Reducing Each of Your Monthly Bills

Around my house, we're trying our best to make 2011 the year of savings. We are doing something of a bill audit as of late, trying to see how we can shave at least a little bit off of each service we pay for every month. So far, this has gone well. We've changed our electricity plan, figured out how to cut back on our water usage, and even lowered our TV package. There are a few other changes we have in mind for the future, but we're excited that so far for 2011, we've already lowered expenses and started saving.

While browsing one of my favorite money blogs, The Simple Dollar, I came across a post of some simple tips that could help us out even more. In a recent post titled Seven Monthly Bills Most People Have, and Seven Ways to Reduce Each Bill, author Trent Hamm proposes a variety of creative ways to keep even more of the money that you make. Here are some of the tips I thought were particularly useful:

Energy

• Install timers and a programmable thermostat.
• Air seal your home.
• Utilize energy-efficient lighting.
• Lower the temperature of your water heater.

Mortgage/Rent

• Split the payments with a roommate.
• Refinance.
• Make biweekly payments.

Water

• Install faucet aerators.
• Do only full dish/laundry loads.

Internet

• Use it to find other low-cost resources and savings.
• Bundle it with other services.

Phone

• Shop around when your contract is up.
• For cell phones, try out a pay-as-you-go-phone.

Those are just a handful of the useful tips that Trent writes about. There are other areas of savings that he discusses as well, including car payments and insurance payments. Hopefully the list can help you out on your quest to lower your monthly bills as much as it helped me.

So, which of these ideas to you already utilize to save money? Got any others that haven't been discussed here yet? Share with us!