BalanceSeeker Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 We have been majorly cutting expenses, but dh and I were talking tonight about things like cable, cell phones, utilities, etc. and wondering if we couldn't cut even more. What is your experience with these types of companies, and will they reduce fees to keep your business (i.e. cable/cell phones). Our cable is with Cox, our electric is APS, our cells are Verizon. The only thing I know electric will do is equalizer, but I mention it in case I'm wrong about that. :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
d.g. Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I've had experience with Cox giving us a better rate when we called to cancel most of our services. We were going to drop down to cable phone and internet only (from a package bundle with digital cable & extras) and it was actually *cheaper* to take their offer, which was still a bundle of cable/net/phone. 'Course, this is in Kansas. I'm not sure if there are state or regional differences. It can't hurt to try. For your electric bill, I wouldn't count on anything changing your rate, but I'm not sure about Verizon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 We are reducing our Verizon plans to bare minimums, but keeping them. i want a Landline for the direct info that is provided for 911, and cell phones for traveling. we don't have cable-- I'd eliminate that altogether and watch stuff online. we are keeping high speed internet cuz it saves sooo much time and adds to our educational as well as recreational benefits. electric --I think your best bet is to see how many appliances you can UNPLUG: many suck energy to keep clocks and juice flowing to the on/off switch. replace your bulbs w/ low-wattage bulbs. I like light, so our dining room is the one room w/ brighter bulbs. be sure that you shopped for lowest prices on home/auto insurance. take defensive driving to lower your rates if you haven't done that already. Unless you're prone to speeding and might need that to defer it, lol! If you have the money to do so, consider investing in a tankless hot water heater and/or work on adding insulation/ shades/ etc to windows and doors. how many days a week do YOU leave the house? I tend to go out a lot for one reason or another, so I do try to spend at least one day a week at home. consolidate trips, cook from scratch, buy generic if possible. get a copy of Tightwad Gazette, preferably at the thrift store... ;) good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ferdie Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 My dh switched our cell phones to T-mobile prepaid phones. We don't use our cells that much and don't text so it works for us. He also replaced our land line with an internet phone, (Vonage I think). We were able to keep our same phone number so the switch was invisible to me. We don't have cable, but do pay $15 per month to Netflix for DVD rental. To save on utilities we: 1. turned temp on water heater down, 2. wash all clothes in cold water, 3. line dry sheets and towels, and 4. programed our thermostat to go up a few degrees at night while we sleep, (in summer). HTH Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tex-mex Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 If your family can survive it, cut the cable and rent via netflix. There is a device called Roku you can use to instant watch unlimited rentals without the wait time in the mail for a monthly fee. Libraries also check out DVDs and books. Set the a/c to 77 if you can tolerate it. In the heat of the day, darken windows with curtains to keep rooms cool. In the winter, set the heat to 68 and bundle up. Close off vents in rooms you do not use. Switch over to the newer flourescent lightbulbs to save on lighting. Lower the water heater temp to save money too. Run only FULL loads for laundry or dishwasher also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sharon H in IL Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Do a search here; as you might imagine, the topic has come up once or twice. ;) Ask questions about how to fix stuff here: http://www.fixya.com/ Find items with free shipping online: http://www.freeshippingon.com/ Make sure you get the lowest price online: http://www.priceprotectr.com/ Compare credit card offers online: http://www.allaboutcredit.net/ Keep an eye on your credit report: https://www.annualcreditreport.com/cra/index.jsp Find the best prepaid cell phone plan: http://cellphones.about.com/od/prepaid_phones/qt/prepaid_plans.htm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 If your family can survive it, cut the cable and rent via netflix. There is a device called Roku you can use to instant watch unlimited rentals without the wait time in the mail for a monthly fee. Libraries also check out DVDs and books. Set the a/c to 77 if you can tolerate it. In the heat of the day, darken windows with curtains to keep rooms cool. In the winter, set the heat to 68 and bundle up. Close off vents in rooms you do not use. Switch over to the newer flourescent lightbulbs to save on lighting. Lower the water heater temp to save money too. Run only FULL loads for laundry or dishwasher also. 77? Are you kidding? If anyone in this house set it that low I'd pitch a fit. We keep ours at 79 at night, 80 during the day, and with the outside temp pushing forty degrees higher than that, I think I put it up to 83 or 84 for a while today, just to keep the A/C from running constantly. We put rigid foam insulation in our bedroom windows behind the blinds for the summer, and foil over the patio doors. Not pretty, but it helps because we have craptastic single-pane windows. Our last electric bill was only $207 with SRP, so far we're down every month this year from the year before; I called about level pay but we'd actually be paying more if we started it in summer, so I'll probably do that come November. It can help in summertime by spreading the extra cost over the whole year. I've become a "shut off the lights and computers and TV etc. when not in use" fanatic. Most of the bulbs in our house now are CF; I need to get some of the kind that can work with dimmers to replace the ones in the living room. We actually just recently got Qwest with a satellite-phone-internet package, and it's costing us quite a bit less than Cox did for the same level of service. I wasn't going to get Satellite until I found out that it would be only thirty bucks a month more than just phone-internet. We went to prepaid cell phones a while back; save money there, too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 We got rid of our landline. I was glad to know that here in FL where we are, if you plug a phone in to a phone jack that you can get 911 service even without actual phone service. We did not have internet at home for a long time. I doubt we will have it at home when we get in our own place. I can use it at my mother's a couple of days a week while the kids swim. In NC, I used the free wireless at various places (Burger King was one of them.) Libraries have computers you can use as well as free wireless. We will not have cable either, or Netflix. Broadcast TV and library DVDs (and some RedBox rentals) is it. As far as electricity, I can handle cold better than heat, so we would set the A/C on 75 and the heat on 65. My mother keeps hers at 77 during the day and 75 at night - I can probably handle that at my own home as well. If we get bills that are too high, we will adjust it. Hanging clothes is another way to save a bunch, especially in the summer as you don't heat up the house. We share a cell phone plan with my Dad, so we only pay about $65-75 each month. That is worth it to me. That give us 3 phones - me, my dh, and my 16yo. He gets one because he doesn't live with us full-time and there were issues in the past with his being able to call us when he wanted to. Now there are none. We have 1200 nationwide minutes to share, 10 MyCircle numbers, and free mobile to mobile. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 I haven't heard of Verizon flexing much on cell phones - Sprint has a whole division called, "retentions" - they can bend over backwards for you.... not so much Verizon. Can't hurt to call though. Renee - that is interesting on the 911 thing because we DIDN"T get a dial tone the last time we tried (we have Vonage). our phone is the only underground utilites we have here, and so i was hoping that it would work. I'll have to try it again. From what i have read it was/is up to the phone company. We are Embarq over this way. I just did the 2 week trial of Netflix, i'm pretty sure i won't need to turn the cable/sat on for months. I can't believe how much there is there on the instant watch. I'm pretty sure the kids can give up their stuff too (and probably will have to in my bare bones budget). OUr thermostat is also at 80 during the day, i keep trying for 81-2 - sometimes it works, sometimes not. I have it drop down to 79 in the morning, then we start the day cooler. We have single pane windows and have lost our trees with 2 hurricanes and a tornado. I'm trying to keep my level pay at $340. Lower would be nice, i have no clue at the moment what it is because the STBXH keeps getting the bills and i don't see them. HMPH. Anyway, it really can't hurt to try to call the people you pay and see what they say!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 My understanding is you don't get it with Embarq, but you do with AT&T (who is the phone company over here.) If we end up with a $340 electric bill we will have to do something drastic - we can't afford that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingM Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 You can save a lot on A/C by moving to Vermont. We pulled the blanket onto our bed last night and I don't think we've had a day over 80 yet this year. On the other hand, there are those pesky 20 below zero nights about three or four times every winter. ;) On a serious note, I would make Craigslist your friend. You can sell old stuff and sometimes get things you need for free or next to free. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraceyS/FL Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Figures.... it's the law in CA they have to provide access to 911 no matter what, which is why i couldn't figure out why i didn't have it here :glare: Well, when my parents where living here with us the level pay was $440, so i've gotten it down A LOT. Prior to them moving in it was $220. Rates when up a bit, and then they replaced our meter with the new digital kind. But we need insulation in a few walls (the "additions"), have the single pane windows from 1973, and have 2800 sf. We probably could use a new more efficient heat pump too. But there have been times when our electric bill was more than 25% of our income..... Gee, it's going to feel like 106 today - guess the air will be going huh? LOL! Oddly though, our bill is about the same as it was in CA with no A/C. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rafiki Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Renee in NC Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Figures.... it's the law in CA they have to provide access to 911 no matter what, which is why i couldn't figure out why i didn't have it here :glare: Well, when my parents where living here with us the level pay was $440, so i've gotten it down A LOT. Prior to them moving in it was $220. Rates when up a bit, and then they replaced our meter with the new digital kind. But we need insulation in a few walls (the "additions"), have the single pane windows from 1973, and have 2800 sf. We probably could use a new more efficient heat pump too. But there have been times when our electric bill was more than 25% of our income..... Gee, it's going to feel like 106 today - guess the air will be going huh? LOL! Oddly though, our bill is about the same as it was in CA with no A/C. Well, at 1300 square feet I hope our bill is much, much less.:D The mobile home we are moving into is from 1979 and the windows are original. I don't know about the HVAC unit - I'll have to ask. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lgm Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 Day/night billing was good for us; but we don't need AC most of the year. With AC on, make sure showers are short so the house isn't filling with moisture that the AC will have to remove. Make sure windows that are getting afternoon sun are blocked. Use fans. If your family is doing sidework, make sure the costing includes the electric consumed for the job. After that, the utility company website has a lot of tips; they all add up to savings that you can see in your bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiff in TX Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 77? Are you kidding? If anyone in this house set it that low I'd pitch a fit. We keep ours at 79 at night, 80 during the day, and with the outside temp pushing forty degrees higher than that, I think I put it up to 83 or 84 for a while today, just to keep the A/C from running constantly. I think the thermostat depends on where you live.... we keep ours at 75 most of the day because it is 105 outside(we could probalby be okay at 77, but I like it very comfortable in the house). I am pretty sure we would all melt if it was kicked up to 79 or 80 :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peek a Boo Posted July 15, 2009 Share Posted July 15, 2009 You can save a lot on A/C by moving to Vermont. There go my heating costs, lol! It took me a year to thaw out after moving back to TX from upstate NY. I'd set my thermostat at 82 or higher if dh would let me -- he keeps knocking it down to 78. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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