The Lifehacker challenge for this month is “Haggle Your Bills”. I basically did this challenge in January as well by calling my cable company to get a better rate (and an upgrade to boot), and technically lowering my cell phone bill by a few dollars as well (not much wiggle room there).
The other items suggested for possible haggling don’t concern me that much. They suggest looking at credit cards, rent, gym membership, and car insurance. A couple of these don’t really apply, like the credit cards and the gym membership. The others are ones that I’m happy with the rates I have.
So, for February I’m going to challenge myself to keep up with tracking my spending. I technically started this in January, but usually it’s about a month in that it falls apart for me. I think just being aware of my spending will help me to cut back where I’m excessive, and help me understand if I’m living outside of my means.
I’ll check back in at the end of the month with an update.