Slash Your Utility Bills: 9 Proven Ways to Save Money

What's the thing you can control with a switch in your house? It's electric! Boogie woogie woogie.

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You work hard for your money and you should not spend it all on boring heat and water. Here are a few ways to cut back your usage and reduce your monthly utility costs:

Keep your place warm in the summer and cool in the winter. Yes it is nice to feel like a frosty Eskimo when it's 90 degrees outside. No it is not fun to open a $200 electric bill. Try setting the thermostat to be at your most your absolute extreme for comfort (for me it's 65 in the winter and 75 in the summer). When you're in bed do you really need to heat cranked all the way up? Nope! Get a blanket, who are you, Marie Antoinette? If you want to invest a little, buying a cheap programmable thermostat can save you a few hundred dollars a year!

If it's cold outside, try to heat up the house with the oven. Bake a few loaves of bread to freeze, cook lasagna, roast some veggies for your lunches this week. Turn down the heat and hang out in the kitchen with a good book.

Don't heat up the house in the summer! Grill outside or use a crockpot to make your meals. There are a 1,001 and fruits and vegetables in season that don't need to be cooked at all. A big chopped salad with some grilled veggies won't make your place a sweat lodge.

Unplug appliances when you aren't using them. If you keep your TV, BluRay player, etc on one power strip, just click it off at night. You pay for the energy being leached by your electronics even when they aren't turned on.

Air-dry. If you can hang your clothes outside to dry then do it! Sunshine is a natural stain remover and everything will smell amazing. Grab some cheap clothes racks to dry inside, too.

Get in the habit of flipping that switch. Turn the light off when you leave a room. What is this? Las Vegas?

Make some calls. Call your cable company and ask them how you can lower your bill. Simple and direct and it usually works.

Ditch cable all together and get a streaming device like Roku or Sling. When we moved cross country, I called to cancel and avoided contract cancellation fees by explaining that our new apartment had TV and internet included. I would never advocate fibbing. Never. But just so you know, that was a thing that I did and it worked.

Change mobile carriers. Move your phone contract on over to a cheaper carrier. There are discount carriers with far lower rates — look into Virgin, Straight Talk, or Metro PCS.