It has become a real challenge today to get a pay check to last until the next payday. The rising cost of utilities, consumer goods, and just about everything else with a price tag does not make it easy to find a few bucks left in your bank account by the time the next pay check comes. But, nobody said that it is impossible to see some savings in these financially challenging times. If you make a conscious effort to review your finances, you should be able to make budget cuts that you would perhaps be able to get used to over the long run.
Certain every day practices and expenses can actually be pared down to result in quite an amount of savings at the end of the month or at the end of your pay cycle. What you will have to do is to list down your regular expenses right down to the last detail and see where you can possibly make some cuts. Here are some areas where you will likely be able to realize some savings:
Table of Contents
Mobile phone
It might be time to check your mobile phone bill to see how wisely you have been utilizing your mobile phone services. Check whether you are being charged for services that you might not be using or might not have the need for. Contact your mobile phone service provider to ask about what services can be taken out of your subscription package to lower your monthly bill.
Cable service
This is another service that is considered to be a modern necessity with just about every home hooked up to a cable service provider. But, do you actually watch all the channels you are paying for? Are you even home often enough to watch programs other than your regular news programs? See whether your cable service provider offers cheaper packages with only a handful of channels that you really watch. Some even offer you packages that allow you to choose the channels that you want.
Water and electricity
These utilities are often taken for granted. Water from the tap is usually left running unnecessarily and room lights are left on even when there is no one in the room. Just by making a conscious effort to make sure that there are no drips and leaks in your piping system and that appliances and fixtures are turned off and unplugged when not in use can result in huge savings in your monthly bills.
i imposed an austerity program in our home, need to tighten up the belt during these hard times 🙂 proper utility usage is one of the keys to lessen up balooning charges
Always live within your means. Do not buy unnecessary things, focus on your needs.
sabi nga nila dont expend over your earning…
tama ba ko… hahaha…
Agree to all of them, especially with the cable service. We used to have cable back home but didn’t get to watch these channels. My parents still watch local channels and my kids only watch nickelodeon which they can also watch in the internet. advantage though is the nice reception from the local channels. still, it was expensive.
Its actually hard to save these days because the COLA are almost the same with the earnings, we just need to find other source of income for us to save a little
Great financial tips. I always consider the monthly bills before splurging. 🙂
It’s really hard to stretch a single penny now unlike before. You can buy something with a single dime but this time, most people are treating a dime that it has no value at all 🙁
I’d like to add to the electricity saving tips. Plugging and unplugging the tv and everything that goes into it is a huge hassle. Plug everything into a power strip, then plug the power strip into a wireless light switch. All you have to do is flip the switch when you’re done watching tv.
Great post — I already have a cheapie cell phone service and the basic cable package, however, the electricity tip was a good one. In the old days, I used to turn off my hot water heater at night before bed and then got up an hour early to turn it back on — saved me tons of $.