pinching pennies: bills

as you are implementing your large-scale money makeover, i thought it might be helpful to give you some practical ideas on how to save money in different areas of your budget. here are ways that we are cutting back, even though though some may seem insignificant or - even worse - HARD:

• house payment. we bought a small house, got a great deal, and put a lot down. our house is not quite 1300 square feet, which is perfect for the two of us - but we have a full basement that we could finish should we desire to become duggar-esque (as my husband has hinted at having an interest in).
• electricity. our thermostat is set on 74 during the summer; we keep the curtains drawn and ceiling fans on. thermostat is at 65 during the winter; we keep the curtains open and snuggle. turn off appliances when not in use. use a clothesline.
• water. take showers instead of baths. hand-wash dishes more than using the dishwasher. only shower if you need it (this one sounds gross, i know. but i work part-time, on the weekends, so i really do not do all that much to get dirty during the week; wal-mart doesn't need me freshly bathed to do my grocery shopping. so it's not really a matter of living with being dirty, but rather a matter of logical cut-backs).
• trash. compost! 
• cell phones. go no-contract. for some of you, you feel this is a fate worse than death. it is not. having to go into hiding underground because you can't pay your bills is way worse. i think t-mobile has the iphone so you'll live. you can keep your old phone number. jake doesn't care at all about phones so his is a flip phone. i'll admit i'm a little more vain than that - i actually want to be able to use the internet - so i did recently get an android. we pay a total of $80/month for me to have unlimited talk/text/data and him to have whatever he needs. so worth it!
• cable. to be honest, we haven't really had to cut back in this area at all. where we live, everything is relatively inexpensive. we do have friends who have cancelled their cable and subscribe to netflix and hulu plus, and they have a little box thingy that picks up local channels (when we tried the box, however, we got a very static-y one channel). i think they pay a ridiculously low total of around $15/month.
• car payment. for one, his car is paid off. we both drive extremely reliable, family cars (a toyota corolla and honda accord) that we fully intend to drive into the ground. and my car payment is pretty low.
• car insurance. before we got married, i just walked into a local office for a quote, and cut my car insurance rate in half. after we got married, we combined ours, and our homeowners, and it's all extremely affordable. so just look around!

you can do this! there will be more tips next post, but this one is already long enough. and baby steps are the least painful way to take all of this on, anyway. good luck!