Sarah emailed in the following tip:
If there was a dollar bill lying on the ground in front of you, would you just step over it and keep going, or would you stop and pick it up? It seems like a no-brainer, right?
Wrong. Let me tell you how my family was spending over $800 a year that we didn’t need to. That was “free” money that we were just walking right past every single day. It all started when I was complaining about my cell phone bill to my brother… When I told him how much my husband and I pay per month, he remarked that the amount seemed way too high for the services we were receiving.
Upon a close inspection of my bill, he was right! For example, we were paying $6.99 per month for insurance on my husband’s phone, which was eligible for a free upgrade in 3 months. It didn’t make sense that we had paid $6.99 for 9 months already for coverage that was only worth $50.
The phone bill was just the start. Once I realized that there could be ways to cut charges, I attacked all our other monthly bills. Here’s how I saved:
Phone Bill: Downgraded texting & voice plan to one that reflects our actual usage. Amount Saved: $10/month
Landline Bill: We eliminated this altogether after we realized we didn’t use or need it. Amount Saved: $35/month
Cable Bill: Got rid of second receiver for a TV on the third floor that we rarely use. Amount Saved: $10/month
Newspaper Delivery: Switched from daily to weekend only. My husband gets a paper delivered to his classroom everyday, so instead of discarding it at the end of the day, he brings it home. Amount Saved: $7/month
Movie Service: Cancelled Netflix. You can read why here. Amount Saved: $4.99/month
Lesson learned: Even though I consider myself a pretty frugal gal, I couldn’t believe how much extra money I “found” just by looking over the bills and making some easy adjustments that don’t affect our quality of life.
These small changes add up to $887 per year!!
Diana at ParentWhiz says
My husband and I play a game I call “Find the Money.” We periodically, every few months, look at everything we spend and where we can make changes. Every time we do this we find money, and it’s always in a different place. Next area of attack? Car insurance – again!
Jodi says
A big way my family saves money is on haircuts. We all used to go to a salon, where my (short) haircut would cost $40. Now we all go to a national chain called Headcutters. I now pay $15 for my haircut, less for the kids. We have a family of 5, so this adds up! I honestly do not see a difference in the quality of cut, either!
Nicole says
We’ve never had a landline, TV or newspaper. But, unfortunately for our wallets, we’ve always been iPhone users!
Amber L. says
Grrr. My internet provider (only company we can get service with) MAKES you have at least the lowest cable package ($20 per month). If it was up to me, we wouldn’t have cable. Also, we “share” trash pickup with 3 neighbors. Between compost and recycling we don’t have more than one bag every two months. So, why have our own pickup?
Kelly Hess says
Attached is how I saved money on cable!
http://www.spendless2savemore.blogspot.com/2012/02/lets-save-some-contact-your-cable.html
Emily says
My husband and I are pretty frugal in most areas. As another perspective, we pay for directv every month though. We are both huge sports fans and that is one of our favorite “dates”. It is much cheaper to watch the games at home and have homemade hot wings than it is to go to a restaurant or even a friend’s house (we live 15 miles outside of town). I call directv once or twice a year when the “special” price is up and re-negotiate our contract. They are always more than happy to keep us as customers and lower our bill or give us a perk. Directv is our big splurge and is great for us!
CJ says
As a 911 operator I have to encourage people to NOT discontinue your landline. In an emergency if you need to call 911 and cant speak (for example during a home invasion, domestic disturbance, medical problem, if a young child is the caller and doesnt know the address), most 911 centers can not determine your location when you call on a cell phone. And there’s always the chance that you may not have cell phone reception at times. To me, it’s well worth spending $35 a month to have peace of mind that emergency services will always be able to know where you’re calling from. There, I’ve done my Public Service Announcement for the day 🙂
marney says
I agree w/ you CJ! A plain old landline phone still works when the power goes out.
Teresa says
My Magic Jack has you enter an address that they link to your phone # if I remember right. They can use that for 911 calls.
Sarah T. says
We have Tracfones for each of us. We prepay for a year at a time and spend $100/yr/phone. Texts are actually cheaper than voice calls, so if we’re just sending brief info, we do that.
We don’t live in the same state as parents, so long distance was important to us. However, recently we cancelled it and are using Google Voice exclusively for that. That saves $25/mo. where we are. A few extra steps are involved, but it’s well worth it!
We have gone over numbers many times trying to justify a regular cell plan and no home line, but by ditching the home line, our internet goes up, so we’re pretty much at the bare bones now.
As far as other things, I REFUSE to give up my gym membership. They have childcare for the kids while I’m working out, so it’s an excursion for me, play time for the kids, and keeps me in shape. I’ve lost 25 lb. since we joined in September and I won’t look back! There are some things that aren’t worth cutting back on, and that is mine! 🙂
Brandy says
What a great post! We recently did the same thing when we decided I would be staying at home. We really took a hard look at where our money was going and decided what we could live without. We actually added Netflix and Hulu, but cut cable which saves us about $70 a month. We actually enjoy what we watch more now but tend not to watch TV just for the sake of watching it! Win-Win!
I also love that you pointed out the phone insurance thing. Unless you have to have a certain kind of phone for business or something you don’t need insurance! With my provider, there is a $50 deductible and it is $6 a month. Considering that I can buy one of there used phones for about $70, after just a few months it has become not worth it. I can be hard on phones, but I am able to keep them for more than a few months! Yes, my choices are limited when I buy the used phone, but as long as it makes and receives phone calls, it does the job!
Again, one of the best posts ever! Thanks!
Lois says
We save over $600 a year by having netflix instead of cable/ sattelite. It is the only form of entertainment we have, and its $44 a month less than the alternative. I personally find I waste a lot less time watching Tv not having it.
Jennifer W says
We save in a lot of the ways mentioned… our biggest savings is not having cable/satellite TV. We use Hulu occasionally, but mostly we go to the library! We go twice a week and pick out a few movies. The kids only get to watch their movies on the weekends. It saves us money and forces us to do other things with them, like art and crafts and playing outside!
Meredith says
Question, does no one who reads these boards have a husband that watches sports? I had read a lot now and in the past about how people have ditched cable, sattellite, etc. We attempted it for a week and my husband spent all of his time at a bar or at a friends house trying to watch a game. Basic tv doesn’t give you enough sports action snd the streaming online through our only internet provider was terrible. Trust me, I save money (and my husband) by keeping our sattellite.
Also, I don’t do the cell phone. We used to pay 40 a month for the most basic service. We now have tracfone and use it for emergencies only (no texting or calls). Our VoIP line is 8 a month. Total, we save 25 a month and get unlimited talk. Didn’t get that much with the cell phone.
jessica says
I tried to convince my husband to ditch cable a while back too. He countered with the fact that he really doesn’t spend money on anything. He is right, he doesn’t! SO, I guess the cable is fair game. He works hard, and he deserves it 🙂
Kathy says
That’s what my hubby says too 🙂 He sacrifices so much for our family as it is.
Emily says
That’s the reason we’ll never ditch cable either. My husband watches football all fall and college basketball all winter (and especially now during March madness). There simply isn’t another option other than having cable (unless, like you mentioned, they go to sports bars or to a friend’s house). I’d rather have my husband home with us.
Kristine says
We watch sports, but football is typically on networks, and we support a local team :). We are NASCAR fans, but miss much of the last part of the season when they broadcast on ESPN/SPEED. Many sports have fan packages that are accessible via set top boxes or video game consoles.
Emily @ Our Frugal Happy Life says
You are not alone, Meredith. We have TV mostly for my husband’s sports. It’s something he enjoys; he is a pastor and is way too stressed (IMO!)…watching sports is relaxing for him. It’s a compromise for us, but I’m ok with it. We don’t have kids yet, so it’s possible that this could change in the future.
In addition, we live in a very rural area and don’t have much of anything to do (when he’s not working, of course…which isn’t that often 😉 )
Sarah T. says
My hubby watches ESPN games online. That gives him his fix. And if there’s a particular game he really wants to see (i.e. Iowa!), he’ll have some guy time and go to a buddy’s house to watch.
JoannaTopazT says
Go Hawks!
Sarah @ Mindfully Frugal Mom says
Yes, my husband definitely nixed the idea of dropping satellite. 🙂 His argument was that if he had to go out (like to a bar or a friend’s house), he would be spending money on food or whatever, so it’d be a wash. I’m not 100% sure that’s true, but Sports on TV is his ONLY indulgence, and he works hard for our family, so we cut other ways.
Meredith says
My husband doesn’t spend money on himself either. I honestly think he would spend more money if we didn’t have our sattellite. I don’t know what he would do if we didn’t have it. I guess it’s just my treat for him! I find it fascinating though that so many people have gotten rid of the cable.
Misty says
My husband is a sports fanatic too! BUT, we compromised. Since football is his real passion, we only have cable for those months. We eliminated it for the other months. He can get his other sports online or with the antenna. Still means a cable bill from Sept-Feb…but 7 months of savings is better than no months…and this year I am going to try to get him to give up those months, too! Even if he goes out on those Saturdays/Sundays the amount of money he would spend would be less than the cable bill. Unfortunately, he is originally from out of state, so his teams are not on locally, and it is not cheap to get the packages we need to watch the games he wants!!
Anitra says
My husband loves to watch baseball, especially now that we have kids, he’d rather watch PART of a game at home with the kids than to go out somewhere. So, (nearly) every spring we get extended cable (because only 1 game/week on network TV) and then in October, we cancel our cable again. It’s irritating, but we’ve looked into EVERY other way of watching the games (I can’t stand the radio announcers)… and cable ends up being the cheapest legal way. 🙁
I just have to tell myself that it’s $50/month well spent.
Christy says
I am so irritated with DH right now. Upgraded to Smartphones in May. Love it! We are supposed to get a 20% discount a month (about $36) because of his employer. They said it would take a few months to show up on our bill. It never did. We called. They said he had to bring another updated paycheck stub to the store. He has not yet, despite nagging. May – March–that’s like over $300!! And I can’t do it because it had to be him!! Little things add up!
Lori says
When you’re both together out and about at one of his favorite places (Home Depot, the bakery, eating lunch out, etc.) suggest you keep going on to the phone store . . . instead of making it a one-shot destination. I know my husband is always more cooperative after he has had a meal.
Sarah says
I found money by looking over my bills as well. This January we started Dave Ramsey’s Total Money makeover. At the time our budget hadn’t balanced in over a year. We had been running in the red. I started getting ideas and looked over my bills. I found that if we switched to a different trash company not only could we save money but we could get more service for less money about $50 a year less money. I then looked at our combined Direct TV, internet, and phone bill. We rarely used the home phone so we eliminated that and in the process got a cheaper internet service with the same speed. I then was transferred to Direct TV. I told them I was looking to try to save money and was trying to figure out ways to do that. I also told them I wanted to eliminate one of the movie channels since we rarely have the time to watch them. Direct TV was great. They started looking in the computer to see what they could do and started spouting off one discount after the next that they could get us on our services. So in just the one bill we ended up with a monthly savings of about $100. Half of that or just over was simply discounts that Direct TV gave us just because I asked. Then I looked into refinancing my mortgage, I got a lower interest rate and a $200 a month savings. Our budget actually balances now and since Jan 1 we have gotten all but 1 of our credit cards paid off using grant money we got for college. More savings since now we have 1 credit card payment left and we are looking at paying that off soon.
Amber says
That.Is.Awesome!
Amy Lauren says
My splurge is my gym membership ($46 a month). But… since I spend *that* much, I’m sure to actually use and go to the gym. Normally I go 5-6 days a week, so to me it’s actually worth it. It also gives me something to do rather than shop or go to the mall and hang out (I’m 26, no kids, so yeah… I still hang out, haha). I don’t have a smartphone, but we do have cable and the fastest internet. Sure wish the husband would ditch digital cable for basic, though! I’ll never understand how sports are so much “better” in HD, guess that goes with being a girl ;).
Emily @ Our Frugal Happy Life says
I hear you on the husband + sport thing, Amy Lauren! I just don’t get it, either 😉
Joanna says
Amy,
I love football. I really do! I just don’t get the sense in keeping cable year-round to make sure you get to watch 5 months of football. Does. not. compute. But my husband INSISTS. 🙂 Especially since if we cancelled cable and saved the money, we could afford the tickets to go to at least 2 Division 1 college football games this season.
heather says
Our HD attena works great- on our bigscreen tv! Also, my husbands business has dumpsters, so no trash service saves us $360+ a year. We only use cellphones, so teaching children the address goes along with their 911 training…another of the downsides of no landline.
Shannon Moore says
Planet Fitness has $10/month plans!
Cindy says
Guess I’m more fugal then I thought— no land line — no more Netflix — no newspaper — hanging clothes on the line to dry… putting in a garden this year —and teaching myself the difference from a want and a need.
Sandy says
I’m trying to keep in mind the want vs. need idea as well. It sure does cut down my spending!
Kathy says
I like the way you’re thinking!
Sarah says
Can someone explain to me about getting rid of landlines? I just don’t really understand it. I have a smart phone but try to use it for phone calls as little as possible because of studies on radiation and cell phones. (Our neurologist does not own a cell phone after conducting her own studies on the subject.) To save a few dollars a month, I would not put myself in a position to have to use my cell phone exclusively and risk my health.
Marcin says
Usually the study was conducted for people that used the phone many hours a day. I think it was for who used it at least like 6hrs a day.
Plus if you really have to make a lot of phone calls than stick to a landline, but if you have a cell that has unlimited everything it kinda works out better than using a landline since you save whatever amount a month it is for it.
But most people these days don’t spend a lot of time at home. They are usually on the go so the cell is a great invention because you can make appointments/deal with issues while you’re not at home. I believe you only use apartments or homes to store your junk in it. Since no one hardly stays more than 5-10hrs in it a day and most times it’s used to sleep in than to do things in. (except if you’re a stay at home mom than you’re there more often but you still do go out and run a lot of errands.)
Sandy says
I agree! I don’t have a landline and while I do have a cell phone I only utilize it on some days. Most days, I don’t use it at all. I like the option of people being able to get in touch with me regardless of where I am.
Courtney says
Sarah, I agree! We have a landline and use our cell phones as little as possible for the exact same reason. We keep our cell phones with us when we’re out just in case of emergency, but I would never use one exclusively. Those studies are scary.
Parenting and Money says
Is the study based on using the phone next to your ear? I always use the speaker mode or the Bluetooth. Can someone provide a link to the study?
April says
We only have cell phones(me and hubby, even though my older kids are teens, they dont have one) Hubby has unlimited, I use prepay, barely using 200 minutes a month(texting included)
i’ve only talked on mine on Monday, and that was a quick 2 minute call to make an appointment for my 12 year old with an earache. i text more than i talk and then when i talk, most of the time i usethe speaker phone. ours also has a walkie talkie feature that we use on occasion
all the studies ive seen is that you have to be on one for hours at a time, everyday
April says
I ditched my newspaper subscription($17/month) and just get a Sunday paper at Walgreens for .99 a week(and I can read the paper free online the rest of the week), saving $13 a month
I will be dropping our Netflix to Streaming +1 DVD at a time(currently 2) and that will save $5 a month
I noticed on hubby;s paycheck stub he was being double charged for his dental option…that’s an extra 27.96 a month!(and we are supposed to be getting reimbursed for the error)
Dillons here usually runs 1/2 gallons of 2% and below milk for around $1.25…that makes a gallon $2.50 versus $3.98 for a gallon of whole milk..that saves at LEAST $1.48 a week
just those few things save at least $51.88 a month or $622.56 a year(which covers a year of insurance on the vehicles!)
Sarah T. says
Good catch on the dental insurance! I can’t say I ever look at my hubby’s stubs!
Marcin says
I’ve just emailed my cell provider to see if i can remove the insurance. You’re right $6.99 for a cell phone that’s only is worth like 40 dollars is not worth it. That’s like $167.76 for a two year contract. Or in case it’s 19 months and it would cost me $132.81. Now if i can remove it i can save $55.92 for the next 6 months. 🙂
Thanks for the great tip! <3! 🙂
Erin says
When we bought our house two years ago, we ditched cable as well. Since we only watched about four channels, it really wasn’t worth it. My husband (an electrical engineer) built an antenna, out of cardboard and tinfoil! We get basic channels through that and subscribe to Netflix and hulu for the rest.
Since I’m a librarian, I put holds on any TV shows or movies we want to see as soon as I can. Between borrowing and those subscription services, what more could we need? 🙂
shauna says
I would never give up my cell phone for emergency purposes. I’m pregnant to and my hubby has the car for work. I know cable isn’t a need but my son would probably be sad to see nick jr. go away. And sometimes I want to watch the travel channel. I guess some things are good to cut back on, like Starbucks. I’ve been saving a lot of money on coffee since being pregnant.
Shanna says
We sacraficed just a few channels and dropped our Dish bill. Just doing that saved us over $35 a month!!!
coupon woman says
I have been researching options for VoIP for our landline (like Vonage or Ooma). If anyone has any input, I’d love to hear it! I am not ready to get rid of our landline (I want a phone # here for babysitters to use for emergencies since not all of ours have cell phones) but am unhappy since they just raised the prices again and we hardly ever use it.
julie says
If you have cell phones, it may be cheaper to “add a line” & buy the most basic phone to keeo at home as a home phone. I have also heard of people having luck using the Magic Jack for phone service.
Meredith says
Check out phone power. That’s who we use. In your situation, you need a grounded phone. The reader above mentioned an extra cell phone. I prefer a grounded phone when I leave my daughter with a sitter. An extra cell could lead to the sitter leaving the house. Phone power has some good plans especially if you pay a full year in advance. We average 8 a month.
Sheila says
You might check out http://www.onesuite.com for VoIP.
I don’t know anything about VoIP, ut I use them for long distance (basically a dial around or pre-paid long distance). I went from paying $20/mos plus 2 cents a minute to paying 2.9 cents per minute for long distance. Yes I have to dial an 800# then enter our pin and then enter the phone number, but those few extra seconds are soooo worth it!! They also have a referral program (if it’s OK to post this – I’d love it if someone would use mu Suite Treat code B19M43729 – you get a 5% bonus and so do I) and occasional bonus recharges. I’m still on the $20 I added to my account back in Nov 🙂
Teresa says
We have been using Magic Jack for a few months now and love it. i think it cost 60-70 for the device and one year of service. After that it is only 40 a year. We got the newer one that doesn’t have to be plugged into the computer. It just plugs into the wall and your phone line or cable modem. You need to have reliable high speed internet. My cousin also recently switched over. Her internet isn’t as reliable and will drop occasionally, but she said even with that she wouldn’t go back. It works just like a normal phone after you set it up. Just pick up your phone and dial. It works out to about 3-5 dollars a month. I don’t think you can beat that. Hope that helps.
Kim says
If you have wireless internet at home, check out Republic Wireless. I use their $5 a month wifi only plan for our home phone. Even with 2 smartphones on their 3G plans our total bill is less than $70 ($10 of which is TAXES!).
Audrey @ Mom Drop Box says
We’ve done a lot of these too and you are so right that they really do add up to a lot of extra $$. I agree with other comments about how cable is just not worth it. We canceled ours & it really changed our life for the better because now we don’t watch so much junk. We saved about $800 just doing that one thing.
The Prudent Homemaker says
Not to mention the time it frees up to pursue other things!
Angela says
I recently realized that we were paying $8 a month for insurance for our cell phone as well. So I cancelled that right away. Other than that, we only have 1 phone – which serves as only a phone, no texting or internet :), we don’t have cable or satelite tv. When we bought our house, we decided to cancel our cable (this was 2 1/2 years ago) and we haven’t looked back. All the shows I used to watch are available online the next day anyway. The two ‘extras’ we do subscribe to are cable internet and netflix streaming. But even those two only add up to less than $30 a month – which is pretty reasonable for ‘entertainment’ and keeping in touch with family and friends 🙂
zena says
We don’t have cable either. We bought a roku and have a small satelitte reciever in our window. We get about 20 channels and watch everything else on Netflix and Hulu.
Kristine says
This is us, too. Even down to the antenna in the window!
Probably saved around $800 last year by turning off satellite, while still paying for Netflix (streaming only) and HuluPlus.
Jessica says
I canceled my newspaper subscription last year after they kept printing disparaging articles about public employees (which at the time, I was and so was my DH). That saved me $120/year. Now to get coupons I just ask around and trade with others- free.
We’ve never had cable, Netflix or other paid tv. We borrow DVDs or stream over the internet (Hulu).
We have the most minimum landline (my DH insists we keep a landline).
We have the bare minimum cellphone plan.
We also still find ways to cut. You just have to keep looking!
The Prudent Homemaker says
I almost got rid of my landline this month and had no phone, but since my baby is due any day, and we’re a one-car family, I decided to keep it at least a little longer 🙂
Jessica says
Brandi that is funny. Yes I recall calling my husband when I went into labor with our first child, telling him to finish up his work for the day as I would be needing a ride to the hospital! We were a 1 car family at the time– and I didn’t drive. There was a period of 10 years as an adult that I did not drive due to being in college, graduate school… and hating driving!
Also, if you have little ones, you should have a phone of some kind. Accidental poisoning or some other medical emergency, fire, severe injury could happen.
The Prudent Homemaker says
Jessica, that is the other reason I still have a phone.
Amie says
Check in your area, but here our cellphones can call 911, even if they don’t have service. In a case like labor…that could be considered an emergency. You just have to keep a phone charged. When I was pregnant I would keep a phone w me. But I didn’t actually get a cellphone until my daughter was a couple months old.
Kathryn says
We changed our phone plan as well and saved almost $350 a year. Also to pay off the last $5000 of credit card debt (long story but we are down from $35,000) we switched to a 0% card that will take us until it is paid off..that saved us about $50 a month.
The Prudent Homemaker says
Good for you!
The Prudent Homemaker says
I don’t have a cell phone 🙂 That alone saves me hundreds of dollars a year.
I do have a landline. I don’t have long distance or caller id, but I did have (several years ago) call waiting. I got rid of it and saved us $5 a month. I pay $15.65 a month for our landline.
We got rid of cable 5 years ago.
We don’t get the newspaper or pay for Netflix.
But, we have continued to find ways to cut, just like you mentioned. Even though it seems like we can’t save more than we already have, we keep finding ways–including saving on our utilities. I got my highest winter heating bill down by over half, thanks to keeping it a few degrees cooler, dressing warmer, and a warmer winter.
Meredith says
I don’t have a cell phone either! I have a pay as you go throw away phone for car emergencies. I put 10 dollars of minutes and it lasts me 4 months. In fact, I rarely use the minutes. I have a landline through the cable that is 9 a month. So I pay about 12 dollars a month for phone usage. Not to mention, Skype is free.
Michelle says
We save a lot of money every month by using prepaid cell phones at a cost of about $40/yr. We rarely use our phones, so once a year I only need to pay $20/phone to extend our plan another year. We don’t get good cell service where we live, so I do have a landline, but I use a calling card to make long distance calls.
JoannaTopazT says
What are you using for a prepaid cel phone that is only costing $40 a year? And where did you find it? We recently got my husband a cel phone; I *thought* it was prepaid, but we’re being billed about $20 a month. I think there was something I didn’t understand somewhere.
Michelle says
We have had T-Mobile prepaid for a few years. When we first started each phone had an expense of about $20 for the phone and $100 for one year of service. I don’t remember how many minutes that was, but we use the phone minimally so it didn’t matter. After the first year, since we started out with a $100, we only have to renew with a $20 phonecard and that extends our time another year. It may even work with a $10 phonecard, its been a few months so I don’t remember. You do have to make sure to renew before your minutes/time expires. I’m not sure if they have the same deal for new customers. I’m also not sure why you are being billed. Have a savvy friend look over the packaging and see where you can correct this. I’ve seen on the packaging for T-Mobile prepaid phones that they also have an option for month-to-month billing, I don’t know how you got the wrong one, but it should be fairly easy to correct.
Thrifty Military Mommy says
Yep, we’ve pretty much done the same thing. No cable for us and we haven’t had it for over 7 years! Not worth it in my book. Thanks for sharing.
Jessica says
Thanks for the reminder of how so many little things add up over a years time!
Crystal @ Blissful Homemaking says
We no longer have cable, we use Netflix and Hulu only. So to watch TV we only pay for Netflix. I TRULY don’t miss it. Blogging is my “hobby” anyways. My favorite shows we get to watch because they are on the basic channels we receive.
We do not have a landline. We waited for a long time to get smart phones. We have the least expensive plan possible for our cell phones. We don’t subscribe to anything like a gym membership, etc.
Amber @ Southern Illinois Money Savers says
We do not have cable either. We only have Netflix for our tv watching and have been doing it for almost 2 years and we don’t miss it the other way either.
KBellatti says
Same here. I haven’t paid for cable in at least 5 years, and I do NOT miss it. Plus, this cuts down and 98% eliminated with the little one’s “I WANT I WANT I WANT” chant, and the added drama into our crazy lives.
I pay $8.55 (after tax) for Netflix every month for unlimited Watch Instantly. Big difference from a monthly cable bill. I don’t have a land line and don’t have a smart phone. My phone bill is less than $38/month. I don’t have a gym membership.
Another area to check for spending: Insurances. Some people do not realize they are paying at least double for certain coverages.
Angela says
I only have local service for my landline and that saves me about $25 a month which helps when you are a one income household..thanks for sharing your story, very inspiring
Mackenzie says
We saved money by only taking the paper on Sundays instead of everyday. The paper just didn’t get read during the week and it was becoming a waste of money. We are working on attacking the cable bill next!
MaryAnne @ Parenting and Money says
We tried to do this at first but the paper increased the Sunday rate and included the daily papers for “free”. We ditched them instead. These days I read the news and find the coupons online.