Have you ever gotten one of your utility bills in the mail, opened it up, and felt like screaming at the top of your lungs? That happened to me yesterday as I opened my electric bill. Yes, I know that we are in the middle of summer, but $270? Really? Come on!

My electric bill got me to thinking about all my utilities in general and ways I can shave a few dollars off each month. Here are some ways that I came up with.

~Combining: There are some bills like your phone, internet, and cable that you can combine. Now these are not utilities, but most of us have them. Last month I was paying a $42 a month phone bill, a $35 a month internet bill, and a $55 cable bill–each through a separate place. However, my cable company offered me a deal where I could combine the three for only $89 a month. The old way I was paying $132 a month, and now I am only paying $89 a month. This also will save on gas since I only have one place to go instead of three.

~Cutting Back On Usage: This always will help save in the long run. Don’t take extremely long showers, or wash clothes every day to cut back on your water bill. When you wash dishes, turn the water off and on as you need it–don’t leave it running the whole time you are washing.

With the electric, make sure to turn off lights when you leave a room. If you are not in there, a light should not be on right? Keep your air conditioner turned up to a higher temp if you can stand it. When it runs constantly, that will cause the electric to go up considerably.

~Budget Billing: My state offers a budget billing program. This works by taking a year’s worth of bills and then adding the amounts together and dividing it by 12. This amount will be what you pay every month for twelve months. My gas bill used to be around $220 a month in the winter and only $20-$30 in the summer. We got tired of never knowing how much we were going to have to pay, so we signed up for the budget program and now we pay around $50 a month every month. Much easier to handle and plan for.

~Pay Your Bills On Time: I cannot stress this enough. Each of your utilities has a steep late fee whether you realize it or not. My water bill charges $9.50 late fee each month, the cable is a $7.00 late fee, and the electric is a $8.25 late fee. If I pay those late every month, I am shelling out an extra $25 a month! That is enough to buy at least a week’s worth of meat for my family at the grocery store! With that being only three bills, can you imagine if you pay all your bills late? Pay them on time and save yourself a ton of money in the long run.

So those are my tips for cutting the costs on your utility bills. What kind of steps do you take to cut costs on bills such as these?