Utilities!?!
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Utilities!?!
| Thu, 01-05-2006 - 3:43pm |
I was just wondering how much everyone spends on utilities a month. I am starting to figure out a budget and am writing down everything to see what is going in and what is going out. I guess I am a bit irritated at how much we spend on utilities! We spend right at $400.00 a month on utilities!! Granted, a few of our "utilities" as I call them are optional such as cell phone, newspaper, satellite tv, and now my husbands satellite radio. Of all of those, the only one I can figure to cancel is the newspaper as the others have contracts. The optional utilites add up to $124.00 per month so I still have $275.00 going out to necessities. How do you save money on utilites? Any ideas on how to cut back on these pesky little bills??
Kristy


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Our utilities are as follows (Southeast US) for a 4 bedroom, 3 bath home:
Electric: 100
Natural Gas: 100 (But could go up this winter)
Cellular: 100 (Family plan used by myself and DH--who uses it for work)
Cable: 95 (Basic Cable with Internet Service and modem rental)
Water: 20 (City Water, Septic Sewer)
Garbage Pick-up: 13 per month
So a total of, roughly, 428 per month. I'm sure our bills would be higher if we werent' trying to keep them down. Our neighbors have electric and heating bills that are pushing $300 a month. What we do is turn off lights, computers, monitors, etc, unless we're using them, and we take quick showers rather than baths. We have our thermostat set at 63 degrees, and we just dress in layers and use blankets to keep warm. The Cellular plan is neccessary for DH's work, and we have no home phone, so it's neccessary for home use also. A cellphone is cleaper for us than a normal phone because all of our family members live in other states, and this way, we do not get charged extra for long distance, AND our family can reach us no matter where we are. We need the internet access for DH's work.
I think the only way I could cut back more would be to cancel our trash pickup and bring our trash bags to the dump myself. I used to do this, actually. It was .25 cents per bag, which is a great rate. It gets stinky, though, in Summer, when you eat something like seafood, and you have to drive all the way to the dump with a bag of stinky fish-smelling trash in your car. LOL! So that's why I pay the money for the company to come pick it up for me. :-D
Pat :-D
Hello,
Here are my utility bills for Metro Atlanta (Southeast US):
House Size: 2 bedroom, 2 bath - 1500 square feet
Electric: $82 (Winter) / $220 (Summer)
Garbage: $13
Water: $25
Phone: $28
Cell: $65 family plan (2 phones)
DSL: $51
Natural Gas: $30 (Summer) / $60 (Winter)
Our airconditioner had a problem with the fan motor this summer. Once it was repaired, our bills went down from $220 to $180 before the hot weather peaked.
Most Paid: $462
Least Paid: $294
I wish I could lower our home phone bill, but our DSL connection depends on it. My husband works from home, so his cell phone and the DSL connection are considered business needs. We have no Cable TV, keep the thermostat at 68 in the winter, and generally try to keep the lights off, etc when not needed.
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Got Dot? Why Not? It Pays!
http://www.website.ws/runsamok/show
Sincerely,
Lindsey Schocke
Geeks on Tap: Mission Accomplished
I love our programmable thermostat. I can turn the heat down some during the day when no one is home and at night when we are all in bed. Since it is automatic, no one has to remember to change it. We even used it last year when our twins were babies, although it probably was set only a couple of degrees different from day to night. Now that the kids are going on 2, we can keep things a little cooler at night. I also like that I can override it temporarily, like when we give the kids their baths. I'll bump it up a couple of degrees and then turn it back down when they are in bed. If I forget (like I did tonight, I just checked! LOL), it still reverts to the cooler temperature we have programmed after DH and I go to bed. Although, if you and DH are already having hot/cold wars, overrriding the settings may not be helpful. I think that it has helped our utility bills, especially this year. HTH!
-Sarah
Sarah
Mom to Gina & Tony
I know what you mean about forgetting to drop off the garbage! What a surprise when one of the teenager's was supposed to, and you discover it in the trunk!
Electric/water/garbage- $115
gas (winter)- $80 (supposed to be going up thought?)
phones/cable/internet- $150
2100 sq ft house
Cable $0 (live in condo association-cable incl.in rent)
Water/Sewer/trash: $45
Electric $240 (even with no power for 10 days due to hurricanes) summer/
$170 winter not sure why still so high...we try our best to conserve but think fiance keeps a/c too cool and tv/computers on more than I would. Our refrig is old as is A/C unit but landlord won't replace.
Phone/DSL-$70 (use DSL for job)
Cell Phone-$55
Total $410-370 mo.
RE: Sunday Paper.
I used to buy the paper most Sundays at $1.50+tax ea week. My local paper kept offering subscriptions for anyone without home delivery for past 30 day for 99c (-7 days a week or 4 days (Thurs-Sun)). For $52 I get the paper for a whole year so now I'm saving money on that and get the coupons every week. They will even put a vacation hold and add the skipped days to the end of the term. The only thing is that I have to remember to cancel at the end of the term or will automatically renew at >$150 yr. but if I cancel for 30 days then will again be eligible for a promo rate and hopefully they will again have 99c a week offer when it is time to renew.
Proud sister of a Marine:
We live in a second-floor, 1,300 sq ft apartment.
Electric is approx $70/month
Gas is a $66/month budget - this month's bill woulda been $120 if not on a budget
Newspaper we pay $10/month - worth it for the coupons and the comics :)
Cell phones run $90/month, although I am considering dropping a couple of the extras
No cable TV or satellite.
We are TRYING to keep our heat down this year.... but 74 is as low as we can stand for now!! Electricity, I just try to remember to turn lights off when not needed. I say to myself, "This is saving a couple pennies, but those couple pennies each day add up over a month!" :)
My advice to you, if you are really serious about cutting some of those bills down, is to make a list of each item. Then do an internet search for ways to save. (Sure there are tons of sites to help save on electric and gas.) As far as the newspaper, is that necessary? Can you get the same information online? Can you cut back to only getting the Sunday paper?
Good luck!
~Aravis~
Ah yes the joy of paying the utilities.
Well let's see, my bills are as follows:
Cell Phone : $16.00 (I work at the cell phone company and have no home phone. It would be way more expensive than my cell at this point.)
Electricity: $59.00 Level Pay Plan
Gas: $83.20 (That was this month. It was $28 last month, darned winter. I did sign up for level pay though so we'll see how that works out.
Cable & Internet: I'm estimating between $50 & $60. I just scaled way back to just basic cable and haven't gotten the new bill yet. But before that it was $125.00 a month.
Water/Sewer/Trash Pick up: $20.00 I get billed by the apartment company for this.
So Total: $238 a month give or take a few dollars.
And that is for a one bedroom apartment and I work to keep my utilities down. I can't imagine paying the cost to keep a house warm if my totals are this high in my small place.
We live in a 3 br 1.5 bath 2 story duplex with an unfinished basement.
Pumpkin
&nbs
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