Nobody seems to agree that this is a worthwhile way to save money. None of my friends and family. They say things like, my phone bill is only $30 a month, and I agree that's a cheaper monthly bill but it's still $360 a year. They say they like having a new phone every time they're allowed to upgrade. A new phone is nice, but it's not vital or even worthwhile a lot of the time. My brother and me compared phones and my older model wasn't obviously slower or worse in any recognisable way other than his camera being a bit nicer.
Here's the facts of what it's like to stop paying a monthly bill. You will have to outright buy a phone, which can be a big upfront cost, or when your contract ends you have to actually cancel it and just keep your phone and use that until you feel like upgrading it. You get a top-up/pay as you go sim. You stick $20 on it and then surprise yourself at how long that lasts you. Seriously it's a long time as long as you follow some rules.
Rule 1 is no data. I survive on wifi. This seems to be the biggest difficulty for people to deal with. It is a total deal breaker for so many people. But it's not a big deal. Wifi is everywhere now. But people are a little bit addicted to getting everything NOW!! And I get it. It's nice. And people seem to agree it's worth the cost. For me it isn't. It's not hard to live without instant gratification but it does take a little getting used to.
Rule 2 is use free messenging services most of the time. I basically text people using the fb messenger or whatsapp. Which means only messaging when I have wifi. This isnt hard to do. My city has wifi in the centre, my college has campuswide wifi, my workplace has it, the mall, obviously my home and any home i visit, basically everywhere I go has it. And it's free and fast. So I don't have to worry. But what about when you're travelling i pretend to hear you ask. Yeah that means I don't go online, unless it's a bus or train with wifi, which seems to be a lot of public transport now, or some of my friends cars. It's just not a big deal.
I still have money on the sim for making calls and texting when I need to. But I barely use it. And it's fine. A lot of my friends think I'm some kind of sad case who can't afford a phone bill and is suffering through this lifestyle choice. But I don't see it that way and I'm ok with that. I suck at explaining why I do this. I know I'm in the minority and it is cooler to have data and not have to worry about phone stuff. But I don't worry about phone stuff. I feel like it's healthier tbh.
When I had data I was checking my phone every minute. There was always a notification and I still find myself doing that at home or wherever I am somewhere for an extended period of time. It's an addiction a lot of you will relate to. But now I have a break in between that and it has definitely chilled me out with checking my phone when I am in wifi places.
I just wanted to throw this out there because people spend soooo much money on phone contracts, and it just isn't worth it imo. I mean it's great that phone companies are making so much money and can develop cooler and cooler phones. But you could be saving literally hundreds of dollars a year. You're gonna have the same phone for a while. But they last year's. I have a samsung note now but i still have my old iPhone 4 which is like a decade old as a backup with music on it that works like new. I tend to look after my phones though. It's not a new note btw it's the note 4. I bought it second hand for about $200. I know it won't be a desirable phone for a lot of people and I'm not saying you should get it. But I love it. Its fast, great screen, i have a huge memorycard in it, and the batteey can be changed, but it lasts all day even when I'm using it constantly it's pretty great. The only complaint I have is the camera is noticeable not as good as newer models but I have a really nice dslr camera so I use that a lot of the time instead anyway.
If you were now thinking of trying this out you would just use whatever phone you have now, which you probably like right? And is only a couple years old most likely. Just change the sim, keep the same number, and save hundreds of dollars. Or don't it's not the biggest expense it's just an easy way to be frugal imo. I get that it won't be for everyone but I wanted to put it out there because it's so nice to delete a bill from your life and the drawbacks are basically negligible.
But all of this is just my experiences and opinion and I thought I would share it with my frugal minded friends! :)
May 17, 2019 at 02:41AM
