How to Save $2000+ With Just a Few Phone Calls
I’ve always been a pretty thrifty person. As I have grown older, and my responsibilities have become greater, my need to spend money wisely has only increased. I am always looking for how to save money, or cut back on expenses. So, this month, I was thrilled when I was able to cut my expenses for the next year by over $2000 with just a few simple phone calls.
Here’s how I did it.
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Cut Cable – Wait!! Don’t stop reading just yet. I’m sure many of you are absolutely horrified by this idea, but at least hear me out. I had to spend some time bringing my husband around to the idea, so allow me to spend some time doing the same for you, as well.
First off, we have had a monthly subscription to Netflix for years now. This allows us to access tons of free movies and TV series whenever we want. Netflix has definitely been responsible for a few (okay, maybe more than a few) late-night binge-watching sessions at my house. We have also had a subscription to Amazon Prime for a couple of years now, which also offers lots of movies and TV shows for free with the subscription. So, even without cable, we have a ton of options at our disposal. My husband was not keen on losing access to the major networks though. So, I agreed to purchase an antenna (modern day rabbit ears), in order to pick up the major networks. We (i.e. my husband) chose the Mohu Leaf 50 TV Antenna, and it has been working great so far. It cost just under $58 from Amazon, which ended up being a bit over $63 with tax.
By ditching cable, we saved ourselves approximately $47 per month. This equals $564 over the course of a year. If you subtract the money we spent on the antenna, it comes to a grand total of $501 saved.
Cancelled Gym Membership – I’m fairly confident that I’m not the only one who has had a gym membership sitting unused for months now. My husband and I are fairly active people. We like to bike and run, but we prefer to do it outside. Why did we have a gym membership to begin with then? Two words. Child care. It’s difficult to get outside for a workout when you have a baby/young toddler to worry about. We initially thought that having built in child care at the gym would help us to workout more regularly. Instead, we have spent month after month wasting money on a membership that we just don’t use. So, one phone call, and it was done.
Our membership was $79/month, which equals $948 for the year. No additional expenses here either. Just money saved.
Shopped around for insurance. I believe it’s recommended that you shop around and get insurance quotes every 1-2 years. We still have the same insurance (both home and auto under the same company) that we signed up for 5 years ago, when we bought our house. So, it was definitely time to shop around and see if we were still getting the best rates. And guess what, not only did we end up sticking with the company we were already with, but they actually ended up finding us additional savings. We made just a handful of phone calls to achieve this.
First, we called our insurance company, told them we were shopping around, and asked if they had any ways for us to lower our bill without compromising coverage. Then, we got quotes from about 4 other insurance companies. Our original insurance agent came back and said she had found a way for us to save. By adding an additional policy, we could save $14/month on our car insurance, and a little over $36/month on home insurance. Our home insurance had already been paid by our mortgage company, so she said that that money would actually come back as a refund in the amount of $435. This ended up being the best deal, so it’s what we went with.
We will end up saving $168 over the course of the year for car insurance, and $435 for our home insurance. That’s a grand total of $603.
So, all together, with just a few phone calls I ended up saving $2,052 for 2017. That breaks down to $171 per month. Think about how much you could do with that money. I know I am!
That’s fantastic savings! I’ve been trying to convince the husband to cut cable for a while now. Perhaps with an antenna like that I might be able to convince him. Thanks for the great tips!
Yeah, I had to work on mine for awhile. We really rarely ever watch tv though, and with all the options out there (Netflix, Apple TV, Amazon Prime, etc.), we really don’t need it. You can find just about anything you want elsewhere. Good luck convincing him! Hopefully the antenna will seal the deal. 🙂
Wow that is some great savings! We cut cable a few years back and don’t miss it a bit. I think though it is time to shop around for insurance. #happynowlinkup
I know I haven’t missed the cable. I think my husband felt a little lost the first time he sat down to channel surf, but he seems to have gotten over it. 🙂 Good luck with insurance. You may be surprised what you’re able to save!
Those are great ways to save! Thanks for sharing this at the DI & DI link party. Hope you had fun and made some new blog friends!
Thanks! I love the party – always great inspiration there! Thanks for hosting!
Great tips. We don’t have cable or a gym membership, but I like your third tip and it’s an especially good idea to let your current company know so maybe you won’t have to go through the hassle of actually switching but still save money!
#happynowlinkup
Yes! That was the best part. We got great savings, and didn’t even have to do much. 🙂 Thanks for looking!
I love these ideas because they aren’t telling me to stop drinking Starbucks. 😉
Seriously though, I love that these are all big chunks of change. Saving $2,000 would be worth the time and sacrifices, if needed.
We dropped our dish when we moved to the house and changed to “dial up” internet. It’s insanity, but we are saving over $2,000 just on that change. And for some weird, magical reason, our dial-up internet has better service and better video play than we had before.
Ha! That wouldn’t really make for much savings around here. We certainly love Starbucks, but don’t indulge very often. I’m surprised you have such good service with dial-up. I’m not sure I could ever convince my husband to go there!
Great post and I am so guilty of the gym membership thing.
So were we! And for longer than I want to admit. It’s so nice to know that I’m not spending money on it anymore! Thanks for looking!
I really want to drop the cable – I have to work on the others in the house though !!
Yeah, it can definitely be a hard sell. I don’t think either one of us miss it though, at this point. Good luck!
I could never cut cable. It is our only entertainment. And I gave up buying shoes, too! 😉
Oh my. I’m not sure I could give up buying shoes… I am not a shoe hoarder, like some women are, but I do enjoy buying new ones when what I have wears out. And we have a two year old, who is generally all the entertainment we need. 🙂
I like to make things and read. My hubs is the tv watcher. I have been trying to get him to cut cable forever, no luck yet.
The cost of everything is so high and we often think that what we have is a necessity, its isn’t so much a necessity as something we are used to having. Great ideas in your post they are all practical and make good sense.
Yes, I think that’s true. After a while, things begin to feel like necessities, even when they are not. And I agree, that the cost of everything is just crazy. My husband is also the TV watcher, out of the two of us, but with so many other options (Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV, etc.), I finally got him to come around.
My husband just shopped around for new insurance and it wasn’t a good outcome 🙁 Where we are seems to be the least expensive. Our kids all have subscriptions for Netflix and have Hulu. These are great ideas for saving money!! Thank you for sharing at TaDa Thursday!!
At least you know that you are getting the best deal with insurance! I still think that’s a pretty good outcome, even if it didn’t lead to any savings. 🙂 Thanks for looking!
I am all for digging deep and looking for options. Tried all of those. Funny thing is a year later, I using the gym daily. YAY! We talk with the insurance guy yearly anyway and always find something we can tweak and well after a year off of cable, found that Netflix got us hooked on some series we never had seen and now wanted to…oops!
Good for you for getting to the gym! That’s awesome! And Netflix is notorious for getting you hooked on things you didn’t even know you wanted to watch. Haha! Thanks for looking!