Saving Money / Savings Advice
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The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan infrastructure bill to support transportation, broadband and utilities for taxpayers at a cost of $1 trillion. However, the social spending and climate policy bill is still up for a vote. Key Democrats hope to pass the social spending bill by Thanksgiving.
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Despite the cost reduction to $1.75 trillion over a decade, according to CBSNews, the bill still contains some of the items from the original Build Back Better framework. However, many provisions have been cut from the proposal, including free community college, paid family and medical leave and home healthcare assistance. And several of Americans’ biggest expenses, including gas and groceries, aren’t addressed in the bill. In fact, even with gas prices rising, the Biden Administration doesn’t have many tools available to lessen Americans’ pains at the pump.
With costs continuing to rise on expenses like utilities, gas, groceries and child care, it’s more important than ever for Americans to examine their monthly bills and see how they can cut costs. A recent doxoINSIGHTS survey showed that Americans are paying more than ever for the top 10 most common bills.
“In general, the best way for consumers to understand whether or not they are getting the best deal is to know how much they should or could be paying for their bills,” said Jim Kreyenhagen, Doxo VP of Marketing and Consumer Services. He notes that doxoINSIGHTS offers a database of national and regional averages across the most common household bill pay categories.
“Our bill comparison database has detailed infographics for all 50 states, and more than 900 cities and towns across the country,” Kreyenhagen explained. “We believe that if we can arm consumers with hard data about how much their neighbors are paying, they will be much better equipped to negotiate, whether through using a bill negotiation tool or reaching out to engage with their providers directly.”
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When you’re looking to negotiate your bill payments or cut costs in other ways, certain spending categories may have more impact on your family’s budget than others.
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Decreasing utilities expenses often doesn’t require stressful negotiations or shopping around. Kreyenhagen said that 66% of survey respondents reduced their gas and electric bills by making living adjustments at home to reduce energy use. Only 8% negotiated a lower …….