How To Save Money On Just About All Of Your Regular Monthly Bills
By Peter Anderson12 Comments - The content of this website often contains affiliate links and I may be compensated if you buy through those links (at no cost to you!). Learn more about how we make money. Last edited .
The last few years have been tough ones, with the economy going through recession, millions of people becoming unemployed and businesses going under left and right.
The economy has shown some signs of improving, but indications are we still have a lot of rough roads ahead of us.
With the economy being so unsure, now is as good a time as any to start thinking about how to cut back on your regular monthly bills. For many, once you’ve cut out some of the more obvious expenditures, it doesn’t feel like there are that many other places that can be cut. The truth is, however, that most people have a lot of places where they can still cut back and save money.
Today I thought I’d look at some of the main areas of spending that people have every month – their regular monthly bills.
Often people take those monthly bills for granted, not even thinking about how they can save money on those regular expenditures, just taking it on faith that they can’t get those bills any lower.
So today’s post is all about how to save money on just about all of your regular monthly bills.
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How To Save On Your Phone And Wireless Bills
There are a variety of ways that you can save on your cell phone, home phone, and mobile internet charges. Here are a couple of the options that we’re using – or plan to start using in the coming year to save on our phone bills.
Landline phone service: For years we’ve had a landline because my wife prefers talking on that versus a cell phone, and also because we needed the landline for our home security system. We recently made changes that mean we can now opt for a cheaper VOIP option for our landline service. After doing some research a lot of other bloggers are talking about the Ooma phone service, which is apparently very good. All you have to do is pay upfront to buy an Ooma Telo device for around $100, which then allows you to make unlimited calls in the U.S. for free over your existing broadband connection! All you have to pay is local taxes in your area (about $4.50 for us). You can port your current landline phone number over as well, for a $39.99 fee. Read my full review of Ooma here, and my post talking about setting Ooma up here.
Prepaid Cell Phones: We’ve been saving a ton of money over the years by using prepaid cell phone service, instead of more costly contract plans. We have no contract phone service from Republic Wireless, and we pay on average about $40/month for two phones. Both of them are Android smartphones with tons of minutes and unlimited text with 1GB/data ($20/month). The only downside is the upfront cost of the cell phone – it isn’t subsidized like on contract plans. There are a variety of other low-cost prepaid cell services out there that many people recommend including Tello and Gen Mobile. Check out the related content below for a full article talking about saving on your cell phone bill using prepaid services. Want to use a traditional phone service? Check out Bill Shark, BillFixers or Rocket Money to negotiate a reduction in your monthly cell phone bills.
Low-Cost Hotspots: A while ago I needed Internet access on the go while traveling. At the time I settled on buying a mobile hotspot from Virgin Mobile via their prepaid wireless broadband plan. You buy the hotspot and then pay $35/month for 1GB of data. I was in a rush so I bought the hotspot and used it while on my trip. When I got back I became aware that there are quite a few companies that offer mobile hotspots for much lower cost, or phones and phone plans that can be used as hotspots – for much less. Do your research.
One place that you can save hundreds of dollars every month is in your housing costs. Most people are aware that they could probably save by refinancing, but there are other ways you can save as well.
Refinance your mortgage: The most obvious way to save on your housing costs is simply to refinance your home mortgage. Rates are so low right now, and by refinancing you can often save hundreds of dollars off of your regular monthly payment. I’m in the middle of looking for a refinance right now, and we stand to save in the neighborhood of $200-300/month.
Appeal your property taxes: A lot of people don’t realize that you can actually appeal your property taxes in many counties by appealing the county’s tax appraisal value. I successfully appealed our value once a couple of years ago, saving $363/year. Find out how I did it below via the related content.
Get cheaper homeowner’s insurance: I go into this more in the insurance section below, but if you shop around you can often find hundreds in savings every year just by switching insurance companies. We saved almost $1000/year by doing this just a couple of months ago.
Remove mortgage insurance: If you’re paying mortgage insurance with your regular monthly payment, and you have already reached 20% equity in your home, you may want to look into having that insurance removed by your mortgage company. It isn’t there to protect you, but the bank. Often you can have it removed after getting 20% equity in the house, and in many cases, it may be required that they remove it. In some cases, if you’re a high-risk borrower or if you have an FHA loan, you may need to keep the mortgage insurance longer.
Downsize your house: If you’re trying to lower your bills a surefire way is to downsize your house. Not only will your payment go down, but your insurance, taxes, maintenance costs, and other costs will go down as well. Of course, any costs associated with moving also need to be taken into account.
There are a lot of ways that you can cut costs when it comes to your entertainment dollars.
Shop around and sign up for deals on premium TV: First, if you’re determined to keep your premium TV because of sports or programming only available on cable, you can at least make sure that you get the best possible deal on your cable TV package. Make sure to shop around once your introductory deal runs out and you can usually end up saving hundreds every year by switching companies! Or you can use a bill negotiation service like Bill Shark, BillFixers or Rocket Money to negotiate a reduction in your monthly bills.
Cancel unneeded services: Another thing you can do is check to make sure you’re not doubling up on any services. When we were cutting back a while ago we realized that we were paying for both Netflix streaming and Amazon Prime – which has a good video streaming option. We realized most of the same TV shows and movies were available on both sources, so we canceled Netflix – saving us $7.99/month.
Cut the cord: If you’re a bit more ambitious and aren’t very particular about receiving certain channels or waiting to see content the night it airs, you might want to make this the year that you cut the cord. Cancel your cable or satellite TV packages and move to something more affordable. Instead of paying for a TV package you can use free or low-cost video streaming services like Hulu or Philo, shows streamed by the networks, and more. Use software like Playon to stream the shows directly to your TV using an existing gaming console like the Xbox One or Playstation 4, or a cheap device like the Fire TV or Roku. The options are pretty numerous, and we’ve used options like this in the past to get most of our TV entertainment. Check out the related content below for a couple of exhaustive posts on how to set this up.
Use cheap movie rental alternatives: Don’t really watch TV or movies too much – and a monthly Netflix or Amazon subscription doesn’t make sense for you? Use a cheap rental alternative like Redbox, where you can rent a new release movie for a dollar. You can often find coupon codes to get free rentals every now and then. If you rent infrequently enough for it to matter, use cheap pay-per-view video options on iTunes, Amazon, and Xbox to rent movies without leaving the comfort of your home. Amazon often gives away free credits on social media for their MP3 and Video stores, so follow them on Twitter and Facebook to get deals!
If you’re looking to save on your internet costs, the best thing you can do, similar as with TV deals, is to shop around, or use a bill negotiation company.
Search for the best deal: Find out where you can get the best deal. For us our internet options include DSL service from a couple of different companies and cable internet. You can usually find competing deals and introductory offers that you can use to hop from company to company and always have the best deal. Other times you can bundle with other services and save. It can be a pain, but it can save you a ton of money too.
Get reduced rate internet: Another thing you can do if you live in certain areas is us a free 4G internet service. Of course to do this you’d have to live in an area with good 4G coverage.
The best way to save on your insurance costs is just to shop around on a regular basis. I like to do it at least every 1-2 years for my homeowner’s insurance, auto insurance, life insurance and less often for other types. We found our best deal by using an insurance broker because they were able to compare rates at multiple companies and compare quotes for us.
Within the past few weeks we shopped around for new homeowner’s insurance after the premium skyrocketed. We ended up saving almost $1000/year when we switched our homeowner’s and auto insurance to a new company. That’s not the first time we’ve been able to do that! We did the same thing about 4 years ago, comparing rates and saving over $1000 that time!
You may have had your old bricks and mortar checking or savings account since you were in high school, but have been noticing lately that they’ve started charging you fees for various things. You’ve also noticed that the fees for your brokerage account have gone up, and mysterious inactivity fees started popping up. Whatever the case, people often find that their bank account is no longer useful to them, and that they can save money on fees (or make more interest) by moving somewhere else.
Save money by closing old accounts: Often old accounts start charging inactivity fees for dormant accounts, or just start charging fees because they think they can get away with it. Closing an account can be a pain, but it can also save you money (and headaches) in the long run.
Sign up for better bank accounts: Signing up for a better bank account will mean not only savings because of no fees and no minimums, but also can mean you’ll end up making more money interest, cash back and other perks. For example, a while back we Chime a great online bank. We’ve saved quite a bit in account fees that we no longer pay. Our old account at a traditional bricks and mortar was charging us fees for all sorts of things, and customer service wasn’t great. We have also switched our savings account to online banks with accounts from Capital One 360 and CIT Bank Not only are we making more in interest, but the features available at those banks surpass our old bank.
Lower interest on your credit card accounts: If the interest on your credit card is getting unreasonably high, consider closing the account after signing up for a card with a lower interest rate, 0% balance transfer and no fees. Just be wary of big charges to actually transfer balances.
Different account types to consider closing if the fees or features aren’t up to snuff? Savings accounts, checking accounts, brokerage accounts, mutual fund company accounts, credit cards. Go down the list and figure out which ones just aren’t cutting it anymore.
Saving on energy bills often can’t be done by switching to another provider because there is often only one option for water, gas or electricity in many areas. That means the savings usually has to come from being creative and saving in other ways.
Some ways to save on your energy bills:
Get a programmable thermostat: A good portion of your utility bills every month are going to come from your heating and cooling bills. By buying a programmable thermostat like the smart Nest thermostat, you can have your heat turned down at night, turned low when you’re gone and even control it remotely. They advertise an annual savings average of $173, so it may take about 18 months to pay back the $249 cost – unless you can find it for less. Other options include regular programmable thermostats which can run $50-70 or more.
Get (slightly) out of your comfort zone: Be willing to turn the temp down slightly in the winter, and up in the summer. You can save a ton of money just by turning the temp up or down even a few degrees!
Use a power saving device: A lot of the electronic devices we use these days have phantom power drain even when you’re not using them. Get around this by getting an auto-sensing power strip that will turn off all power when the unit is off, or energy saving power plugs that have on off switches for things like coffeemakers or toasters.
Save at your water heater: The water heater can account for 14-25% of your energy bills every year. Often the heat on your water heater is turned up higher than you need it to be. A temp of 120-140 degrees is hot enough, and every 10 degrees you lower it you’ll save 3-5% on your bill. Some experts say not to go below 120 degrees, however, because bacteria can grow in the tank. You can also save by putting a fiberglass insulating blanket on the water heater to save money on heat loss.
Get a home energy audit to find energy leaks: Local utilities will often come out to do a home energy audit free of charge or a small fee to help you find where your home is leaking energy. Plug up the leaks and save!
Maintain your appliances: Doing things like cleaning your AC condensor coils or changing furnace filters regularly can save you money on your energy. If you don’t, appliances can work harder than they need to, and drain more energy.
So there you have it, how to save money on just about all your possible monthly bills. I could probably go on, but the point is there are no shortage of ways to save money on your regular monthly expenditures. You can save on your housing costs, your phone and wireless broadband costs, your insurance costs, your energy costs, your bank accounts and even on your spending on entertainment. You just have to be creative, find cheaper alternatives and cancel un-needed services.
So what ways to save on your regular monthly bills can you suggest? Tell us your money-saving strategies in the comments!
Last Edited: 12th June 2024 The content of biblemoneymatters.com is for general information purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. Visitors to biblemoneymatters.com should not act upon the content or information without first seeking appropriate professional advice. In accordance with the latest FTC guidelines, we declare that we have a financial relationship with every company mentioned on this site.
About Peter Anderson
Peter Anderson is a Christian, husband to his beautiful wife Maria, and father to his 2 children. He loves reading and writing about personal finance, and also enjoys a good board game every now and again. You can find out more about him on the about page. Don't forget to say hi on Pinterest, Twitter or Facebook!
Wow, this is an awesome breakdown on savings. I have done some of these, but apparently have a lot of work to do. I am looking at how to protest my tax appraisal, so we will see how that goes.
Yeah, I’m still working on some of these myself, and I’m sure we’ll hear more tips from other commenters. There is no shortage of ways to save – it just comes down to our willingness to make “sacrifices”.
Hi Peter – the savings that you mention about cell phones is pretty significant. Have you compared with the contract prices to see how much you are actually saving since you mentioned that you have to pay full price for the phone? I’m just wondering if my mom and I could save by making the switch. Thanks!
The post I linked to talks about the savings in more depth, but for us we more than cut our monthly cell bills in half, and the phone was paid for in about 5 months I guess.
JD Power said a while ago that the average cell phone bill is now somewhere in the range of $96/month or so. If you were to switch to the $35/month plan with Virgin Mobile for example and get unlimited text/data and 300 minutes of talk time, you’d save $61/month or $732/year! Even if you got unlimited minutes talk, the most you’d pay is $55/month – and you’d still save almost $500/year.
Depending on how much you’re paying now there are likely savings to be had. If you want to stay frugal there are some cheaper phone options available as well, you don’t have to get one of the nice iphones with Virgin to sign up, there are some sub-$100 phones as well.
Comments on the OOMA. I have an old Magic Jack and I have to use my computer with it (the Magic Jack PLUS does not require a computer, just a router). The call quality is great (but I cannot use the computer while calling or it is garbled) and the big disadvantage (which I did not consider) was that it really does not work with a fax machine (they tell you a few tricks to try, but it did not work). Have you tried a fax with the Ooma? And FYI, your relative/buddy who lives in, say, Mexico or India can buy a MJ, use a U.S. phone number on it and then call anybody in the US for free and vice versa. MJ is cheaper than Ooma. Here is a fairly unbiased (he likes Vonage) comparison. http://michaelbluejay.com/consumer/phone.html
I recommend looking at your bank’s website. A lot of banks will refund account fees if you hold a certain number of products with them. (Mine doesn’t charge fees for my unlimited acount because I have a mortgage, a credit card and investments with them).
Peter – You had a ton of great tips in this article, I hadn’t even known that something like Freedom Pop was available instead of those expensive mobile hotspots. I did have one thing to add that might help you in the future though. I found out about this company called BillCutterz through another Christian blog and they were able to lower my cable, internet, and cell phone bills without cutting my services down like I had done in the past to save. It is something worth checking into since it did help me.
Further to this excellent information, check your insurance (ALL) to see that you get mature market discounts (that’s age) , no claim discounts (that’s for a period of years not having had to make a claim ) mortgage free discount . You get discounts for accident free on your auto insurance as well. You can get Widow/ Widower discounts on property taxes and so on. I don’t recommend chip mortgage or deferred tax loans.
I know I am a year late but this information is still good, practical, and relevant. Adding to saving money on your cable bill, here’s what I did that saved me $960 on my cable bill.
– First like you said check out your other options and take note of competitors deals.
– look at your cable service providers website and see what promotions they’re running for “new customers” and take note of the promotion that fits your liking.
– Then call and negotiate a better deal with your provider (20 mins).
Basically saying that you love that provider and service (if you do), but can’t afford the monthly bill anymore. Nicely ask them “what can we do to get my bill cheaper? ”
most of the time the first rep that you talk to can’t do much of anything. So your main goal is to get transferred to customer retention where they have the power to pull strings or a supervisor.
Usually they will say there’s nothing that can be done (not true), and this is where your research comes in handy…..use it like this.
“That’s unfortunate that nothing can be done because I love this company, but i cannot afford the bill any more. Company “X” is offering “Y” deal and you guys are offering “Z” deal to new customers. I’d really love to keep my service instead of switching to “X” company. So who do I need to talk to or what do I need to do to get “X” promotion.”
9 times out of 10 you’ll get transfered to a supervisor. If you’re told there’s nothing that can be done again. Ask to be transfered to the department to cancel your account (retention). This is where the strings get pulled to keep customers. Explain your situation again and ask for the promotion you wanted and you shall receive.
I have done this 4 years straight for my household and my mothers. It works every single time so far but the key is to be nice to the person you’re talking to. If you piss them off they won’t want to help you and you will get nothing.
Thanks for all the great advice. Being in the hot water heater business I especially like the water heater advice. I agree though – don’t go below 120 degrees just to stay safe!
I was wondering what people’s tips on saving money buying fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat are.
I’m currently living in the Bay area (where rent is ridiculously expensive) and have cut down on pretty much every possible expense except for this.
I have some health concerns so I really need to start eating healthier but I’m having trouble doing this frugally. I don’t have a car and need to take two buses to get to a Safeway. There is also a Trader Joe’s that I can take a bus to. I can cook well enough to get by and am getting better everyday with practice.
Great tips – especially keeping the temp down on your hot water heater. An added benefit of that is a reduced risk of skin burn especially on little ones. Sounds like a win win to me!
Wow, this is an awesome breakdown on savings. I have done some of these, but apparently have a lot of work to do. I am looking at how to protest my tax appraisal, so we will see how that goes.
Yeah, I’m still working on some of these myself, and I’m sure we’ll hear more tips from other commenters. There is no shortage of ways to save – it just comes down to our willingness to make “sacrifices”.
Hi Peter – the savings that you mention about cell phones is pretty significant. Have you compared with the contract prices to see how much you are actually saving since you mentioned that you have to pay full price for the phone? I’m just wondering if my mom and I could save by making the switch. Thanks!
The post I linked to talks about the savings in more depth, but for us we more than cut our monthly cell bills in half, and the phone was paid for in about 5 months I guess.
JD Power said a while ago that the average cell phone bill is now somewhere in the range of $96/month or so. If you were to switch to the $35/month plan with Virgin Mobile for example and get unlimited text/data and 300 minutes of talk time, you’d save $61/month or $732/year! Even if you got unlimited minutes talk, the most you’d pay is $55/month – and you’d still save almost $500/year.
Depending on how much you’re paying now there are likely savings to be had. If you want to stay frugal there are some cheaper phone options available as well, you don’t have to get one of the nice iphones with Virgin to sign up, there are some sub-$100 phones as well.
Comments on the OOMA. I have an old Magic Jack and I have to use my computer with it (the Magic Jack PLUS does not require a computer, just a router). The call quality is great (but I cannot use the computer while calling or it is garbled) and the big disadvantage (which I did not consider) was that it really does not work with a fax machine (they tell you a few tricks to try, but it did not work). Have you tried a fax with the Ooma? And FYI, your relative/buddy who lives in, say, Mexico or India can buy a MJ, use a U.S. phone number on it and then call anybody in the US for free and vice versa. MJ is cheaper than Ooma. Here is a fairly unbiased (he likes Vonage) comparison.
http://michaelbluejay.com/consumer/phone.html
I recommend looking at your bank’s website. A lot of banks will refund account fees if you hold a certain number of products with them. (Mine doesn’t charge fees for my unlimited acount because I have a mortgage, a credit card and investments with them).
Peter – You had a ton of great tips in this article, I hadn’t even known that something like Freedom Pop was available instead of those expensive mobile hotspots. I did have one thing to add that might help you in the future though. I found out about this company called BillCutterz through another Christian blog and they were able to lower my cable, internet, and cell phone bills without cutting my services down like I had done in the past to save. It is something worth checking into since it did help me.
Further to this excellent information, check your insurance (ALL) to see that you get mature market discounts (that’s age) , no claim discounts (that’s for a period of years not having had to make a claim ) mortgage free discount . You get discounts for accident free on your auto insurance as well. You can get Widow/ Widower discounts on property taxes and so on. I don’t recommend chip mortgage or deferred tax loans.
Great advice here Peter!
I know I am a year late but this information is still good, practical, and relevant. Adding to saving money on your cable bill, here’s what I did that saved me $960 on my cable bill.
– First like you said check out your other options and take note of competitors deals.
– look at your cable service providers website and see what promotions they’re running for “new customers” and take note of the promotion that fits your liking.
– Then call and negotiate a better deal with your provider (20 mins).
Basically saying that you love that provider and service (if you do), but can’t afford the monthly bill anymore. Nicely ask them “what can we do to get my bill cheaper? ”
most of the time the first rep that you talk to can’t do much of anything. So your main goal is to get transferred to customer retention where they have the power to pull strings or a supervisor.
Usually they will say there’s nothing that can be done (not true), and this is where your research comes in handy…..use it like this.
“That’s unfortunate that nothing can be done because I love this company, but i cannot afford the bill any more. Company “X” is offering “Y” deal and you guys are offering “Z” deal to new customers. I’d really love to keep my service instead of switching to “X” company. So who do I need to talk to or what do I need to do to get “X” promotion.”
9 times out of 10 you’ll get transfered to a supervisor. If you’re told there’s nothing that can be done again. Ask to be transfered to the department to cancel your account (retention). This is where the strings get pulled to keep customers. Explain your situation again and ask for the promotion you wanted and you shall receive.
I have done this 4 years straight for my household and my mothers. It works every single time so far but the key is to be nice to the person you’re talking to. If you piss them off they won’t want to help you and you will get nothing.
Thanks for all the great advice. Being in the hot water heater business I especially like the water heater advice. I agree though – don’t go below 120 degrees just to stay safe!
Hi Peter
Thanks for this wonderful insight..
I was wondering what people’s tips on saving money buying fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat are.
I’m currently living in the Bay area (where rent is ridiculously expensive) and have cut down on pretty much every possible expense except for this.
I have some health concerns so I really need to start eating healthier but I’m having trouble doing this frugally. I don’t have a car and need to take two buses to get to a Safeway. There is also a Trader Joe’s that I can take a bus to. I can cook well enough to get by and am getting better everyday with practice.
Thanks in advance!
Regards..
Great tips – especially keeping the temp down on your hot water heater. An added benefit of that is a reduced risk of skin burn especially on little ones. Sounds like a win win to me!