The bills come in and I gasp at how much health insurance costs, at the latest gas or water or electricity bill. I pay them by the due day and then don't give them too much thought until the next time they arrive in my mail box.
Not today. Today I decided to review my bills and find cheaper options or way to save.
I started with the phone bill. I rang them up after checking online for their best advertised packages. Straight away I found I can save $4.00 each month by electing not to get paper bills and therefore cutting down on admin cost. and also by paying by direct deposit each month. Then I saved further by asking what the best plan was for me. I combined home phone and a mobile and saved a further few dollars each month on phone rental. We have a silent number which costs $2.66 each month but I opted to keep that as is for the time being.
Feeling inspired by the success with the phone bill I decided to check our health insurance. I have a condition that requires me to pay $120.00 each 3-4 months for health aids. These weren't covered under the old plan. But after asking to be insured for this cover the lady on the phoned asked if I stillneeded obstetric cover - my three munchkins are more than enough so the answer was definately no. And since no one suffers from pshyciatric conditions she suggested we stop that part of the cover and add health aids which worked out cheaper. So another success.
Next car insurance and home and contents - I worked out that I wasn't insured enough to cover contents so upped that. Found a cheaper car insurance as we live in a suburb that is deemed safer and I have a good record so that slashed that bill.
Now feeling happier about the days savings I looked at the gas and electricity bills. This summer our electricity bill is higher than it has been for the same periods in the last two years. Not happy about that and I have decided to get back on my bandwagon with the family about saving electricity - simple things like turning off at power points, lights off etc.
The gas usage is good and I have made another aim to reduce the use more.
I have also made a chart of when major bills are due so I am prepared for them. I am so glad I bothered to ring around today and ask if they could offer me better fees and services. It has really paid off.
Where happiness is lurking
4 days ago
2 comments:
Every couple of months I send emails to the bank asking if they have gotten rid of paper bills for credit cards and home loans and they say they haven't. There really should be an option these days especially with the bigger organisations.
In terms of a phone bill, to really save money VOIP is the way to go. For eg. iinet has naked dsl which allows you to get rid of your home phone line rental and just have an internet connection with VOIP all calls are free except to mobiles and you only pay for your internet connection.
Another trick is to use a credit card when paying bills as long as they don't charge a credit card fee. You pay it at the last possible moment and then the amount goes on interest free period so the money stays in your main account getting interest for an extra month or more.
You would probably love www.simplesavings.com.au - they have some great money saving ideas and tips and hints that everyone can use! :)
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