Slash your home bills – easy tips that work fast

Finance & Credit Info 

While excessive spending can use up a lot of your money, often the answer to your money problems is closer to home. Many people are spending way more on their bills than they need to be. Here are some ways to cut your everyday bills and save money every month.

Conserve energy. The world is rapidly approaching a global energy crisis. If we don’t conserve, eventually, we will run out. The good news, helping conserve is not only easy; it will also help drastically cut your energy bills. Here are a few quick and easy ways to make your home energy bills a lot easier to handle.

* Watch your water usage. Turn off faucets when you’re brushing your teeth or even when you’re washing your hair and lathering up in the shower. You can also conserve water by always doing full loads in the washer or dishwasher.

* Use power strips. Any electronic device that uses a remote control is using energy even if it’s off. That’s because it has to power the remote sensor, so it’s always sitting and waiting for you to tell it to turn on. Instead, plug your remote controlled items into a power strip and turn it off when you’re not using them.

* Turn things off! Your mom always told you to turn the lights off when you leave a room. Really, running a light bulb doesn’t use that much energy. Running TV’s, VCR’s, computers, and video games systems do though. If you’re not using them, make sure they’re off.

* Use less heat or cold. Whether it’s heating the air, heating your water, or even refrigerating your food; making heat or cold uses A LOT of excess energy. Try turning down your thermostat or fridge, taking slightly colder showers, and washing clothes in colder water. You’ll probably find a big drop in your bills from small changes.

Next time you go to pay your bills, take a look at more than just the total amount you need to pay. Many companies get you started by giving you free or deeply discounted extras that we forget to get rid of when the offer goes away.

Do you really need that digital cable or call waiting? Do you ever use that internet on your phone or the roadside assistance on your car insurance? While these are normally small charges, getting rid of them can add up to big savings.

Once you’ve cut as much excess out of your bills as you think you can, start shopping around. It used to be you have one choice for TV, once choice for phone provider, and pretty much one choice for everything, but that’s no longer the case. And since there’s so much competition, even though many companies have very similar costs, you can often save a lot of money by switching (think about all those car insurance commercials you’ve seen!). This is because they offer deep discounts to new customers in order to get their business.

Just because you want to cut bills doesn’t mean you have to switch companies either. I recently switched off my parents cell phone plan onto another plan. Same minutes, same features, same company, almost half the cost. And I got a free phone for switching! The reason? The plan I was switching to had a newer contract. Renegotiating your contract when you re-up can help you get in on that “new customer” savings.

The key to lowering your bills is making lots of small easy changes that add up to big savings.

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