Bills are gross. Period. However, we still need to comply with them just so we can live another month with our daily digital joys. Sometimes, you enjoy the entertainment so much, you forgot the cost will be once the bill comes into your doorstep. In today’s article, we’re going to focus on some vital tips on how to cut the overall bills. After all, lesser bill payments mean lesser stress, right?
Just do note that some of the tips here are a bit impractical. Bear with me on this one since I managed to save up to $200 a month doing some of these tricks.
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One Premium, Two Basics
Okay, so maybe you’ve been had by those advertisements on how glorious some plans are, right? We’re talking about phone plans that include free HBO and Netflix subscriptions or a bundle of premium channels that you’ll barely watch. If you’re living the premium life, expect a premium-priced bill. Sometimes, you have to get humble if you just want to save up.
Among the 3 between cable TV, internet and phone, you need to know which is the one that you most frequently use. If you invested lots of time on one of them, let its premium plan remain while you splice down the other 2 to their basic plans.
That way, you’ll save up to $100 to $150 a month with that strategy.
2. Cable TV is Usually Cheaper than Internet TV
If you thought TV was dead, you thought wrong. Instead, the traditional couch potato hobby only evolved. While internet TV is the biggest craze in the telly world, ask yourself, “Do you or your family even watch TV that much?” If not, then you should do a switcheroo back to a more traditional TV experience: cable.
Since cable doesn’t use as many resources and high-grade maintenance as internet TV, prices are lesser with the former. However, some internet TV services do offer cheaper than the usual such as DISH and DIRECTV NOW but we’ll talk about those some other time.
If you don’t like how little the number of channels is in cable compared to internet TV service, at least the thought of having TV is still at home. But you know how entertainment is these days: they’re always online now. Heck, if anything, you could just unsubscribe from TV service at all and use that screen to broadcast online streaming from your mobile device instead.
3. Choice of ISP Matters
In a world where we’re constantly surrounded by capitalism and materialistic joy, some brands cost more than usual just for the sake of its high-profile name. But what if we told you that some brands cost less than others while retaining top-quality services?
Specifically, we’re talking about internet services. Yes, there are a bunch of ISPs out there but there’s a reason why some stand above the rest. For example, AT&T provides the best choices of internet plans whether you prefer DSL or fiber. In such cases, if there aren’t many of you within the household, always go for the starter plans that start from 5 Mbps up to 10 Mbps. That way, you’re just going to pay only around $40 to $60 a month while enjoying the consistent internet quality. For more details, check out the review by Luke Pensworth.
If you have a kid that loves gaming, consider getting a Fiber connection with at least 100 Mbps. That way, your kid won’t experience lag while you’re scrolling through Pinterest and your husband is watching mechanic how-tos on YouTube.
4. Prepaid for Lesser Stress
Sometimes, services provide more than just enough for you every month. As a result, you’re paying for something that you don’t really utilize. Things like unlimited international calls, 720p streaming on Hulu or 20 GB worth of unlimited calls, texts and surfing.
If such is your case, just switch to prepaid. The thing with prepaid is that it provides just enough to get you along every month. Check out Metro’s prices versus Verizon postpaid for example.
Also, if the prepaid phone carrier covers your area, you should definitely make that switch from postpaid to prepaid.
5. Or Choose Family Plans for Everyone in the Household
However, if you still insist on using postpaid and everyone in the family uses a phone, I highly recommend getting a family postpaid plan instead.
Major phone carriers such as Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile and Sprint. Most importantly, rather than buying separate plans for each family member, apply for a family plan – which always includes a large data cap, lesser cost per line and lesser total bill than having to pay for separate postpaid plans. Seriously, it’s more cost-efficient this way when it comes to postpaid.
Recap
Hopefully, these 5 tips will get you started to see some drastic results with the monthly utility bills. If you do feel skeptical, do try at least one of these and see the difference in your payment. And if it does work, try applying another tip to the mix. Before you know it, you’re already saving lots of money that you can use for something else.
