Expense Shakedown

So I'm on a mission to lower my expenses so that I can free more cash up to pay off my credit cards and other assorted debt. Ever since I got my credit card company to lower my rate, I've been calling up companies that I do business with and threatening to leave unless they cut me a deal.

Unfortunately this won't work on every company unless there is adequate competition in the industry. So for example, my electric and water companies would laugh in my face if I threatened to leave because they have their industries "on lockdown" a.k.a. monopolistic grip. My only defense is to lower my consumption in order to lower my expense. So it looks like I need to put a sweater on and get some low flow toilets...

The latest target in this shakedown? My cable company, Comcast. I called today to see if they could lower that crazy bill otherwise I would be forced to put them on the bench for awhile.
I didn't even have to argue. One bargaining chip that I used was my local phone service. I currently use Vonage because it is cheaper than the local phone company service. Anyway, Comcast, like other companies are chomping at the bit to grab customers from other providers and therefore were more likely to give me a deal to earn my business.

So how did I do? After the deal, I was able to shave $65.00 per month off my bills for phone, internet & cable. It only cost me 15 minutes of hold time...