How to Save Money in Inflation!

Save on everything that you can. Cut down on your monthly expenses, cut medical bills, try to get cash backs, and more to save money with our smart (and easy) strategies.

With inflation on the door step and gearing up to rise faster than before in 40 years, you are likely feel the financial burden at every corner and saving money is getting difficult.

We all are experiencing it at the cashier’s desks in every grocery store which you have put in your shopping trolley cart, when you fill up your fuel tank of bikes and cars, each time you see your utility bills, and when you are going on for a vacation you can observe that your money is slipping fast from your hands.

As per the report of The Department of Labor, in June the CPI (Consumer Price Index) which is the measure of overall change of cost of a set of listed products and services – have spiked to 9.1% in compare to previous year. This is the largest pick in 12 months since November 1981. Prices of petroleum products like petrol and diesel have increased up to 98.5%, whereas LPG gas has hiked to 59.9%, and day to day groceries are up by 12.2%. Every type of household debts, like mortgages, house loans, car loans, has become dearer. It’s no surprise that 64% of people in a survey of 2076 US adults conducted by Consumer Reports (CR) have put up serious concerns about the high inflation and its affect on their daily budget which makes saving money for futures unpredictability is very important. 

Many people provide financial plans and money saving advice’s about how to cut on your monthly bills but the methods are too complicated, even demoralizing. Where do you start? Can you really cut on your expenses randomly? And even if it is possible, would not it take long hours to figure out. In a time, when we are all feeling the pinches from inflation, it is imperative and easy to try for getting better deals on many of our monthly bills to save money. All it takes is a few phone calls, and enthusiasm to negotiate.

Gather the Facts;
Along with the task of checking the TV Cable, cell and internet provider for getting information regarding new deals and offers, ask your nearby friends and do some inquiries about what they actually pay. Many corporate that provide us monthly bills do have protocols for providing their loyal customers better deals and offer money saving value packs. However, they rely on the notion that hardly few of their customers ever asks for those money saving packs.

Step 1: Monitor closely at your monthly bills

Making a habit of checking on the monthly bills for a few hours carefully is an art that most people still find it cumbersome. Try by pulling out your monthly bills, such as dish cable, cell phone postpaid bills, the internet, Wi-Fi providers bills and tries to figure out the inputs. According to the CR Survey of 34,107 members in US conducted on 2021, around 70% of people achieved lower prices on cable TV, LAN, postpaid cell phone bills and any other service bills on their existing plans, just by negotiating with their service providers.

Most of the services providers have some or other aggressive deals which you can give you some advantage. Also, just try to exclude those items which you no longer need. For example, when we have a new Smartphone it is better spending some upfront payment to get it insured, but if your phone is over 6 to 7 years old, it’s not worth for spending that regular payment towards its insurance. mark and underline those entries which you do not understand in your bills. This will eliminate the unwanted things added in your bills and will help you to save money in the long run.

Step 2: Verify service providers’ websites for deals.

Try to get the perfect information about the current discounts, deals and offers that are being given to new customers. For an instance, premium cell phone carriers may be running a subscription for music streaming or premium TV channels, and getting these subscription can save you lots of money and at the same time remember to cancel the same from other service providers for which you are paying for. Don’t jump into negotiation without getting this information ready in hand. Keep it in mind that playing smart is important here because the other person is smarter in his field and would always wanted to get you off the phone as quickly as possible. Also, ask them to make some minor changes to make your bills lower, like if you can opt for paperless bills which are always cheaper.

Step 3: Select a perfect time to contact companies

If you want to get the maximum benefits and save money out of your deal then you must talk to someone responsible person over phone. Generally speaking, very few people would want to talk to any customer care representatives in early office times like on 9 am to 11 am. However, that’s the best time to speak to them over phone and discuss about the real issues and convince them to get into any negotiation. Also, during this time the wait time is least than compared to the after office hours or late evening time.

Step 4: Talk to a retention expert

With the home works done, and all papers checked, you can dial the service provider’s help-desk, which probably mentioned over the bills or on their website. Every help desk agent’s first task is to get you off the phone as soon as possible and offer little perks to nothing in return. Try to convey a clear message like, myself Mr. John, and I am planning to reduce some of the services or canceling my service,” to get to the retention department. The retention department’s main aim is to convince and try to retain the client, negotiate with them by giving discounts and keep the customer happy and loyal. If the representative failed to transfer your call log to the retention department then ask directly to talk to the retention department, don’t stop or surrender, keep asking.

Step 5: Ask open ended type questions

According to Harvard Law School Program on Negotiation, the person must start the conversation with “WH” questions, like who, whose, what, when, which, why, or how. When you do this, then that will need some type of explanation from the representatives. Try to start with “We enjoy your services very much, but the current situation and inflation have made us to rethink our budget plan.

What can you do to help me? That will make the representatives to elaborate some new money saving offers and schemes that you normally didn’t know about. Make sure you note the name, title and phone number of the representative person, what they speak, so you have some sort of record.

Step 6: Push back to save money

Whenever you were given some offer, try not to accept it immediately. A retention representative’s aim is to keep you loyal with little impact to the business. It all depends upon your power of communication and negotiation skills and prior information about the upcoming on current deals, to utilize and get maximum benefit. And be polite and be over friendly. “Maintain a calm tone clear, and specific about what you want.

Step 7: Must check the offers diligently.

Remember, in some cases, the monthly bill amount can actually increased during negotiation, this happens due to some bundled offers. For example, if your internet service provider tells you to add TV to your internet service at the same price a month, then the cost can increase due to the addition of extra taxes.

Step 8: Get every details in writing.

After finalizing any deals, make sure you get it a confirmation through follow-up, email or text before you get off the phone. Keep in mind that you are settling things up with a human being, so chances are that it may not process correctly. Also, do check your next monthly bill & verify whether the new monthly bill matches to your expectation. If it is not complied, then get to the customer officer and make it amended soon.

Always keep your papers ready for any future negotiations. It is very important to mark the expiry date of your amended subscription, usually it last of 12 to 24 months, and give the customer representatives a call log before its expiry. Else, the subscription fees may escalate too high for the next cycle.

Step 9: Repeat the above steps to save money

You can apply the same process to other bills, like the health insurance, car insurance, pest control services etc. In case of auto insurance, you may request about discounts and try to club both home and auto insurance with one carrier. It will be best if you can reduce your deductibles which can reduce tour overall policy costs. Discuss this with your customer support representatives.

Some More Possibilities:
If you use any credit card service then discussing with retention department and try to lower interest rate on your credit card balances. They are more likely to accept your request and negotiate if you have been a loyal customer and paying your monthly bills on time. However, when it comes to energy bills like fuels or electricity; those are not in your control except to avoiding unnecessary spending.

Things to note with your credit card bills regularly:
Sometimes there may be occasional errors in your credit card bills, some line items that you could not understand or you found some different merchants name in your statement. In that case talk to your customer support right away. If your account was hacked, then make sure you call the support immediately and get yourself secured.

Conclusion: 

We are not masters of all activities, hence we ignore many normal process, however in the long run we lose a lot, once we get back to desk and start calculating. So, in today’s world one must make some work to cut on there expenses and try to inculcate the habit of reviewing there monthly bills and expenses.

Managing fund is a very wonderful art. To sum up here are our helping guide to save money;

Step 1: Monitor closely at your monthly bills
Step 2: Verify service providers’ websites for deals.
Step 3: Select a perfect time to contact companies
Step 4: Talk to a retention expert
Step 5: Ask open ended type questions
Step 6: Push back
Step 7: Must check the offers diligently.
Step 8: Get every details in writing.
Step 9: Repeat