Fast and Easy Ways to Lower Your Bills

Are you living paycheck to paycheck? Do your monthly bills exceed your monthly income? Do you just want to save more money? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are in need of a budget makeover. In order to makeover your budget, you need to find some ways to trim you monthly bills. Here are some fast and easy ways to cut your bills.

1. Cut out cable - Cable television is a time waster and money pit. There are many excellent alternatives to cable television such as reading, board games or even video games. If you just cannot give up television, you can switch to over the air television by using an antenna to watch television. You can buy antennas at any big box store like Walmart or Target or you can even make your own with about $10 worth of materials. Just search "homemade antenna" on YouTube. If there are some shows on cable that you just can't give up, don't fret. You can watch them on Hulu.com or on the website of the network that airs the show. And if that doesn't work, you can find individual episodes on Amazon.com or iTunes.

2. Cancel your gym membership - While a gym membership is an excellent use of your money, it is also a waste of money. There are many ways to exercise that don't cost a dime. First of all, you can walk or run outside. Unless you have extreme allergies or just live in an extremely unsafe city, walking or running outdoors is a great idea. You get your daily dose of sun exposure (make sure you wear sunscreen) and it gives you a chance to appreciate the beauty of the world around you. Secondly, there are many free resources for workout videos if running or walking aren't your thing. You can borrow workout DVDs from the library or if you have a Family Video near you, they offer free workout DVD rentals. You can also find workout videos on YouTube. Finally, there are many great workout video games if you happen to have a Nintendo Wii. For $20-90, you can buy a great game that helps you exercise. A bonus to the video game approach is that your kids might want to get involved too.

3. Downgrade your cell phone plan - While it may be fun to text and surf the internet from your phone, is it really necessary? Removing these extras from your cell phone plan allows you not only to save money but to also help you be more social. While you may think that text messaging someone or "poking" them on Facebook is being social, it really isn't. Face to face or even phone conversations are more personal, fun and social than communicating through an electronic device. While you're removing extras from your phone bill, check your minute usage. If you aren't using many minutes, consider downgrading your plan in that way as well. If you are close to the limits each time, keep your plan or even upgrading because you will probably use more minutes without texting and internet on your phone.

4. Downgrade your internet plan - Do you really need an internet connection that can download 100 songs at the same time in 10 minutes? Most people do not. If you are paying more than $30 a month on internet, consider changing your internet service provider. AT&T offers internet at $20-35 per month and often offers specials that lower this cost further. If lowering your speed does not appeal to you, at least do a thorough check of your bill to make sure you aren't being charged for something you aren't using. Also, instead of renting a modem and/or router, buy one. You can get both for about $50 and you'll break even in less than a year.

5. Cancel magazine subscriptions - Reading a magazine is a fun pastime and if you have a subscription to a magazine, you probably enjoy reading it. There are free alternatives to magazine subscriptions, however. First of all, you can read most of a magazine's content on the magazine's website. There may be a few "subscriber-only" articles but most articles are also available on the website. Secondly, many libraries have subscriptions to dozens of magazines. You can take the time to drop by the library once a month to check out or just sit and read magazines that you enjoy.

6. Change your bank - If your bank charges you a monthly fee or service fees for things such as ATM withdrawals consider changing banks. There are thousands of banks in the U.S. that don't charge you to have an account with them and some even have rewards for having an account with them. On another note with banks, if you find that you frequently overdraw on your checking account, consider opening a checking account with ING Direct. They have no overdraft fees and in fact, even offer a small line of credit (less than $500) in case you overdraw. After overdrawing, they give you a few days to deposit money in your checking account before they charge any interest on the money "borrowed".

7. Eat by candlelight - Eating dinner by candlelight is not only extremely romantic but also an easy way to save money. In addition, changing all your light bulbs to compact fluorescents or LED light bulbs will save you a lot of money. If you change one or two per month, you'll start to notice a different within a few months. Also, make sure that you always turn a light off when you leave a room. Just like leaving the lights on in your car drains the battery, leaving lights on in your home drains your checking account.

8. Unplug electronics when not in use - All electronic devices use electricity when plugged in, even when you aren't using them. How else do you think the little red lights are showing up on your TV, DVD player, and other electronic items? These devices are vampires, sucking up energy and ultimately money for no good reason. To combat this, always unplug electronics when not in use. To make this rule easy to follow, plug several items into a surge protector and just unplug the surge protector if you are leaving for more than an hour and when you go to sleep. Small items like alarm clocks and lamps and large items like appliances do not need to be unplugged when not in use. Along the same lines, always make sure to shut your computer down when not in use. Leaving your computer on all the time is not only an energy waste, but it is also hard on your computer to be running for so many hours a day with no break.

9. Clean regularly - This may seem like it doesn't belong in this list but it certainly does. Excess dust and dirt on items like televisions, computers, ceiling fans and even refrigerators can cause them run inefficiently or stop running altogether. These unexpected repair or replacement costs can completely wreck your budget. Do a weekly dusting of your home and do a thorough cleaning of electronics and appliances every few months.

10. Don't overlook small things - There are many small things that can make a huge difference in your monthly bills. Here are many great examples:

- Put a jug of water in your toilet tank - this will reduce the amount of water you waste flushing the toilet

- Turn off the water while brushing your teeth

- Use a refrigerator thermometer to ensure you have the refrigerator set to the correct temperature - too cold will waste electricity but too warm will cause food to spoil

- Use coupons - saving a quarter on a $2 item may seem trivial but coupons savings can add up very quickly

- Call your car insurance agent the month of your birthday to see if your bill is eligible to be lowered - there are different age brackets that insurance agencies use and once you move to a new one, your bill probably will go down. In addition, check car insurance rates every 6 - 12 months at other companies because depending on your age and other circumstances, another company may offer the exact same coverage for a lower price

- Eat healthy foods, take vitamins and exercise - it's cheaper to be proactive now than to try to treat preventable diseases later

- Don't skip oil changes or other preventative maintenance on your car - there's nothing like car problems to blow your budget