I see a few places we can cut back.
We have the cheapest cell phone service we can get with T-mobile but I think when we have the money I'll go back to pre-paid with Trac-fone and get the double minutes card. We like not having a bill to deal with and in the long run that saved us quite a bit. We'll more than likely have the satellite TV turned off. If it's a choice between that and the ISP, we'll take the ISP as it's important to the business and the satellite TV is not.
The electric bill is always so high but I don't know what to do to lessen it. This house isn't as well insulated as it needs to be but until we have the cash to add insulation we have to deal with it as is. We only use the heat when it's really cold and lately it's been fairly warm so we haven't used it much. I've come across quite a few people who maintain that they've lowered their electric bill by eliminating or decreasing phantom load. I've read up on this and it does appear that unplugging some appliances when they're not being used can save up to 26% on the electric bill but I can't get DH believe it or to go along with it. I really would like to just try it for a month and see if it makes much of a difference. I'll try talking to him about it again and see if he'll agree to a 30 to 60 day trial. I wonder if doing the phantom load test would have him rethinking it. Hmm, something to ponder...
The water bill is too high, also. It's never as cheap as I'd like but it's been higher than normal for the last couple of months. I'm going to start sending the boys into the bathroom with the kitchen timer and tell them they have 10 minutes. When that timer goes off, the water needs to be turned off and they then have 5 minutes to dry off, dress, and get out of the bathroom. Two of the three that are often here will stay in there for 45 minutes to an hour!
So, one for the next month is to decrease the electric and water consumption.
Our electric bill for November was $171.60, 2292 KWH used
For December it was $140.16, 1803 KWH used
Our most recent water bill, due on the 10th, is $56.02, 6800 gallons used
I should be able to improve both of those. We'll see.
Going over expenses and...
December 31st, 2006 at 09:17 pm
December 31st, 2006 at 09:41 pm 1167601296
December 31st, 2006 at 10:23 pm 1167603794
December 31st, 2006 at 10:26 pm 1167603990
December 31st, 2006 at 10:48 pm 1167605315
One of the best financial decisions we ever made~
January 1st, 2007 at 02:21 am 1167618096