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braisler · 02-09-2005, 07:02 AM

Today's new tip: Minimize recurring costs and consolidate bills!

This tip might take a little more time and effort initially, but the rewards can make up for it. The beauty of this tip is that once you do it one time, you will reap the savings for months and years to come. The idea that some of your costs are fixed, namely your utility bills for cable, internet, phone, etc. isn't as true as it once was. Because each of those bills doesn't look like very much by itself, we can overlook what all of those services are costing us overall in our budget.

So gather all of your bills together and open up to researching some options. Start with your electric and water bill. Not much that you can do to eliminate those bills because you will still need those services. But you can look into conservation of resources to reduce your water and electric use. You'll be doing something good for the environment and helping yourself with lower costs too. There is plenty of information out there on this topic, so I won't go any more into it here.

Next look at your bills for cable, internet, phone, cell-phone, and long distance. For some people, this is four or five separate bills. Let's put up some numbers to make the discussion more meaningful.

Cable = $50
Internet = $20 (dialup) or $50 (broadband)
Phone = $30
Cell Phone = $40
Long Distance = $25
The total for these services is a staggering $165 a month if you have dial-up or $195 with broadband. That $1980 and $2340 a year respectively. What can you do to bring that down? There are a number of strategies to consider, and any of them might work better or worse for you. I'll tell you what I did with the above situation as an example.

My cable company was offering broadband service as a package deal with basic cable for $80/month total. I really wanted/needed to have broadband access at home, so thi was a good option for me. I looked into a company called Vonage that was offering Voice Over IP (VoIP) service for $24.95/month with unlimited free long distance. This allowed me to keep my landline telephone number and completely drop both the long distance carrier and my local phone carrier. Lastly, I found that I wasn't using my cell phone all that much. I like having one for emergencies and when I just need to call someone for directions etc., but I don't find myself using it more than once a month or so. I looked into Virgin Mobile that was offering a plan where you only pay for the minutes that you use with no monthly payment at all. If you use it a lot, you pay as you go. If you don't use it a lot, like me, you don't pay that much at all. They only require that you refresh your account with purchasing $20 worth of minutes every three months. So I've got my cell phone down to $80 for the year. Let's go back to the numbers...

Cable and broadband on one bill = $80
Vonage VoIP for long distance and local phone = $25
Virgin for Cell service = $80/year

So I went from $2340/year to $1340/year without sacrificing anything at all. I still enjoy every freedom that I had before. If anything I have gained the ability to call any of my friends and family at any time without worrying about whether it costs too much.

The above scenario might not be right for you, but the same principle can be applied. Maybe you are a heavy cell phone user. Consider your package options with your cell phone provider. If they offer free long-distance with thier plans, maybe you can drop your landline all together and go mobile. The larger plan with your cell service might cost you $60/month instead of $40, but you save the long distance (-$25) and local phone (-$30) so you end up ahead. Maybe you don't use the internet that much at home, drop down from broadband to dial-up. Consider a cheaper dial-up company, NetZero, Netscape, and others nationwide currently offer service at $9.95/month. Some local areas have carriers that offer connectivity for as little as $7.95/month. Lastly, consider your cable bill. If you don't have other services though your cable, consider switching to one of the small dish satellite companies. They have packages that might meet your needs for $30/month instead of $50.

Whatever the case, trim down those monthly bills by a little or a lot and you'll have a goodly amount left over at the end of the year.

02-09-2005, 07:02 AM	#18 (permalink)
braisler Addict Location: Midway, KY	Today's new tip: Minimize recurring costs and consolidate bills! This tip might take a little more time and effort initially, but the rewards can make up for it. The beauty of this tip is that once you do it one time, you will reap the savings for months and years to come. The idea that some of your costs are fixed, namely your utility bills for cable, internet, phone, etc. isn't as true as it once was. Because each of those bills doesn't look like very much by itself, we can overlook what all of those services are costing us overall in our budget. So gather all of your bills together and open up to researching some options. Start with your electric and water bill. Not much that you can do to eliminate those bills because you will still need those services. But you can look into conservation of resources to reduce your water and electric use. You'll be doing something good for the environment and helping yourself with lower costs too. There is plenty of information out there on this topic, so I won't go any more into it here. Next look at your bills for cable, internet, phone, cell-phone, and long distance. For some people, this is four or five separate bills. Let's put up some numbers to make the discussion more meaningful. Cable = $50 Internet = $20 (dialup) or $50 (broadband) Phone = $30 Cell Phone = $40 Long Distance = $25 The total for these services is a staggering $165 a month if you have dial-up or $195 with broadband. That $1980 and $2340 a year respectively. What can you do to bring that down? There are a number of strategies to consider, and any of them might work better or worse for you. I'll tell you what I did with the above situation as an example. My cable company was offering broadband service as a package deal with basic cable for $80/month total. I really wanted/needed to have broadband access at home, so thi was a good option for me. I looked into a company called Vonage that was offering Voice Over IP (VoIP) service for $24.95/month with unlimited free long distance. This allowed me to keep my landline telephone number and completely drop both the long distance carrier and my local phone carrier. Lastly, I found that I wasn't using my cell phone all that much. I like having one for emergencies and when I just need to call someone for directions etc., but I don't find myself using it more than once a month or so. I looked into Virgin Mobile that was offering a plan where you only pay for the minutes that you use with no monthly payment at all. If you use it a lot, you pay as you go. If you don't use it a lot, like me, you don't pay that much at all. They only require that you refresh your account with purchasing $20 worth of minutes every three months. So I've got my cell phone down to $80 for the year. Let's go back to the numbers... Cable and broadband on one bill = $80 Vonage VoIP for long distance and local phone = $25 Virgin for Cell service = $80/year So I went from $2340/year to $1340/year without sacrificing anything at all. I still enjoy every freedom that I had before. If anything I have gained the ability to call any of my friends and family at any time without worrying about whether it costs too much. The above scenario might not be right for you, but the same principle can be applied. Maybe you are a heavy cell phone user. Consider your package options with your cell phone provider. If they offer free long-distance with thier plans, maybe you can drop your landline all together and go mobile. The larger plan with your cell service might cost you $60/month instead of $40, but you save the long distance (-$25) and local phone (-$30) so you end up ahead. Maybe you don't use the internet that much at home, drop down from broadband to dial-up. Consider a cheaper dial-up company, NetZero, Netscape, and others nationwide currently offer service at $9.95/month. Some local areas have carriers that offer connectivity for as little as $7.95/month. Lastly, consider your cable bill. If you don't have other services though your cable, consider switching to one of the small dish satellite companies. They have packages that might meet your needs for $30/month instead of $50. Whatever the case, trim down those monthly bills by a little or a lot and you'll have a goodly amount left over at the end of the year.