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August 26, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Why We Didn’t Give Up Our Landline

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Budget· Frugal Living· Life

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When I started researching ways that we could save money, I was confronted with numerous strategies that we could try.  Cut cable, lose the landline, buy in bulk, use public transportation, skip the daily java…. the list goes on and on.  I quickly became a firm believer that frugality is not a one size fits all shoe.  Every single strategy out there will not work for every single person.  And here’s one reason why…

didn't give up landline

Before we bought our house, we lived in a small town with a population of just over 2,500.  With very few exceptions, we had reliable cell phone service.   Hubs and I thought it was pointless to be spending $30 a month on a landline when we were already spending nearly triple that on a two line cell phone plan.  It made complete sense to let our cell phones double as home and cell phones.  And that’s what we did for nearly four years.

When we bought our house, we were well aware there would be changes.  The township our house is in was over 50 times the size of the town we lived in, and has a total population of under 500 people.  I say this for scale purposes because the last three years have taught me that even people who have lived in the area for a long time have a hard time grasping how rural our house is.

But both Hubs and I grew up in rural areas, so transitioning to this area and getting out of the small town life was a very welcome idea.  In fact, our home is a few miles away from where Hubs grew up.  But in the span of those few miles, you go from having very spotty cellphone service when you are standing in the correct spot at the local four corners, to no cell service at all.  I have to walk another half mile down the road to get enough service to send a text message.

That’s right folks, we willingly moved to a rural area where there is no cell service, no cable service, and to he honest, dial up internet faded out shortly before we moved to the area.

As a matter of fact, the first few days after we moved in, the kids couldn’t understand why I couldn’t just start up Pandora on my phone like I had been able to all those years at our previous house.  Unlimited 4G coverage tends to spoil us.  They didn’t understand why, all of a sudden, I had to pull out those huge CD’s to play music.  It took them a while, but they’ve since learned where on our trips downtown we get cell service, and have realized that until we are in cell service, they’re stuck listening to mom’s music rather than their favorite Pandora station.

Being as rural as we are, we have had nights where the power has gone out for a few hours.  There’s even times when the power has gone out for several days and we’ve had to hook up the generator.  {We don’t use the generator to run everything.  It’s only to make sure that the circulator stays on so the house is warm and the pressure in our woodstove doesn’t build up.}  When the power does go out, it’s nice to be able to have that landline still working to call the electric company’s 800-number to let them know.

But it’s not just for making sure we still have electricity and can stay warm in the winter.  The school district we are in uses a one-call system to inform parents of any early dismissals or morning delays for bad road conditions.  If I were to leave it to my cell phone, I wouldn’t know when the school was on a delayed start until we’re out waiting for the bus at 6:45 and he doesn’t show.

If I were to go into absolute frugality mode and cut the landline, I wouldn’t have a way of staying in contact with people that I need to, simply because we live in such a rural area.

So while you’re browsing those endless lists for new ideas on ways to save money, keep in mind your personal situation isn’t what everyone else is going through.  Maybe you can give up your landline, maybe you can’t.  While you’re working through the endless lists of ways to save money, make sure you’re picking the ones that could work for you and your situation.  Frugality isn’t always a one size fits all shoe.

What are some frugal things you don’t do?

didn't give up landline

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makingcentsmatter

makingcentsmatter
Only you can determine what your financial goals a Only you can determine what your financial goals are. If that means you're adding money to your savings account, or contributing to your retirement, while you are paying off debt, then so be it!⁠
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Do what looks right for you and your personal finances.⁠
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The trick to meal planning is to make it predictab The trick to meal planning is to make it predictable. But predictable doesn't mean the same thing week to week. You could have a chicken meal, a soup meal, a pasta meal, a leftovers meal, a family favorite meal, and so on.⁠
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I can only hear about my extended warranty I never I can only hear about my extended warranty I never purchased so many times. 😣⁠
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March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠ .⁠ House: $51 March Debt Paid numbers are in!⁠
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House: $511.13⁠
Citi: $0 – this has a residual $3 in interest charges since payoff, due in April⁠
D NelNet: $100⁠
K NelNet: $100⁠
K Chase: $600⁠
Explorer: $336.27⁠
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Total Paid in 2021: $8,258.84⁠
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Extra Payment: There isn’t one this month since we were $25 away from zeroing out the budget for our February 15th monthly paycheck. That $25, and monies left from our January 15th paycheck, covered our OOP costs for Hubs’ filling. We also have some savings goals coming up that need to be met, making our debt payments a little lower for the time begin.⁠
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The battle for who can charge what tonight is abou The battle for who can charge what tonight is about to begin. 😬⁠
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My kids run off with my charger, plug it into one outlet 5 feet from where they found it like that particular outlet is the only one in this house, and then proceed to fight over who can charge their device first at night.⁠
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Then they get grumpy when it's their turn and it's not the proper input cable. #itwasmychargerfirst #dontlikeitgofindyourown⁠
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A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a A needs his wisdom teeth taken out. I've talked a bit in our February Budget Check-In about how much of this I think we'll owe, and you can check that out on my YouTube channel if you're interested, but I wanted to say here...⁠
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To the mother with little kids struggling to get your finances in order, it will get better. I wish I could have heard those words years ago.⁠
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Nearly 10 years ago we were facing a $1,400 out-of-pocket portion for A's Phase 1 orthodontic work (I looked it up after I uploaded the video... we had a $1,400 portion).⁠
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It was a lot of money for us at the time. Our kids were 6, 2, and 3 months old. I don't think we even had $500 in savings, and I just left a part-time teaching job because it wasn't paying the part-time daycare bill, so paying our portion in full was just a dream I didn't think was achievable.⁠
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I was even stressing about the monthly $100 payments. We were so strapped. It was our breaking moment to start cutting costs and budgeting more effectively. We've learned a lot in that time period.⁠
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What we've learned is that it does no good to stress about it all the time. Life happens. All you can do is try to plan ahead, and if it's something that's unplanned, readjust. It won't always be easy, especially at first, but it will be worth it.⁠
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Nearly 10 years later, we are still paying off our debts. Student loans suck. But I see this bill as a reminder of how far we have come. Seeing a bill like this doesn't stress me out like it used to, and I know we can easily create a plan that can get it done and out of the way.⁠
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Will it delay our debt-free date more? Yes. But it's not worth stressing over. Life happens, readjust, and continue on down the path. It's called a journey for a reason.⁠
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It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budget It's almost payday! Here's how our variable budgeting categories are working out for the pay month.⁠
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Food is looking good this far into our paycheck, probably because miscellaneous - which includes eating out - took a hit with unexpected purchases. Pet is low for this time of the month, and Household is spot on.⁠
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Fuel looks like it'll be lower than last month (yay for weeks of snow days & delayed school starts), and Therapy had one more appointment than initially planned.⁠
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Garden, Dental, Medical & Propane are not included in these estimates so far because those expenses are coming from sinking funds. Once we're done with the month and review the budget, I'll move over the total amount spent from those sinking funds.⁠
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How's your paycheck budget coming along?⁠
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Automating your finances makes saving money and bu Automating your finances makes saving money and budgeting more convenient, and therefore easier on you. Out of sight, out of mind, right?⁠
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What's one thing you can automate this week to make your finances easier?⁠
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Me? I'm going to set up our sinking fund transfers to automate every payday (the 15th of every month). Our bank set up a feature on their app where we can schedule savings transfers now, and I'm going to take advantage of it!⁠
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Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone Oh my word... our miscellaneous category has gone a smidgen overboard this month!⁠
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I foresee a goal for March's paycheck to at out less than twice. That's where this category went awry. $99.16 of it went to eating out. 😑 Some of it was avoidable, but not all of it. Having to drive to multiple appointments in one day during snow squalls and rearranging our whole day was one of those unavoidable instances.⁠
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Tracking our expenses - much like a budget review - is vital to sticking to your budget!⁠
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