How To Save Over $1,600 a Year In 15 Minutes

A few weeks ago I was looking over our finances and quickly realized that we were wasting money each month on things that we really didn't need.  So, I decided to try cutting back on some things.  Here's how I saved us over $1,600 a year by taking about 15 minutes to make some calls.

• We pay each month for streaming Netflix and haven't used it in months.  I cancelled it and saved us $7.99 a month = $95.88 a year.
• We pay a large amount each month for our cell phone service and rarely use the home phone.  Matter of fact the most calls we get on the home phone are from telemarketers.  I cancelled it and saved us $48.41 a month = $580.92 a year.
• Our satellite bill has gotten larger over the past year and there's so many channels that we just don't watch so I lowered our programming saving us $15 a month = $180 a year.
• I called Verizon and got an average of how many minutes we use each month and determined that we would be ok if we lowered our minutes saving us $10 a month = $120 a year.
• I have two magazine subscriptions that are really wasting us money.  I have the last three months worth of magazines stacked on my bedside table and haven't even cracked one open.  I've just been too busy to read them.  So, I cancelled them saving us $29.98 a year.
• I have a gym membership, but have decided that I would rather do some outside running and if I feel the need to hop on an elliptical my best friend has one and wouldn't mind me using it at all.  Cancelling my membership saves us $35 a month = $420 a year.
• I had an old checking account from when I was in college that cost me $5 a month.  I cancelled it saving us $60 a year.
• I had an Ebay store that I was quite busy with for awhile, but have slacked off lately because of the amount of people bidding and not paying.  Granted I get my money back, but it takes some time.  I decided that it wasn't worth the $15.95 each month to keep it open.  Cancelling it saved me $191.40 a year.

In total, just by taking a few minutes I will save us $1,678.18 a year.  That's over $139 a month.