7 things we're doing to keep our prepaid bill low in 08

Everyone does some kind of New Year’s resolution posts nowadays. And why not? It’s a time of renewal. It’s almost like we’re given a blank slate. Of course, resolutions are made to be broken, so we don’t expect to be following these all year. But we think that maybe, just maybe if we stick it out for a month, we’ll see the benefits and will want to continue. And since those benefits will be cold, hard cash in our wallet, we think this is something that might catch on. 1. Keep calls under three minutes This wouldn’t be necessary if we had an unlimited calling plan. But we don’t. We’ve been checking our call logs and seeing that many calls are going eight, nine, even up to 20 minutes long. That was not our intention when we got a prepaid phone. Yeah, talking is nice, but we can do it free with VoIP. It’s not instant gratification, but it’s a whole ton cheaper than our cell minutes. 2. No more replying to frivolous text messages We do love getting them, don’t get us wrong. They sometimes put a smile on our face when we really need one. But once we reply, we set off a chain reaction and end up using five text messages. Those things ain’t free. So in an effort to bring down our texting bill, we’re going to cut many of these threads short. 3. No answering calls from unknown numbers We don’t really use the phone for business, so it’s rare when we get a call from someone not in our phone book. Usually, curiosity wins out and we pick it up. But in an effort to save some minutes, we’re going to let it go to voicemail. And since you’re charged airtime for checking voicemail, we’re going to do it from home via VoIP. 4. Stop taking the phone with us everywehere This past weekend, we saw Juno (great movie, by the way). Right before leaving, we did the standard check: wallet, keys, phone. The phone, though, was mysteriously absent. Rather than going back upstairs to get it, though, we just let it slide. We’d have to turn it off in the theater anyway, so it was a matter of 30 minutes that we’d be a part (travel time). Since our buddy had his, we were covered in case of emergency. This defeated all temptation to make or receive calls during travel time. It might be a small sliver of time, but we understand that the world goes on while we don’t have our phone. 5. No more cell in the house This is a logical one, since we’ve mentioned VoIP a few times. It’s incredibly cheap, and there’s no excuse to not use it while we’re home. Even when someone calls us, we want to let it ring out and then call them from the computer. It’s going to take some discipline, but it’s going to save some dollars in the end. 6. No more mobile Internet Yeah, we love it — we even aspire to own a BlackBerry in 2008. But that’s a different story. While we’re keeping our budget low for cell phones, there’s no reason to pay $5 per month — or more — for mobile Web. It’s nice, and it allows us to check sports scores on the go. But, once again, the world will go on if we don’t have it. 7. No more talking in the first-person plural Not cell phone related. But I grew really tired of saying “we” when I meant “me” as well as when I meant “we.” Maybe it will help me stop referring to myself in posts. ]]>