A friend recently cut $721 from her family’s monthly household expenses and agreed to post the slash-and-burn details here:
• Canceled AT&T phone service and switched to digital service by Time Warner Cable. Savings: $95/month
• Cut out premium cable channels except for HBO. Savings: $34/month
• Lowered minutes on Verizon monthly cell phone plan: Savings: $25/month
• Reduced housekeeper visits from every week to every other week (don’t worry, the housekeeper has other clients eager for her time). Savings: $125/month
• Called up parking garage and asked them if they could match another garage’s rate of $300/month. The garage agreed to reduce its rate from $425 to $350. Savings: $75/month
• Applied for NYC resident parking tax exemption. Savings: $25/month
• Qualified for free safe deposit box at Chase, where she has her checking, savings and mortgage, and canceled her other safe deposit box. Savings: $33/month
• Reduced Poland Spring deliveries from five to three large jugs a month. Savings: $20/month.
• Reduced delivery of Gevalia coffee from seven to six boxes a month: Savings: $10/month
• Shops at Fairway instead of Fresh Direct. (She says Fairway is cheaper for the same stuff.). Savings: $90/month
• Switched to wines costing less than $15/bottle: Savings: $80/month
• Donated to charity the contents of her family’s locker at Manhattan MiniStorage because they never use it anyway: Savings: $49/month plus the tax write-off for the donation
• Hustled her 3-year-old out of diapers: Savings: $60/month
TOTAL MONTHLY SAVINGS: $721/month
How have you saved money around the house? Post your tips here.
