How To Lower Your Bills - For Free!

A great article from the New York Times:

IF someone said that you could reduce your bills by a significant amount by taking one simple step — and this step would be neither time-consuming nor embarrassing — wouldn’t you want to know what it was? It’s as simple as this: Just call and ask.

I'm a militant believer in this. Over the past four years, I've switched car insurance 6 times (saving $1,500 per year), phone service 3 times ($80 per year) and cut back on cable ($100 per year). I've also switched credit cards twice (better rates and bonus plans) and set up four or five different bank accounts for better rates.

It's been some work but I've saved literally thousands of dollars per year.