Lower Your Bills TODAY!

After adding up our monthly bills, I was shocked! Especially with our added in grocery bill, eating out, recreational activities, etc. I thought to myself where has all the money gone!? We are saving to build a home and every penny counts right now. Even if you aren't needing to save to build a home, you should save for a nest egg, a little cushion, rainy day fund, or for retirement. You should always be saving for emergencies. There is no logical reason NOT to save some money, even my mother-in-law who has NOTHING always has something saved up. I have resorted to using our money wisely by shopping with coupons, apparently, hence my blog. However, there are other ways to save money, here are some below.

• Use coupons, even if you claim you don't have the time to find the cheapest deals by using coupons and sales, go through your weekly ads and if you see a coupon for a product you will use CLIP IT. Who cares if its for $0.35/1 Ketchup? You will save $0.35! It doesn't seem like a lot, but imagine if you saved $5.00 with all your coupons combined? Put that in your piggy bank for the day!
• Pay your car insurance for the year up front, they will usually give you a discount for paying it upfront. Discounts vary.
• Either use your cell phone, or house phone-YOU DON'T NEED BOTH! Cut one off!
• Cut your cable off. You can keep your internet and use Netflix or Hulu Plus. You can watch most shows on the internet nowadays anyway. If you MUST keep your cable...do what I did. I have been bombarded by Direct TV and ATT U-Verse offering me competitive rates so I called up my current cable company Time Warner. I told them about the competitive rates, and even though they couldn't go as low, which I understand, they did give me a courtesy discount and it helped! :)
• Call your cell phone company and see if they can analyze your account to see if you are paying for too much service you aren't using. If you can't go any lower ask to be transferred to their loyalty or retention department. They can usually offer you a loyalty discount on your bill each month. It worked for me!
• Be more cautious of lights being left on, TV's, etc. If something is plugged into your wall, it is pulling energy from that plug and is costing you money. 
• Drive SLOWER. Yes, driving slowly saves gas. You don't have to go 20 in a 45, just slowly accelerate when the light turns green, don't slam your heavy foot, cause the next light will probably turn yellow before you get there! (LOL!)
• Eat leftovers, make new recipes with left overs. One day have a pork roast, next day have pulled pork sandwiches! YUM
• If you MUST eat out, try to take 5 minutes on the internet to see if their is a coupon available.

I hope these tips help you out. Any money saved by cutting down monthly bills, or not eating out, etc. put that money in your savings account. Our bank allows us to transfer money from checking to saving on the internet and it only takes a quick minute to do so. Anytime I save money, I write it down and when I get home I log on and transfer it to savings. It doesn't take long to add up. GOOD LUCK!

-Samantha