Deflate Your Living Expenses Without Compromising
Posted on | July 31, 2009 | No Comments
Many things creep up over the month to thwart even the most sound of budgets: car breaks down, child gets sick, hurricanes, parties, etc. These issues may seem like the true culprits to our drained bank accounts, or why we cannot seem to save beyond $X amount of dollars. Perhaps we should take a step back outside of the box and look at our ‘fixed; parts of our budgets—the bills we know are coming each month and have budgeted for.
Every month we know how much our rent/mortgages, car payments, student loan payments, utilities, cell phone and insurance bills will cost. These bills are relentless and consistent, and so they almost become like a habit. We know that the cell phone costs $57 each month, just like it did last year. We also know it will either be the same next year or a few dollars more if the company which we are at the mercy of decides to wave its magical wand and tell us that accessing the telephone waves now costs more money. By making these bills habitual, we accept them as a part of life and tell ourselves that they will always exist, and will always be the same amount or more.
Well, I’ve decided to not settle for this anymore and I hope you won’t either. By making some phone calls, simply asking (perhaps haggling a few times), and with some luck, I was able to reduce our fixed bills to the following:
- Internet: from $40 per month down to $20
- Cell phone: from $57 per month down to $47
- Electricity: from $0.168 per kilowatt to $0.14 per kilowatt
- Auto Insurance: from $70 per month down to $60
Total Yearly Savings: $680
My sister decided to shave down her monthly fixed expenses, and she was able to save herself $50 a month off of her cable/internet bill and $47 a month off of her phone service. That is approximately $1160 in savings for the year!
My sister and I are not alone; a recent poll by Consumer Reports shows that 66% of Americans have haggled in the past six months, with very high rates of success. “Among those who haggled, 83 percent negotiated better deals on hotel rates, 81 percent reduced their cell phone bills, and 81 percent went home paying less for clothing. Hagglers were almost as successful getting discounts on electronics (71 percent), furniture (71 percent), credit-card fees (62 percent), and medical bills (58 percent).”
So how can you get started? There are many strategies you can use. For instance, our neighbors—who are frugal like us—approached us about splitting our wireless internet bill and giving up their own service. Perhaps you can approach your own neighbors, and cut your internet bill in half. If you work from home a lot, you can ask your company to reimburse you for your internet service at home (or ask for this during your job negotiation). Next, you can call up your internet service provider and ask for a discount. They may say yes, but only for 6 months, or they may give you a discount indefinitely!
For cell phones you should check into whether or not your phone company provides a discount for the company that you work for. If not, gather information from another phone service provider (who is prepared to offer you a lower price), and use this to negotiate a lower cost for you at the company of your choice. The first thing I asked when I had a phone rep on the line was if they saw a way that we could lower my bill. She came up with several options, such as lowering my minutes each month, when previously the phone provider did not offer a plan with a lower amount of minutes than I was already contracted to.
The same can be done with your auto insurance. Ask your phone rep how they can pare down your coverage to be as lean as possible without making you vulnerable to large, unexpected costs. You would be surprised at how many “extras” are added into your insurance plan that are not needed, and that you may not be aware of. I always ask “is that absolutely necessary to have?” If the answer is no, I ask what the implications could be for me if I was in an accident without that coverage so that I can weigh my options. As for electricity, check back to my blog for an upcoming post on shaving your electrical costs.
By spending a few hours researching and talking with (mostly) very nice phone reps, I was able to deflate my living expenses for 2009 without sacrifice. I now have an extra $56 per month to play around with as well as all of the same services I enjoyed last year. If my rates rise next year, it will at least start from a lower cost, keeping me behind the normal rate of inflation—all for simply asking.
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