Better Budgets: Get Ahead With a Financial Spring Cleaning

How I keep my finances lean and businesses accountable.

COMMUNITY CONTRIBUTOR

I recently had the “go after the mediocre companies in my life” appointment I schedule for myself each year.

This time, my insurance company tried to add a 20% general inflation increase to my plan, which I got down to 5% after a phone call.

I also got my phone company to 4x my data package for +$5 a month plus give me a free new pho…