May 22, 2009

• Frugal Friday

  
  
  
  I’m still watching for ways to cut our expenses to make more room in our budget.  The phone bill is one area that has really been BUGGING me! We are paying $120.00 a month JUST to communicate! It’s crazy! But, we seemed to be stuck. We have a contract on our cell phones so we would end up paying $200.00 to cancel the contract. I only have the basic budget plan on our home line with no bells or whistles. I’ve suggested cutting the DSL but my husband is hesitant. I think I may have him talked into cutting it back to the slowest speed on the DSL which will save us $10.00 a month.
  
  BUT…..
  
  I did some investigation this morning and found out that you do NOT need a phone line to use DSL! We have a Magic Jack which gives us an actual phone number (along with caller ID and call waiting) and it provides our local and long distance. We bought the Magic Jack for $40.00 through Radio Shack and the first year was free. (They are running a special through their website right now) They have specials running for $20.00 a year after you purchase the MJ or $60.00 for 5 years. There are some frustrations (dropped calls, echoes) with MJ but nothing that I can’t live with. I just press ‘fix’ on the icon and it normally solves the problem. I figure the frustration from no money left at the end of the month is a worst frustration than a dropped call or hearing myself talk.
  
  

  
  

  
  
  So, I can drop my actual home line and save nearly $25.00 dollars a month and still use my DSL. It’s called a Dry Line and the phone company asked for 1 day to set it up. If I did not have my cell phones with AT &T then I would need to pay $10.00 more a month for the Dry Line DSL so be sure to check on that if you plan on dropping your home line. I still would have come out $15.00 ahead.
  
  Very kewl!
  
  Danish Doll suggested that we ‘Xangians’ share our money saving tips. I’ll start the ball rolling because I LOVE to hear what other women are doing in their homes to save money. Just click on the little box below after you write a post on what you do to save money. It will take people right to your website to read what you wrote. Be sure to write a short word to describe your post right after your URL. For instance: Georgene’s Blog/Telephone savings

  (Note: For some reason Mr. Linky is not always visible but he is THERE! So put your ’mouse’ right below this sentence and let it hover and then click. It will take you to the page where you can put your info.)
  
  
   

  • 12:07 am
  • 3 Comments