Best Ways To Save Money On Monthly Payments
Nobody wants to be paying as much as they do on a month-to-month basis. Home payments can make up a large portion of your monthly payments, but there’s a good chance you have other recurring expenses as well.
If you’re looking to save some money, monthly payments are where you should be looking. Depending on your current spending and payments, you could end up saving hundreds of dollars each month.
Some changes you should make to reduce your monthly payments won’t be fun, but others are going to be so easy that you’d wished you made the change months ago.
Here are some of the best ways to save money on your monthly payments:
Improve the energy efficiency of your home
One of the quickest ways to reduce your monthly payments is to look at your bills. There’s a decent chance that your electric bill is a little larger than it should be.
Changing out lightbulbs and some appliances for more energy efficient versions can save you some decent cash pretty quickly. If you have the cash for it, replacing your windows with more energy efficient windows will also reduce your monthly payments while increasing the value of your home.
To further reduce the size of your energy bill, unplug devices when they aren’t on. Anything that’s plugged in is using “ghost power,” which basically means you’re paying for your devices to be off!
Get a VA refinance
The quickest way to reduce your monthly payments is to get a refinance, and, if you’re able, to get it through the VA.
There are two types of VA refinance: streamline and cash-out. Both will lower your monthly payments in the most important way: reducing your mortgage rate. Also, you’re able to use cash on both refinance options to make your home more energy efficient. This will save you money in two ways.
Refinances save people plenty of money on their monthly payments, and the VA gives homeowners different options for refinancing.
Click to check your VA refinance eligibility.
Non-Housing Ways To Save Money
Yes, your housing payment is likely the biggest expense you have each month. But that doesn’t mean you don’t have other expenses which could save you some cash.
The more you save each month, the easier it is to make mortgage payments while storing a little extra. To take the pressure off your mortgage payments, here are some ways to save money each month:
Change your cell phone/cable plan
Most cell phone carriers have similar reliability, so now they’re forced to compete with each other for lower rates and fees. You can take advantage of that. Shop your cell phone plan around and see if there’s an option that can save you some quick cash.
Another place to look is your cable plan, or whatever you use for TV. Many people have channels they don’t need, and some people could get by without cable completely. Reevaluate how badly you need all those channels – it could save you money.
Find lower insurance rates
If you’re a safe driver, odds are you can get a lower rate somewhere. Shopping insurance rates isn’t fun, but it saves you money.
The same applies to just about every type of insurance. Take a closer look at what you’re paying for and ask yourself if you really need it. Don’t try to get too skimpy with payments here, though – better safe than sorry at the end of the day.
Pay attention to monthly subscriptions
A monthly payment of $10.99 doesn’t seem like much, but when you have multiple subscriptions going on, this can add up pretty quickly. Services like Netflix, Hulu, subscription gaming and other streaming services are booming in popularity, and one reason the subscription service works is because you forget about it.
Go through your finances and look at services you pay for. Do any of them really add that much value? Just cutting out a few subscriptions could save you $25 a month, or $300 a year. The more you cut out, the more you’re bound to be saving.
Cutting your monthly payments isn’t always glamorous, but these methods will take you to your main goal: saving money. Refinancing is the most effective way to cut monthly payments without sacrificing too much (or anything), but if your goal is to save money, you shouldn’t stop with a refinance.
