Paying too much

Think you're paying too much on your bills? You probably are.

This is beginning to sound like a dirty scam, right? I couldn't pull off a scam if my life depended on it!

No matter if you own a home or rent, you can actually lower your monthly payments on some of your bills. Some examples are cable, internet, phone, trash, and heat. Did any of your bills go up recently? You don't have to accept it.

So how do you do this? Just call the company and negotiate - that's it. I lowered my monthly payment on 3 bills in the last week, just by calling and negotiating:

Trash -
Last year, my promotional rate of $45/qtr ended, and learned that I was going to be charged $60/qtr, not to mention all the hidden fees. A couple days later, I found a local company that was only charging $36/qtr flat. I called my trash company and threatened to switch, so they matched the rate that the local company was offering.

Last week, I got a letter saying that my rate was going up again. I called the local company and asked if theirs went up too. Nope. So I called them back and asked them to match the rate again. They did.

Cable and Internet -
My promotional rate ended last year and my bill jumped an extra $30 a month. My co-worker has the same cable provider and the same thing just happened to her. She threatened to switch and the bill dropped. So I called and tried doing the same thing. I didn't complain as much as her, but they still offered to drop my bill by $10 a month and threw in a free DVR.

Heat -
Ok, so I didn't actually call my gas company to complain, but I got a letter in the mail today stating that my bill was going to be at least $30 lower through the end of the year. The only way to explain that is, they knew they were next. Nevermind the fact that oil prices are at their lowest in 8 years.

I would strongly encourage you to question what you are paying for, because let's face it, we could all stand to save some money. For at least some of the things I mentioned, you can probably get similar service from someone else, and it might actually be cheaper.