Saving on utilities is easy and can lead to huge savings over time. Here are a few tips for saving money on utilities that I have used.
Why Saving on Utilities Matters?
Utilities are often an ignored expense area. Maybe because we take things like electricity, water, gas, internet, etc., for granted. However, it can be surprising how much we spend on these things. It can be even more surprising how much we can save!
The reason for that is utilities are a recurring expense. Once you find a way to save on utilities, the benefits continue to accumulate over time. When the Finer family switched our cell phone service from a large cell phone company to a no-frills carrier, we saved $80 / month (believe it or not, we were paying $110 per month before).
Although it was a one-time hassle to switch, the amount we saved ($80) gets saved each and every month. This means we will end up saving about $50,000 in our lifetime because of this one small change we made! That is a lot of money saved by making one change that took us a few hours.
The other key benefit of saving on utilities is that these are low value add things. There is no brand differentiation. For example, I could care less about who is our gas provider or electricity provider. There is no difference between electricity from one company vs. the other. So switching does not affect the service.
Tips for Saving Money on Utilities: Internet
For the longest time, we had a fancy, super-fast internet connection. Why not? You need 300 Mbps to play movies, listen to songs, connect to the office for work, etc. Well, no! As we discovered, you can do all these things (and more) with even a 100 Mbps connection if you have a good router.
So I called the internet provider and downgraded the internet speed, which reduced our bill by $20. While I was doing that, I asked the representative if there were any discounts / offers that were going on. There was an offer that they gave me, reducing the bill by another $10.
I also bought my own router which costs about $30 (one-time cost). This further reduced our bill by $10 (router rental fee).
Tips for Saving Money on Utilities: Electricity and Gas
I have done some small things to save money in this area. I switched to a smart thermostat to save on heating and cooling bills. The thermostat runs on ‘eco’ mode. We don’t overheat our house during winter or make it very cold during summer.
We have energy-efficient appliances and lights. We are generally good about not leaving lights on unnecessarily and eliminating phantom electricity usage. We don’t use appliances when we don’t have to.
I am not sure how much each of these things helps, but overall I think they reduce our electricity and gas bill by about 10-20%.
Tips for Saving Money on Utilities: Subscriptions
I have really cut down on subscriptions. I had subscriptions for magazines / newspapers, TV, entertainment, and a bunch of other things. Given the busy schedule, I did not have time to read much. The magazines used to sit on the table, mocking me to read. Instead of stressing about when to read them, I just discontinued them.
I have also reduced the number of entertainment subscriptions. In fact, I don’t have any ongoing subscriptions. I get them when I want to. If there is a new Netflix movie I want to see, I subscribe for one month and then disconnect it after that. Same with HBO, Disney, etc. The only subscription we have all year round is Amazon Video, but that is because it comes with the Prime subscription.
Tips for Saving Money on Utilities: Cell Phone Service
I have already mentioned how I switched my cell phone provider and saved a lot of money. What I do not understand is why I did not switch earlier! I wish I had known this when I got my first cell phone.
The only disadvantage is that there are some remote areas where the signal is not that great when we are traveling. But for us, that is a small sacrifice to make for not paying the high monthly bills.
Articles About Saving
WHY: Saving for Early Retirement: Why It Actually Matters?
STRATEGIES: Create Sustainable Saving Strategies that Actually Work
TACTICS: Transportation, Health Insurance, Groceries, Tracking Spending