There are plenty of posts floating around about saving money right now, but here’s a new one. In this post though I’m not going to talk about how to make your toothpaste go that bit further or about shopping around and looking for coupons.

No this post is about trimming the excess off of those pesky monthly outgoings like rent, energy bills, phone bills etc…

You see, I think that reducing your monthly bills is one of the easiest ways to save money. The reason is that these payments happen every month without fail, and if you can just save £20-30 a month you will be saving hundreds each year. That’s got to be worth a little bit of effort right?

Rent / Mortgage

Your rent or your mortgage payments are probably your biggest monthly outgoings, so it is well worth looking at in more detail. There are a few ways you might be able to lower your costs depending on your situation.

Downsize:
By far the most extreme suggestion on this post, downsizing isn’t an option for everyone, but if you are renting a relatively expensive house that you don’t need then downsizing to save on the rent might make sense. Obviously this is a lifestyle choice, but consider this; will moving down the road, and saving all that rent mean that you can buy the house of your dreams that bit sooner?

Pay off more mortgage:
Simple enough, if you have 5k in savings earning less than the interest you are paying on your mortgage, pay off a little extra, it will save you interest every month and mean you own your home that bit sooner.

Petrol Costs

Other than buying a smaller car (this is a good option actually), or moving closer to where you work (if you move house and swap cars you could potentially save a fortune each month, more than paying for the shiny new car!) there is another way to get a little back;

Get a fuel card – these are generally credit cards provided by your favourite petrol station for paying for your fuel. You have to be careful to get the best deal, but if you pay off your balance regularly you shouldn’t pay any interest and you often get 1-2% cashback, which really adds up.

Energy Bills

Once again, you can downsize; as I mentioned above, this will save you a good amount in rent, but it will probably also mean lower electricity and heating bills and also lower council tax. Before you write off the idea, estimate each of these and workout the total you could save in a year, you might be surprised.

Of course even within your own house you can save energy easily enough. Turn the thermostat down a touch and you’ll barely notice the difference. Turn off radiators in rooms you don’t use and shut the door and try to only use big appliances at night when electricity costs less…

Phone Bills

It goes without saying of course that you should use your phone less. If you are in a contract you might not be able to do a lot right away, but consider getting rid of your landline, let’s face it, you don’t need it if you have a good mobile anyway.

When it comes time to renew, make sure you get a contract that covers your needs (and not necessarily wants); do you really use the unlimited data? Most people don’t. Get the best contract price you can, but also consider the value of the phone you will get.

Every time I renew I go for the best free phone I can and then sell mobile for cash to offset the cost of the contract. Unless you really need a brand new cutting edge phone you may as well just buy a slightly older model at a fraction the cost.