Are you sick and tired of living paycheck to paycheck? Would you like to save more money, get more out of your salary and get to enjoy life?
Getting to reduce some of your recurring bills is a great way to clear up some cash every month, and, if done properly, you can get an extra mortgage payment every year or a nice vacation.
How can you can save money on utilities?
Utility savings are best achieved with a plan. Look at your usage and devise a plan for saving money on utilities.
A plan? Yes, It is easier to save money or do anything if you map out the actions you need to take to get where you want to be.
Our intention is to show you simple ways to reduce your utility bills. Implement some of these frugal tip and get control of your bills.
Plus, if you are really on the hurting edge financially, we will give some tips that are a little more extreme, save only pennies, but add up over a few weeks or months.
Hear are some of the areas we will try to help you cut your utilities bills:
- Heating
- Cooling
- Cell phones and land line phones
- Water
- Gas
- Electricity
- Cable TV
- Solar Energy
You may find that you already know quite a few utility savings tips. Maybe you just have not starting using them yet.
Here are some common ideas:
- Turn off the lights if you are not in a room
- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth or shaving.
- Put water in the sink to rinse your razor instead of using running water to clean off the lather.
- Make shorter phone calls to friends and relative if it is a toll call or using cell phone minutes.
- Turn down the heater thermostat and wear a sweater to stay warmer.
- Turn up the cooling thermostat to make the room comfortable but not cold.
You have probably heard all of these things many times. These utility savings ideas are on TV, in pamphlets that come with your bills and told to you by your mother for year.
To start your plan take a notebook and put the following titles on the tops of pages: HEATING, COOLING, WATER, GAS ELECTRIC, PHONE, and any other recurring utility bill you have.
One each titled page write down all of the tips, hints and ideas you can think of that help save money on that utility. Your utility savings begins with a plan. Writing things down is the only way to have a plan.
Now that you have your list of ideas on saving, write down the things you know you do that are wasteful such as running water too long. Not fixing dripping faucets.
Now you some written information you can see. Information you can touch and feel. When ideas are written down it is easier to make plans.
When you have plans it is easier to follow through and accomplish a goal. In this case the goal is utility savings.
Think about how to save money by cutting your use of each utility you have. Saving money on utilities can be easier if you have a plan.
Here is a real big utility savings.
Call every company you get service from and ask them if they have a lower rate for you. REALLY!! A lower bill could be just a phone call away.
Call you electric company and ask if they can reduce you bill in any way. Do they have a plan for single parents on a low income? Do they have a plan for the elderly? Do they have an plans for those with disabilities?
Guess what?
If you can barely pay your bill and are regularly getting pink notices of imminent turn off of a utility, the company will usually not tell you there may be a lower rate.
They just shut your power off. You have to call them to learn about lower rates.
This “call them” technique goes for any bill you have, even your daily newspaper. Call the paper and ask if they have a lower subscription rate for you. It is amazing that even newspapers can give you a lower rate.
Are you having trouble paying credit card or store bills? Call them and ask if they have a lower interest rate. They may give you a lower interest rate for a certain number of months to help you out.
Consider removing some of these utilities
Do you really need a landline? If you already have a cell phone, why pay for landline? Maybe you can remove the cable TV from the list as well. With Netflix and Hulu many mobile phone companies offer for free, plus youtube, there’s really no need to bother with this.
These are just few quick ideas on how to save money on utilities. Care to add more?
