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How to painlessly cut the cost of necessary expenses

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Do you feel like you’ve cut your expenses to the bone – that there’s literally nothing else to cut?  I want to challenge your thinking on that.  Have you looked into what I call the necessary expenses (things that you need or are required to have) to try to get a discount or find a cheaper supplier?

This is what I did for our household:

I contacted our electric company and went from 15¢ to .08¢ per kilowatt. This saved us $40 the first month alone.  Now I have reminders on my calendar to check before the next possible rate change in 6 months.

I was contacting our credit card company about a dispute issue and they asked if there is anything else they could do for me.  I responded, “I would love a lower interest rate.” They immediately reduced it by 2%. Yes, sometimes it can be as easy as that.

I called our cell phone provider to pay a bill (normally I pay online, but my computer had crashed) and they said they could lower our bill by $20 per month because of our loyalty – without me even asking! Another $20 back in our budget.

If you want to try lowering the cost of your necessary expenses, always be polite and ask simple questions, like….

  • Why did my bill go up?
  • What are my options for reducing my bill?
  • My budget doesn’t allow for me to pay this, what can we do to reduce the cost?

All these little savings add up to more money in your pocket.  If you can’t reduce your bill, shop around and see what’s out there.  Then, bring your findings back to your current providers to see what they can do.

Let me know how you do.

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