I wanted to share with you a review I finally completed with all of our accounts. This review included our credit cards, PayPal, and bank accounts. Want was I reviewing? I was reviewing the monthly expenses that hit our accounts across all of our finical accounts. Over the years I've signed up for different accounts with companies such as Dropbox, Hulu, Netflix, etc. All of these become an economic drain. Individually they are not much, but when you add them all together, they are a good amount of money. Over the past three months while we've tightened our belts, we dropped the following for our monthly expenditures: Dropbox - $9.99/month - Stopped using, but I had files out there. Netflix - $11.99/month - Used daily by myself or kids. Stars - $8.99/month - Used several times per week by myself. Evernote - $4.99/month - replaced with free Bear App. Donation - $25/month (for the time being.) Audible.com - $14.95/month - looking to use library to take out free books on tape. DailyBurn - $10.49/month - was not using this at all. Crashplan - $12.95/month (backup 5 computers) - Was only configured on two computers and only one of them was actually backing up. Cinemax - $10 - Found out Directv added Cinemax to HBO which I thought was free. Come to find out we were paying $10/month for this. All of this totaled out to be $109.35/month we were shipping out the door. None of the list above was an essential. All of those items would be clumped into the "Want" category. Take some time to review your outgoing automatic payments. Hope this helps just one person.
It's good to review expenses every once in a while to ensure you are getting/using what you are paying for. It's also good to see if there are any items that can be negotiated down. Every year my cable/internet bill creeps up and I negotiate it back down. About 1.5 years ago I also negotiated my cell phone bill down. This coming year I'll be looking into my house/car/bike insurances and see if I can get the same coverage for less.
Yep, insurance is going to be shopped this year. Car, home, snowmobile and umbrella have been creeping up the past three years. We cut the cable/satellite cord a few years ago. We've negotiated down internet and have zero reoccurring pre-authorized monthly charges. Garbage pickup is going to be changed as well. Waste Management keeps buying the start-ups. They'll hold the rate for a couple months and then jack it up. We set up a separate checking account for monthly expenses. Utilities, insurance and groceries are paid for out of that account. We fund it twice a year and if the balance doesn't keep pace we figure out why and address it. Sometimes the stuff is beyond our control, but many times we can negotiate or control an expense. We had been able to go to online billing and auto pay for insurance to keep it reasonable, now that doesn't seem to be helping.
A rule of thumb to live by, ................"Do I NEED it...... or..... Do I WANT it. If you try living by the first you'll be far better off.
Gas, electric, internet, vehicle ins. only bills we have. We worked hard to get to this point, it is amazing how it makes you feel. If we can not pay cash we do not buy it.
Dumped cable. We don't even keep the TV plugged in any more. I'll watch a football game on Sunday and then unplug it.
Holy cow. I've never even heard of many of those! As for monthly bills, we have few. Telephone, electric, LP, insurance and medical expenses other than gas for vehicles and upkeep expenses for vehicles and home. Like ironpony for many, many moons we've lived with the rule that if we don't have the money for it, we don't buy it. I hate payments and can't afford them either. It really burns my bottom to see so much advertising that you can buy this product for "only" x dollars per month. Oh no I can't!
I wish you could edit your posts. Now that I look back at it, I could have put things together better and explained them. This block here I signed up for over the 10 years while I traveled for my company. I used them often, and rationalized them as to help keep my sanity. A big lie, but it helped me sleep at night. Backups/Sharing files with myself online: Dropbox - $9.99/month - Stopped using, but I had files out there. Crashplan - $12.95/month (backup 5 computers) - Was only configured on two computers and only one of them was actually backing up to keep files safe. Record Projects/Keep notes/Recipes/and much more Evernote - $4.99/month - replaced with free Bear App. Entertainment: Netflix - $11.99/month - Used daily by myself or kids. Audible.com - $14.95/month - looking to use library to take out free books on tape. (I used this the most and if I had to do it all over again, this would be the one I'd still do.) Online Workout videos I could do in the hotel DailyBurn - $10.49/month - was not using this at all. Done recently. Donation - $25/month (for the time being.) Stars - $8.99/month - Used several times per week by myself. - Amazon Prime Cinemax - $10 - Found out Directv added Cinemax to HBO which I thought was free. Come to find out we were paying $10/month for this. I am one that regularly looks at my Wireless bill, my Insurance and other monthly expenses to see where I can reduce the monthly costs. These items above were ones that slipped through the cracks as they are automatically billed to your bank account or credit card. They are a different category. Unfortunately there is no way around them if you choose to use any of them. I'll also share that my wife's monthly payments for her mobile end in two months. Along with my dad's. Both of those phones were purchased at the same time. In May Directv could also be removed from our account. We really like Directv, but we are considering getting rid of live TV. Most of what I watch is on Hulu, Amazon Prime or Netflix. At the beginning of May we are going to sit down and determine exactly what it is we are looking to watch for content, and then look at cutting the cord. Right now Directv costs us $78/month plus taxes and which makes it closer to $100. We already pay for Hulu and Amazon Prime. Although the different networks have taken action to prevent you from having access to their content if you don't have cable, DISH or Directv. Without them you are forced to pay to watch their content. Not the Al la carte style of tv most of us have been hoping for over the years.
When it comes to buying things, I am right there with you. I setup an emergency fund just for that purpose. Monthly payments and I do not like each other. The emergency fund is used for emergencies such as essential household appliances. You know, the ones that you cannot life without. No not the microwave or a dishwasher. I am talking the oven to make dinner, refrigerator, furnace or hot water heater. We adopted the cash model only in 2007, and I am still struggling to completely get there. Soon though. I see the light way off in the distance.
I have my cable/internet and phone billed directly to my credit card. But, I also get email alerts prior to when they will be billed, so I go look at them then to see if anything funky has gone on. I also look at the cc bill every month to make sure it is correct. I'm usually real close in knowing how much the cc bill will be before I get it (I pay off every month). The only other monthly bill I have is electric. After thinking about it, there are 2 other bills that go to my cc - they are each a yearly charge. One is for my blog, where I communicate with family (we don't talk on the phone), and the other is Amazon Prime. I have my paycheck direct deposited and split it 3 ways; a portion to savings, a portion to checking (which I usually live off of except during unusual circumstances like airplane tickets to KS for Christmas this year), and another checking account that I had bi-monthly payments automatically withdrawn to pay my home equity loan. When I paid off the loan, I kept the money going in that account.
I really got to sit down and figure this one out! I should have been doing it a long time ago really. It just makes sense and is a lot easier than moving money around all the time. Today’s project!!
I did this about 2 years ago. $60 /month saved and no more news and disgusting shows and commercials! Home fone also. It's nice to control who calls you and 50$ /month in my pocket!
I do a review twice a month when I pay the bills. I never do auto pay. If it's going out, I'm saying it's going out. For big ticket/renewable things, I use the 48 hour rule.... sleep on it for 48 hours and then decide if I really need it,.
