Minimize your bills!
We have five bills. Here they are: Utilities, Phone, Internet, Car Insurance, Car Payment. That’s it. Those are the five things we pay every month. How did we achieve this? Partly, we’re just broke as shit and can’t afford any extras. Partly we don’t like extras. Extras take up time we don’t have and money we don’t have. Let’s go over a few common types of bills here and see how you can reduce how much money you are paying to various companies every month.
Rent/Housing payment: We are very fortunate to own our own house. It is paid for. If you do not own a house, paying rent or a house payment is unavoidable. There are arguments to be made in favor of both renting and buying. We like owning our own house because we can do whatever we want with it. Purple light bulbs? Totally. Glitter walls? You can’t stop us, motherfucker! The truth is that there’s not much you can do to reduce your rent or house payment, it’s just going to be there. Make sure to prioritize it over everything else; there’s no point having cable if you’re homeless.
Phone: We consider cell phones a necessity. Chuck out your landline and get a cheap pre-paid cell phone. We favor Boost Mobile but there’s also Virgin Mobile and a wide variety of others. Don’t get yourself locked into a contract, it’s way more expensive and you don’t need upgrades every year. If you don’t smash it or drop it in a toilet your average cell phone can last several years. Right now we have a Samsung Galaxy J3 that we bought in 2016 and it’s still going strong. We pay $30 a month. Even if you are currently stuck in a contract, it’s always worth calling to negotiate. Also eliminate extra stuff like app and ringtone purchases and any bs insurance plans attached to your line.
Cable: No. You do not need cable tv. If you must have shows to watch, look at Netflix or Hulu or Crunchyroll or a dozen other cheap streaming services. You do not need to waste 20 minutes per show seeing commercials; that is time out of your life that you will never get back. You do not need 3000 channels when you can only watch one at a time. Get. Rid. Of. Your. Cable.
Internet: We can say yes to internet because it’s so intertwined into modern society. You need it to fill out job applications, file a claim with your insurance company, to talk to loved ones across the country. In our state you need it to apply for food stamps. You don’t need to go broke for it, though. Find a reasonably priced plan at a moderate speed. Do not let anyone tell you that you need 150mbps to stream movies or play games. 10 is sufficient for SD, 25 for HD. (If you have a 4K device then you need to go find a different blog to read, Scrooge McDuck.) If you can’t afford it, there’s always the library and many fast food restaurants that offer free wifi.
Insurance: Whether it’s health insurance, auto insurance or homeowners insurance, you probably need to prioritize this. We are of the opinion that the young and very healthy can go without it for a few years, but when you hit your 30′s it’s a good idea to start doing the kind of preventive maintenance that comes with a health insurance plan. Auto and homeowners insurance policies vary a lot, so contact your company and see what extras you can cut out to shave a few dollars off your bill. If you drive an old beater, drop the full coverage and just hang onto liability. Your deductible may be more than your car is actually worth. (PS, one cool perk we do recommend is roadside assistance if your insurance company offers it. It’s often 3-5 extra bucks and they will come get you off the side of the road. Worth it.)
Vehicle payment: We can’t wait until our car is paid off. We were very lucky to have been given a car when we were 18 and we drove it until it just wouldn’t go anymore, and then we kept driving it anyway. From 2004 to 2017 we did not have a car payment, just liability insurance and getting the tags renewed once a week. It was beautiful! Right now we still owe about $600 on the used car we bought last year and life is going to be sweet again very soon. Driving for free is a great experience. To minimize this bill, pay extra when you can, put as much into your down payment as you can, and never buy a new vehicle. The subject of minimalist vehicles will get its own post later.
Life Insurance: We know for some folks with kids and grandkids this is a necessity, but uh... frankly there are none of our relatives who deserve to get a ridiculous sum of money in the event of our death. So let the state cremate us and auction our house off to the highest bidder. Whatev.
Utilities: Unless you’ve got a roof made of solar panels (and if you do, we applaud you!) you probably are connected to municipal electricity, gas and water. After rent this is going to be your second priority. You can see our post about conserving electricity and water to reduce this bill as much as you can. You can make a huge difference by doing simple things and most of them are low or no cost!
Cards/Loans/Debt: It’s always worth calling to negotiate interest rates. The bottom line is, you’ll just have to pay these as you can. We’ve been as broke as we can be for the last year or so, so we’ve got a credit card that was charged off because when you don’t have food to eat or heat in your house, you kind of don’t give any fucks about your old Visa card. We’re catching up though, and we’ll pay it. Don’t let yourself default on loans if you can help it, stay in touch with credit card companies and be straightforward with them about what you’re able to do. DON’T take out any new loans or cards.
Misc. Other Stuff: This is stuff like gym memberships and house cleaning service and that kid that mows your grass and walks your dog. You can reduce or eliminate all of these by going “Derp, I’m an adult who can do things for myself!”. Mow your own grass. It’s a great workout. Scrub your own baseboards, you’re burning calories. Walk your own freaking dog. If you’re wondering how you can pay your light bill then you do not need to spend money on things you can do for yourself. Grow a pair and do your own chores.
Childcare: This one is tough, and we admit we don’t know a lot about it. From what we’ve read, swapping childcare with a neighbor or friend is effective if you’ve got someone you trust. Don’t go cheap on this if you have to hire a sitter. The person caring for your child in your absence deserves to be paid well for their services. So if you can’t afford to pay that person what you would expect to get paid for the same amount of work, you need to skip that movie you were going to see and stay home. As far as finding daycare for while you’re at work goes, we will kindly ask our followers to chime in with suggestions.
There are lots of other types of bills that you might have, but take a day to go through your finances and see which ones you can do without or can trim down. Also give our post about Needs vs. Wants a look, maybe it can help you put things in perspective. We know this blog is only tangentially about personal finance, but consider minimalism a tool for every area of life. By reducing the bills you don’t want, you’ll have more to spend on the ones you do.
Links: Seven Common Bills







