What Else can you do to save money or reduce your monthly bills?

Now that it is 2012 and the economy is showing no signs of recovery any time soon what will you do to save money or reduce your monthly bills?

My wife and I decided to review our monthly expenses to see where we could reduce our monthly bills so to start with we listed our bills and put them on an excel spreadsheet so we could review them and determine where and how we could save money. So I thought it may be a good idea to pass on what will work for us.

Home Energy Gas & Electric Bills!

Everyone knows you can reduce your monthly bill with some simple tips such as lowering the thermostat for every degree lower you save about 5%, using the compact flourescent bulbs (CFL) as opposed to traditional light bulbs, or washing your clothes in cold water all helped us lower our bill. However, Did you know that you can shop for electricity just like you shop for a new T.V. or mobile phone? We are looking to Choose MX Energy and get $75 backand save up to 20% on our bill. Depending on where you live you can Choose MX Energy or discount service providers and lower your energy costs.

Fuel-Gas for my cars!

Consolidate trips, drive less if possible and if you can afford it get a car with great gas mileage. We currently have a rewards program that offers a reduced price per gallon on gas purchases tied in with one of our grocery stores that we use most often so this helps lower our gas bill each month. If you don’t have one yet sign up with your favorite store that offers this program. To reduce our bill even more  we are looking to partner with a bank, credit card company or an organization like Lyoness that offers cash back percentage on my monthly fuel purchases. Both are solid options most of us could do quite easily and with the price of gas continuing to climb giving me cash back on my purchases certainly helps.

Grocery Bills!

We have always shopped the weekly specials for our favorite stores and my wife makes a list each week for at least 3 stores on items we use most. Of course 2 of our favorite stores offer the rewards program on fuel and double discounts on coupons. We get our coupons from the newspaper and there are several sources for downloading and printing coupons on the internet. We use Coopons.com click on the link to Get quick and easy access to dozens of name brand coupons at Coupons.com! With hundreds of free printable coupons from familiar consumer brands, Coupons.com is the undisputed leader in providing print-at-home coupons to consumers looking for savings! Coupons.com works with well-known companies such as General Mills, Kimberly-Clark, Johnson & Johnson, and Unilever. Coupons add up and if an item is on sale in greatly reduces your monthly grocery bill.

Phone Bills!

With technology and cell phones one of the ways for us to reduce our monthly bill was to eliminate our home land line phone which we never used and only got calls from people we did not want to talk to anyway! This saved about $50 per month. Review your cell phone bills and your provider monthly charges. If you can reduce your minutes or check to see if they have a new plan that you could switch to that will lower your monthly bill. You also may be able to locate a service company that provides discounts on the newest phones or you can  Shop Amazon.com for the best deal and take it to your provider to activate it. Review your phone bill monthly for unexpected charges, to reduce your minutes or change plans!

These are just a few areas we chose to work on immediately! Take a few minutes review your bills, put together a budget or plan of action to spend less, by buying less or getting rewarded with cash back or discounts on your purchases you can’t avoid every month!

PS: Write down every penny you spend every day for 1 month you may be surprised at how much you spent on things like coffee, soft drinks, candy, cigarettes… and how much you could save if purchased properly!