This is kind of resetting since moving.

In all at the old place, electricity went up since making this goal because I changed my furnace. Gas went way down. Cable alternated and cell phone went up. Water was about even. 2 years ago

I dropped my daughter from my Verizon bill, only 6 months after she got her own phone. So I’m making progress on reducing my bills.

My average Verizon bill was around $193, and I think it’s now going to be around $100. $93 / month is nothing to sneeze at.

I could lower it more, but I genuinely use the unlimited internet. I’m in the internet industry, so I use that all of the time – it’s critical that I have that, and that’s around $45 / month.

So I’ve lowered my expenses by an anticipated $93 / month. I’ll consider this goal complete when it’s reduced by $200 / month. 2 years ago

Thinking about switching to clear wireless. I think I’ll save me $20/month, but I’m kind of terrified I wont really have service out here in the boonies. 3 years ago

Thinking about canceling netflix. I only watch about 1 movie a month, would do better to just use redbox. I like the idea that I can watch online, and that is keeping me, but I’ve only ever done it once… Maybe once/if I move we can discuss splitting it… 3 years ago

I have decided to get the fancy phone. Probably an iphone, can’t upgrade for another month so I have time to shop around. It’s going to increase my phone bill by $30/month. NOT in line with this goal, but will hopefully be worth it. 3 years ago

I’ve been coveting a smart phone for a while now. Ages it seems. But have been holding out because I don’t want to add to my monthly bills. I have this idea that I’m sure I’ll get one eventually, because really it is inevitable. I just wanted to hold out for another contract cycle or two.

But now my phone is broken. It still works enough that I don’t have to replace it. But I’d totally be not-overreacting if I got a new one. And of course the iphones and droids and whatnots are just screaming at me.

Don’t know if I should get one or hold out a bit longer. Maybe at least hold out to June when my contract is up so I have more options and more research time… But then I have to scrounge up a cheap phone to get me to June.

Sigh. Life is expensive. 3 years ago

Just paid the water bill and am realizing how ridiculous that is.

By the end of December I will fix the leaky toilet.
By the end of THIS WEEK I will go back to using the shower timer. 3 years ago

It’s insanely hot outside and I’ve resorted to turning on the AC. Having AC to begin with is kind of a guilt trip for me. Turning it on was really hard, but at this point I have to do it. To get the most comfort for my electricity $ I am inviting friends over every day. If I’m going to cool my whole house at least I can let more people enjoy it. 3 years ago

Now that I’m pretty sure my job is stable and all, I’m thinking about what to do with the money I pulled out of investments when I was laid off. It was serving as an enhanced emergency (in case of unemployment pay the mortgage) fund. I’m thinking I could use it to pay off my student loans! That would majorly reduce my bill-load. Or maybe invest it or continue to save it in hopes of eventually refinancing my house, that could save me even more in the long run, but it probably a few years off at best. Or I could just throw it into retirement, which doesn’t help my current month-to-month situation at all. Or I could put it into repairs on my house and get it fixed up to be rentable sooner rather than later so I can move to an apartment and rent the house out and MAYBE save a little each month.

Big decisions! Can’t decide. I can’t find an online calculator with any of these options, let alone comparing them all. Why does financial advice ignore mid-range loans. All the examples seem to be a 4% mortgage or a 22% credit card as if there was nothing in between. 4 years ago

I got a furnace and heat pump! I can’t wait to get bills for February and March to start seeing the results.

Also I got a shower timer and am shocked by how difficult it is for me to take a 4 minute shower. I think that part of my long shower habit is related to my cold house. When the 1/2 of your body that isn’t under the hot water has goose bumps, its that much harder to turn the water off. Now that I have a furnace I can have heat in the am, so that should help.

It feels so decadent to have the heat on. 4 years ago

Turns out that my gas bill went up because rates went up (and it is winter). I’ve actually used and average of 10% less gas per day this December than last year, despite having 8 days at home that I would normally be at work.

• The recommended settings for programmable thermostats (warm mornings & evenings, cold days & nights) just don’t fit my lifestyle so I’ve changed it. As an efficiency professional _{hehe I can’t believe I can say that} I highly recommend them for people who have a typical schedule, home in the morning and in the evenings and most of the weekends. I however can’t use heat in the mornings and am only home in the evenings and weekends about half the time because I spend a lot of time at my boyfriend’s place or out with friends. So I’ve changed my settings to cold (62) for night, day & evening and colder (58) for mornings due to my hot water situation. Then when I am home I will turn it up and because it’s programmable it turns back off automatically.
• When I do turn it on I never go above 66. Actually I usually just go to 65 and if I’m still chilled there I go to 66. I have 2 super warm wool sweaters that I wear over my clothes around the house.
• I installed a low flow shower head which has made a notable cut in my summertime gas use and I actually haven’t had nearly the hot water issues since I got it.

Improving steps:
Get a shower timer!
Get a furnace! 4 years ago

The gas bill just shot up.
Will try to keep it at 62 through the remainder of the snow-in… starting tomorrow ;)

I think I can finally afford a new furnace which I think will help! 4 years ago

I finally quit the gym! They make it nearly impossible to quit, so I actually didn’t really quit, but I was pro-active in making sure they don’t automatically renew me. And its a good thing I called today too, as it would have automatically renewed on the 21st! 4 years ago

I’m going to cancel netflix and my gym membership.

That hurts. Especially the gym. Hopefully I’ll find a new job before the rainy season and can start up again somewhere else. In the mean time I’ll start getting serious about bike riding. 4 years ago

Now that my bowling league is finished I’m saving $52/month plus the cost of eating out every Monday. Not exactly a bill, but spending less money for sure. 5 years ago

I’m thinking about canceling my TV.
I rarely ever watch it. And lately neither ABC or CBS come in clear enough to watch, so I’m down to only 3 channels that I ever even look at.
I only have limited basic cable, so I’m only saving $8/month by canceling. That’s not much savings. But every little bit helps. Right? Its not worth $8 to watch the Simpsons and Family guy a couple times a month, is it?
No. OK. I think I just convinced myself. I better call now before I change my mind again. 5 years ago

I just shaved $27 off my monthly health insurance premiums. Nice.

If I stay even moderately healthy, the difference in coverage level won’t even come into play. 5 years ago

Recently I managed to knock $15 from my phone bill by canceling my phone insurance and siging up for a texting package. Also a few months ago I signed up for every other week garbage pick up and knocked $10 of my bi-monthly garbage bill.

• cheaper internet access
• canceling cable tv
• maybe reducing my netflix (although thats a tough one)
• really being frugal when it comes time to renew my health insurance
• look into changing gyms when my current contract is up 5 years ago

I looked into costco dental and its basically the same as what I’ve got now. I dont think I can reduce my cell bill unfortunately. My car insurance is half price from where it was last year already. I can look into moving my horse which I am still against for various reasons (this is only for worst case scenario consideration) and I can cancel my water delivery but I’m hesitant about that because of ground water pollution in LA. I will however think about this some more. My renters insurance is the best I’ve found. I dont think I can talk my husband out of his satellite system so thats a bust as well. SO I’m think I can marked this as completed. I think I’ve made a pretty major dent in what can be changed. I’m pretty pleased actually. Any dent is a good one and This one is pretty big. :D 5 years ago

So I got the call today that the new health insurance was approved. I’m sort of shocked I must admit. I may now try to switch my dental insurance too. I’ll review it once I’ve got some more time and see if that is a better deal as well. that will probably save me over 1000 a year alone so I’m quite pleased I just hope this insurance is as good as it looks. I thought my current insurance was a great deal when I got it too but I was wrong. Its was only 30% coinsurance. I think the new one covers 100% when the deductible is met but I’m not sure if they negotiate lower prices before that deductible is met or they just pass it on through. I guess I’ll find out in the next few months. 5 years ago

SO,

fingers crossed. I’ll know in the next 5-7 days if I’m accepted for the new health insurance. I got a call from a pacific care auditor today. So, yeah, they went through my application and asked me about about my health etc. I hope it goes through and I dont get an aweful rate. :( I’ll know soon enough I guess. 5 years ago

Apparently since I havent been checking current prices on DSL through SBC I’ve been getting an old higher rate while new customers are getting a new lower rate on faster connection. I took care of that and I’ve also got an email out to a friend who works at a DSL company who may be able to get me an even better deal.

Its amazing what sort of money you can save when you just pay attention. SO currently if I cant get a better deal through my friend I’ll still save about $80 a year. NICE! 5 years ago

So my last phone bill had $50 of long distance charges in addition to regular local calls. I found online that there is a bundle through my current company to have all phone charges local AND national long distance for only $40 a month.

(!!!!!!)

I’d say I’m making a great start to this. I am also finding a cheaper was to get our business lines working without going to VoIP. Obviously this will change if we move. I will most likely have to go to VoIP to keep our number but for now I think were gonna be ok doing traditional land lines.

Pretty cool. 5 years ago

I applied for new health insurance today. It has a lower deductable and could be cheaper monthly premiums. If It comes through at the advertised rate (finger crossed) it will save me 1700 a year based on what they just raised my current rate to. I’ll know probably in a few weeks if it comes through. 5 years ago

this will be about perhaps changing telephone/insurance companies. I got a $50 long distance bill this last month. Ridiculous. Really. I think I’ve over paying in my renters insurance too so a whole evaluation needs to happen. 5 years ago

After trying to not eat out as much, and saving on other stuff like that, this year’s tax return was finally higher than the total amount we still owe on credit cards. I’m 27 and my wife is 25, and the only thing we owe are car and mortgage payments, no other debt whatsoever.

It’s not fun paying it off, but it’s very nice not having to be worried about it. It can be done, but it’s a marathon. Stick with it. 6 years ago

I’ve been using wesabe.com to identify where the money goes – I was surprised at how much $$$ has been going to food and gas!! It’s ridiculous. Now that I know what my big expenses are, I’m working on finding ways to get around them without having to suffer too badly 6 years ago

I got my mobile bill down from £80 last month to £20 this month. It’s amazing how much of a difference it makes just getting aware of what you’re spending & having an idea of how much you’ve used it in any given month… 8 years ago

The mobile bill is impossible to keep down- I thought I’d done really well this month and then they hit me for £80, yowza!

I seem to be spending £120+ a month just staying in communication- some months that’s 1/3rd of my income, which is ridiculous.

So I’m going to look for ways to reduce use. 8 years ago