Have you ever heard that it takes money to make money? Pretty common phrase through my upbringing. Probably because we didn’t have any money….. Well, Jen and I have done ok on the “making money” front, but finding more examples daily on how to save money with money.
One area we can use as an example is insurance. Our House and Vehicle insurance total $167 per month. This includes a 3% premium for monthly billing. Well that can’t really be that much, can it? It’s only $5 per month extra! That kind of thinking is partially how our monthly spend has increased so much over the past few years. For now, we will have to continue paying the extra $5 per month. We do not have $2,000 to pay up front per year right now but this is definitely on the radar once we get some of our debt paid down. My previous insurance provider charged a 5% premium for monthly billing. How much could you save?
Let’s look at something a little more reasonable to begin with. We have 2 Sirius radio accounts, one for our house and one for my truck. I know, I know……why don’t you cancel these accounts if you are really serious about getting your finances under control? We will have to make some tough decisions as we continue on this journey of financial freedom, but for now, I think I would lose my mind without good radio for my 1.5 hour commute in the mornings. Back to my point about saving money with money. For these accounts, I paid $12.89 per month on one and $74.79 every 3 months for the other. I thought there must be something I could do to reduce this monthly bill. Well, I called Sirius and paid up front for a 2 year subscription on both accounts. “It will be how much?” I said. Pre paid 2 years total for both accounts on a special promotion is $240. Where do I sign up? On monthly billing over 2 years this same service would have cost me $907.68. Not bad for a 10 minute phone call and a few dollars up front.
Think about every single dollar you spend. In our case, when we really scrutinized our outgoing expenses, we reduced our monthly spend by $230. A couple dollars on every expense really adds up quickly and can give you a much better jump on being debt free sooner. My next post will outline each expense we were able to reduce and how.
Please leave your comments.
Ike & Jen