This month we have been getting really serious about our budget. We have been trying half-heartedly for about a year, but with unexpected car repairs (my husband was in an accident...he is fine!) and a recent slew of medical expenses (unrelated to the accident) that has completely wiped out not only our emergency fund, but our vacation savings as well, we have decided to get very serious about it.
I sat down one night this weekend and looked through our bank statements and jotted down every single bill/debt/expense we currently have. I put all of this in a spreadsheet and started doing the math. I then sat down with my husband and went over every single thing that could be negotiated or dropped altogether. The first thing we landed on was a cell phone bill. We currently had a plan that gave us more data than we could ever use (we're talking 10GB more that never got used each month). One 10 minute phone call later and our bill was reduced by $53.
Next we moved on to our phone and internet service. We very rarely use our land line, so this seemed to be a logical thing to cut. We called our provider and, again, in 10 minutes had our land line removed. This will save us $55 per month. The hardest part of this was just calling all of the doctor's offices, etc. to have our primary number changed.
In addition to these two reductions, we started looking at other ways to cut our monthly bills. We focused on our garbage service next. We were paying $21 a month for our service. To be honest, we were becoming very dissatisfied with our provider as they would often go 2-3 weeks without even picking up our garbage. They would always cite equipment problems as the reason. We let that slide for about 3 months (much longer than we really should have), so we called other local providers to get their rates. We switched to a provider that was cheaper and also had a better reputation. This saved us $4 each month. This took about 20 minutes.
We then moved on to our cable provider. We have not yet gotten to the point where we are wanting to cut the cord entirely but that might be coming soon. My husband is a wiz at negotiating rates with service providers. He has some tricks of the trade that work practically every time (would you guys like a post on that?). After talking to them for about 20 minutes, we were able to reduce our bill by $30 a month.
We had also been paying $40 a month for supplemental home owner's insurance. This was supposedly going to cover all of the little things that our original home owner's would not cover like any appliance that might need to be repaired or replaced and also had a lower deductible, so we thought that it would be worth it. Rant Alert: About 3 months after signing up, we had the perfect opportunity to use said insurance. Our downstairs AC unit went out...in the midst of a southern heat wave, no less. It took the company who contracts with the insurance provider 5 days to even come out to diagnose the issue. He replaced the thermostat and put freon in the unit. He said that he had to order a part and that it would be another two weeks before he could even order it! We then decided to contact another local company to come out on our own dime. They were at our home within 24 hours of calling. The first guy had wired the thermostat incorrectly when he replaced it, so the vent was putting out hot and cold air at the same time. He had also put way too much freon in the unit, which we were lucky that it did not completely destroy the unit. Twenty minutes, a drained unit, and one very small part replacement later, we had AC. We were able to get a refund from the insurance for the cost of the second repair. We waiting for the check to clear and immediately cancelled the insurance. This only took 10 minutes on the phone to cancel but it did cost us about 4 weeks worth of hassle. So that saved us $40 a month.
Summary:
Cell Phone Service: 10 minutes = $53
Cut Land Line: 10 minutes = $55
Switch Garbage Providers: 20 minutes = $4
Cable Provider: 20 minutes = $30
Cancel Insurance: 10 minutes = $40
Total: 70 minutes = $182
In addition to calling providers to reduce our monthly expenses, I have also taken up couponing again. I went overboard the first time by playing the drug store game and going from store to store to save a few cents (thank you Extreme Couponers!). Also, my youngest was not yet born when I began so I had a little more time to find and clip coupons and drive all over town. I think that I will take a little easier this go-round, but if I can shave $10-$20 off of each grocery trip and focus on getting toiletries for free or next-to-free, I can save roughly $30-40 each month while also maintaining what little sanity I have left.
Also, since it is summer, I have decided to start shaving heads in my family! I am the only person in the house without a Y chromosome, so I am bringing out the buzzers! That will save us about $60 every 5-6 weeks. Also, I am pretty low-maintain when it comes to my hair. I get my hair cut short once a year and then just let it grow out until my next annual salon visit. I do not color my hair, so I do not have that expense either.
So, there you have it. After a long, hard look at the budget, some time on the phone and a little creativity, we were able to reduce our monthly budget by about $277!
What are some ways you have reduced your monthly expenses?
