INTRODUCTION.............................................................. 1

HEAT.................................................................................... 2

ELECTRICITY................................................... 5

CABLE & SATELLITE TV........... 7

CELLPHONE......................................... 9

DISCLAIMER.................................. 13

TABLE OF CONTENTS

www.jeanchatzky.com

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INTRODUCTIONDoesn’t it seem like your utility bills slowly but surely keep eating up more and more of your wallet? That’s because they are. The price of oil to heat your home has hit record highs recently in many parts of the country. The U.S. Energy Information Administration is forecasting a 2% jump in the price of electricity this year (and another in 2015). If your cable bill seems to be heading up recently, you’re not imagining things – it is, at about twice the rate of inflation. And your monthly cellphone or wireless bills? Yes, you’re spending more of yourtake-home pay on them as well. It’s pretty apparently that your utility bills simply keep going up and up.

Here’s the good news: You have the power to change all of that – and to do it all while still watching your favorite shows, in a warm house, with the lights on.

This 12-page guide is designed to help you do that, by trimming back the monthly expenses that consumers like you tell me most often blow their budget: utilities, cable, and cell phone. (Thinking groceries are a glaring omission here? I tackle that topic in detail in my Money School class, A Crash Course to Saving More (and Spending Less).)

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Let’s start with the topic that’s at the forefront of all of our minds. The Polar Vortex may be behind us (fingers crossed) but the heating bills are still to come. And they are likely to be high. Ninety percent of U.S. households will see higher home heating bills this winter, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The agency predicted that homes with natural gas would spend $679 throughout the winter, up 13%. Propane-heated homes are expected to average $1,666 (up 9%), electric heat will run $909 (up 2%) and homes using heating oil will spend over $2,000.

And – here’s the kicker – those predictions were made before much of the country was hit with the big chill, which means they are almost certainly on the low side. In fact, revised estimates show that home heating bills may be up as much as 23% in the Midwest.

All told, experts are predicting a $5 billion chill on the economy. The chill in your own house will no doubt follow suit. And so while you can’t go back in time and change January’s usage -- and let’s face it, we all did what we had to do to keep the house warm and the pipes flowing – you can make changes moving forward that can help even out some of the impact.

Lower your thermostat. This is the absolute easiest way to cut costs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, for every degree you turn down the thermostat, you’ll shave about 1% off your bill. Take it a step further and invest in a programmable thermostat, which you can buy at any home improvement store (a basic model is around $20). You can set it to keep the heat or A/C down when you’re not home and while you’re sleeping and bump it up when you are. You’ll be saving money without even thinking about it.

What’s the optimal setting? 68 degrees while you’re awake; lower while you’re asleep or away from home. And while many people think that raising and lowering the temperature actually uses more energy than keeping the home in a steady state, that’s not the case. Experts say that when your home drops below its normal temperature, energy loss slows. And in fact, the lower the temperature inside your home, the slower that heat loss will

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EATbe, which means that keeping your home at a low temperature when you’re not home will almost certainly save you energy – and money.

The exception? A heat pump, according to the U.S. Department of Energy, that is in its heating mode. Setting back the thermostat here will make the unit less efficient, which will cancel out savings.

Ask your utility company to conduct an energy audit on your home. Many offer this service to customers for free, or at a steep discount, but if yours doesn’t, you can find a professional auditor through the Residential Energy Services Network (www.resnet.us). An auditor will go through your home and pinpoint areas where you’re bleeding energy—and money—unnecessarily. That way, you can seal up leaks with caulk or cover drafty windows with plastic. You can buy a case of caulk (12 bottles), for under $20. Weatherizing your entire house can save you up to 25% on your heating bill.

Add insulation. Adding sufficient insulation can lower both your heating and air conditioning costs. Start by bringing your attic insulation up to code for your area – you can measure what you currently have to see where you stand. Ideally, you’re looking for at least 11 inches of fiberglass insulation or eight inches of cellulose; if you measure less than that, it’s likely time to add more. As a second (and more expensive) step, you can add insulation to the exterior walls of your home. Energy.gov estimates that adequate insulation can almost double the savings you find from weatherizing and sealing your home.

Use Mother Nature wisely. In the winter, open your curtains so the heat from the sun can warm your home naturally. In the summer, keep them closed to keep out unnecessary heat.

Have your heating system serviced annually. The heating and cooling contractor will check your thermostat settings, tighten electrical connections, lubricate moving parts, and inspect, clean, or change the air filters in your furnace or heat pump. You can expect to pay about $100 for the visit, but your system will run more efficiently, saving you money overall.

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EATKeep the flue in your fireplace closed when you’re not using it. Otherwise, warm air from your heater will go right outside.

Lower your water heater’s factory settings. Most are set at 140 degrees; hotter than you’ll ever need – and potentially dangerous if you have young children. 120 degrees should be more than sufficient, and that 20 degree difference can save up to 10% on your water heating costs. A tankless water heater, which doesn’t hold and maintain hot water but heats it on-demand as you need it, will save you significantly more.

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If you have electric heat, some of the above tips – the ones having to do with your thermostat, in particular – will help you here. But we could all stand to lower our electric bills, and often it has little or nothing to do with keeping the house warm. In fact, you might be surprised to learn the biggest energy vampire in your home (so-called because of all the power it sucks) is.…

It’s your cable box. Yes, your cable box. The Natural Resources Defense Council says that these units – also known as set-top boxes – consume $3 billion in electricity per year in this country. Worse, 66% of that power is used when no one is watching television and nothing is being recorded by the DVR. So what do you do about it? To start, you can plug all of the devices in your entertainment center – that’s your TV, your cable box, your DVD player, your Wii, etc. – into one or two power strips, then turn the whole strip off when they’re not in use. Yes, it’s a little bit annoying – cable boxes take a while to power back on, much like a computer – but the resulting savings on your electric bill will be worth it. You can also ask your cable or satellite provider for an Energy Star approved box, which are on average 45% more efficient. Energy Star says that if all set-to boxes in the U.S. met their standards, consumer energy savings would total $3 billion a year.

Use daylight when you can (again, open those curtains!) and energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs (CFLs) when you can’t. They’re a bit more expensive, but they last about 10,000 hours, compared to the 2,000-hour lifespan of the standard bulb. Replacing 15 incandescent bulbs in your home could save you $50 a year and over $400 over the lifetime of your new bulbs. LED bulbs are even more energy efficient – they use only 20 to 25% of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and last up to 25 times longer. They’re not, however, widely available for every fixture, and they’re significantly more expensive at the start. See the chart on the next page for a direct comparison between the three products.

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TRICITYLED CFL INCANDESCENT

PROJECTED LIFESPAN 50,000 hours 10,000 hours 1,200 hours

COST PER BULB $35.95 $3.95 $1.24

KWh USED PER50,000 HOURS

500 700 3000

COST OFELECTRICITY USED

$50 $70 $300

TOTAL COST FOR50,000 HOURS OF USE

$85.75 $89.75 $352.50

Source: eartheasy.com

Unplug! Group appliances into power strips and unplug them as you can: computer accessories, your microwave and toaster, and your cell phone and tablet chargers. People often don’t realize, but these appliances draw electricity whether they’re on or not. Leaving these plugged in all the time can add up to 4 percent to your monthly bill.

Turn off your computer’s monitor. Do this if you’re going to leave it inactive for more than 20 minutes. Turn off the entire machine if it will be inactive for more than two hours.

Upgrade your appliances. Particularly your refrigerator, if it is old and isn’t Energy Star approved. A new efficient model can pay for itself. Can’t afford it right now? There are other things you can do to keep the cost of running your existing model down: Set the temperature no lower than 30 degrees (and no higher than 42). Check the seals for cold are leaking, and have them repaired or replaced if necessary. And, surprisingly, it can save you money to keep your freezer full (and not just because you’ll won’t be picking up the phone to order take out).

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CABLE & SATELLITE TVOf all the bills that hit my mailbox, nothing frustrates me more than the one for cable. I always feel like I could be getting a better deal, particularly because I’m constantly seeing ads in my local newspaper offering service to new customers for $50 less than what I pay each month. And as it turns out, those ads are key to lowering your spend. Here’s how.

Ask for the introductory rate. I wasn’t shocked to find out that many cable companies will give you a promotional rate if you call and ask. What I do find surprising, however, is that many providers will honor competitor’s rates, especially if you let them know that you’re thinking of switching. You just have to know what to say – and who to talk to. To give this a try, check out the script at the end of this guide. It’s easily adaptable to both cable companies and cell phone carriers (which we’ll tackle next).

Give your bill a regular audit. In my house, our viewing habits fluctuate quite a bit. There are certain shows I like on HBO, but in their off-seasons, I hardly turn the channel on. Other features and channels are treated the same way, which is why it’s important to look over your plan on a monthly basis to make sure it’s still right for you. When GIRLS or Homeland is off-season, cancel HBO and Showtime. Just be sure to understand your provider’s rules – many will let you cancel and add premium channels with no fee, as long as you don’t do it within a month’s time.

Bundling is not always best. Many consumers think that sourcing cable, phone and Internet from the same provider will get them the best deal. Not always so with cable. In most cases, particularly when you need minimal service – basic cable, for instance – bundling will cost you more. Your best bet is to compare the prices of each service you need separately among a few different providers as well as within bundles, and then see what comes out on top. Getting service from multiple providers is a bit of an administrative hassle, but the savings can be worth it.

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Consider cutting the cord. Cable is still king in most homes, but it may not be for long. There are all kinds of free ways to watch television and movies these days – with Hulu and Netflix at the top of the list. These options are, of course, more limiting than cable or satellite, and most of the time you can’t watch in real time, so they’re not ideal if you are, say, a sports fan. But if your family only watches a few shows, they’re certainly worth looking into.

Bring back the antenna. Yes, believe it or not, you can get good – even HD – quality programming with an antenna, which you can get for $20. Of course, it’s network only, but if that’s what you watch, this is an easy fix. Before you buy, use a site like antennaweb.org to input your address and information about your street – whether there are tall buildings or trees nearby, etc. - and it will estimate what channels and level of reception you’re likely to receive.

Skip the extras. This almost goes without saying, but it’s important: Those pay-per-view movies, while convenient, are a bad, bad deal for your wallet. On a one-off basis, $5.99 doesn’t seem so bad tacked on to your bill at the end of the month. But then your kids convince you to rent another one, and another one, and by the end of the month, your cable bill is $20 more than you expected. If this happens often in your house, put a stop to it and get your movies from another source. Netflix is much less expensive and just as convenient, or, if you only rent once in a blue moon, go the old fashioned route. Which these days, means Red Box. Just remember to return the DVDs on time.

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Your cell phone bill is likely the second most frustrating bill you pay each month – not only because again, there always seem to be better deals out there, but because it isn’t as “fixed” as the cable bill – if you don’t keep on top of your minutes or your text message allotment, you can go over and it can cost you – big time. So part of your cell phone savings plan is making sure you’re paying for the appropriate amount of minutes – not too few, and not too many.

So start by pulling out your bills from the past few months and having a look, answering these questions:

1. What services do you have now?

2. How many minutes are you buying now? How many are you using?

3. How many text messages are you paying for? How many are you using?

4. Are you buying services for other people, including your children, spouse, or other family members?

The answers to these questions should give you a general idea of your usage. You’ll be able to see if you’re paying for minutes or text messaging that you don’t use, or if you’re paying up to seven times as much (yes, you read that correctly!) for additional minutes and text messages that aren’t included in your plan.

Once you have that information handy, you can follow these tips to lower monthly costs:

Ask about plans that aren’t on the website. They may exist, with fewer minutes for a lower monthly charge, but you have to ask. Sometimes these are “loyalty” plans that aren’t advertised and are only offered to certain customers. You can put yourself in that group by picking up the phone.

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Go over your bill carefully. I once worked with a Today show viewer on a segment about lowering cell phone costs – we found that she’d been paying for data on a phone that didn’t have data for over three years. Her carrier took some responsibility, but also told her that she was responsible for looking over her bill each month. Which is true. Go over it carefully and if you spot a fee or service you aren’t using, call and ask what’s up. The onus is really on you to make sure your bills are accurate.

Consider no-contract plans. These are on the rise, for good reason -- they are often all-inclusive, with unlimited text, data and phone, for less, around $40 or $50 a month. And you’re not locked in, so if something cheaper comes along, you can snap it up. The downside is you typically have to buy the cell phone – there are no freebies. If you’re the type who needs the iPhone, that’s not going to work for you. If you don’t care what phone you have as long as it connects, you can probably score one for $50 or less and make a no-contract plan a good deal.

Ask if your employer will pick up any of the tab. If you use it for work, they should, particularly if you have a data plan and you are using it to stay on top of emails. And see if the provider itself offers a discount to employees at your company, which is more common than you’d think.

Request a mulligan. If you go over your minutes – or get a notification that you’re close -- call your provider to see if you can get a free waiver.

Save on text messages. There are a multitude of apps that will allow you to text for free – WhatsApp and textPlus are both worth a try – and if you have an iPhone, iMessage doesn’t count against you. You may have been using these services all along, but paying for a text package too. It’s time to stop.

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Script: Negotiate With Your Cable or Cell Phone Company

Ready to negotiate with your cable or cell phone company? Here’s your battle plan.

Step 1: Ready your ammunition by collecting the competitor offers. If you haven’t gotten any in the mail, do a search online for providers in your area and then check their websites.

Step 2: Make sure you’re comparing apples to apples. Double check packages. These companies have information available about what all of their competitors are offering. When you bring up a competitor’s offer, the representative may do a search in their system and view that offer -- and then point out reasons why it isn’t comparable. Make sure you go into the call understanding the differences between the two providers. And understand that if you’re under contract – as is the case with most cell phone plans and many satellite TV services -- your threats to leave aren’t as meaningful because you’ll need to pony up cash to get out.

Step 3: Pick up the phone and either ask for the customer retention department or select the option to cancel service in the automated menu. Here’s where the script comes in:

Begin with:

Hi, I’m calling because my bill no longer suits my budget and I’m wondering if you can help me get the cost down. I’ve noticed that other providers in the area are offering X and I’m hoping you can make my bill more affordable.

If the representative says those offers are for new subscribers:

I understand that, but I can switch service and lower what I’m paying considerably. I’m prepared to do that, but I’d prefer to stay with you if you can offer me a discount that can match what I’d pay elsewhere. I’ve been a loyal customer for X years.

If the representative says there aren’t any discounts available – or offers you a small break that doesn’t make a dent:

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Often, companies will offer you a one-time credit of $50 or $60, which when averaged out over time can save you $5 a month. If you are offered sufficient savings, be clear about the fine print. Other discounts generally come in the form of a short-term break, like $10 off your bill for six months. Mark your calendar and call back when the discount expires, going through this process again. Multiple customer service representatives have told me that these discounts are readily available if you continue to ask for them.

If you hit a wall, ask to speak to a supervisor and go through the script again. And if he or she still won’t budge?

That’s just not enough to keep my business. Do you have any one-time credits available?

Can you help audit my bill, so I can reduce my costs by cutting my service, but still maintain the features I use most?

Finally, understand that switching service is an option – provided you’re not locked into a contract that levies a penalty if you cut out early. And it’s probably not as time-intensive as you think. A new company may offer to install your new service for free, or send you equipment and instructions to easily install it yourself. And these days, companies are offering to cover your early termination fee, though you definitely want to read the fine print on those deals. If you do decide to switch, ask the new company about any installation or upfront fees, and negotiate to have them waived if possible.

Finally, be nice! It goes without saying, but if you treat company representatives with respect, they are much more likely to want to help you. And mention anything about your financial situation that may matter – are you about to retire, and trying to reduce costs? Are you unemployed? Have three kids in college? These special circumstances may not help, but it’s worth a try.

Want to learn more personal finance tips and strategies to help alleviate your biggest money concerns? Enroll in one or more of my Money School classes and take charge of your finances for good!

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DISCLAIMER

The information contained in this report is for general information purposes only. The information is provided by me, Jean Chatzky, and the sources referenced within this report, and while I endeavor to include the most accurate and up-to-date information, I make no representations or warranties of any kind, express or implied, about the completeness, accuracy, reliability, suitability or availability with respect to this report or the information, products, services, or related graphics contained within it for any purpose. Any reliance you place on such information is therefore strictly at your own risk.

In no event will I be liable for any loss or damage including without limitation, indirect or consequential loss or damage in connection with the use of information in this report.