Being cheap (but not having to pay for it)
Published by rich on Thursday, July 3, 2008 - 18:39:43 - Filed under Other Fun Stuff
Over the last year or so I’ve been doing an ongoing “financial audit.”
Just when I think I’ve trimmed all the fat - I find there’s something else I can pinch a few pennies on.
Here are a few changes I made just last month:
Expense: Cable (Dish Network)
Action: Dropped lo-def channels (that I never watched) by switching to “DishHD” hi-def only package
Savings: $45 / month
Expense: Phone (land line)
Action: Dropped “special deal” feature package in favor of just the basic line + caller ID
Savings: $11 / month
Expense: Garbage Service
Action: Switched from 50 gallon to 33 gallon can
Savings: $17 / month
Expense: Homeowners Insurance
Action: Increased deductible from $500 to $5000
Savings: $11 / month
That’s $84 / month - or about $1000 a year!
So for about 2 hours work - I gave myself a permanent $1000 a year raise.
The important thing to note here is that most of these things don’t really require any sacrifices on my part. I simply stopped paying for stuff I wasn’t using.
Earlier last year I dropped comprehensive coverage on my aging car (about $40 / month) and refinanced my mortgage (about $250 / month - wish I’d done that earlier…).
Before I took my anti-spam email software full-time - I saved about $12 / day by parking up to a mile from my job and then walking. You could argue time is money - but most people could use the extra exercise anyways.
Next up I’m trying to reduce my $85 / month water bill. Most of my water is going towards my long showers (that I’m not willing to compromise on). I’ve installed an adjustable restrictor on my showerhead - and cranked it down a bit. Hopefully that will help.