Simple Ways to Cut Costs in Your Home and Save Money

Cutting costs in your home doesn't have to be rocket science. In fact, you can start saving money today by using these 5 Simple Easy Tips to Cut Costs in Your Home. Some of these tips you may have already thought about or started using in your home - but maybe you didn't realize just HOW MUCH you could save using some of these cost savings tips. Take a look at the cost comparisons below to help you find out how much money you can save in your home. The savings may surprise you!

As you calculate the cost savings also keep your own family in mind, as savings realized will depend on the amount of rooms in your home, the fixtures you use and the number and type of people living in your home. Also take into account how many bathrooms your home has.

Some of us are paying far more than we need to on basic bills in the household. If you are planning immediate action and want to cut costs in your home now, consider doing some of the following things:

1) Discontinue or downgrade your cable television/Internet provider. Going from hundreds of TV channels to just the basic service can save you about $40-$100 a month. Unless you need super speed Internet consider the same thing - a downgrade may slow down your connection speed but it will also slow down your bill!

2) Shop around for your medicines. I went from paying over $300 a month for my medicines to $40 for the exact same thing from a big-box retailer (Costco). Great savings can be found just by shopping around.

3) Also shop around for your insurance needs. I saved over $40 a month on my car insurance by shopping around. Same insurance at a considerable savings. Same goes for any other insurance you have that is a monthly bill - shop around and do some comparison shopping. Alot of this comparison shopping can be done online.

4) Get rid your home phone. Savings realized about $30-$100 a month. Chances are you have a cell phone anyway. The only time I would discourage people from doing this is if they have children in the house. In this case keep your home phone. It's important that in case of emergencies kids have immediate access to a home phone if needed.

Replace all the old incandescent light bulbs in your home with energy efficient fluorescent or led lights. Although the savings might not seem that great on just light-bulbs, the money you save by doing this one easy change will save you a great amount of money over the year - and the course of your lifetime. You figure that probably every room in your home has at least 1 lamp or light fixture per room so add up the savings. I figured that I have replaced at least 15 bulbs in my house alone. So I'm saving hundreds of dollars a year just by changing out my light bulbs!

For the typical family, you've got adults and kids taking showers, baths, washing cars and of course flushing the toilet. To cut costs on your water bill change out your toilets, faucets, and shower-heads by installing energy efficient products. Shower-heads are easy to install - faucets and toilets can be a little trickier but the savings on your water bill will be noticeable. And let everyone know not to let the water run! This is an easy thing to convey, sometimes harder to get across to teenagers but it's very important. Water wasted by letting the shower run is like letting a precious resource go down the drain (not to mention that your MONEY is also running down the drain!)

I have 3 main places that I shop at - Walmart, the local dollar stores and the local grocery store.

I buy my bulk items such as dog and cat food from a local feed store - or Walmart. I buy some of my groceries from the local dollar stores. The rest of my grocery shopping is done at the local supermarket and I take advantage of 2 for 1 deals, sales and special buys. I use all of these methods to cut costs on all the items we need for our household.

You can save considerable money by being a smart shopper!

Another tip is to cut out impulse buys by having a list when you go shopping. Below is a cost comparison using Costco vs. the local grocery store. Although the savings are not that substantial for just one trip, over the course of a year the savings add up. You can also cut costs by buying items like shampoos, diapers and medicines from the larger super stores also.

The last easy tip to cut costs in your home is probably the most overlooked - communication.

Get together with your family and brainstorm about ways that you can all save money in the house. Share ideas and talk about ways that family members can contribute to a family plan on how to cut costs. With today's blended families, adult children staying at home longer (or coming back), it's important for everyone in the home to take responsibility for finding ways to cut costs in the home.

Talking about this will help everyone in the family to not only save money but teach them about the importance of being frugal and taking responsibility for their consumption. In today's throw away/want it now society, plain communication is an overlooked but critical part of learning to live together as a family and learning how to be financially responsible.

These 5 simple easy tips to cut costs in your home can be used as a starter conversation in the home, and could be a catalyst for many more ways that your family will discover ways to cut costs and save money together as a family.

(Dorsi Diaz is a freelance/writer publisher and writes about frugal living, kids, health and other everyday topics)