Have you accrued late fees for payments that you forgot to pay? If so, enrolling in auto-pay may be helpful for you and save you money. In some cases, companies also may give you a slight discount for signing up with auto-pay or paperless billing. One potential disadvantage to auto-pay is that if your rate increases, you may not know about the increase. However, if you are still checking your bank account regularly, you will be able to see any increases and in some cases a quick call to the company may be able to lower your rate to what you were previously paying.

Do you want to keep appliances, cars and anything else with a motor/engine running efficiently and for as long as possible? It may be as simple as keeping them clean and completing regular maintenance. I saw this first-hand from my grandma just several weeks ago. She asked me to pull out her refrigerator from the wall in order to clean the back of the refrigerator. At first, I thought she just meant cleaning the floor and accumulated dust on the back of the refrigerator. However, she asked me to remove the grate on the back of the refrigerator and clean the condenser and inner workings of the refrigerator. Though she had just cleaned the refrigerator in a similar fashion the year before, there was already a significant amount of dust and dirt!

A tip to saving a bit of money each month is mounted on the wall of just about every room in your house. You guessed it, turning of the light switch when leaving a room can save you some money, which can actually amount to a significant sum over months or years. Another way to reduce your electrical bill is by switching to all LED lighting. LED lighting uses much less electricity, while still giving you the same amount of light (if not more light) than with incandescent bulbs. LED’s are also now available in many different color temperatures, the life of the bulbs are expected to be over 10 years and the bulbs have come down in price considerably. Turning down the temperature in your water heater, making sure your attic space is properly insulated, and possibly updating old appliances can save you additional money each month. These energy efficiency upgrades can have an upfront cost, so it can be good for you to take into consideration how
long you may stay in your house before doing any costly upgrades and what a potential payback for each upgrade.

Want to save money on internet, cable, insurance, cell phone bills or other larger purchases made in a store? Just ask! It may sound simple, but you can save a significant amount of money by simply calling customer service of a company or by asking for a reduction in price for an item you see in a store. It does take a bit of boldness to ask for a reduction, but what I have found is that most employees will be very helpful and truly try to reduce your cost. Another tip I personally enjoy using when purchasing an appliance is to go to the ‘scratch and dent’ or clearance/refurbished sections of stores. You may not get the latest model or pristine item, but you can sometimes save upwards of 40-60% on perfectly good items.

Do you find yourself purchasing products and food because you recognize the brand of the product? In some cases, brand name product may be of higher quality and a better investment in the long-term. Many times, however, when you buy a brand name item, you are paying for just that….the name of the product. Many generic or store brand products are very similar in taste or quality to their brand-name counterpart and, in some cases, may be manufactured at the same facility but just packaged in different boxes. Yet, the brand name product is more expensive.