How to Save Money on Bills

1. Get your fees waived if you’re late on a bill payment. This is one of the best kept secrets about how to save money. If you’re late on a bill payment, call the company and ask for any fees, associated interest rate hikes, etc. to be waived.  Many companies will do this if it is your first time being late.
2. Know if it’s cheaper to rent your home or buy your home. Here are two great rent vs. buy calculators. Calculator 1 – Calculator 2
3. Share a wireless Internet connection with a neighbor, especially if you live in an apartment building.  Be sure to ask them first.
4. Downgrade to a cheaper apartment. Use PadMapper.com to find cheaper places to rent in your area.  It’s one of the best housing sites out there.
5. Pay your bills online and sign up for automatic payments. Both of these actions lower your chance of accidentally missing a payment and incurring fees and/or rate increases.
6. Bundle your cable and Internet (and landline if you must have it).  This is one of the quickest ways to save money. Bundling is when you purchase multiple services from the same company and thereby pay a lower price per service than paying for them individually.
7. Consider moving to a less expensive neighborhood, city or state.
8. Don’t hire a contractor for small home repairs. Instead, if you feel confident, save money and do it yourself (DIY) using resources such as DIYNetwork.com and DoItYourself.com.
9. Provide your roommates with services in exchange for cheaper rent. Broker a deal with your roommates in which you do the cooking, cleaning, make the coffee, etc. in exchange for cheaper rent.
10. Get rid of your cable contract and sell your TV. Chances are you won’t miss it when it’s gone, but, if you do, there are plenty of free ways to watch TV online.  Try Hulu.com, CBS.com, ABC.com, Fox.com, ComedyCentral.com, etc.
11. Complete home improvement projects for your landlord in exchange for cheaper rent. If you have home improvement skills, this is one of the best ways to save money.  Consider brokering a deal with a landlord in which you do improvement projects in exchange for reduced or free rent.
12. Consider retiring abroad. Here are five inexpensive foreign retirement locations.
13. Drop your gym membership/sell your treadmill; pick up a running habit — it’s free!
14. If you are planning on joining a gym, always try to negotiate the initiation fee. This is another great secret to saving money. One gym in San Francisco has an initiation fee of $750, but they will waive it if you make a $25 donation to the Red Cross.  That tells you that they don’t actually expect to collect it from most members and they only state that there is a fee so that they can waive it.  Always, remember that the marginal cost to the gym of adding another member is almost zero dollars (basically, it cost them next to nothing to allow you to join), so most gym rates (including initiation fees) can be negotiated.