Cutting Costs: The "Luxury" Utility Bills

Over the past few weeks I have been spending time looking through our bills looking for ways to cut our everyday costs after coming across a post on The Happy Housewife entitled The Secret to Lowering Your Monthly Bills.  I must admit, this is an area I hadn't given much thought to, so I read it and felt inspired to give it a try.

Last week I read an article online about Verizon reducing the price of their data plans by $10 per month.  I figured it was the perfect opportunity to contact customer service, so I did.  I was initially told I didn't qualify because I didn't have the right plan, but after asking some questions and probing a bit further, I ended up reducing my bill, which only includes myself, by $20 per month.  A $240 payday!  My plan changed a bit, but suits my needs better.  Why pay for data, minutes, or texts you don't normally use anyway?  Best of all, I didn't even have to pick up the phone.  It was all taken care of through an online chat.

Today I am tackling our home phone, internet, and cable bill.  They are all bundled together through Windstream and their television provider is DISH Network.  I tackled the tv first, as I noticed our bill increased this month.  After getting nowhere in an online chat, I called the company and was able to keep the same package while reducing our monthly bill by $15 per month for six months.  Not quite the deal I was looking for, but I will call when that time period is up to see if we can reduce it yet again.  If not, we will take our services elsewhere.  Ten minutes of my time did yield a $90 savings over the next six months, though.

Next I called Windstream and spoke with an agent regarding our bill.  Unfortunately, our internet wasn't reduced (though I didn't push too much at this point), but we changed our home phone plan to better suit our needs and reduced our bill by $13/month for a total of $156/year.  I'll work on the internet price another day, but am happy with the progress I've made so far.

For less than thirty minutes of my time, I reduced our bills by $486 per year!  I'm hoping a few more phone calls down the road will increase our savings even more.  That's a pretty good hourly wage if you ask me!  Our extra savings will be put to good use paying off our debt and building up our six month emergency fund.  Every dollar counts!

If you're looking to cut some costs, pick up the phone or hop on the customer service online chat for your providers.  With persistence, patience, and a pleasant attitude you might have a nice little payday, too!

The Word on the Street

Intentional Living.  This is a very common trend in many of the books I read and blogs I follow.  It is a way of life where little time is wasted, the small things matter, and we are cognizant of our choices and how they affect our families and ourselves.  I love the buzz behind this concept and am doing my best to adopt this lifestyle.

So often we let our every day responsibilities consume the majority of our time.  I am sure we can all count numerous missed opportunities to just sit down and enjoy the precious little moments because we felt we didn't have time.  Our daily responsibilities seem to overwhelm us and may rob us of the opportunity to find joy in the small things which play out in our homes each day.

It can be so hard to just pause and be thankful for our blessings.  To watch our children interact with one another.  To listen to the recap of their day or the next great imaginative game they are playing. To sit down and read an extra book, play a game, or just sit, snuggle, and talk.  I know I am guilty and my guess is you are, too.

How do we go about changing our ways?  How do we become more intentional in our every day lives?  To be honest, I'm not one hundred percent sure, but I have a few ideas which may help.

1.  Designate screen-free time each day.  This isn't just about the kids.  Turn off the tv, shut down the computer and tablets, and simply spend time together.  It doesn't have to be an eternity, but even 30 minutes of uninterrupted time together would make a tremendous difference in all of our lives.

2.  Chuck the phone aside.  Much like designating screen-free time, set aside a few hours to put the phone away.  Let the emails, texts, and phone calls go.  They can wait.  If you have to, hide it.  Sounds silly, but as the old saying goes, "Out of sight, out of mind."

3.  Pencil in some family time.  Hit a park, take in a movie, have a game night.  Whatever the case, schedule it in just as you would an appointment or meeting.  Make this time a priority and follow through with whatever activity you have chosen.  Make it a habit to pencil in designated family time each week.

4.  Lastly, engage in conversation.  Ask questions, share stories, keep the lines of communication open.  The best time to do this?  During a family meal and at bedtime.  In our house dinner can be absolute chaos if we don't intentionally ask questions and steer the conversation in the right direction. We are not consistent, though, and need to make it a point to do this each night.  We have learned a lot in the conversations held around the table and in the quiet moments before bedtime.  It would be a shame to be too busy and miss them.

I am going to work really hard to abide by these rules.  My family is my number one priority and I want them to understand this with absolute certainty.  It is so hard to cut out the distractions or take a break from our to-do lists, but our family deserves our full attention.  We owe it to ourselves to slow down and make intentional choices that will benefit our whole family and solidify our relationships with each other.  I want to model valuing people and relationships over technology, to-do lists, and housework.

Go ahead.  Give yourself permission to slow down and enjoy the small things in life.  Those moments will last a lifetime and become our greatest treasures.

  

  

The Budget: Managing Your Grocery Bills

Budget.  Yes, you've heard me say it before and I'll say it a hundred more times this year.  We have created our first budget, which will be put into place in February, and it wasn't nearly as painful as you might imagine.  Eye-opening, yes.  Painful, no.

Today I'm going to touch on one portion of the budget:  groceries.  Outside of our mortgage, groceries by far eat up the greatest percentage of the budget.  While I can't make that number significantly decrease (after all, I am feeding a family of six), I can do my best to stretch my grocery budget as far as possible while still primarily eating organic, non-GMO, and allergy-safe food.

The first and most important step is creating a meal plan.  Each Friday morning I sit down with a cup of tea and plan out the menu for the upcoming week.  This may sound lame, but I enjoy it.  To keep costs in check, I have decided to do at least one meatless meal a week as well as a breakfast for dinner night.  We have also designated a few days to specific foods:  homemade pizza on Friday and soup on Sunday.  That leaves just 3 days a week to fill in.

To do this, I skim through the weekly ads for the stores I frequent.  One way to save money?  Shop around.  I do not do all of my grocery shopping in one place.  It is typically spread out between Target and two local grocery stores.  This gives me my biggest bang for my buck and an opportunity to stick to our organic, non-GMO, allergy-safe food plan as much as possible.

Another money saving tip?  Do all of your shopping for the entire week in one day.  Less trips to the store means gas saved and money as well.  When you have a plan, this is easy to do.  Don't get me wrong, we typically have to pick a few things up during the week, like milk or produce, but having most everything on hand for an entire week saves on impulse buys.

One mental change I have had to make is shifting my focus from spending an allotted amount each week to viewing my purchases as a monthly whole.  Typically I would not want to go over my weekly limit, but when a store has a money-saving deal on items I frequently use, it is in my best interest to stock up if possible.  I'll give an example:  we eat a lot of cheese.  This week it was at least 50 cents less than the everyday price, so I bought much more than I would use in one week.  It was more cost upfront, but if I consider how much I would purchase in a month's time, the savings will work out in my favor.

My last money-saving tip?  Cook.  Eating out is costly and processed foods, in my opinion, offer very little nutrition and are not your best investment.  Home-cooked meals have the most to offer, both nutritionally and financially.  I enjoy cooking, so for me this is the natural way to feed my family.  I love trying out new recipes and fixing our tried-and-true favorites as well.

If you find cooking to be a challenge, I've got you covered.  There are several recipes on my Living Life on the Lane blog that are easy on time, skill, and the budget.  Don't think preparing home-cooked meals has to take hours.  Most of the meals I make take less than an hour (prep and cooking time). The key is to plan ahead, have your ingredients on hand, and plug in your meals to work with your schedule.  Have a later night?  Throw something in the crockpot or prepare a meal the night before so it can be thrown in the oven when you get home.

Spending 30 minutes meal-planning and creating a grocery list will make a tremendous difference in your grocery budget.  It will also help you spend your time more wisely and not stress each evening about what to have for dinner.  It's a great investment and I encourage you, if you don't already, to give it a try.  Soon it will become a habit and you'll be off and running!