I quit, we have been going over every single expense to evaluate. I miss my salary 🙂
I know the feeling! But the freedom is fabulous!