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Your cable bill comes and you cringe, you get your cell phone bill and wish you hadn’t. Most of us are pretty concerned about the amount of money that we’re spending on a monthly basis. This is pretty understandable. After all, whether you like it or not, money really does have a huge impact on how you’re able to live your life.
If you’re not making the most of the money that you have, then you could wind up in some pretty serious trouble. Of course, a lot of people assume that they need to curb their luxury spending in order to improve their financial situation and that there’s little else that they can do. However, it’s often the regular monthly payments that you don’t even think about that can have the biggest impact on your finances. With that in mind, here are some things that you can do to take the pressure off when it comes to those regular bills.
Think about what you really need
One of the easiest traps to fall into is the assumption that different regular payments aren’t going to make that much of a difference to your finances. This leads people to sign up for various different regular services regardless of whether or not they really need them. Ask yourself, do you really need Netflix, Hulu, Amazon prime AND HBO Go? Or would you be okay with just one of these? That might not seem like such a big deal, but it can end up saving you a huge amount of money down the line. I personally sign up for one watch what I want on that service then the next month I hold my subscription and use another service. This saves me a lot of money each month.
Compare prices
You need to make sure that when you’re looking for the services that you need, that you shop around and compare prices as much as possible. Keeping a watch on your regular bills and shopping around every few months can be a huge help. Things like DISH TV Packages, utility bills, or internet packages will all have different costs attached to what they provide and who is providing them. Never go for the first offer that you see. Make sure that you always shop around as much as possible in order to make sure that you’re getting the very best deal possible.
Let your providers know you’re looking elsewhere
If you feel like your current provider is charging you too much, then the best thing that you can do is to let them know that you’re looking elsewhere. Most providers will do whatever they can to keep you so if you tell them you’ve found a better deal somewhere else they will often attempt to match or even beat it in order to avoid losing your business. You could very easily end up having the amount you spend on a lot of regular bills this way!
The sad fact of life is that you’re always going to have to deal with these kinds of expenses whether you like it or not. Unless you’re lucky enough to live rent-free or you don’t have an internet connection (in which case, how are you reading this?!) you’re going to need to set money aside for these things. However, by following this advice, at the very least you’ll be left with a little more money than you expected.