10 Ways To Lower Your Bills

10 Ways To Lower  Your Bills

As a family of four, we most definitely have expenses!  But my husband and I together have mastered some serious ways to lower our bills and live extremely frugal.  My goal is that some of these tips will help you maybe change a few of the habits we’re all guilty of that can save us quite a bit of money in the long run and either help you pay off that pesky debt or just have a little more cash flow for your savings.  Here are 10 ways to lower your bills today!

Unplug It

For instance, while you’re not using your phone charger, coffee pot, kettle, etc… unplug it! Not only does it still draw energy which is affecting your hydro bill, but it is also a more green way of living!  (Bonus for us Vancouverites striving to be in the top 10 for greenest cities in the world)

Turn Off Your Lights

This goes hand in hand with my first suggestion.  If you’re leaving your lights on often, you’re affecting your hydro bill again.  Although it’s not huge amounts of dollars it’s still an area you can be saving. Right now while it’s summer, it’s even more convenient to utilize this method.

Air Dry

Yep! Old fashioned air dry.  Now with two kids, we have A LOT of laundry.  If someone told me to air dry all my clothes BEFORE having our dryer break down, I’d say no thanks!  I’d rather pay the money for the convenience.  BUT here’s the thing, our dryer broke down and instead of fixing it, we started air drying.  Yes, it is more time consuming, I will not lie to you.  However, our hydro bill in just one billing cycle went down by $12.00.  Let me put this into perspective for you…That is a whole bottle of wine or a couple of Starbucks coffees.  Every momma can use a bigger budget for that right?

Make Coffee At Home

But contrary to what I just said about Starbucks, you might want to consider this suggestion of making your coffee at home.  Think about this, an average bag of Starbucks coffee costs anywhere from 7.99-10.99 (depending on when it’s on sale). My husband and I, both extreme coffee lovers, make it every morning and a couple of times a week in the afternoon (typically what I do once the kids are sleeping so I can enjoy a cup that stays hot).  Even with all the endless coffee pots were made, that same bag lasts us easily a week.  So you’re spending 7.99 – 10.99 A WEEK, for TWO people.  Now if you think about having just two standard coffees at Starbucks a day (I’m talking just an average grande dark roast for my husband and myself @ 2.60 a cup), you’re looking at 36.00 a week!!! Keep that habit up and it adds up over time.  Think about doing that regularly, you’re looking at roughly $1,700.00 a year just on coffees!! Crazy right!

Assets and Liabilities

Oh, the “assets and liabilities” term.  I heard this used way too often as a kid from my dad (haha).  But look!  Now I’m using it!  Separating our “wants” from our “needs” will save us SO MUCH money.  How many times have you impulse-bought something and regretted it later?  OR how many times did you purchase something that you knew you realllllly couldn’t afford to buy, but you did!  Are you now up to your arms in debt? Or maybe just regret?  Differentiating what we need at that moment as opposed to what we want will be a huge money saver!  But don’t feel guilty, we’ve all been there a time or two.  I created a five-page workbook to help with this if this is where you tend to overspend.  Click here to receive it!

Grocery Store Selection

Here’s the thing with Vancouver, we have a massive amount of grocery store selections.  They seriously range from crazy expensive to cheap.  Were talking Whole Foods, Nester’s Market, Save On Foods to No Frills, Independent Grocer, Walmart Etc…My husband and I, having to shop for a family of four, can’t beat Walmart prices, and for the things we KNOW we need in bulk, we will buy at Costco.  The funny thing is people always say eating healthy is expensive, and It for sure can be, but when you find the right grocery store with produce and fruits up to standard, it can be cheap and you save so much money.  Below is an actual receipt of the usual grocery shop my husband and I will do that will easily last us a week and a half to two weeks.  Anywhere else, this amount of groceries for what we’re buying would cost us a significant amount more. So be conscientious of this.

Eat-In

Going out can be so expensive. For an average family of four to eat out once a week, it averages about $62.00 (however from the bills I’ve seen when we have chosen to go out, it adds up to be even more than that).  Now imagine the number of groceries you can get for $62.00 and how much longer they will feed your family of four.

Use Coupon or Promo Code

oh, man am I ever a believer in a good promo code. I really won’t buy anything online until I have found a promo code.  Whether its groceries, clothing, airline tickets, etc…  I have saved a good chunk with promo codes so take advantage of them!!  You can Google a promo code for almost anything, trust me!  All you have to do is type in “CheapOair promo code” or “amazon promo code” etc… You get the idea.

Have One Vehicle

We have two kids, but my husband and I have shared a vehicle since before we were even married three years ago.  That means one insurance payment, one gas tank to fill, one vehicle maintenance cost.  You get the point I’m sure!  This is not always easy, it takes planning in advance sometimes.  It takes using the transit system once in a while, or a car share service, and sometimes just walking, but not only are we saving money this way, it keeps us active (bonus, right?).  The average savings on just having one vehicle a year is around $2,500.00, but with gas prices these days, you can expect it to be even more.  Think of the money that could be used for a trip away somewhere!

Use a Gas App

Speaking of gas prices…right now the gas prices in Vancouver are OUTRAGEOUS right?   We are seeing 1.60 some days and on a good day, it is not moving much past 1.47.  But did you know about apps like GasBuddy?  They help you find the nearest gas station with some of the cheapest prices.  Sometimes you can save more than 0.20 per gallon, add those dollars saved up over time and you’ve got a decent chunk of change saved.

By implementing just a handful of my suggestions, you can be saving around $4,200.00 a year!!  And you guys, this is just the TIP of the iceberg for ways you can save.  Hence why I broke up my articles into sections.  If you want to read about another 10 tips I have, carry on to part 2 of my article.  Or subscribe now and come back to it when you have more time!  As always, please please please feel free to comment and like this article.  I love hearing from all of you!!

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XO, Asia