Saving Money in a Weak Economy

Three years into a weak economic recovery, many families are still struggling to make ends meet. Unemployment is still above eight percent, and many people have simply dropped out of the labor market after becoming too discouraged to continue looking for work. For those who have been fortunate enough to keep their jobs, wages have stagnated while inflation has started to creep up, especially with respect to food and energy prices.

Given this tough economic climate, families have needed to find more and more ways to reduce their monthly expenses in order to save money. Although this may seem exceedingly difficult after years of ascetic living, there may be some areas of your life where you can further reduce your expenses to help solidify your budget. One often overlooked area is in technology spending, where there are usually numerous competitors to any given service to provide plenty of opportunities to save money.

Cell Phones

With the ubiquity of modern smartphones, phone bills have increased dramatically in recent years as customers have agreed to pay extra for the additional conveniences of things like 3G internet access and unlimited text messaging. Whereas even basic cell phone service can easily run to $40 or $50 a month, many families are now paying more than $100 a month for family plans that include these additional services.

If you are still paying for a land line, one way to reduce your monthly expenses would be to just make your cell phone your primary telephone and eliminate your local and long-distance service. Given the improved coverage areas of modern cell phone providers, this is becoming an increasingly viable option for customers who don’t like to be tied down with a land line.

Alternatively, you could look into the use of a pay-as-you-go cell phone. These have become increasingly popular in recent years, especially among people who tend to be infrequent users of cell phones. Thanks to companies such as TracFone and Net10, customers can reduce their yearly cell phone bills to as low as $100. Although your per-minute costs will be higher, your total outlay will be much lower since you won’t be paying for minutes you don’t use.

Another money saving strategy for your cell phone is T-Mobile prepaid plans which offer many options depending on your monthly phone usage. Also, with products like Skype and VoIP products like ooma, it has become very easy to reduce your monthly phone bills.

Cable Bills

In all likelihood, the single largest expense on your monthly technology budget is your cable bill. Despite the increasing competition from various satellite television companies, cable providers have still been able to raise their rates and maintain their healthy profit margins. However, the growth of entrainment options, especially on the internet, is making cable service increasingly superfluous.

Indeed, there are very few shows any more on the big networks that can not be found on the internet within a week of their first broadcast on television. Hulu has become a popular destination for internet users to watch their favorite recent television shows. In addition, users can usually just go to the television channel’s website in order to find the most recent episodes of its shows. As a added bonus, you will usually be subject to fewer commercials than that which you would see on dish network or cable television.

In addition, NetFlix has done a lot to reduce the costs of entertainment. Despite the recent chaos regarding their pricing changes, NetFlix has still remained a cheap way to watch movies and television shows. Indeed, their streaming service is less than $10 a month. However, even that cost can be reduced thanks to the growth of Red Box and other DVD kiosks, where you can often rent movies by the day for only $1. If that is still too expensive for you, then consider your public library. Many people don’t realize that, in addition to books, many libraries have a fairly extensive collection of DVDs that can be checked out for free.

Simply put, entertainment lovers can save a lot of money by taking advantage of some of these inexpensive or free alternatives to cable. Indeed, by making just a few simple choices, families can do a lot to drive down their monthly technology expenses without substantially sacrificing their ability to talk with friends and family or watch their favorite movies and shows.

Kade Phillips is a retired auto insurance broker, and possesses a keen interest in financial matters.  If you’re planning on doing some expense cutting – Kanetix is a great place to find opportunities.  Consider doing some comparison shopping for your auto insurance, credit cards, and mortgage rates.  These high ticket items often can fluctuate in cost considerably between companies, and finding the best compromise can often provide ample savings.

Tagged as: Frugality