Put your Bills on a Diet...in 5 Easy Steps

More Month at the End of the Money?

This happens more than we care to admitt. The neccisities of life...such as food, clothing, electricity, shelter, and transportation take a large chunck of our hard earned dollars. Then add our other expenses for entertainment, eating out, gifts, vacations, furniture, and the dreaded credit cards.

Make Money Work for you!

First and for most you need to sit down and create a budget...yes the dreaded "b" word. But it is imperative to do so. While you are working on your budget here are a few suggestions on how you can save over 8,800 dollars every year.

Savings are based on changes made in my personal budget...may not be the same for everyone.

1. Reduce eating out. We would go out to eat twice durring the work week and for every meal on the weekends. Each meal would cost an average of 30 dollars (for two) and by going out only on the weekends and for two meals (one on Saturday and the second on Sunday) we saved 120 dollars a week, 480 a month, or 5,760 dollars a year (estimated).

2. Gas prices are at all time highs, paying more every month for fuel than the car note. I have a two hour commute to and from work and susbequently use two tanks of gas every week. By useing my company sponsored van pool program I have been able to reduce this to one tank a week. I have been able to save 45 dollars a week, 180 dollars a month, and 2,160 dollars a year.

3. Take a look at your energy provider. I was able to save 50 dollars a month, or 600 dollars a year by just switching to a lower cost provider...with no contract! If you really want to save...you can adjust your thermostate to 77 degrees in the summar and reduce it to 72 degrees in the winter. This will reduce the amount of time that the A/C is working and thus reduce your power bill. I have adopted this strategy and found that we were able to save (on average) an additional 25 dollars per month, or 300 dollars a year. Combining the two cost saving approaches yields a savings of 900 dollars per year.

4. Review your bills. If you can...lump your services into one contract. This can help you get a bigger bang for your dollar. Examples would be to roll your house phone, cell phone, satelite or digital cable, and DSL together. Be careful, sometimes you will get products that you do not want or need but will be forced to take...for the sake of combining your services. For me I was unable to roll all of my services into one exactly because of this reason. But by combing my house phon and DSL I was able to save 5 dollars. Not a whole lot but I will take savings wherever I might find them. Estimated yearly, savings amount to 60 dollars.

5. Stop buying on credit. Pay cash, and you can, sometimes, negotiate a better price. Also, interest that we pay is outrages. Even if you get a "deal" with no interest you are still responsible for the principle. These purchases (that last three years) is what eats away at your hard earned dollars. The savings that could be obtained by switching from credit to cash is astronomical...I can not compute it.

It is amazing the little things that we can do to save. I would have never thought that I could save an additional 700 dollars per month or 8,800 dollars a year by just changing a few things...but I did, and you can to. But remember saving is the first part of the equation. It is what we do with our savings that will dictate how wealthy we will be. More on this later.