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Utilities, phone and internet plans, memberships, and every other charge that repeats. Negotiate the ones you keep and cancel the ones you don’t use.
Prepaid carriers run on the same Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile networks as the big-name plans, usually for much less a month, though their cheapest plans give up perks and priority when the network is busy. If your phone already works well where you live and work, pick a prepaid plan on that network and move your number to it.
Treat a rent renewal offer as the landlord’s first number, not the final one. If you leave, the landlord loses rent while the unit sits empty and pays to clean and advertise it, so propose your own rate in writing about three months before your lease ends.
Paying for three or more streaming services at once usually means paying for months when most of them sit idle. Rotate them instead, except any your household watches daily or needs for live sports. Keep one or two at a time, watch what you signed up for, then cancel and move on to the next service.
When your bills come due before the paycheck that covers them, ask to move the due dates. Most card issuers let you pick a new date online, and many lenders and utilities will do the same. Set each bill to land after the payday that covers it, and the late fees and overdrafts stop.
When a free trial asks for a card number, give it a virtual card number instead. Create one that works only with that merchant, then lock it or cap it at $1 as soon as the trial starts. Cancel in the service too, and the locked card usually declines any renewal you forget.
Your library card can cover audiobooks, ebooks, movie streaming, and museum passes at no cost. Before you pay for another subscription, check your library’s website for the apps and pass programs it offers, and get a card at every library system you qualify for. Then cancel the paid plan your cards cover, if waitlists and monthly caps work for you.
Program your thermostat to drop 7 to 10 degrees while you sleep, and set the schedule before the first cold week. The Energy Department says that setback can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling, more than the average heating bill’s projected increase this winter. A 10% saving won’t cover heating oil’s projected 50% jump.
After Disney’s price hike, the Disney+ and Hulu bundle costs just 50 cents a month more than one app, with ads or without. If you pay for one app, switch to the bundle on the same ad plan. If you pay for both ad-free apps separately, the ad-free bundle saves you $20.99 a month.
A carrier’s free phone is usually 36 monthly bill credits, and they stop if you leave the qualifying plan. Before you sign, multiply that plan’s extra monthly cost over the plan you’d otherwise pick by 36, add what your trade-in would sell for, and compare the total with buying the phone outright and selling your old one.
Every few months, audit your subscriptions against your card and bank statements and your phone’s app store, and cancel anything you haven’t used since the last check. Recurring charges keep billing whether or not you remember them. Make your first audit cover a full year, since annual renewals show up only once.
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