Ways To Save - Reduce your Household Bills

This is the Ways to Save Series Number 6.

We're living the American Dream which typically consists of sending a huge chunk of our paycheck to our everyday bills and mortgage.  I love the commercial where this guy is driving around on his brand new ride on lawnmower and says "I'm up to my eyeballs in debt".

After having kids we realized that we can still enjoy the American Dream but we have to be smart about how we spend our money.  I'll start with the basics and discuss smart ways to reduce your everyday household bills so that you have more money to put towards savings and rainy day funds.

Shop Around

Compare prices and ask for information from your suppliers and make sure you only buy from reputable companies

Pay by Direct Debit

Many companies offer discounts of up to 13% on services if you pay by direct debit. Direct debits are an automatic payment from your bank account and usually spread the cost of goods or services over the year, and you can often pay a standard amount each month, making it easier to budget.

Double up on Products

Most suppliers of utilities or insurance offer a discount if you purchase more than one of their products, like both house contents and car insurance, or gas and electricity (often called dual fuel).  If you are interested in switching to Verizon then check out my post here in which Verizon has a referral program where you can score a $100 cash card by using the referral link!

Use Less

It may sound simple, but using less of your gas, electricity and water can really help you save. This doesn't just mean turning off the lights when you leave a room, but also by making sure your home and appliances are efficient.  We switched all of our lamp light bulbs to the CFL light bulbs - I got the bulbs all for free by finding $1/1 coupons a while back and pairing them up with a $1/1 sale.  Now need to find a deal for all the can lights in the ceiling.

Stockpile
Whenever a freebie deal comes up I try to stockpile as much as I can - so this means gathering up as many coupon inserts from friends and family or asking family and friends to print as many coupons as possible for freebie deals.  For the months of August and September I was super busy with work and we were away on vacation and I was not able to freebie shop as much as I had the previous months.  However, we managed to live off our stockpile and only went out to buy the necessities such as fruit, milk and bread during those months.

Free Products
The most obvious way to get free products is find free coupons in the Sunday inserts or magazines although these are far and few in between these days, the most popular is to pair a coupon up with a sale or do rebates which require some work.  However, I spell it all out on my blog so sign up for my alerts via email, google friend connect, facebook (Addictedtofreebies) or twitter (Freebiealerts) and you can get up to the minute freebie deals especially since there are many time sensitive freebies out there.  My favorite and quickest way to get free coupons is to write complimentary letters directly to the manufacturer - yes thats totally true.  With the age of internet its free to request free coupons too and no postage is required, I just find the contact us section and email them my compliments and my last sentence comprises of "Any coupons that you may send would be received well".  Note, not all companies send free coupons, some send money off coupons and others none whatsoever.  But if you have some time, send 1 or more emails a day and you'll soon find how addictive it is when you open up your mail box daily and voila is your nice letter from Mr Company saying how nice your compliments or ideas were and here is a coupon to enjoy their product for free.

Click below for a nice list of companies to email that will mail out free coupons.....

This list was compiled by Couponingtodisney.com

 I've already contacted some of theses companies in the past but for those I haven't I've been slowly working down the list ; )

Bar-S – (complimented) $5 VIP Bar-S certificate and 4 25c off 1 Bar S coupons

Beechnut Babyfood – (complimented) $5 off $5 worth of Beechnut products (plus 2 sheets of 6 various Beechnut coupons)

Buddig – (complimented) (2) Free Budding Products

Campbell’s - $2 off any Campbells products

Chaquita – Free bananas up to $1.25 (complimented) and Save $1 on any package of Chaquita Fruit and Veggie Bites 12 oz or larger

Coffee-mate got a free one up to 16 oz (complimented) plus save 50c on one.

Cole’s Garlic Bread – (complimented) Free loaf of Cole’s garlic bread and 2 30c/1 Coles product.

Dannon Danimals - Free (up to $5.50) any one 4-pack or 6-pack Dannon Cup, Drink or Dual tubes (complimented) and (2) 50c off any one yogurt product (excludes 5.3 and 6 oz cups)

Drano – (complimented) Free Drano product up to $6.75

Duracell - (complimented) Free any Duracell product up to 16 ct.

Eggland’s Best – (compliment) – 1 free dozen of Eggland’s Best eggs

Fisher Boy (compliment) (1) Free Fisher Boy Product

Heinz Gravy – (2) save 50c on any 2, 50c on Lea & Perrins, 50c on Classico Sauce, and FREE Smart Ones Entree or Dessert (complimented)

Hostess – (complimented) – 1 Free Wonder, Home Pride or Hostess product up to $2.50

Immaculate Baking – Get a free product (complimented)

J&J Snack Foods – Free pretzels and 50c off other various products

Kahiki – (compliment) (1) free product

Lakeview Farms – (compliment) (3) free Lakeview Farms

Michelina’s - (complimented) (2) Free Michelina’s products.

Murry’s – Free French Toast Sticks or Bites 16 oz box (complimented) and 3 55c off any product and (1) $1 off any breakfast, lunch or dinner product

On-Cor – (complimented) 2 Free OnCor Entrees and one $1.00 off any OnCor

Oust – (complimented) Free Oust Air Sanitizer

Pepperidge Farm – (compliment) Pepperidge Farm any product free up to $3 and 2 50c/1 Pepperidge Farm Products

Pictsweet veggies - 2 free Pictsweet Steamables (complained about sauce leaking in the microwave)

Raid – (complimented on them for saving me when a wasp got in my house) Free Raid Product

Red Gold – (complimented) (2) Free 14.5 oz cans of Red Gold tomatoes and 2 Red Gold 50c/2 tomato products

Sally Hansen – (complimented) $5 off a product and (2) $3 off a product

Scrubbing Bubbles – (complimented) Free scrubbing bubbles up to $4

Simply Asia – (1) Thai Kitchen free product, (1) Simply Asia free product, (2) 50c off Thai Kitchen product and (2) 50c off Simply Asia product

Sister Schubert – (complimented) 1 free pack of rolls

Skintimate – (complimented) Free Skintimate up to $4. 2nd mailing – 75c on any one product

Sobe Life Water – (complimented) Free Sobe Life Water

Sunsweet – (compliment) Any Sunsweet product free!

Sweet Baby Rays – (complimented) 1 free Baby Ray Product and $1 off 1

Windex – (complimented) (2) Free Windex products (the coupons were kind of stuck together so it was probably suppose to be 1)

WolfGang Puck Soups – (complimented) Free can of WolfGang Puck Soup