Buying these 9 gadgets will save you money this year

By Brandt Ranj, Insider Picks from Business Insider

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Antennas
Amazon

If you’re looking for ways to save money, you’re probably not thinking about buying new tech.

Some will take longer to show their value than others, but these 9 gadgets can actually save you money over the long run. I made a few purchases like this last year, and it’s always nice to see a little extra money in my bank account each month.

An HD antenna
Amazon
This is one of the products I invested in last year, and I couldn’t be happier with the results. An HDTV antenna allows you to watch live TV without having to pay for a monthly cable package.

Your picture quality and signal strength will vary depending on where you are, but you can use the online tool AntennaWeb to determine which channels you should get. If you’d like to learn more about cutting the cable cord to save money, you can check out our full cord-cutting guide.

1byone HDTV antenna (50 mile range), $29.99, available at Amazon

LED light bulbs
Amazon
Light bulbs aren’t a purchase you think of often (most of the time it comes up when you find yourself sitting in the dark), but investing in LED bulbs can save you money.

They’re a little more expensive up front — although they’ve dropped in price significantly over the past few years, but they’re both more energy efficient and longer lasting than traditional light bulbs.

TCP LED A19 – 60 Watt Equivalent Soft White Light Bulb (6 Pack), $19.99, available at Amazon.

An energy-conserving outlet
Amazon
How many times have you accidentally left something on longer than you should have. I’ve done that a lot in the past, and it took me years to to break the habit.

This outlet solves that problem: Plug it into the wall, plug your appliance into the outlet, and set how long you’d like the outlet to be active using a single button. After the allotted time is up, this plug will cut power to your appliance, saving energy.

Simple Touch Auto Shut-Off Multi Setting Safety Outlet, $19.99, available at Amazon

Your own cable modem
Arris
Everyone would like their monthly cable/internet bill to go down. Most people don’t realize that they’re actually paying to rent their cable modem each month.

I bought mine up front, and over the course of my two year contract I’ll save $40. If I decide to renew my contract, I’ll continue to save $10 a month. If you don’t have the option to buy a cable modem from your provider, you can pick up this third party one instead.

Arris SURFboard SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 Cable Modem (White), $59.97, available at Amazon.

Rechargeable batteries and a charging dock
Amazon
Make 2017 the year that you stop using traditional one-use batteries. Rechargeable batteries have been around for a while, but they’ve gotten more efficient (and less expensive) in recent years.

Panasonic’s eneloop batteries are widely considered to be the best products in this space. Most of our gadgets now come with rechargeable batteries, but for those toys and straggling tech products it’s good to keep a few standard batteries around.

Panasonic B Eneloop AA 2100 Cycle Ni-MH Pre-Charged Rechargeable Batteries (Pack 4), $12.99, available at Amazon.

EBL 8 Bay AA, AAA, Ni-MH, Ni-Cd Rechargeable Battery Charger, $9.99, available at Amazon.

An unlocked smartphone
Amazon
One of the easiest ways to save money each month is by getting an unlocked phone. Instead of paying your carrier a monthly fee for your phone (and getting locked into a multi-year contract), an unlocked phone costs nothing per month and can be taken anywhere.

We’ve written about the Moto G4 before, but for its asking price you’d be hard-pressed to find a better deal. Its specs are competitive with higher end smart phones that cost significantly more. You can find out more about this phone here.

Moto G4 (16gb with special offers),$129.99, available at Amazon

**This price is only available to Amazon Prime members, non-members will pay $179.99**

A VoIP phone service
Amazon
If you know someone (or are someone) who pays for a landline phone, you should switch to a VOIP (Voice Over IP) phone service.

This option from Ooma costs $110 up front, but only about $4 in fees per month thereafter. All the calls get routed through the internet instead of a phone company, and you only get 4,000 minutes per month, but these are hardly high limitations.

You can still call any landline or cell phone the same way you could through a traditional landline, and might actually notice an increase in call quality.

Ooma Telo Free Home Phone Service (Black), $89.90, available at Amazon.

A smart thermostat
Amazon
I’ve been a true believer in Nest thermostats for a couple of years now, and it was one of the best purchases I ever made.

They’re simple to operate, but give you a lot of granular control over how and when to hear or cool your home. Once it learns your usage patterns the Nest can optimize itself, tailoring itself to your schedule.

Heating and cooling can get expensive fast, and it’s entirely possible that this purchase will pay for itself within a year.

Nest Learning Thermostat (3rd Generation), $247, available at Amazon.

Anker charging cables
Amazon
A cable is a cable, right?

Well, cables can fray or break, which is why I tend to stick with those made by Anker. Not only are they very durable (I use mine daily, and it has yet to show signs of damage.) But it’s not only their durability that makes them attractive, it’s Anker’s 18-month warranty.

If a cable should break in under a year and a half you can send it back to them and they’ll replace it. The lightning cable is also MFI certified, so it’s guaranteed to work with any iOS device without the risk of incompatibility.

Anker Powerline Lightning Cable (6ft), $10.99, available at Amazon

Anker MicroUSB Cable (6ft), $5.99, available at Amazon

This article was originally published on 1/5/2017. (Check all prices given as they are out of date0

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by Business Insider’s Insider Picks team. We aim to highlight products and services you might find interesting, and if you buy them, we get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners, including Amazon. Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions. We frequently receive products free of charge from manufacturers to test. This does not drive our decision as to whether or not a product is featured or recommended. We operate independently from our advertising sales team. We welcome your feedback. Have something you think we should know about? Email us at [email protected].

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