60 Minutes to a Lower Cable Bill

One of the best ways to save some hard cash at home is to cut your cable bill – over the last few months we have mentioned some tips on whittling this bill down.

We have also mentioned 12 ways to watch movies for less, too.

We whittled down our cable bill from $170 down to $10 about a year ago – it took a little research on our part to be knowledgeable about what we were discussing, and what we were open to doing, and about an hour of talking with representatives on the phone.

Many of you may have already done the same – it truly was easy. Ridiculously easy. So easy I could have kicked myself for waiting SO long to do it.  And although there are many people who have cut the cord, there are close to 95 million Americans who haven’t – perhaps it’s just too much work, or the selection of shows is much more limited than they’d like.

If you can work up the courage to go lighter on your cable bill, you can save quite a huge bundle of money – hundreds of dollars a year if you wish – you really can.  By picking up a skinny cable package you can pay as little as $10 – $20 a month – and save over $1,000 each year.

Here’s a sure fire way to help you do that – it helped us drop ours from $170 each month to just $10 – and allowed us to combine streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Hulu to get us all the T.V. we need (while still allowing us to save).

Have your bill handy

You can’t compare what you are not familiar with. And you can’t always assume you know what your are paying for without having your bill in hand. It’s so easy to make a monthly payment to your provider without knowing “exactly” what you are paying for – right?

Check out a few competitors

Print off or grab a copy of their advertisement for cable packages… and see what they are offering. You will want to be as educated as possible on the opportunities outside of your current provider.

Call a competitor – NOT your current provider

Your goal is to find out what you can score with the competitor before you hop on the phone and call your own.  Find out your options for a basic package, so you can talk from an educated standpoint when you do call your provider.  Remember…. price is always set by competition, and that competition can vary greatly – perhaps it’s Sling TV, or even a antenna for local TV and Hulu for your streaming.

Determine what your price point is

You need to determine what your budget is for cable – do you want to spend $20? $30? Maybe $50?   You will want to make sure you stick to that number – after all, the entire purpose for whittling your cable bill down is to save money – right?

Call your Current Provider

Once you call your current provider, let them know you want to try to lower your monthly payment with a different package. To do this, ask them what they charge for the cheapest monthly plan. If they are not willing to work with you .. then you might want to ask if you can be transferred to retentions – hopefully then they can work with you a little more to get you an unpublished discount.

At this point you want to remember that your goal is to save hundreds – not a few bucks.  Let them know what you can get if you switch to another provider – if they are not responsive, use Facebook or Twitter to take up your concern.

Watch Out for Bundles

Providers love to sell you on bundles – these bundles usually wrap together cable with internet and telephone. Although they might sound cheaper, in most cases they are not … not to mention that bundled discounts expire after a set period of time (1-2, sometimes even 3 years).  

Here are some more easy ways to save money and break your relationship with cable.