Turning off the home phone and other budget cuts

[YankeeMom]

Dh & I are still trimming our budget. He's not selling cars, works for Cingular now, but it's more money than the car selling was....even if it's not nearly what we were making before. But we need to do some cutting back. Something I suggested months ago, but he didn't see the need...I digress.

We are contemplating turning off the home phone (digital phone) that's $39.99/month plus taxes & fees which brings it to nearly $60/month. Our reasoning is, we have two cell phones under contract. We had just signed a new 2 yr contract two months before he lost his job so we can't get rid of them. We can add a line with the family plan that we have now for $10/month and the phone would be $10 after rebate. The third cell phone would be for using at home, so when dh & I are both gone to separate places & oldest dd is home she has a phone to use to call out with.

With the cell phones we have free mobile to mobile, so we would be able to call any of the family phones and it would be free. We also have 400 anytime minutes (plus rollover minutes we've saved up) and unlimited nights & weekends. The kids would be limited to making outgoing calls to friends houses only on weekends so we don't use those minutes.

We have voicemail on the cell phones so it's not like we would be without the answering machine either.

The way I'm looking at it, even factoring in the $10 a month to our cell phone bill...turning off the digital phone will save us $50 month.

We are also downgrading our cable package. We have to keep cable because we have roadrunner and without cable we get ZERO reception for any channels. The cheapest package the cable company has is $10/mo I think. A decrease of at least $40/month from what we are paying now.

Another way we are cutting the budget is our garbage pickup. Currently we have a 64 gallon tote that we almost never fill and we pay $55/quarter for it. We are going to switch to a smaller tote that I think is $35 or $40/quarter. Not much of a savings, but every little bit helps. It's that or $2.50/per BAG of trash. Which might be a little more savings since we only have 2-3 bags of trash per week but then we don't have anywhere to put the full bags of trash in btw garbage days

Just those three changes will save us nearly $100/month.

[starsapphire]

I think you're on the right track there. The ONLY reason why we still have our land line (which I would love to get rid of) is because where we live if you want the internet there's dialup and DSL, either one requires a land line.

[homesteadmamma]

I think you are on the right track too. Just as the previous poster said, the only reason we have our land line is because of where we live.

We've never had cable so don't miss it at all.

[Darlene]

Good for you Heather!

[SHOPGIRL]

Heather, I think it sounds like a good idea. Just make sure everyone in your family knows how to dial emergency numbers such as 911. I forgot if it's the same on a cell phone. One thing you might consider is getting the computer phone. I pay $27 through Vonage and it's everything, local, long distane, etc...I think Sunrocket has a plan for under $200 for the entire year. If you already have cable, this might be an option for you. Your local cable provider might offer the same plan.

It's all the little things that can really add up. I think it looks like a good plan.

[FrugalMomof3]

Wow I wish I could get rid of our phone, but hubby wouldn't allow that even though we both have cell phones and cable... I tried getting him to let us switch to basic for $20 a month instead of the $53 we're paying now and he wasn't going for it!

I agree that your on the right track, keep up the great work!

[ironmaiden]

Hey how are you doing on your pantry plan?? I've been dying to ask.

My only concern is the same as the cordless phone ...ummm... where is it?? Who had it last?

This is someone whose kids "misplaced" an 18 inch pillow and we can't find it. Like how could we not find something that big. It's bugging me to know end - it's the pillow that comes with the couch.

[YankeeMom]

Heather, I think it sounds like a good idea. Just make sure everyone in your family knows how to dial emergency numbers such as 911. I forgot if it's the same on a cell phone. One thing you might consider is getting the computer phone. I pay $27 through Vonage and it's everything, local, long distane, etc...I think Sunrocket has a plan for under $200 for the entire year. If you already have cable, this might be an option for you. Your local cable provider might offer the same plan.

It's all the little things that can really add up. I think it looks like a good plan.

We currently have phone through our cable, digital phone. It's no cheaper than Verizon. I don't like Vonage. I don't like that they don't have to follow the same "rules" as phone companies, I don't like that it's up to the customer to configure something as important as 911 (no matter how "easy" they say it is). Plus it's still more expensive than just adding a cell phone. All four kids know how to use the cell phone to dial 911 (it's the same) as well as the home phone.

Hey how are you doing on your pantry plan?? I've been dying to ask.

My only concern is the same as the cordless phone ...ummm... where is it?? Who had it last?

We've gone through what I had in the pantry and things are still tight, but I've cut our grocery bill back by nearly half. Not nearly as much fresh produce as I'd like, but as soon as the farmer's market opens and as soon as I can get my garden in, that will change.

I've thought of the phone coming up missing too. We currently have a phone that has three handsets and most of the time I can't find the darned thing. But I have to admit, it's usually me who misplaces it

[ama]

We have done the same almost. We have the family plan for cell phones, have cut our home phone down to almost non-existant. We can't get rid of it only b/c I need it for the internet. Darn it or I'd shut it off! I say WTG!

[Katybird]

Those are all great ideas. You are doing great at cutting your families expenses. Kudos to you .

[tlenad]

I say go for it and turn off your land line. I haven't had a land line in two years and haven't missed it for a minute. Then I don't get many phone calls, and had a cell phone several years before that so everyone who needed to know my number knew it. I work at a cell phone company so I get a great deal on my cell service.

I gave up cable four months ago now and at first it was a little difficult. I kept the very basic just to get recieption and pay about $15 a month for that. I did keep the cable internet access though.

[UPSyours2]

Heather, I think it sounds like a good idea. Just make sure everyone in your family knows how to dial emergency numbers such as 911. I forgot if it's the same on a cell phone. One thing you might consider is getting the computer phone. I pay $27 through Vonage and it's everything, local, long distane, etc...I think Sunrocket has a plan for under $200 for the entire year. If you already have cable, this might be an option for you. Your local cable provider might offer the same plan.

It's all the little things that can really add up. I think it looks like a good plan.

I switched to SUNROCKET last April & there was a special promotional that they gave you 2 UNIDEN CORDLESS HANDSETS & it cost $199 for the year! DH didn't like this since I had it hooked into the NETGEAR WIELESS ROUTER & I always thought the interference I got was because it was hooked into the CABLE line OPTIMUM ONLINE I had @ that time which was costing me about $50 a month. I had hooked up my notebook PC to this also & found out that the router wasn't causing the problem all by itself it was the phone being a 2.4 GHZ doesn't work w/o a problem of spacing so mostly all the calls you didn't hear every word it was choppy sounding more like a cellphone!

I like having all the phone numbers info available @ the website even if my phone wasn't working when our lights went out I could always look who called & check the messages online & they gave you 2 phone numbers so there was 2 separate voice mails also. You were allowed to keep your regular phone number & have it transferrred.

So since I did this w/o DH permission & tried to save money since the regular phone companies would be charging me somewhere around $70 a month, before switching I also tried the IDT & the bills were just about that much w/all the taxes they added in

DH made me switch back to VERIZON now since he wanted a real home phone so it costs me $34.95 plus taxes, etc. for unlimited calling local, regional, & long distance.

I switched the PC to VERIZON FIOS was going to get DSL for $14.95 but when they guy was installing the line he said no my area is upgraded to FIOS the fiber optic line which is the best you can get & he was a bit angry since he lives a few towns over & it's not going to be available until about 5 years! So paying $34.95 for that now & have a DLINK Wireless Router!

They have a service called IOBI so you can view your account info online of all the calls history etc. (similar to SUNROCKET) but it's an additional charge of about $8 or more a month not sure yet since it's not available yet!

I never canceled my SUNROCKET account yet but I have forwarded those calls to my new VERIZON number & am going to transfer my number back to VERIZON since lots of Ma's friends, Dr.'s etc. have that already known number. That is one of the reasons DH never wanted us to have OPTIMUM ONLINE phone service! They had to give you another totally different series of numbers!

DH always thought CABLE was messing up our signal since I was using there line for SUNROCKET kinda the same service they offer but cheaper!

I can even dial out from the PC while @ the SUNROCKET site & have all my numbers stored & on the VIP list I could pick certain #'s I wanted transferred to my cellphone like when my EXPY was being fixed @ the shop if my mechanic had a question & needed to reach me. Same thing if DH called home instead of getting voice mail since I had problems w/the signal in the house, none of our calls except for the VIP ones! (because of 2.4 GHZ interference nobody told me about until I was talking to a VERIZON tech on the phone!)

Transferring those calls didn't cost me extra since I have FREE Incoming calls on my cell! That plans going to change soon too since I found out yesterday my contract was up on 12/5/05 the day before my B'day! I may get the plan where DH & I share the minutes 800 minutes for $69.95 & have unlimited DC (walkie talkie) since we use this the most w/each other he hardly uses his phone to make calls! I could also add the $5 more a month for those of my friends who have NEXTEL or SPRINT phones & talk unlimited w/them! We still get Free nights/weekends unlimited! I have had my i95cl since 2003 & was thinking about getting a new phone (not just yet!) The CS rep I talked to she said the 870, 850, 7100i Blackberry one is nice Not sure if I want a camera phone or Blackberry but w/another 2 yr contract which doesn't matter since this is the only phone that works where DH works so we've got no choice

[YankeeMom]

DH didn't like this since I had it hooked into the NETGEAR WIELESS ROUTER & I always thought the interference I got was because it was hooked into the CABLE line OPTIMUM ONLINE I had @ that time which was costing me about $50 a month. I had hooked up my notebook PC to this also & found out that the router wasn't causing the problem all by itself it was the phone being a 2.4 GHZ doesn't work w/o a problem of spacing so mostly all the calls you didn't hear every word it was choppy sounding more like a cellphone!

I have this exact problem with my cordless phones on the digital phone line. If I get too far from the main base (which has to be near the cable modem) the line gets fuzzy. It's impossible to talk on the phone while in my kitchen

And my phone is a 5.8mHz so I don't know what the problem is.

[guest7]

I like the idea of getting rid of the land line. Alot of people are doing it.

I'm too scared to. I don't know why. Every member of the house has a cell phone. But we cut cell phone use during peak hours and use the land line.

[Mom23boys]

I think you are doing great at cutting costs. I would get rid of our landline too if it wasn't for dial-up. We live where there is nothing else to choose from.