I'm starting a new series called "Lowering My Bills" Basically, these articles will involve ways I have been able to reduce my fixed expenses. Maybe they will be helpful to others but more than anything I want to hold myself accountable for reducing my expenses (and I have a lot of them).
My cable provider is DirecTV and my internet provider is Time Warner. I found these companies to have the best deals for what I want. Today I will be talking about Time Warner.
Time Warner offers a great service for internet called RoadRunner. I've had limited outages and fast speeds so I have been pretty happy with it. However, if it became more expensive I would certainly look for alternatives.
Well this weekend I received my monthly cable bill from Time Warner. It had increased by 9.99 + taxes. My old bill was $30.59 after all taxes. My new bill was $41.48. This is high enough for me to start looking at alternatives. The reason it had increased was that I had a $9.99 discount applied from a year ago that ran out after 12 months. This morning I called and told them I would find a cheaper alternative such as DSL service if they weren't able to help. I don't need blazing fast speeds for mostly surfing the net anyways. Well they did have another promotion, you just basically have to ask for it, so I will be getting 9.99 off of my internet bill for another 12 months. I also asked and had them backdate this to the start of the bill cycle which they did.
$41.48 - $30.59 is a savings of $10.89 per month. This is a savings of $130.68 over a year. Even small savings can really start to add up. This is money I will be using to buy more DG stocks.
In addition to this savings, I've also signed up for Time Warner's online bill pay system to pay all of my bills with a credit card. I have a Chase Visa card that earns cash back on every single purchase. Since I always pay off the bill at the end of the month this will save me even more money! I may mention this card in another post.
I hope this is the first of many articles where I am able to reduce my fixed expenses!
Before I moved to Korea I had Time Warner cable modem which was awesome. I think I had the exact same promotion because it was $30 a month for me as well. It expired right as I was leaving but I didn't care since I was moving anyways. Automatic billing is the way to go. I hate forgeting to pay bills.
ReplyDeleteMight as well save 10 bucks for the exact same thing, every little bit helps.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I used to have Time Warner for cable TV also and tried to work out a deal for cable TV and internet but for me it's cheaper to use DirecTV for cable and Time Warner for internet. During the whole Viacom blackout fiasco with DirecTV I had called to complain and I got a discount also. I've called DirecTV so much I just call and immediately ask for the "retention department" to skip all the BS. It's amazing how many things you can get cheaper just by asking. I guess the squeaky wheel does get the grease!
DeleteIt's always nice to be able to reduce regular expenses. There was a slight increase in my internet/TV bill earlier this year (I get both services from Comcast), but it was offset by a reduction in my cell phone bill (with Verizon Wireless -- they actually called me to give me a lower rate!). Psychologically, it also helps to think of my Vodafone dividends as partial return of my money from Verizon Wireless. :)
ReplyDeleteHey DGM,
DeleteThanks for stopping by. A company actually calling you to lower you bill is almost unheard of. Congrats. I have Verizon also for my cell phone plan and they have the best coverage I've ever had especially 4G.
I also like to think about my VZ dividends paying for part of my cell phone plan with Verizon Wireless. I wouldn't mind picking up some VOD to compliment my VZ shares, I actually have a limit order to sell some puts and I hope it gets executed.