Saving Money

I don't know if you ever thought about it but some of our household bills are negotiable.

Today I was reading another blog about thriftiness and it mentioned this idea that I have done repeatedly over the years. My favorite bill to negotiate is my phone/DSL bill. About once a year I call my provider and request the same rate that a cheaper competitor offers for the same service (letting them know I will switch providers if they can't make me a better deal). It takes a little finagling but each time I get my DSL fees cut in half for 6 months. So far they haven't given me the half price permanently but at a "limited time offer" rate which is fine with me since I am not wired for the alternative provider, yet.

I have also heard of people doing this with their cable bill. They get the same service for 30% less than what they were paying just by letting the provider know that it is not in their budget to keep such an expensive service unless they can reduce the price but not the service. Negotiate the deal. If you pay $95 each month for cable and they offer you the same package for $75 try for $60. It can't hurt to ask. Of course we only have basic cable which costs me $16.00 per month. Somehow I don't think they are going to negotiate this rate for me.