From the Apartment Guide

While rent is bound to be your biggest regular apartment expense each month, the cost of keeping your apartment’s utilities turned on may be next.  Utility bills can vary wildly depending on the size of apartment you rent, the area you live in, and the season of the year. To help keep your utility costs under control, plan ahead and establish a utility budget.  Use these helpful tips for understanding utility costs, creating a utility budget you can live with, and keeping your bills as low as possible.

Know your overall budget
The first step in creating a utilities budget is to create an overall budget for yourself.  If you’re a newbie to budgeting, you’ll find that creating a personal finance budget can be incredibly useful.  Once you get all of your monthly expenses down on paper, you can set realistic spending and saving goals.

You’ve got to create a personal finance budget first so you can figure out how much money you can comfortably afford to spend on utility bills.  Most financial planners recommend setting aside an apartment utilities budget that’s between two and ten percent of your net income.  Expenses like the gas bill, electric bill, water and sewer service, TV and Internet bill, as well as cell phone service all fall under the utility bill category.  Those expenses can really add up, so it’s important to know how much money you can dedicate to these expenses each month.

Learn what utilities in your area cost
Once you know how much money you can dedicate to paying apartment utilities, you can estimate what utilities cost in your area by doing some simple research.

Start by asking your property manager about the average monthly utility bills for an apartment comparable to yours.  It’s very common for prospective tenants to ask about utility costs, so most property managers can provide this information easily.  You can also place phone calls to local utility companies.  They may have information on the specific apartment you live in or general information on the apartment community where you live.  They’re likely to give you an estimate for your utilities budget because they want your business.

Understand needs versus wants
Once you’ve determined how big of a utilities budget you need, you may find that your utility costs are just too expensive.  If that happens, it may be time to consider needs versus wants.

You may want to have an expanded cable package and high-speed Internet access, but these utility costs are not essentials.  Running water and heat, on the other hand, are.  Make sure you leave enough money in your utilities budget to pay for the true essentials by taking a hard look at your luxury expenses.  You may need to downgrade to less expensive luxury utilities (like opting for basic cable over an expanded package) or cut them out all together.

Strategies to reduce your utility bills
If your average utility bills are still too high even after re-evaluating luxury expenses, you can use these strategies to lower utility bills:

• Consider bundling utility services to save money.
• Do some comparison shopping among utility companies.  Call several utility providers and negotiate a better rate for yourself.  If your credit score is excellent or has recently improved, you can likely negotiate a better deal since utility rates are tied to your credit score.
• Make your apartment as energy efficient as possible.  Reduce utility bills by saving energy in simple ways like switching to energy efficient light bulbs, unplugging electronics, and programming your thermostat.

Through a combination of negotiation and good old fashioned conscientiousness, it’s possible for most people to lower their utility bills enough to make a positive difference in their overall housing budget.

Original article:

http://moving.apartmentguide.com/setting-up-utilities/creating-an-apartment-utilities-budget/