Save on Monthly Bills by using a Track Phone
If you’re looking for ways to save on monthly expenses, your cell phone should be one of the most obvious places to cut. When debt experts help clients with their budgets, one of the first expenses they look to cut is the cell phone (and cable or satellite plans but that’s a whole different ball game that I won’t get into now! lol) I know many of you are gasping because you feel you could never live without your cell phone, but remember, it’s a luxury and not a necessity, so you really could live without it if you had to. Still cell phones are a convenience and a great safety device so if you need to adjust your budget and can’t give up the cell, some debt experts suggest using a pre paid cell phone to save money. With a pre paid cell phone (Track Phone), there are NO monthly bills and you get to control and decide how much money you spend on your own cell phone use. You buy as little or as much airtime as you want, when you want it.
TracFone wireless is a pre paid cellular service that purchases “airtime” from the big cellular companies so you can use it wherever you use a regular cell phone as it uses their towers. Their price per minute (or unit) is the same and sometimes even better than most cell phone plans… but there is no monthly bill and no contract… and no credit checks, either! They have more cellular customers than ATT and Verizon combined. They also sell the best brand name phones from top manufacturers such as Motorola, Nokia, Kyocera, and LG so if you’re into fancy gadgets with the latest technology you can get it, just as you would with a cellular plan. But if you’re the kind of person who doesn’t care about all that bling and you really want to save money (like me!) then you can even get a phone for less than $10!
For the past year I’ve been cutting my expenses and simplifying my life so I have been using a TracFone and NOW I only pay about $8 a month to use my cell phone! Can you believe that? Of course, I don’t talk as much on the cell phone as I used to so I’ve changed my habits to really cut costs. I’ve gotten a lot of my friends and family to change over to the TracFone and they love it and have saved a lot of money too, so I figured I might as well sell the TracFone on my blog. That’s what a monetized blog is all about… advertising and selling the products and services that YOU use and that YOU believe in. I know from experience that it can save my readers a lot of money and it can help some of you get out of debt.
My TracFone only cost $9.99 and I go online and purchase $25 worth of airtime and that usually lasts me about 3 months. The cell phone plan I had last year cost me $79 a month, so this is a HUGE savings. I also don’t have any monthly cell phone bills or contracts to worry about. I buy my airtime when I need it. By switching to my TracFone I have cut my yearly cell phone expense from about $1,020 all the way down to about $150. for the whole YEAR! Not bad, ah? Because I pay upfront and have no “plan”, I’ve changed my habits too. I no longer talk on the cell phone just to use up all of the minutes like I used to with a monthly cell plan.
Kids and cell phones
Let’s face it, we’re not doing our kids any favors by putting them on our cell plan and letting them talk and text all day long and then fight with them when the bill comes in and you have to pay for the extra minutes they used. TracFone has a patented technology that displays remaining minutes right on the phone, so they know when their time is up and they will soon learn they have to get by with however many minutes you give them. Another fact is that doctors are warning us that cell phones may cause brain tumors in some kids who use them excessively because it is theorized that their skull bones are not thick enough to deter the cell waves. (Texting is OK because the cell phone is not held up to the ear… and yes, you can text with TracFone!)
Take a good look at your budget and see if you could be saving money by changing from your cellular phone plan to a track phone. I know for a lot of you it will really make a BIG dent in your monthly expenses like it did for me!
Comments
great post, keep it up!
I switched to pre pay about three years ago now. My wife and I tend to use our cell phones for very short calls and hen I looked how much our contracts were costing compared to the actual cost of calls I was shocked.
We save around £60 ($107) per month by going pre pay!
I created a post just for you. I hope it helps.
Hey JJ!
Nice post, unfortunately it doesnt apply to me as i live in south africa! Firstly, id suggest using a cell phone as little as possible, as it is harmful to your health…i know there is much controversy about it but I truly believe it isnt good for you. Secondly it is expensive, and I only use my cell for emergencies and when im running errands and need to know something. One thing that is useful is skype, and if you have certain people you talk to a lot on the phone for personal conversations, suggest both of you get skype and talk online for free. Landlines are also cheaper, and try to phone in off peak times. Here certain providers offer text message packages, where you can buy 200 msgs for 2$ or so, and then its really easy and cheap to stay in contact with a lot of people:)
keep up the posting…i subscribed to your site today:)
dirk
personally i’d recommend just buying the most expensive plan on your network which is probably ~$100 a month, its really not that much ($1000 a year shouldnt hurt you too much unless you work at mcdonalds) and the main reason people spend crazy amounts on their bills is because they have low-cost plans but always go over their minutes/messages and have to pay huge fees. having a data plan so you can check email and get stuff done on the go is also extremely useful
Definitely some food for thought!
Thanks Johnny.
John Searching…. Same here, I keep it short on the cell. It’s bad enough we pay one monthly phone bill for the landline, I’m not about to waste money on TWO bills! Some people are addicted to the cell phone… it’s like their best friend.
dirk… I agree, cells are good for emergencies, but I’d rather save my money for other more important things. Skype is great. My sister uses it with friends all over the world, and it’s FREE!
stak… I can think of better things to pay $1,000 on than a cell phone plan…I’d rather put the money in my oil tank for the winter, or towards my mortgage payment or property taxes…
Ze.. you ought to try it… $25 last me 3 months or more. Not bad!
JJ…Check your jj@momscashblog.com email please – I am trying to get in touch with you :0 ) – Blog is looking awesome BTW, Congrats!
I got it Krysti, and I sent you an e-mail… Thanks.
Thanks JJ : )
I went to a pay as you go phone from a cell phone bill when I was laid off over twelve months ago. It would be pretty hard for me to go back to a monthly payment.
Thanks for the post JJ.
consultelaine
Quick question, can one keep the same phone number even though they go down the prepaid route? Is there a way for me to keep the same number (essentially just have a voice mail box) as my current cell phone? This will be extremely helpful for those who travels overseas frequently.
Hi elaine… I agree. I’d never go back to a monthly plan, unless they came up with a $5 month plan! lol
Plin… I know you can’t keep you old number… you have to go with what they give you. Sorry!
personally think that no need to cut down my phone expenses cos im using postpaid whihc is much more cheaper than prepaid…
besides, i found your blog interesting. do u mind to exchange link with me?
imDavidLee… I never heard of postpaid phone. I’ll have to look into that. Thanks.
I wish i could get one in my country in Indonesia.. but when ? Hiks…… how poor i am….
Hi JJ,
Wonderful blog! I agree with you. I switched from monthly plan to prepaid a couple of years ago. My prepaid plan is not only cheap but useful. I’ve kept my old cell number, I get discount rates from 22 to 09, have WAP internet access and my only expenses are $13 USD per month.
Not bad, uh?
Emma, I thought I thanked you earlier for your post, but I see I didn’t! Sorry about that. I appreciate the info you gave me. JJ
Zalukhu… With cell phones, you just waste your time talking, so save your money for better things.
Anthony.. that is a good deal, for sure!
This company stock (ROKE) is set to take off. Worldwide client base in the mobile communications space. See the details at
http://www.icoft.com/roke.html
any clarification contact at
icoft123@gmail.com
i
I’m sort of the same as you in that I really like the $10 phone. I don’t need all the bling–I just need a handset that works. I don’t really need it to be fancy, have internet access, or be a pda. I just want something that works for a good price. Tracfone is also good for the whole family because with the premium plans you can add minutes to extra phones for discounted rates.
Also, another thing to look out for if you opt for tracfone is special coupon codes. Often, this company releases special coupons that will save you money on phone minutes. The best way to find them is search for “tracfone coupons.” You may be able to get an even better deal.
I agree Chris, I don’t use Tracfone but Net 10 which is part of Tracfone and their call minutes are by far the cheapest of all the service providers. The phones are good if you don’t care about some stupid image “iPhone” that my best friend has and I cannot fathom what for? She was showing me how her iPhone can burp or fart if she shakes it and I can’t imagine why I would want a phone to do that? Anyway, I’m very happy with Net 10 and recommend to anyone who is not entirely self centred!
Interesting to note that this issue is finally getting some media attention. Read the article at
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/02/18/business/AP-On-The-Money.html
JJ it seems you are ahead of the times.
This is a good time to cut loose from those contracts with their hidden costs and early termination fees. The big contract carriers have been cheating people for far too long.
Thanks for an informative article.
[...] – Lille Press – Portland Monthly: Best of Portland saved by vgirl6162009-04-24 – Comment on Save on Monthly Bills by using a Track Phone by Moms … saved by adang0012009-04-23 – Mobile WiMax arrives in the U.S., but are buyers ready for it? saved [...]
Have you ever considered publishing an ebook or guest authoring on other blogs?
I have a blog centered on the same information
you discuss and would love to have you share some stories/information.
I know my readers would enjoy your work. If you’re even remotely interested, feel free to shoot me an e mail.
This is an awesome site, I’ll be sure to add you to my list