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Trying to Reduce Expenses? Sweat the Big Stuff! – Cell Phones & Utilities

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Recently I’ve been looking for small ways to cut our expenses. I’ve read a ton of great blogs and articles and realized that there are too many tips for one person to follow! This is especially true when you are just beginning to reduce expenses.

Making a change in every area of your life is an overwhelming process. It would be better for you to make a few large changes that will have a big impact on your finances, and then make the smaller changes over time.

Yesterday, we took a look at reducing our auto expenses. Today we will look at reducing the expenses associated with your phones and utilities.

Cell Phone Costs:

  • Make sure that you have a plan that fits your needs. For instance, an Individual Plan with 900 minutes costs $60 with AT&T; if you only use 400/month, why not drop down to the 450 minute plan for only $40, or better yet, get a prepaid phone.

  • Have a data plan? If you are not required to have one by your phone company (some smartphone owners are required to keep a data plan), check your usage to see if you really need one. If your phone has wi-fi capabilities, then you can use any free wireless connection to use the internet on your phone! So it should be free to use your internet connection at work, home, most friend’s homes, and libraries. In that case GET RID OF YOUR DATA PLAN!

  • Texting – Google Voice offers FREE texts and phone calls. They also give you the option of having your free texts forwarded to your email account. So, if you have a data plan (see above),  then you can just check your email to receive your texts! They also allow you to send/receive texts from your computer – this is great when you are at work and can’t easily access your cell phone.

  • You could also get together with a few people that you trust and establish a Family Plan and split the bill!

  • If you are out of your contract, use a service like Billshrink to compare your options and get the best price.

  • Once you are ready to buy your new phone, be sure to go to Amazon.com’s new wireless store for a great deal (usually much better than going through the carrier)!

    Landline Phone:

    • Cancel your home long distance plan if you have a cell phone. Since your cell phone plan likely includes long distance calls, it is a waste of money to pay for it on your landline.

    • If you have a landline and a cell phone, cutting the landline is probably the best way to go.

    • If you feel that you need to have a home phone (or a line separate from your cell phone), then you can try a few alternatives such as, Skype, Magic Jack or even Google Voice.

      Cable/Internet:

      The first two tips are from a previous article looking at why you need to keep at least $500 in your checking account at all times.

      • Look at your cable bill and eliminate the channels that you don’t need. It doesn’t make sense to pay for 600 channels when all you really need is ESPN!

      • Or cancel your cable plan entirely – it’s not as hard as you may think (read about Paul’s experience with eliminating TV service at ProvidentPlan.com).

      • Netflix – this is a great alternative to cable. You are able to rent DVD’s via mail (free shipping) and they usually arrive the next day. There are no due dates or late fees. And for many accounts you can watch movies and tv shows on your computer or on your tv (using your Nintendo Wii, xbox 360, PlayStation 3 or the Roku Player).

      • Take advantage of a bundle. Many service providers will offer discounts if you sign up for more than one of their services. You can usually save money by combining your internet, cable (or just get rid of it), phone (get rid of that too) and maybe even cell phone onto one bill.

      • Make sure you have an internet plan that works for you. Most internet service providers will price their plans based on the download & upload speeds (measured in Mbps). If you are not constantly uploading and downloading large files, you probably will be fine with downgrading to a slower connection and saving some money.

      • Share an internet plan? This is another tip that calls for extreme trust. If you have a close neighbor that you trust, one of you can cancel your internet plan, and just split the cost of the remaining plan. Just be sure to have a reliable Wireless Router.

      • Do you really need internet access at home? Many of us have internet access at work and don’t go on the computer that often once we get home – especially if your job calls on you to stare at a computer screen for 9 hours! Also, you can go to your local library if you only need internet access occasionally. Don’t forget about going online with your smartphone (if you have one). If this describes you, then cancel your internet plan and save big!

      Energy Costs:

      So much has been written about how to cut energy costs that it doesn’t make sense to try and reinvent the wheel. Here are a couple of articles that you can read on the subject:


      A few questions for you:

      1. Do you have any tips for reducing your phone or utility costs?
      2. Will you implement any of these tips? If so, which ones?
      3. Have any of these tips worked for you? Any bad experiences?

      I look forward to your comments!


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      Comments

      1. The main idea is to go basic: basic channel subscriptions, basic cell phone plan. Borrow DVD’s from friends or plan a movie night with some friends and then split the costs is always a good option.

      2. Awesome post! very informative and the practical are very effective. Thanks for the wonderful information you have imparted to the reader.Thanks again!

      3. You could easily slash at least 50% off your cell phone bill by going prepaid. That being said, good luck on getting someone to ditch their beloved “smartphone”. Why I won’t be able to look as kewl while sipping on my $7 cup of coffee at starbucks with my lowly Tracfone or whatever.

      4. Great ideas, and taken together, there are substantial savings here.

        The one that I’ve always been suspicous of is bundling services. I know you can save money doing this, but I don’t like being locked into a single provider for cable, phone, internet and cells.

        For one thing, a company that’s great with cable may not be so good with cellphones–and we’ve had this experience. For another, I like having the flexibility of moving each service to a different provider for a better deal, but pulling one out of the bundle may cause fees to go up on those that remain.

        The whole arrangement seems like a voluntary locking system that restrains your options and keeps you from getting the best deals. And with the way systems and services keep changing, there’s always a better deal somewhere.

        Bundles are great deals when you first enter them, but they tend to decline in savings over time as other services become available for less and the cost of your bundle increases.

        • Yeah, we feel the same way about bundles. We’ll usually go into them for the 1 year discount period and then drop them once the charges go up. Since we are completely eliminating our cable (it is about $15/month), our internet costs will go up – so we are switching ISP’s as well.

          However, for people who are going to consume all of the services anyway, this can be a good way to save if you don’t care that much about flexibility.