Cutting Back

We've always looked for any way we can to cut back but even more so lately. Dave has a good job, PTL, but with grocery prices rising higher & higher, utilities going through the roof, expecting a new Baby, making a recent move & other costs increasing it's more important than ever. For a few months now Dave & I have been looking at how we can reduce our cell phone bill. When we signed up this summer we decided to get the unlimited package. The cell phone was our only phone and with needing to talk to our Realtors quite a bit, Dave long distance every night in Tennessee and others on a daily basis we needed the minutes. I had also based our choice on my calling habits, (who chatted with me the most), which of course changed without warning a couple weeks after we we locked into the plan. Being the fun way cell phone contracts work we couldn't downgrade our plan for "x" amount of months. Plus we didn't want to until after we moved. We figured we would much rather know our set amount we were to pay each month than getting a "surprise bill". Some of you know what I mean from experience and it is NO fun. I've been after Dave to call our carrier for the past couple of months. He finally did on Sunday and to our relief & surprise we are now allowed to downgrade with NO penalties! Yippee! We want to get a landline in the house, (We miss WAY too many phone calls with just one cell phone. Plus it has been a pain in the butt having to share it and recharge it every 3 hours meaning it is out of commission every 3 hours. And what do you do when the main phone leaves the house but others remain behind?), so we reduced our minutes way down and therefore have cut our monthly bill in less than half! Another yippee! I am extremely happy with this b/c it seems the more I reasearch the more I find how insanely expensive cell phones & their plans are. Neat thing is even having both the landline AND the cell with the reduced minutes we will STILL be paying less than the plan we have been on for the cell alone! I am not one of these people who have to be on my cell 24/7, in fact I am quite annoyed by these people who can never have a quiet moment & even more the ones who DRIVE with them stuck to their ear, so reducing the minutes is an easy thing for us. We are also going to reduce our Internet down to the "economy package". It is supposed to be less speed but I've dealt with dial up before and this is going to at least be above that. I figure I can do my part and sacrifice a little. Besides the way our account it set up I can change it back anytime if it gets too annoying. Right now I'd rather save the $$ and put it towards our debt & grocery bill. Here is the breakdown for those who are interested:

Present Bills:

Internet: $42/month plus taxes & other junk they tack on

Cell Phone: $110/month plus taxes & other junk they tack on

Total = $152

New Bills:

Internet: $25/month plus taxes & other junk they tack on

Cell Phone: $40/month plus taxes & other junk they tack on

Landline Phone: This plan included unlimited long distance AND local calling = $25/month plus taxes

Total = $90

We were also able to get the $30 start up fee knocked off of our landline by letting them know we were returning customers. AND they will give us a reduced fee of $9.95 for the first 3 months! So the first 3 months we will only be paying a total of $75 for our new bills. Of course as I mentioned before these are average totals. They will each be a few dollars more b/c of taxes, etc. But I am still very happy with the savings! The way I look at it it's at least $62 dollars in savings each month, ($77 those first 3 months) and $789 a year.! Whoa! Hmmmm......each month that's 7 packages of diapers. A big chunk of the gas bill. 20 gallons of milk. 31 pounds of boneless chicken breasts or hamburger. The monthly hospital bill plus $12 gas money. You get the idea.

Now off to put on my cape and find more ways to save!!!!!!!