Cut your cell, credit card, medical and insurance bills

A recent story from CNNMoney has some great tips on how to reduce a number of household expenses, starting with your cell phone and credit card bill.

Compare your rates to other plans on BillShrink.com, which asks you a few questions about how many minutes you use, if you text and if you have a data plan. Then it spits out a list of similar plans, calculates the yearly savings and shows the signal strength at your home and work zip code. It found a slightly cheaper plan for me, but it does not include texts or data so I think what I have is actually cheaper.

For reduced medical care, the CNN story suggests checking out free Federal medical clinics for basics like immunizations, checkups, dental care and medicine. The Association of Medical Colleges might also be able to help if you are uninsured.

The article’s tips for cutting your car insurance tab were old hat – keep your credit score high because that’s what your rate is based on, ask for discounts based on your profession, and raise your deductible (if you have the savings to cover the difference!).