Cutting back is often necessary before moving forward.
I found this great article on How to Lower Your Monthly Tech Bills. Some of the examples (like using Restaurant.com for buying discounted gift certificates) I don’t think really pertain to Tech, but they are great ways to reduce your expenses.
I’ve highlighted some of them below for you, with some added commentary. Enjoy the savings!
- Ask for a price break from your cable or cell phone company. (If you still have cable, I’d think about two things: 1) You can watch most stuff free online and 2) Watching TV is NOT what wealthy people do)
- Monitor your electric use. Two options: 1) Kill A Watt ($27) 2) The Energy Detective ($140-200). The famous management quote by Peter Drucker “What gets measured gets managed” applies here.
- Get rid of your cable DVR. See rationale in #1.
- Use the web to sample new music. With the internet, it’s much easier to sample and only buy what song you like instead of spending $15 for a whole CD.
- Surf the web (and use other electrical devices) at night when electric rates are lower. I understand if you feel the need to do work during the day, though :-p
- Use a programmable thermostat to set the temperature for different times of the day.
- Use Motion Sensor Lighting. One you can even use by just screwing a light bulb into it.
- Save on Printing and Storing Photos. Use sites online like Flickr or Shutterfly and Snapfish. It’s also the easiest way to store, share, and actually make use of your pictures.
- Get an Internet Phone instead of a regular landline. Digital phones – VoIP – (Voice of Internet Protocol) are a much less expensive alternative. You can use Vonage or Skype to make calls to others; Skype-to-Skype calls are free.
For the full list, click here.
