Running a house is not only a difficult job, it’s an expensive one. For some, it’s not hard to keep on top of the cleaning and organizing that a household needs, but for others it’s a never-ending set of chores that always needs something doing. Saving money on your budget while you look after the upkeep of a house and the bills that come with it is a must for a lot of people and living frugally is a necessity.
Sorting through and organizing household bills is a big job. Thankfully, there are a lot of things that you can do to make sure that you are keeping the household bills as low as possible. Expenses for a home don’t always stay the same every month, so budgeting has to be done carefully. One month you may just have the usual expenses for water, gas and electric alongside the mortgage, insurance and food costs, but then other months you may have to fork out for sub zero refrigerator repair and replacement filters for the coffee machine. Trying to ensure you have a surplus of savings to one side to cover the unexpected expenses goes without saying. So, how can you keep your expenses to a minimum while simultaneously ensuring you don’t run out of anything?
- Bundle Your Bills. Where possible, group all your bills like gas, electric and water with just one provider. Doing that means you are making one payment, to one company, once a month instead of spread payments which can be hard to cover if they are variable. While you’re at it, go for a fixed rate utility provider; you’ll save heaps.
- Insurance Light. When it comes to home, contents and life insurance, again – go with the one provider. You may be able to pull a discount on your insurance package by doing that.
- Price Compare. Whether it’s for groceries or for utilities, check out online price comparison websites to get the best deals. If you can learn to meal plan and write shopping lists for your grocery shopping, you can easily stop yourself going off plan and spending in excess where you don’t need to. All those extra dollars in the cart do not need to be there and they absolutely add up!
- Coupons. Clipping coupons from your favorite magazines and newspapers can help bring your shopping bills down, and not just for groceries. You can get a lot of housewares on offer by just keeping an eye on the coupons just waiting to be clipped.
- Energy Smart. Okay, so you have a house to run. That doesn’t mean leaving all the lights on, the boiler on overnight and the Roomba going while you’re out. Get smart about your energy consumption and switch your lightbulbs out for lower wattage. While you’re doing that, work out where the boiler is and switch it off every evening. By using a timed thermostat through the cold months, you can also ensure that you wake up to a warm house that doesn’t use too much heat through the day!
