Why We Didn't Give Up Our Landline

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…

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.