Saving Money: Cell Phone Plans

 It has been over 6 months since Todd and I have switchedfrom a contracted cell phone plan to prepaid.  We had AT&T, and I decided to stay with them because they had the best priced plan for how I use my phone: a lot of texting, few minutes and no data.  I also chose to stay with AT&T because I didn’t want to have to purchase a new phone.  Todd, on the other hand, wanted to try Straight Talk through Walmart.  Due to where we live and whatever service provider they were using, his signal was not the best and his calls were dropped frequently.  Thank goodness it was a month-by-month plan!  He then switched to T-Mobile’s prepaid plan and experienced the same issues.  By the third month, he switched to a Verizon prepaid plan and has been happy ever since! 

Our contracted cell phone plan was costing us $125.00+/month for 3 phones (Todd’s mom had one of the phones so they could talk mobile-to-mobile without burning minutes in our plan: we do not have a land line).  With this plan, we had a set amount of minutes that could be rolled over each month if they went unused, unlimited text and only Todd’s phone had internet access.  Today, with have:

My Plan: 250 minutes/month + unlimited text for $25.00/month

Todd’s Plan: 500 minutes/month + unlimited text + unlimited data use* for $35.00/month

This works perfect for us.

I have yet to use all of my minutes each month though Todd has had to conserve his minutes at the end of each month (I married a talker and a mama’s boy!).

I like that with these cell phone plans, we are paying for only what we really need and use.  By doing so, we are saving over $60/month on our cell phone plans.  Not only that, if for any reason we want to eliminate a cell phone, we can do so without the large penalty!

Do you use your cell phone for fun (social media, games, etc.) or just as a way to communicate with others?  Have you considered a prepaid phone? They sure have come a long way from the TracPhone I had in college for emergencies!

*In order to be part of this plan, they do not allow smart phones.

New Year Aspirations 2014

This year, I am keeping my New Year Aspirations SIMPLE!

I get so discouraged when I don’t meet my goals each and every year.  This year, I am going to accomplish them all.

Read the One Year Bible from start to finish

I have read the Bible in 90 Days a couple of years back and that was tough!  I want to wake up and do my devotions every morning in 2014 before I do anything else to start my day.

Lose 40 pounds

Every year I want to lose weight, but this year it is going to happen.  It HAS to happen. 40 lbs is less than a pound a week which does not sound too far-fetched.  Honestly, I just want to feel good in my own skin and be able to lead an active life.

Pay Off the Mortgage

To date, we owe $24,497.32 on our mortgage.  We were able to pay off ½ of the mortgage last year and we hope to pay off the rest this year to be mortgage-free by October 2014!

These are the aspirations I will be focusing on in 2014.

What are your goals for this year?