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Lower Bills

August 25th, 2014 at 01:09 pm

We received notification that the budget billing amount for our gas utility is being lowered from $60 to $42 a month. Our amount had increased this spring to adjust for high gas bills this winter. It's nice to go back to the regular amount.

I also noticed that I can pick 5% back on cell phone bills again next quarter on our US Bank Cash + credit card. I plan to do this again, as that is a significant savings on our large bill. If it becomes a regular options, I plan to stick with it!!

Really hoping to keep spending at a minimum this week. I don't expect much, unless school needs more money. I already have $20 in my wallet for the football game admission on Friday night. I might be able to save that if it ends up raining. I probably wouldn't go if that is the case. Is it bad to wish for rain to save money?!

I'll wrap up my eBay sale results tomorrow. Nothing too spectacular unfortunately. I think there is a lull in sales with school starting and Labor Day coming up this weekend. But I'm grateful for small amounts.

I will also admit I want to go shopping! There is a new Home Goods store in our town. I want to go. I probably can be strong and visit without spending. I also NEED workout pants...which I will buy if I actually find some that work. Today, I will stay in as it is raining and I have a headache.

Do you use budget billing for any of your utilities? Do you use a credit card to get cash back on a specific category?

Posted in Spending | 4 Comments »

4 Responses to “Lower Bills”

  1. snafu Says:
    August 25th, 2014 at 11:28 pm 1409009323
    1409009323

    US chain Marshall's opened their 1st store in our city last weekend. My neighbour is anxious to go as we've no idea what they sell. Target has been a disaster in Canada, not anything like it's USA stores. Budget billing is very popular here for electric & water as well as natural gas but our gas taxes which was initially for people like us who have paid off our mortgages and now shaves a bit off for participating mortgage holders as well. It must be by automatic deduction and should there be insufficient funds, the remainder of the year must be paid in full PDQ.

    I've often wished we had all the CC programs you participate in but our strict banking regulations and small population preclude freebies. We use the 5% cash back as applicable and try to increase value with sale prices. I've countered the problem by buying bank stock since their dividends and price per share far exceed my expectations year after year.

  2. snafu Says:
    August 25th, 2014 at 11:31 pm 1409009513
    1409009513

    sorry, sentences are contracting...

    Budget billing is very popular here for electric & water as well as natural gas but our gas [heating] re-set at $ 132. per month due to the recent winter that wouldn't end. 1st 2013 snow was mid September and we had snow storms until the 1st of June. We were running minus 40C with the wind chill to minus 90 C. ghastly.

  3. rob62521 Says:
    August 26th, 2014 at 12:26 am 1409012793
    1409012793

    Both our credit cards give us cash back. So we often use them for everyday expenses and then pay them off.

  4. PNW Mom Says:
    August 27th, 2014 at 01:42 pm 1409146969
    1409146969

    We use our Wells Fargo credit card and get 1% back on all purchases. Once we reach $25, a principal payment gets applied to our mortgage. We could opt for gift cards, but we set it up originally to go to the mortgage and have just never changed it. I think it has worked out pretty well so far.

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