Money Saving Wednesday…Cell Phones
First, before I forget, I was speaking with James Talmage Stevens and he informed me that once the first release phase for his book Making the Best of Basics is over the price will be increasing to $34.95 so if you are planning a purchase his book click on the link on this page today, or soon, to beat the price increase. Just another Money Saving Tip!
Cell phones are a great tool but they can be robbing us of hundreds of dollars, unnecessarily, each year. Many have chosen to go to using cell phones and eliminating land lines at their home. Consider this very carefully before taking this step. During times of natural disasters or just ordinary power failures, cell phones may not work. Recently we had a power outage and we could not get a cell phone call to connect. The lines were too busy, and this was just a local outage for a few hours. If you have a land line be sure you have at least one phone that plugs directly into the phone jack in the wall and does not require batteries. Phones which need to be charged on a base unit do not work during a power outage.
As for cell phones:
Check your plan carefully. If you have unused minutes consistently each month consider reducing your plan. If, however, you have to pay for more minutes more than two or three months of the year you should consider the cost of increasing the number of minutes in your plan. You will have to compare the charges for extra minutes and the cost of the increased charges each month to know which is best for you.
Eliminate insurance for an older or inexpensive phone.
Eliminate text messaging. Do not allow your children to text message or cancel the service completely. Text messaging is a terrible habit. It not only eats up your budget but it also creates very rude children and adults. It drives me crazy in a theater and especially in church to watch people texting, how rude! As a teachers I would like to see all cell phone confiscated when kids are caught texting. Our teachers have enough trouble keeping kids engaged in the learning process without the distractions of a text coming in. Can you tell I hate texting? And we haven’t even addressed texting while driving which has killed thousands. Just get rid of it. Tell the kids they will have to pay for it if they want the feature. It’s time to help kids understand the facts of life, and a budget is one of those facts.
Do not replace your cell phone just because you can. I replaced my cell phone last week because I could no longer hear someone speaking to me. The clerk in the store was so surprised to discover I was 1 1/2 years pasted the time I could replace it for a discounted rate. Why spend even $20.00 to replace a phone if it is working?
Do not call 800 or 866 numbers from your cell phone. When calling these numbers from a landline they are free but call from a cell phone and you will be charged.
Do not call information from a cell phone. There can be as much as a $1.00 charge for each call. Find a phone book or call someone who can look it up for you.
Check your bill carefully and eliminate all extras that you don’t use. Most of us have roadside assistance from our insurance companies. You don’t need that from your cell phone provider too.
If you are getting close to your limit on minutes check your voice mail from a land line. This is how:
Just call your cell phone number, and when the voice mail picks up, press the star key (*). It will then prompt you for your password, and let you check your voice mail just like you are on the cell phone. If you spend a lot of time with voice mail, this could save you enough minutes to fit back in your plan.
Most carriers also have local numbers you can call for voice mail if you do not wish to use the simple method above:
T-Mobile: Replace the last four digits of your phone number with 9999, and dial that number. If your number is 603-555-1212, then you would dial 603-555-9999. Then, enter your cell phone number when prompted. When your greeting starts, press the star key (*).
Sprint: Similar to T-Mobile above, but replace the last four digits with 6245.
Verizon: Also similar, but use 8888. http://billeater.com/tips/check-your-cell-phones-voicemail-landline
Purchase a prepaid phone. When your minutes are gone they are gone. This is a great way to help a child understand exactly how much they are using their phone. They will learn to budget their minutes, if they run out with two more weeks left in the month, oh well… Next month they will do better. Don’t give in and add more minutes, a budget is a budget, and you can learn to live with fewer minutes too.
All this may seem like a small amount to save but as we have discussed before saving $5.00 a month is $60.00 dollars a year and if you can find 10 ways to save $5.00 per month then it is $600.00 a year. Trust me there are dozens of ways to save $5.00 per month and each Wednesday I will share a few more, so keep reading, and go back and review the suggestions of the past if you are new to Totally Ready.
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I call 800 #’s from my cell phone sometimes (i have AT&T) and i have never seen a charge on my bill yet. Is this something new? My plan includes free long distance so maybe thats why I dont get charged for 800 #’s?
You can use this service from Google for free directory information (if you have long distance or enough minutes – see comment above?)…http://www.google.com/goog411/
Nice article. I thought I’d augment your suggestions by adding another tip for reducing cell bills that any customer with the major US wireless providers can capitalize on. I actually work for the consumer advocacy division of the company Validas, where we electronically audit and subsequently reduce the average cell bill by 22 percent through our website, http://www.fixmycellbill.com. Put simply, Validas guards against frivolous and unnecessary charges that inflate your cell bill more than it should be for your usage. You can find out for free if fixmycellbill.com can modify your plan to better suit your needs by going to the website.
For more info, check out Validas in the media, most recently on Fox News at http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/dpp/consumer/conlaw/lower_cell_phone_bills_072409 .
Good luck to everyone reading on lowering your cell bills, particularly in light of this tough economy.
Dylan
Consumer Advocacy, fixmycellbill.com