Let’s see if I can explain to you two simple ways we have saved money passively in our home.
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Ok, I’m no good at writing about money. I can talk about budgeting, I’ve sat down multiple times with many a family member and friend and discussed how we save money and how others save money, but I’ve never put it down in writing. So, bear with me, this might all sound like word vomit, but I hope I’m able to pass on to others how we’ve saved in our household with these companies.
First off, let’s talk about Google Fi.
Google Fi is a mobile company that is run by… you guessed it… Google. A lot of people who ask me what phone plan I’m on have no idea what “Project Fi” is. (I even had a cell network sales guy at my door who didn’t have a clue… you should know your market, man…) And when I explain that it’s a mobile phone company that sells the Pixel and new Pixel 2, that you pay a flat rate of $20 for unlimited calls and texts, and then $10 per gig of data they still are confused, but intrigued by the simple system.
It’s just that. Project Fi is simple, no plans or contracts, you pay for what you use AND they refund credit to you when you paid for data you didn’t use. That’s right, every month I pay for 2GB of data, and if I don’t reach that data, I’m refunded the amount or it just rolls over to the next month. Pretty neat. Use this link to get $20 credit after thirty days with Project Fi when you sign up.
Moving on, we also saved by switching out our thermostat.
Before I switched out our home thermostat, I believed it to be a daunting task and too “high tech” to get something installed that even resembled a Nest Home or the like. But, after doing loads of research we found that if we did switch from our old thermostat to a smart thermostat we would actually get rebates from Rocky Mountain Power and Questar (Dominion) Gas that would pay us back for switching! (We live in Utah, if you live in a different state you will have to see how much you would specifically save with your power and gas companies.)
Our rebates were $50 from our power company and $100 from the gas company, and our basic Nest Home cost us $180. Ultimately, we only had to pay $20 and the energy savings on our monthly bills have been worth the weight of one twenty dollar bill. Perks? The Nest thermostat can be controlled from an app on your phone, it turns off when it senses you aren’t at home and can be run on a schedule that you set through the night so you don’t waste any energy or gas.
Well, that’s the gist of it! Hope I was able to help in your home saving and simplifying. Happy adulting! Share and Pin for your next home budgeting meeting!
