How to cut your bills in almost half.

With our busy life we hardly realize that we often forgot or realize that our bills have went out than the normal ones that we are paying. If you have auto-pay and emailed bills then it is a lot harder to realized that your bills went up. Sometimes this is due to the "fine print" you signed up stating that the prize you are paying is only good for a certain months or for a year. You will be surprised how much you are over paying just because you ignore a bill or two and not realized it went up already.

The best way to cut your bills in half (or at least almost half of it) is to do the following:

• always check your bills
• read the fine prints or at least try to clarify to the seller/company if what you are signing for (price wise) is only good for a year or a few months only and if so how much is the "REAL" price per month.
• Every year contact different companies to give you a quote for the same insurance coverage you are getting for your house, car, etc. You will be surprise how much they differ. A short email, 30 minutes of your time chatting online or talking on the phone can go a LONG way. Just make sure you are contacting a legitimate company so you won't end up giving information and get scammed. We used to use Geico for our car insurance but noticed that after a year our payment went up almost twice the price we use to pay. I called and they told me that is just how it is.  Called different insurance company and was given a quote almost half the price of what we are paying and with better coverage. That simple conversation have saved us $1,000 per year in our insurance. That is a LOT of savings in my honest opinion so make sure you do this every year to get a better payment. If you don't want to change insurance company and you know that you are a good driver, make sure you point this out to your agent and they are always more than willing to lower your payment (you can also tell them you are thinking of switching and this often gives you a better chance of getting a lower payments).
• We used Xfinity for our internet. When we signed up they give us a promo offer that we only pay $39/month for the lowest speed in their internet, this price is good for a year and if you don't ask they won't tell you that it is only for a year and will be so much after that. I forgot that "clause" and was surprised to see our bill after the "promo" ends. It is almost $90/month! Can you imagine that much have added. So I decided to go to their office store in person (their store is just 5min drive from home and it is a lot better to see them in person than be on the phone forever and be frustrated) This move cost me10 minutes drive back and forth and another 30 minutes waiting in the store BUT after that I get to lower our bills back now it cost us $44 per month on our internet. That's $552 savings in a year, I would rather spend an hour doing this and save this much in a year. I have to do this every year BUT i don't mind. The savings we get is worth it!
• Ditch your cable! Do you really need that many channels you don't watch? If you love sports there are other ways to watch them live and not spend as much as the one cable company bill you every month. You can install an antenna and watch basic channels in HD for FREE and if you want some other channels or shows they have apps, youtube, hulu, netflix and other company that offers $10-$20 per month and this is far cheaper than the cable company. We used to pay $75 per month for channels we hardly watch so we decided to just get antenna and netfix. This saves us at least $50 per month (that's $600 savings in a year!)
• Did you know you can lower your electrical bill? You can ask your electric company if they offer a base payment for your electricity. This often was given to those who knows their electric usage are always the same or promise that they will use more electricity in down time (like wash/dry clothes at night, vacuum at night, etc.) Some company also offer FREE night/s of electricity just ASK! Often companies don't tell you this "hidden gems" unless you ask them so it is always nice to ask and find out.

This post is mostly based on our experienced, I know there are other ways that you can cut your bills you just need to invest a little time, patience and kindness when you deal with them (believe me a smile can go a very LONG way!)

Please let me know if you have other ways so I can update my list and I will be very happy to do it too.

Thank you for being here!