Now that the New Year is here, many of us will be looking for ways to stick to our New Year’s Resolution to save more money. There are a million ways to tackle this, but one of our favorite approaches is to lower your monthly bills. One way or another, you’re spending this money every month and will continue to do so for the rest of your life. If you figure out how to cut these bills back by just $20, that’s $240 a year, $1,200 over five years and so on.
With that in mind, here are 5 simple tips that will show you how to save money every month:
- Re-Examine Your Cell Phone Usage: Take a look at your cell phone plan each month to see if your plan matches the way you use your phone. Are you regularly going over your minute allotment? Adding more minutes will be cheaper than paying overage fees. Do you have the right text plan for the amount you text? Are you paying for insurance on an ancient phone? Has a mysterious fee popped up that you didn’t know about? And so on. Most cell phone users have plans that unintentionally cost more than they should. Take a look at yours to see how you can lower it. If you want some help, try BillShrink which will analyze your bill or use info you provide to evaluate your plan and give you personalized tips to save money.
- Bundle Cable, Internet & Phone for a Better Rate: Most providers these days offer all of these services at a discount if you “bundle” them. The provider benefits because they get you to purchase more of their services and the customer benefits with a lower price. Shop around to find the best rate. Keep in mind that you don’t need to bundle all of these services—even just bundling two services should yield you some savings.
- Buy Low Flow Shower Heads: Showers account for as much as 25% of water usage in a typical household, so figuring out a way to lower the amount you use can really help cut down that water bill. We recommend buying a low flow shower head—they cost as little as $10, but can save you over $250 or more each year on your water bill.
- Wash Clothes in Cold Water: 90% of the energy used to clean clothes goes towards heating the water and—unless you’re dealing with tough stains like grease—cold water will clean your clothes just fine. Use cold water for the majority of your laundry and you’ll save $150 on your electric bill each year.
- Keep Your Refrigerator Full: To finish things off, we figured we’d give you a tip that’s about as easy as they come: keep your refrigerator and freezer at least 2/3 full to conserve energy. Both of these appliances function best when they’re nearly full, so it’ll help keep them efficient and lower your electric bill. Don’t have enough food to fill them up? No problem: put in some plastic jugs of water to fill up the extra space (or try other liquids… did you know you can freeze milk to save it for a later date?).
Following these tips will help you cut down your monthly bills (or visit LOZO for even more ways to save money every month). Happy New Year and best of luck keeping your costs low all year long!
In addition to checking out LOZO’s site, you can also find them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter or sign up for their money-saving tip of the day newsletter.
by Jeff Kaplan, CEO of LOZO, a free website that gives you great money saving tips, resources, coupons and more.
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