6 Things You Can Cut to Save Money

Home Blog 6 Things You Can Cut to Save Money

Posted On: August 16, 2021 by Peoples Bank of Kankakee County in: Budget Personal Finances Saving

Our main goal is to provide you tips to help you achieve financial success. Finding ways to save more and cut costs can be difficult when many things feel essential. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County is here to offer our advice on certain things you can cut to save money!

Limit Subscriptions

If you have Hulu, Netflix, HBO and Amazon Prime – you probably don’t need all of them and aren’t utilizing them enough to make it worth the money. All the monthly fees add up so look at your subscriptions and see which ones you can cut. If you’re being mailed vitamins monthly, for example, go to the store and find the same vitamins. You’ll save money in shipping and get 2-4x the number of vitamins for the price of what you were paying for the subscription.

Review Your Bills

Are you paying for a router or phone line within your internet bill that you weren’t aware of? That could be costing you $50+ a month if you don’t catch little additions like that. Be sure to look at each of your bills to make sure you understand the costs and weed out any unnecessary add-ons.

Switch Providers

If your internet or cell phone bills are too high, shop around for rates to see if you can save yourself an extra $50 or $100 a month. It’s important to look out for you so that you are finding the best services for the best price.

Reduce Utility Use

Electricity costs account for about 12% of the average household budget. Does the air conditioning need to be running or can you open windows to get enough of a cool breeze? Hang laundry outside to dry instead of using the dryer, turn down the thermostat so it’s not heating or cooling too much, switch to energy-efficient lightbulbs, lower your water heater temperature and so on.

Don’t Eat Out

This means you will bring your own lunch to work and try not to buy coffee – make it instead. Costs can add up quite a bit in just one month without you realizing it! Do the math in your head of what making a meal at home costs vs buying something like that in a restaurant to encourage less eating out.

Look At Insurance

There are so many options when it comes to insurance. Be sure you are getting the best price. If you are married, try to bundle your home, auto and life insurance – this normally can get you a deal!

We hope you take a look at this list and choose to cut most of these items out or change them, so you are getting a better deal. Store that new savings in a savings account with us so we can keep your funds safe but accessible.

An overdraft occurs when you do not have enough money in your account to cover a transaction, but we pay it anyway. We can cover your overdrafts in two different ways:

We have standard overdraft practices that are available after your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing.
We also offer an overdraft protection plan, Overdraft Protection Sweep, a link to a savings account. It may be less expensive than our standard overdraft practices. To learn more, ask us about this plan.

This notice explains our standard overdraft practices.

What are the standard overdraft practices that come with my account?

After your account has been open for 30 days and as long as you maintain your account in good standing, we do authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions:

Checks and other transactions made using your checking account number
Automatic bill payments

We do not authorize and pay overdrafts for the following types of transactions unless you ask us to (see below):

ATM transactions
Everyday debit card transactions

We pay overdrafts at our discretion, which means we do not guarantee that we will always authorize and pay any type of transaction.

If we do not authorize and pay an overdraft, your transaction will be declined.

What fees will I be charged if Peoples Bank of Kankakee County pays my overdraft?

Under our standard overdraft practices:

We will charge you a fee of up to $30 each time we pay an overdraft.
The maximum daily overdraft fee per presentment or item paid using the Overdraft Reserve Program is $150.00 per day.
No per item handling fee will be charged on de minimis overdrafts. De minimis overdraft for this policy means transactions that overdraw your account by $30 or less.
There is an overdraft fee of $5 per day that will be charged beginning the 4th consecutive business day your account is overdrawn.

Nonsufficient funds (NSF) fees - if an item drafted by you (such as a check) or a transaction you set up (such as a preauthorized transfer) is presented for payment in an amount that is more than the amount of money in your account and we decide not to pay the item or transaction, you agree that we can charge you an NSF fee for returning the payment. Be aware that such an item or payment may be presented multiple times by the merchant or other payee until it is paid, and that we do not monitor or control the number of times a transaction is presented for payment. You agree that we may charge you an NSF fee each time a payment is presented if the amount of money in your account is not sufficient to cover the payment, regardless of the number of times the payment is presented.

PAYMENT ORDER OF ITEMS - The law permits us to pay items drawn on your account in any order (for purposes of this section "items" means checks, orders and electronic transactions). To assist you in handling your account with us, we are providing you with the following information regarding how we process those items. When processing checks and orders drawn on your account our policy is to pay lower numbered checks and orders in numerical sequence, but electronic transactions are paid first in the order received. The order in which items are paid is important if there is not enough money in your account to pay all of the items that are presented. There is no policy that is favorable in every instance. If the smallest items are paid first, you may have fewer NSF or overdraft fees, but the largest, and perhaps more important items (such as rent or mortgage payments) might not be paid. However, if the largest items are paid first, your most important items might be paid but it may increase the overdraft or NSF fees if funds are not available to pay all of the items. We think our policy attains a reasonable balance between minimizing additional costs to you and paying your more important items. We encourage you to make careful records and practice good account management. This will help you to avoid creating items without sufficient funds and incurring the resulting fees.

What if I want Peoples Bank of Kankakee County to authorize and pay overdrafts on my ATM and everyday debit card transactions?

If you also want us to authorize and pay overdrafts on ATM and everyday debit card transactions after your account has been open for 30 days, you may opt in.

You have an ongoing right to change this consent at any time. If your overdraft privilege has been revoked for any reason, the opt-in or opt-out selection may not apply. Please contact your nearest office for more information.

Alternate ways to Opt In/Out or make changes:

By Phone. Our Customer Care Representatives can be reached at 815-936-7600.
By Mail. Peoples Bank of Kankakee County, 333 E. Court Street, Kankakee, IL 60901
In Person. Please visit your local office and ask a representative to help you decide which plan is best for you.