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Over the past few years I have developed a keen interest in finding ways to save money. Simply put,one of the best wayto save money is to not spend it. From my own experiences and based oninformation I have gathered from numerous sources throughout the years, up to and including the daybefore this article was published, I have put together a list of helpful tips that will help keep money inyour pocket. I have marked the critical ones / ones you should pay close attention to, with an astrex(*) This article will address debt issues such as debt consolidation, pay off debt, credit card debt, aswell as mortgage rates show you how to better assess your debt situation with a mortgage calculatorand help you get the lowest mortgage rates.All of this information, as well as links to various tools are posted on my blog atwww.thegoodexperience.com This article works best with firefox asthere are many helpful links you may want to “middle click” toopen the tab for later viewing. Download firefox here:http://thegoodexperience.com/free-stuff/get-firefox/
HOME
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Lower interest on debts
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Call bank, ask for lower rate
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Switch banks to get lowest rate – Check out for access to hundreds of credit cards. Search forthe one that best fits your need. In this case you’d want a low APR and no annual fee.
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Search for extremely low balance transfer promotions (MBNA 1.99% for life)
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Switch to CC with no annual fee
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Credit card management
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Consolidate debts onto least amount of cards (preferably 1), at the lowest interest rate.
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STOP USING IT
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Create a plan to have it paid off in 5 years – don’t kill yourself by trying to put all your money intopaying it off. You will only learn the hard way that you’ve made too large of a payment, forcing youto use the card again.
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Use your line of credit as your primary account. Your paychequegets deposited into it, and yourbills/living expenses come out. This is a technique only few know about and your banks likelywould rather you not do since they’re losing out on transaction fee charges and extra interest. Yousee when entire paycheque gets deposited into the LoC, technically that’s a payment and youramount owing drops significantly, and you’re left paying interest on that lower amount. As youpay bills and other monthly expenses, you use up the credit and slowly work your way back up toalmost the amount it was at before, until you get paid again, but as the amount is low, you payless interest.
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Use a mortgage calculator to help you with your payments showyou how soon you can have yourmortgage debt paid off. Most major banks have them - https://www.rbcroyalbank.com/cgi-bin/mortgage/mpc/start.cgi 
Reduce monthly billsMortgage
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Refinance your current mortgage. Call your bank and find out what it costs to break yourexisting commitment. It’s usually related to the amount of months remaining on yourcommitment.
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Switch from biweekly to monthly payments (mortgage, etc)
Home insurance
 
 
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 There are many websites that will allow you to enter your vehicle and driver historyinformation, and it will send it to 20-30 (maybe more) insurance companies. Then you sit backand wait for them to email you their price.
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For American Home Insurance –: http://thegoodexperience.com/personal-finance/home-insurance 
Phone bill
 
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Use Vonage or some other voip service (or cancel it and just use the cell phone). Teksavvy
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Use a phone card for all long distance on cell phones. Program all local access numbers forcities you frequent, and make a memo in both cell phones with PIN #.
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Cancel landline if you use your cellphone a lot.
Cable/TV
Monitor the service providorspromotions and switch every 3-6 months if you have to.Cable/Satellite companies are famous for offering killer promotions for “new” customers but whatabout their existing, loyal customers? Find a promotion and switch to it. You may even find yourexisting company will beat that promo just to keep you. When you call in to cancel make sure youtell them you want to “cancel”. You will be transferred to the retentions department as oppose toanother customer service department. Retentions has a lot more power to offer you a better dealReduce the cable package, even if only in the summer. People don’t watch as much tvin thesummer. If you want, you can always add those channels back on in the winter.
Cell phone
 
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switch to "pay as you go"
Internet
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See what offers are out there. Don’t feel you’re forced to use one of the big guys (Bell/Rogers). There are many smaller companies that have negotiated a low price with them, so that theycan resell to you for a profit. And where they lack the expensive corporate structure /customer service level of the big guys, they can offer the service to you at a lower price.
Heat / Hydro
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Change your furnace filter monthly!
Buy a box of the 3M furnace filters, and get in aroutine of changing them frequently, especially in the coldest winter days, and the hottestsummer days. Think about it. Your furnace is fighting its way to get that warm air up to yourbedroom. It’s even harder if it has to push the air througha cloud of dirt and dust. Could youbreathe properly with a cloth over your mouth and nose? Same idea
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Turned off pilot lights
to both gas fireplaces
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Use an Electricity Usage Monitor
. Identify all appliances/units that draw power even whenturned off. keep them unplugged or on a power bar that can be turned off.
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Switch to all CFL bulbs
as the old bulbs die.
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Keep lights turned off 
when not in rooms
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Central heat turned off at night
and replaced with a portable heater plugged in thebedroom
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Wash clothes with cold water
. Clothes such as jeans, socks, hats are air dried. Use thedryer only for priority clothes or in emergencies. Most of the time you can air dry the wholeload.
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Use a clothesline instead of a dryer
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Do laundry only when you have a full load
 
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Reduce temperature in the house. Get small heaters for the rooms you’re in most of the time
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 Tape the heating/AC vents in the basement closed.
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Keep porch lights turned off, or use motion sensor lights.
Cable
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It is not unheard of for people to switch cable companies frequently. Even every 6 months.Cable providers are always trying to compete with one another by beating each other’s offers.And guess what, the offer is only good to “new” customers. If an existing customer called inthey wouldn’t get that deal. Talk about loyalty! If they don’t care about you after being acustomer for many years, why should you care about staying with them? Switch to anotherprovider and get their new promotional deal. When the deal expires, switch back and get theirdeal…you have to play their game. Or even consider dropping your service level. If you’re notactually watching all those premium channels, get rid of them. Even just for the summer sincemost people are outdoors anyway. Then add them again in the winter.
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Cancel Cable all together and get an OTA (over the air) Satellite dish
Pets
 
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We have 2 cats and instead of buying medication at the vet and paying through the nose, Inicely asked for a prescription. One cat is on antibiotics for 6 weeks and the cost for the medswere $38/week. I purchased the same medication online for a cost of about $15/week includingshipping. Savings about $135.
AUTO
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Insurance.
There are many websites that will allow you to enter your vehicle and driverhistory information, and it will send it to 20-30 (maybe more) insurance companies. Then yousit back and wait for them to email you their price.
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Aviva Autograph has a great program where you install a monitoring device in your car and itmeasures the amount you drive, if during high-risk times, and speed/aggressive braking. If youdrive safely, you can save a ton of money. For example, when I first signed up with them therate was about $50/year cheaper than what I was paying. After the device was installed onboth cars I saved an additional 23% off the already lower base rate. Savings $500/year.
Save on gas by:
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regular maintenance (oil changes, changing air filter, etc)
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Making sure there's adequate air pressure in your tire
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driving smart – don’t accelerate unnecessarily fast.
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drive the speed limit
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Combine errands
SAVINGS
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Utilize the new tax free savings accounts (Canadians)
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Ask your employer/payroll dept if they could take a small amount off your pay cheque anddeposit it into a tax free savings account. Not only will you be able to save money easierrequiring no interaction on your part, but your taxable income will be reduced as the taxdeducted will be based on the remaining amount of your pay rather than your entire pay.
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