“A penny saved is a penny earned” said Ben Franklin. Today,
$100 a month saved is $1,200 earned over the
course of a year.
You can shave your monthly bills by asking for reductions. It
is easy and you can do it immediately.
For example, my office phone bill arrived on Monday. I have
three lines and an internet connection.
When I first got this service, it was $176.00 a month. Over
the past few years it has slowly crept up. The bill showed that the charge for
July was $236.00!
I thought advances in technology were supposed to make
communications less expensive, not more.
After breathing deeply for a moment, I emailed my phone
company’s sales office. I told them I was shocked by the bill and was inclined
to shift to an internet phone system that might cost me only $100.00 a month. I
also said that I’d consider staying with them if they reduced my monthly charge
to $150.00.
Within a day a phone service representative called to tell
me that VOIP systems are finicky, and that he could help me out. He could reduce
my monthly rate to $159.99 per month for all the same features and internet
speed. Sold.
A similar savings appeared a month ago. I have had satellite
TV service at home for years. But the same set of channels, as many as half
being shopping and infomercial bandwidth-wasters, had doubled from $39 a month
to $79 a month —with no corresponding increase in value.
I called the satellite company to tell them that cable
service would be cheaper and that I would like to cancel. All of a sudden, my
long history with them and my (secretly) built up loyalty points got me to
$47.00 per month. Amazing what a call can achieve.
Finally, my online legal research bill had recently crept up
with services that I did not need or use. A call to that provider got that
monthly bill reduced by nearly $80.00 per month.
Let’s see, I just saved $76 per month on phones, $32 per
month on TV, and $80.00 per month on fee based research. I am suddenly pocketing
$188.00 more every month. And all it took was an idea, an email and three phone
calls.
Look at your bills. Ask your providers to do better. If they
balk, get a new provider, or at least threaten. They’ll move to your demand,
and you’ll be richer for the effort—today.
