How do you reduce your bills?

Ride a bike for errands. Short distance cold starts on cars are killer for gas consumption.
Grow your own food. Drink water. Get rid of cable and watch local channels over Antenna (it's free)
When I worked in downtown Chicago and had a shower in the building, I would commute the 60 mile round trip on my bicycle. It was awesome. The sunrise over Lake Michigan was such a sight it made the whole day so much better.

 

Went from buying coffee every at $2.55 per day to making my own at about $1 per day (including International Delight creamer and Truvia sweetener) . Saves about $570/year which is enough to pay three months of my electric utility bill!
Oh- and my coffee tastes better than the 7-Eleven coffee too because I use a percolator for brewing

 

Nice machines- but I have a thing against running hot liquids through a plastic brew chain. IIRC- the Keurg with the K-Cup has lots of plastic in the hot water path.
I use a old fashioned all stainless steel parts percolator w/paper filters. For work, that goes into an all stainless thermos bottle and I drink from ceramic mugs.
I've tried to eliminate as much plastic/chemicals leaching into my hot beverages as possible.

FWIW- I also replaced all our small plastic food containers last year with Rubbermaid BPA free food containers. It's a small step- but worth doing IMO.

 

---

 

I steal....has worked out.....whoa blue lights...gotta go!

SCH-I535 ? 2

 

Drive in the right lane. Slow traffic forces me to drive slower. Takes me 5 minutes longer to get home or get to work. Estimated to give me 5-10 more mpg depending on how many slow semi's I'm fortunate enough to encounter.

Use Netflix instead of going to the movies. Except for Star Trek, then you go to Costco to buy tickets at a discount.

Use Obihai with Google Voice for free home phone.

Buy clothes from Ross, Marshall, etc for name brands at a discount.

 

How about mow your own lawn? Not only do you save money, but you also get some exercise!

Also, don't buy water in a bottle, use a filtering system. In some states, you pay a deposit on the bottle.

 

I installed it for my parents as I rarely use it. The only complaint I've got comes from my wife making a conference call for a business meeting. The system refused to accept her numeric password. Something wrong with VOIP and dial tones? Other than that, it works like any phone. All it costs me is the Obihai box at $50. Which is about what it costs for the activation fee and first month's on a landline. Going on 2 years now.

 

You could but I can't teach my parents how to use it and having a computer on all day is wasteful.
Amazon.com: OBi100 VoIP Telephone Adapter and Voice Service Bridge: Electronics
Sorry obi110. I have no idea why i have obihai in my head.
You plug the box into your internet router. Then plug a cordless phone into the box. Bam, just like the magicbox but without the computer or monthly fees.

 

My condolences that your tap water needs a filter at all.

... And I thought leaving the internet router / modem all day and night was also wasteful. Just like the computers, mine is also on a switched power strip.

 

Did anyone notice the cost savings advantage of post 28. If you follow those recommendations, most folks would have eliminated their internet access. That's a lot of savings. No Amazon bills......