At DebtGoal we’ve stuck to our story — recurring expenses in one’s budget are some of the most attractive to cut when trying to free up cash for debt reduction payments. The usual suspects: housing, gym memberships, and magazine and newspaper subscriptions are all worthy candidates for the chopping block. But another high-yield area – digital services – may contain the savings potential to solve a budgetary crisis.
Here’s a list of some of tips for trimming these bills each month:
- Some personal finance columns suggest getting rid of a dedicated fax line in the home. Go further. get rid of all landlines and focus on a single, no-frills cell phone for most telephony needs. If you need to make expensive phone calls off of your plan, use an Internet-based service that makes “computer to computer” calls at little or no cost.
- Get rid of your cable TV service. This sounds drastic, but many of the most highly rated TV programs are now available for free on the Internet.
- Unplug your digital media appliances (TV, DVD player, stereo, etc.) when not using them. This will save a little on your energy bill since small amounts of electricity are consumed when equipment is placed on stand by. The “off” position for a lot of modern plug-ins is not truly off.
- Use the credit card interest rate reduction strategy. Call your providers and ask for rates to be lowered. Ask to have rates reduced back to a promotional level (provided they make sense in the long run — i.e., they do not jump to sky-high levels after a few months of discounts). Research cheaper service alternatives and mention those as clear alternatives to your current situation. Of course, switch providers if it makes financial sense.
- Bundled packages. Choose a package from the same provider including the cell phone, cable TV, and Internet access.
- Inquire about discounts for any of the organizations you belong to: a Church, AAA, alumni associations, professional and service groups, and even through the company you work for. Ask over the phone about the organizations they do provide discounts for: you may be an inactive member that still qualifies for the rate cut. Maybe you can even band together with coworkers, friends, housemates, or family to land a group deal.
- Most importantly, understand your digital services to be discretionary costs. In the tightest of financial crunches, these are still items that could be cut. From personal experience, I’ve gone without cable TV before, and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise: you naturally look for other entertainment, and I ended up getting outdoors more often, spending even more quality time with friends and family, reading, exercising, and generally leading a healthier lifestyle.
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