Last post I started with the SIMPLEST part of surviving on a single income-writing out a budget! Now, I am going to give a little more info on how to save even more on the bills that you HAVE to pay, or to completely cut out bills you do not need to pay. Some of these you might look at and go "there is no way!" But if it is a choice between feeding your kids and these, I would hope you would choose your kids ;)
Bill #1 to cut back on: Cable/Internet
It kind of goes without saying that if you can't afford it-cable and internet are NOT necessities. If you are having trouble scraping by every month, these are the first things to go-or at the very least, cut WAY back on. You do not need 800 movie channels, I am sorry. HDTV is pretty but is it a necessity? To be a stay at home mom or even cut back on bills as a working mom(or dad!)-these are things you need to ask yourself. We had movie channels for awhile as an error on behalf of the cable company, and they were almost always the same movies! Over and over. I dont want to pay every month for the same movies. I can spend a dollar at redbox and get a new(ish) release-AND there are always codes out there for free rentals with redbox-MOVIENIGHT and BREAKROOM are two that I have used and gotten free rentals. A quick google search will come up with more. Sign up for their emails to get codes sent-sometimes when I rent, they email me that same night with a free rental code! I also got a free rental for it being my 1 year rentaversary. My point is you don't need the super expanded digital HDTV with DVR cable plan-it might be nice every once in awhile but you will not die without 300 different ESPN channels, I promise.
Bill #2 to cut back on: Phone
Cell phones are wonderful inventions aren't they? If you have a cell phone, you can completely get rid of a house phone to save money! Because it is mobile-it goes wherever you go! I know the iPhone 9 or whatever version they have out now is pretty cool-tons of awesome 'apps' and 'features' that other phones don't have. But at what cost? How much more is the monthly plan for an iPhone? What about blackberry? What about the Androids or droid or whatever. I went onto Verizon.com and compared some plans for different phones. I went with a mid-range plan of 900 minutes and their unlimited texting included-Talk and Text and the lowest internet plan available for that device.
Hm. Interesting. I used the same criteria for each phone set up-900 minute plan with text messaging included and the lowest internet plan available. The 'smartphones' and iPhones REQUIRE you to have the $30 plan just to own the phone. The LG has the option of the $30 plan but also lets you not have an internet plan at all if you dont want one, and offers a $10 75 MB plan. So by just NOT getting a smartphone you save $30 a month, not to mention that the iPhone was $200, and the LG was free. Do you NEED internet on your phone? No, it would be a convenience sometimes, sure. But you do not need that feature to survive. I promise you, no one was ever rushed into the ER needing resuscitation because they did not have internet on their phone. Take a look at your phone bill-if you have internet, check to see how much you actually use it. Same for your minute usage-see if it is really necessary to have the plan that you are paying for or if you could go with a lower price plan. You could save even more if you didnt go with the text messaging included plan. But I know that, even for a super saver like myself, text messaging is my main use on my phone-not the actual minutes :) But if I had to, I could not text and I would not miss it at all.
Now your cable and internet are kind of obvious ways to cut back-they are clearly not necessities. At least to me they are fairly obvious ways to cut back. But what about your other bills that ARE necessities-electricity, water, gas or propane, insurance on cars etc. I personally have utilized several methods to save in various areas-and while this is no way to make yourself rich or cut your bills in half-they are easy steps to take to cut back, and as we all know-every cent counts!
Power/Gas bill
Way to cut #1
Levelized billing, budget billing, flat rate billing etc. Most (if not all) electric companies and gas companies offer this billing option. Basically, they just take an average of your usage and you get a flat bill every month. That way, instead of paying $300 in gas bills in the winter and $50 in the summer months, you get a bill every month that is always constant. So there are no surprises. You won't go broke trying to keep your house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They might require at least 12 months bills on file before they will let you use this option though. Also, if you happen to use more this year than you did last year, at the end of the year you will get an 'extra' bill for whatever you went over in your usage. But if you use less-you get a credit :)
Way to cut #2
Turn down that thermostat! I read somewhere that for every degree you turn your thermostat down in the winter, you save 1%. So lets say you have your thermostat set at 70 degrees in the winter and your gas bill is $300. If you turn your thermostat down to 65-you would save approximately $15. Not much, but that is $15 you didn't save otherwise. Turn your thermostat down even more at night to save more money-you are probably bundled under blankets anyways, you wont notice a degree or two difference. If you are going on vacation or to work or out shopping for a few hours-turn it down a good 10 degrees. There is no reason to run the heat while you are gone. And when you get back, turn it up 5 degrees, not the full 10 degrees.
The same goes for the summer months-if you can, invest in some ceiling fans-it would cost about $10 a year to run a ceiling fan constantly. Basically run the AC as a last resort, not a first resort. Put the AC at 80 if you can. I know that where I live in GA-it gets up over 100 degrees with humidity, and I do NEED to run it. But fans really help cut down on their necessity-and if you have a whole house fan-see if you can get by JUST running that. Running it in conjunction with AC wont save much, but if you can make do with just the house fan, do it! We have run the AC twice so far-with days up in the 90s already!
Way to cut #3
Go to where your TV is plugged in. Or your computer. Both. Look at how many things are plugged in there. How many of them have lights on them? So even when your TV is off-there is that little red light letting you know it is off. There is a light constantly flashing on my wireless router, as well as all the lights on the modem. Not to mention the little light on the actual surge protector itself. Yea. Lots of little lights adds up. When you go to bed-turn off the surge protectors. When you leave the house, turn off the surge protectors. Take 2 minutes before you go to bed to make sure all the lights are off-lamps, overhead lights and the little lights. According to Belkin's page with all their energy saving 'stuff' you can buy-all those little lights with your TV, DVD player, gaming systems etc-cost you about $76 a year! Your computer and all it's little lights cost $30 a year-even if you ARE NOT USING THEM. That's over $100 just to have stuff plugged in. Which translates to about $8 monthly, so if you unplug them 1/2 the time, you would still save $4 a month. Unplug them/turn off surge protectors. Don't leave lights on when you are not in the room, limit TV/computer plug time. If you can, don't leave your laptop plugged in constantly, unplug it unless it needs charged. If you are like my husband and have a crappy battery in your computer, and cannot use a charge on it-plug it in while you use it and shut it down/unplug it otherwise.
I just did a quick walk through right now and counted 11 things that are currently 'lit up'
-oven clock
-microwave clock
-coffee maker
-alarm clock
-TV (2)
-cable box with time display
-computers (2)
-internet modem
-wireless router
-printer
-DVD player
AND I have an additional 4 things that are plugged in but not being used without lighting up. The oven-I can't unplug. My son is watching TV so that is 'on' as is the cable box. And the modem for the internet is ok... But just about everything else is not necessarily needed right now. Would it be a pain to reset my alarm clock everynight? Well yea, but it would save some money.
Is it a little extreme to go around unplugging everything all the time? Yes-but if you are on a tight/single income-it is WORTH it. The money you could save just by unplugging stuff can add up-trust me!
Way to save #4!
Clothesline. Need I say more? Let's do a little math to show the savings.
I could do some crazy equation that involved kWh rates and stuff. But instead I will use these estimates from laundrylist.org ;)
In an electric dryer, one load of clothes costs approximately 30-40 cents to dry a load. We will go with 40 cents to make it easier on myself-just remember your actual rates may be higher or lower. Let's pretend you do 1 load of laundry a day.
$0.40 to dry load of clothes (per day)
x365 days a year
$146 a year ($12/month)
Gas dryers are cheaper to run-but again, your prices may vary from the rates I have here. I am going to guess that gas rates are a little higher now than they were when it was written on the website :)
$0.20 to dry load of clothes in a gas dryer (per day)
x365 days a year
$73 a year ($6/ month)
Did you know that the dryer is the second biggest energy sucking appliance in your home? The fridge being the biggest one. By line drying just 1 load of laundry a week-you save $20 a year ($10 for gas dryers). The more you line dry, the more you save. And if you live somewhere where it gets relatively warm-drying outside might even dry FASTER than using a dryer. And I am not even taking into consideration how much money you spend replacing the clothes that your dryer wears out. Think about it-all that hot air blowing around, your clothes getting slammed around in a big metal tub.
You don't need some huge honking line either-I had a 9 foot retractable line from walmart on my deck, and with the use of hangers, I was able to dry entire loads on that line. If you have a shower curtain rod-you can hang things to dry on that inside-so if you rent and your landlord is not ok with clotheslines being used, you can still cut down on dryer usage.
Water bill
Way to cut #1
Fix the leaks! Check your pipes and your faucets. Is there a slow drip? Does your faucet leak around the fixture? Get those fixed! I have read that a leaky faucet can cost you anywhere from an additional $20 on your water bill to $60, maybe more. Monthly. That could be money in your pocket! And you might not even need a plumber. **I do not recommend doing plumbing yourself if you have no idea what you are doing* but if you have a little know how with tools, and are good with google-its not too hard to fix stuff like that yourself. And for a yearly savings of $240-$720 annually, I would even be willing to shell out some cash to have a professional do it for me.
Way to cut #2
It may be obvious-but shorten your showers. I am a girl. I love me a nice hot steamy shower just as much as the next girl-the steam cleans our your pores so you can have beautiful skin. But it will cost you on your monthly. According to pays to live green's calculations-it costs approximately 1/2 a cent (on average nationally) to take a shower. So for every 5 minutes you DON'T spend showering daily-you save about 2.5 cents. Not much, but in one year, cutting 5 minutes off of your daily shower will save about $9.13. If you have a family of 2-that is about $20 a year. If you cut more off, you save more. Not to mention, it saves on electric if your water heater is electric, or gas if it is gas heated.
And speaking of that water heater-turn down the temperature on it if you are able to. According to several websites, turning it down from 140 degrees F to 120 degrees F saves 10% on your bill! So on a $100 bill-$10 back in your pocket! Also -if you are looking into getting a new unit, look at the tankless units. They only heat the water as you use it-it is on demand, not just constantly heating the 30 gallons or whatever the tanked units hold. I don't recommend just going out and buying one now if you don't need it. But keep in mind that tankless water heaters save $100 yearly compared to a tanked heater. They are more expensive up front, which is why you should wait until your current one breaks to get a new one :P
In the interest in saving some space on the internet, I will end it there for now, more to come later because I think this will help someone somewhere :)
BUT to summarize:
-Remove internet from your phone plan: Saves $30 a month
-Turning down the thermostat 5 degrees in the winter saves $15 monthly.
-Turning off surge protectors for 1/2 the day-saves $4 monthly
-Fixing a leaky faucet saves $20-$60 monthly.
-Taking a 5 minute shorter shower saves $0.76 monthly
Total monthly savings by going crazy with all of these: $69.76-$109.76. Hello new shoes! Obviously not all of these apply to everyone, and many of them may not apply to you-and I didnt even count cable and internet billing because the variance in billing is so huge. This could equal a total savings of $837.12-$1317.12 a year. YEARLY! That's a new laptop, a nice camera, a few weekend trips!
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