definitely worth a phone call.....

I hate it when I get in a rut, especially where money is concerned. While I have always tried to live on some type of budget and cut corners where I can, I often get in a go-with-the-flow state of mind and don't pay close enough attention (or in some cases, take the time) to see where all the money actually goes each month. I've been wanting to reevaluate things like satellite, phone, and internet service plans, but I would forget about it until the bills would come in again. January is the perfect month for getting things organized, and what a better place to start than your finances!
After sorting through all those receipts yesterday, I decided to go over each service we have and see if it is working for us.
* Insurances: right now, we are satisfied with the auto insurance we have on our SUV and the home owner's insurance we have is probably the best rate we can find. We have decided to re-do our health insurance policy, which we found out wasn't the best plan for us after Peter's trip to ER last October. So, I called our agent this morning and I think we have chosen a better option, although the premium will be a bit higher, it will benefit us in the long run.
*Satellite: We actually modified our plan about a year ago, so this bill stayed the same for now.
*Cell Phone: I call AT&T to see if they could offer us a better plan based on our usage, and they did! They lowered our bill by $10 per month, so we will save $120.00 this year on our cell phone bill.
*House phone: I knew we could do better on this bill, and I was right!! I called and asked if they could offer me a better plan, and they certainly did.....how about we lower it by $20.00 a month????? I'll take that! Savings per year $240.00!!
In just a few phone calls I had saved $360.00!!

Next up, our *wi-fi service: We pay the same rate every month, but yet the service is just okay, it can be very slow, or no service at all, and the customer service is the worst. There is no need to call to complain because, guess what? they don't care! I must have been on a high after calling the phone companies and getting such amazing customer service, that I decided I'd give the wi-fi folks a call to see what they could do for me. BIG MISTAKE! I have NEVER gotten any satisfaction by calling before, so why did I think today would be any different? First, I told them that I was going over my services and wanted to know if the rate I was paying was the best they could offer. She pretty much laughed at me and said, "yep"......Okay, well, I also wanted to complain that our connection is slow alot of the time and sometimes it even goes out, and there is never any tech suppor available...yadda yadda.....she said," yep, we know about it being slow and Tom is trying to get there to fix it"....I then told her that since I was paying for a service every month that isn't satisfactory, could she do anything to compensate? She said "um...no...".so I finally asked if I could speak to someone else about this, she said "that would be Tom, but he's out sick today"...LOLOLOLOLOLOL
I have a hard job dealing with companies like this, but right now, we don't have a huge selection of wi-fi providers for our area. So, I tried to get over it and focus on the money I had saved today and for accomplishing something I had been putting off for quite awhile.

Moral of the story: call your providers today and ask what they can do for you....it is definitely worth a phone call!!!!