Step 22 of The Financial Fitness Bootcamp Course

Karen co-author of our book writes,

The other day we got a babysitter for date night. When she came over she brought a cell phone and asked me to type in our password for our WiFi so her cell phone would work. I was a little confused until she explained that her cell phone wasn’t hooked up to any plan, but had an app that would make it work with WiFi. She said she had gotten the phone for free and was able to use it whenever she had access to WiFi. I was impressed. Talk about being frugal. You can’t beat free! I have also heard that there are some actual cell phone plans that are free as well for a certain amount of minutes/data.

I know these types of arrangements are not feasible for most people, but I also know that many of us pay way too much for our cell phone/home phone bills. Also, plenty of us gets ourselves into long contracts that we can’t get out of without being charged penalties. And oftentimes companies raise rates without even letting customers know. Here are some ways you could save in this arena:

Examine your cell phone bill. See if you are actually using the amount of minutes/data you are paying for. If not, look into getting a less expensive plan.
Consider whether a home phone is necessary. My husband and I have always just used cell phones and have been happy with this arrangement.
Search the internet for less expensive options for cell phone/home phone rates.
Try not to sign contracts. This is a huge way for companies to make money. But there are plenty of providers out there that don’t require contracts.
Anita called the retention department and asked them for a cheaper plan. After talking with them for a while and because they had been with Verizon for years, Verizon put her and her husband on the ‘preferred customer plan’ which saves them $20.00 a line ($40.00 total) every month. That’s almost $500 a year!
Search for used phones in reputable places like Amazon, etc. (Make sure the phone isn’t stolen before buying it.)
Be aware that companies make TONS of money on cell phone insurance. Anita has a great blog post on this topic found here.

So Challenge #22 is: look into how much you are paying for phone service. Commit to finding one way to save money on your phone bill.