One of the easiest and quickest ways to save money may be sitting right in front of you and you just don’t know it. In an effort to cut our spending, I have been studying the smallest details of our monthly budget. I am going through the process of looking at each recurring expense and trying to find ways to save money.
If I were to give one piece of financial advice for anyone looking to save money, I would suggest doing the same. I have been able to find small pockets of money that my family can save each month without making any drastic changes to our current lifestyle. While I have not found a lot of savings in any one place, I have been able to find several small savings that are starting to add up.
I have already been able to save money by cutting out snacking at work, checking our monthly credit card statement for recurring expenses, and switching from diet coke to ice tea. The latest target expense I have been looking at is our cell phone bill.
Lowering Our Monthly Cell Phone Bill
After reviewing several months’ worth of statements, I came to the easy conclusion that my wife and I were paying too much for our cell phone plan. We had a cell phone plan that gave us 700 minutes per month on top of free nighttime and weekend minutes. We also had free minutes when placing calls to in-network customers, so we could call our family members with the same provider at no additional charge.
As I analyzed the number of minutes we used each month, it was clear to me that we never came close to 700. In fact, we hadn’t even used half of our allotted monthly minutes in the past 12 months. This seemed like a huge waste of money and a place that I could possibly find some additional savings for our budget.
I first checked the website of our cell provider to review available plans to find a better deal for us. As I suspected, the 700 minute rate was their lowest advertised monthly plan found on the company website. I then called and spoke with a customer service representative and immediately asked them what their absolute lowest minute plan they offered. The lady put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said they could offer us a 550 minute plan for $10 less per month.
While I was a bit skeptical that our cell provider still may have an even lower plan, I decided to switch over to the 550 minute plan and take the $10 monthly savings. This small savings on our monthly cell phone bill will be used to help us save 10% of our income.
Monthly Savings – $10
I also wanted to point out that we are currently taking advantage of a 17% employee discount through our cell phone provider. If you don’t want to completely cut your cell phone, then you may be able to save some money each month through this type of discount. Check with your employer to see if they offer a discount for your provider as a way to save money.
Final Thoughts
Some extreme savers could argue that we should just cut our cell phones completely and in many ways I don’t disagree. My wife and I have given this option a lot of thought and consideration but are not totally ready to abandon our cell phones. The security of having them in emergency situations means more to us at this point than the cost savings.
I know that there are other options, such as prepaid cell phones that can help give us the security we are looking for. I think that overtime we will probably make the switch to this option, but not before we have the time to explore the benefits.
Switching our monthly cell phone plan will save us $120 per year, but completely cutting our cell phones could save us well over $700 per year! While we have taken a small step to help save more money, the potential savings on this expense will need to be revisited in time.
What tips can you provide to help cut your cell phone bill?
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Hi John! Don’t be afraid of prepaid…I’m saving at least $500.00 per year by dropping my contract and going with Tracfone AND I got a Samsung Finesse smart-phone as well with every bell and whistle you can imagine including 3G! I get double the minutes I pay for when I buy airtime, my incoming texts are free and if I call overseas it costs the same as making a call in the US!
@Rosie – Thanks for the info on the prepaid phones. I will have to check it out once our next contract expires. Seems like a huge money saver.
If your considering prepaid you should check out straight talk. They have some great plans especially their unlimited plan for only $45 a month. Plus there is no contract and they provide great service. The only trouble you will have is trying to figure out which one of their phones is best for you and your cell phone habits.
i was considering straight talk kelsey. But i wanted to know more about tracfone. So like are they the same company??? I was readying about the LG420 and they have a double minutes bundle. I am not understanding it that much. So you get the double minutes imediately? or do you have to call them up.