Episode three sixteen, how to save on your phone plan.
Welcome to the Brugal Friends podcast, where you'll learn to save money, embrace simplicity, and liver your life. Here your hosts Jen and Jill.
Welcome to the Frugal Friends podcast.
My name is Jen, my name is Jill, and today we are doing an episode that was a listener request about how to save money on your cell phone, which for most people is just your phone at this point.
So it does make me laugh filling out paperwork or even in putting new contacts into my phone. It wants to first put home phone, and then work phone, and then office phone, and then cell phone.
We all know we're just on our cell phones. Yeah, you might have a work cell phone. There are a few professions I think that require you to have a home phone, but that's they're very rare. So we're talking about personal cell phone plans, and we're going to talk about why are they so expensive, why do they keep going up fees?
What?
Why? You know.
What?
And why?
Yeah, and then how and then then a little bit on how.
Yeah.
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Call me Saving Connected you want to reach me? Yes? Pagers?
Do you remember pagers? Jen, Are you old enough to have still? I have been around and older than you, so you know, but we still live differently. You never know your parents have paid your dad how a pager?
Yes? It was, uh yeah, I remember it.
We never we never got into it like some families did, like where you could page numbers to spell out words and really get messages across through the pager. It was very much just if my mom needed my dad for something, she paged him. I don't know how it worked, but I just remember that happened.
So high tech.
Yeah, yeah, I think the return to low tech is a welcomed Everything popular comes back around, and some things like midrifts and chokers I'm sad about, but things like low.
Tech they do come very cool to me. Isn't the Apple Watch like a form of a pager?
Really? I don't think so. Just always there, always be. So what were your pagers like?
I mean, not like an Apple Watch the new and improved, but it's like right there on your body be paid.
Yes, So your phone bill is something that you pay every month, hopefully, and so it's one of those monthly bills that we sometimes will view as fixed expenses. If you are familiar with the budgeting lingo, that category for like your housing and your bills is sometimes called fixed fixed expenses. And we don't think that any expense is fixed. There is literally no expense that you cannot lower if you get creative, and there is no expense that cannot
go higher if you're not paying attention. So this is really focusing on phone plans, how to make how to help you lower it, how to make sure it doesn't go up.
Or if it does, what to do. But there are other bills.
That you can lower and watch out for too. So we've got episode two sixty five I had to save money on monthly bills. That's our most recent one. Or you can go all the way back in the archives to episode forty five. I'm loving like inserting these really old archive episodes.
Yeah you are, I'm nurus.
Well Goldie does it and I'm and sometimes I'd be like, oh, should I take this out because this is so long ago?
But no, there, I mean, there's they live on.
But episode forty five is negotiating tips for lowering bills, prices, and rates, so really good episodes that work in tandem on overall bills. This one is really digging into the phone plan because the phone plan is one of the easiest plans to negotiate. I think this and Internet are where you can use these skills to the best of your ability and really see movement on your monthly bill. So us bring us into our first of three articles. We're really going to go through three.
Yeah, well because the first two are pretty short. But I think whenever we're talking about prices of anything, bills included, it's good to know what is the landscape. And this is the landscape of twenty twenty three. And yes we've seen we've come a long way since page or so it could change. This may not be when you want to revisit in ten years, but who knows? And what are most people paying? And why are cell phone bills where they're at? And then we're going to get into
how to lower it. But this first article comes from whistle Out and it's asking that very question, how much are Americans spending on their phone plans? And they give some helpful statistics so we can kind of first see where do we kind of measure up because oftentimes we can think we're paying so much money and then come to realize, no, it's the average, or it's below average, or yes I am paying a lot, so okay, what
can I do to lower it? And they first begin citing that the average US cell phone bill is estimated to be about one hundred and fourteen dollars a month. Is this surprising to you, Jen, No, yes.
So, yeah, we are on a family plan, so this kind that kind of like lowers our monthly bill, so we're not paying that. And this is per line correct, Like I'm reading down here and I'm not seeing that.
It says it's a multi line, so this is one hundred dollars per line, but it also says no single line plan in America costs more than one hundred dollars a month, So I'm feeling like this might It says sixty two percent of Americans are paying over one hundred dollars a month for their plan, So I feel like
this might be like a two line. I'm not one hundred percent sure, but you're definitely not going to be paying more than one hundred dollars a month for single line plan according to this article.
Yeah, and then they talk about how that is split up. So about seventy nine percent of those who they surveyed have unlimited talk and text. That probably is going to be your highest tier how much you're paying. Then you've got seventy two percent have unlimited data, and sixty percent have a mobile hotspot included in their plans.
Actually that might be the highest here.
And only thirty percent of respondents are paying for a single line, which helps to explain why about sixty two percent are paying over one hundred dollars a month for their plan. And then that's what you reference. No single line plan in America costs more than one hundred dollars a month.
So tbd on how many lines are on that one hundred and fourteen dollars a month plan. But if you are so like we are about around two hundred and fifty dollars a month, but there's five people on our plan, So like, I don't know if this survey really gives accurate data if it's going to compare my plan to somebody else that has two lines on their plan. So take that with a grain of salt. But if you're a single line is close to one hundred dollars, then
there is definitely room for lowering it. Or if your two line plan is close to two hundred, then you have a lot of wiggle room to make moves on that.
And they are increasing. I think if you are feeling the pinch and wondering why is this so high? They have risen and This article also cites data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that phone rates have increased steadily between twenty thirteen and twenty twenty, with an average year over year increase of four point seven percent. So, yeah, plan costs are now around one hundred fourteen in a month or that equals three hundred and seventy one dollars
a year. Definitely a monthly cost to be considering when you think about negotiating and lowering.
Yeah, so you come to the right place.
Yeah, and so I think, I don't know if it's it's one of the articles that we'll talk about fees, but actually the price of the plan is lowering. It's the price of the fees that is increasing. And that is why every year plans get so much more expensive. And so we'll talk about that a little bit later, but it is because of this trend.
You can be sure.
This isn't one of those things where like if you get in at a certain time, you lock in a rate and then you're like that, you know, they value your loyalty and so they'll keep you at the same rate. That's not a cell phone company every year on your when your contract runs out. They want to change your They want you to pay more, whether you are on a special especially after that first year obviously, but even far after that they want as soon as the contract's done,
they want you to pay more. So that's why it's really good to have a list of at least your internet and phone, but anything that has a contract date like a one year or a two year, and just write down the month that that contract expires, so that you know you can go like a month beforehand to start looking around to see what else is out there. I put it in my phone, so I'll put it
in there, but sometimes I can miss it. So really to have something maybe written down and on your fridge so that you know when those contract expirations coming up really valuable.
Nice.
So still to get a bit of the landscape of what is causing cell phone bills to be where they're at. The second article comes from money Lion and is titled why is my cell phone bill so high?
Again? Asking that question.
A lot of people are asking that question, and they go through some helpful reasons. None of these necessarily are going to give us tips we'll get there, but again, so we can kind of understand what's happening. Sometimes that in and of itself can give us the tools we need to make some shifts and changes. So a couple of the main reasons that our cell phone bills increase.
The first one that they list off is taxes. So when taxes rise in the federal government or at the state level and raises phone taxes, our service providers are passing that buck onto us as consumers and increasing the rate of our cell phone bill.
So as you say.
Texas increase, you can anticipate to also see your cell phone bill increase, and probably all of your other bills too, because isn't that fun.
Similarly, with fees and surcharges, like I said, that's another way that they're getting you to pay more because they are not going to eat those. They're not going to eat those for you. But something that money Lion talks about is actually scams that these major carriers can run. So there has been in the past, and this was much more prevalent with like landlines and when you would pay.
For things over the phone.
But you can see things pop up on your bill that are these phantom surcharges or just random like different fees and you're paying for things over the phone, so you've got extra stuff on there, so you don't know what you did, what you didn't do, and they're usually like one to three dollars things, but they add up,
and that is illegal. So that's called cramming. And as recently as twenty nineteen, companies were allowing third parties to do this, so and there's definitely legislation in place to limit that, but I don't think it happens as often anymore, especially since now we're pretty like fee simple when it comes to phones. But it is still smart to be
checking your statements. Maybe go in there a few times a year and just look at past statements and see make sure you know every single fee and surcharge that's on it. You can look it up Google. The Internet will tell you if that is a normal fear surcharge or if it's some cramming going on. So always it's probably not happening, but every once in a while go in there and check.
Yeah, don't want that.
The only kind of cramming I want is when I choose to cram for my tests. I was wondering where you finally I'm not in college anymore. Yeah, but that's the kind of cramming I did, or cramming all my money into the bank.
I'll do that, Okay.
The next reason that we can experience high cell phone bills are overages. And many of us can be thinking no, no, no, that doesn't apply to me because I got the unlimited plan. Well think twice cutie, because sometimes these cell phone companies are sneaky, sneaky, and even though they advertise unlimited data plans, they still have limits at a certain point. Some companies, not all, will cap your data and charge you extra for using more. Others will maybe reduce what they are
providing to you. So maybe even if you are used to four G or five G, they may reduce you to three G and like once you hit a certain point, and so that might be why you're experiencing maybe slower data rates and not being able to get on the internet as quickly.
That kind of a thing.
So they just recommend reading your terms carefully before signing a plan. I mean, for me, personally, I'd rather have a reduction than an increase of price. But still, if you're advertising unlimited, I'm going to want that to mean unlimited.
Yeah, this is definitely something you have to check if you are on an mbno like Mint or Tang that you are watching your data, you're staying on Wi Fi because this will ruin all the savings that those companies can provide you. We'll talk about that in the next article. But then the last one promotion period ended. We know that, like I just said, when contracts end, especially after your initial promotion period, they're going to increase your monthly rate.
But it's still worth trying to get them to keep you at the same promotional rate, or to lower it less than what they were, or to increase it less than what they're trying to And this next part, this is what I was trying to find. I was like, it's in one of these articles, why are taxes and fees so high on cell phones? So it says despite the average service bill dropping thirty percent, that's crazy. The average service bill has dropped thirty percent since two thousand
and eight. Cell phone bills have gone up and this is due to a fifty percent increase in taxes. Are cell phone taxes. So while twenty five percent of the average customers bill our taxes, the highest paying states and post taxes up to thirty five percent. So where you Live also impacts how much you pay for cell phone usage, which I did not know until this article, And it lists all of the years from twenty fifteen to twenty twenty one of what the fees are and what the
taxes are. So they've got, for instance, twenty fifteen, at the fees were six point four to six, the taxes were seven point five seven. This is average, So we got eleven point five in fees, and we go down to twenty twenty one, then we've got our fees jumped from six point four to six and twenty fifteen to eleven point eight in twenty twenty one, and taxes only went up a little bit to seven point seventy eight. But that leads to the total being thirteen point sixteen. So fees, man fees.
Well, no, that total would be more. I think these are three categories, are they. You've got the state in local taxes tatas as okay is thirteen point six. Then you've got federal taxes and fees at eleven point eight, general use sales and tex Now I'm kind of feeling bad for these cell phone providers, like where.
Where are they getting their money from?
Oh?
My gosh, as the taxes, pinch what they can then turn around and provide to consumers.
I'm just realizing you read that wrong. It's worse, it's worse.
Yeah, there's three different categories of taxes and fees that cell phone providers can be paying to and they are all increasing.
Hike.
Oh okay, so fee that we know, right, fees now that we feel empowered with knowledge, Yeah.
You can't really do anything to negotiate down the fees that those companies pay, right, the taxes and fees. So all you have control over is your service charges. That's what you have control over negotiating. So know that you're not going to you know, you're probably not gonna be paying five dollars a month for cell phone service unless you want like three g and you really want to be at the bottom.
Of the barrel.
But there are a lot of things you can do to get your cell phone built down.
Yes, so let's talk about that.
This article comes from Kiplinger, you know the one, and it goes through ten ways to save on your cell phone plan. Jen and I are each going to go through our favorite three, but feel free to check it out if you want even more than the six that we pick. And what'd you think, Jen?
These are good?
There are So when we're looking at saving money on our bills, yes, it is definitely something we want to do. If you can save ten dollars a month on even ten dollars a month on a bill that's one hundred
and twenty dollars a year, that compounds. You know, if you're doing something good in the grand scheme of things, ten dollars a month is not as impactful as if you're you're getting maybe a car that has a couple more years on it and you're paying a couple grand less for a car, or you are getting a house that has a couple hundred square feet less than another and you're saving on a house. Those decisions will save you exponentially more than what you can negotiate down on
a cell phone bill. So like, let's get it into perspective. Yeah, that's thank you, But these things the bigger your family is a specially the more that these you know, they're important, but they're not the most important. So keep it in perspective when we're talking about all the ways to save that you don't have to stress out and do all of them. Try them, see how it works. Make the effort, and if it doesn't get you what you want, there's no love loss.
You tried.
You're going to make better spending decisions that are going to save you thousands a year versus the hundreds of per year that you not following through with.
This will save you.
So I but yes, I love all of these. You could do all of these, but don't stress yourself out over all of them.
Yeah.
The first one that I am picking off of this is join or add to a family plan. A lot of us are probably familiar with this, but I think this is probably one of the best tips for when you want all the bells and whistles, you want the unlimited talk, you want the all of it, unlimited, all of it. Then with this one, usually the more people that you add to the plan, the price per line decreases. So they use an example of let's say you have four lines with like an AT and T plan that's unlimited,
and usually it's kind of an extra. It's forty dollars per line compared to paying seventy dollars a line if you were to just be a singular person on that plan. So that's a significant reduction in cost. And so they're talking about either hopping in on someone else's family plan or if you have your own, seeing if some if more people would want to join yours. Let's say you and your spouse are already on a family plan. Well, do your parents want to join? Does your sister want to join?
Your brother? You trust him to pay you monthly?
Of course you want people who are going to pay you monthly, but this can definitely help reduce the price for everybody.
Yes, so this is what we do, jel, I think this is this what you do?
Yep, yeah, it is.
So we are actually not on the same family plan, which is shocking, but so we have a plan. We don't trust each other that much to pay monthly. So there are five people on our plans. So me and Travis, my mom, and then actually Jared and Lori Beth are shout out to our friends, Jared and Lorii Beth, this is our family because you don't have to show proof of blood familiar relations to be on a family plan. It's shocking.
And when we went to the store to sign up for the family plan, we are on it with friends as well, and they were fully aware of that reality and totally fine with us.
So and they just want their money, right, So yeah, this is and it keeps the cost low. These are people that we have known for a decade and will continue to look they're not close enough to where they feel fine not paying, but they're close enough to where they do. Like I mean, Lori Beth pays me venmos me every month like without fail. So she's a responsible person. And so yeah, choose your family wisely. This is your chosen family, and we all know how much better those are than real family.
Right, at least pay you you.
Have a family plan with your chosen family. The next is switch to a new carrier. So much like job hopping, which has seen better days for increasing your income, would definitely probably have to do an updated income episode.
Of talking about that.
But hopping from carrier to carrier can save you money. So this article says a family of four can save close to nine hundred and thirty dollars a year on average by switching wireless carriers. So this means you're getting those those new customer promotions when they come up. Those are also things you can leverage with your current company. We have had it to where our cell phone company is very good about trying to get us close to promotions so that they so that we won't leave our
internet provider. On the other hand, they don't do it. They don't play. So we have hopped back and forth internet providers. So like every other year we switch. It seems like, so, yeah, so you have to kind of and I'm sure this is location dependent too, so just be aware that sometimes they will and sometimes they won't. Travis has spent up to six hours on the phone, So that's a little much for me.
When I dedicate it, he's do it.
When I say, try these things, but don't stress out over them, I'm saying you don't have to spend six hours on the phone to do this, you know, so be reasonable. He his was out of it was a pride thing at that point. I think we I think he went.
Into our three sunk call.
Huh.
Yeah, it was beyond money at that point. But yeah, but don't let it happen to you.
Beyond this is like character moment.
Yeah.
The next one on here for me is consider a small provider. So a small provider could include companies such as mobile virtual network operators. That's the first and last time you're going to hear me say all of that. MVNOs for short, they offer the coverage from major networks of major carriers, but they often have lower price plans. So these are your min mobile, your Tello taying visible, and this is what Jen was referencing earlier, where you really want to be aware of and careful with your
data usage. So the reason that they're able to offer you such a low rate usually about fifteen dollars a month, which is pretty insane, but a lot of that has to do with then getting your data from the internet. So when you're considering like joining the internet, so you go to a coffee shop, you get on the internet, you're not using data, that's where you're going to see a major increase of price. Or when you're at home,
you join the Wi Fi at your home. So you really have to consider your lifestyle and how you use your cell phone in whether or not this is going
to be a good option for you. But if you work from home, you pay for internet separately or from an office, and you're really not you're not roaming about the city just scrolling on the Internet, then this really could be a really great option, especially for your single folks who don't have family that you trust to pay you monthly for their cell phone bills, or.
The family you've chosen are already using MVNO's and these are great. I mean so historically people are skeptical about going to these companies because they've had less coverage. So like you know, when all the carrier, the main carriers were on four G, these guys were still on three G, so that has really shifted to where you so, yeah,
they're not on five G yet. The four G is still working great and some I think you can probably get on five G. It's really about the amount of usage now, so they want to charge you for going over that three four five gigs of data and I think on either Ting or Mind you'll pay forty five dollars a month for unlimited I believe, so still could be close, like could be less than what you would pay at a bigger carrier. But this is where you're
going to start to see those caps. When too many people are using the five G, they're going to bump you down. So still has some of that stigma around it, but the coverage is definitely better than it was. So if you're worried about coverage when using one of these small providers know that they're now all owned by the big companies. Mint is now owned by T Mobile. I think Visible is Verizon. Ting uses Verizon, So they're all owned by a bigger network and they use those the networks.
They all use those networks, so you can trust that the network is good.
These they used to.
Rent the networks from the bigger carriers, and now the bigger carriers are just buying these Envy i os. So really it's the service is going to be comparable. You just have to watch about dott A usage. Next for me is it's going to be ask your carrier for a better deal. I feel like we've been talking about this only because the next one is go paperless, and.
Which it could save you.
It could save you if I saved at least on my Internet bill by going paperless.
Okay, that's great, So yeah, always go paperless just because it's better, less clutter, better for the environment. Might save you a couple dollars, but asking your carrier for a better deal will save you much more. So again, don't no need to sit on the phone for six hours. So I think what it's not just service that you can negotiate, but also like you're the cost of your phone. And that's what Travis was in that six hour call,
trying to negotiate. So a lot of times they will force you into getting a new phone when you don't need one. I know several times my provider texted me and said, oh, with these ultra urgent looking messages literally saying if you don't get a new phone by in two days, you won't be able to make calls anymore, like scary text messages. And I'm like, no, this is incorrect, and so I just didn't get a new phone, and look, still making phone calls.
Still fine.
So yeah, I remember you talking about that and it sounded so wrong and I was so excited for that update.
Well here's the update. Yeah, yeah, they didn't win. No, so they will. They'll do things like that.
So don't just be negotiating or talking to your carry about your service. Talk to them about your phone as well. Unless you've got a phone that's like ten years old, you should be able to use your phone on your plan. They really shouldn't force you to upgrade or do anything, because you can threaten to go to you can find another plan. You can always find another carrier that will take your phone. So if a company is trying to make you pay twelve hundred dollars for a new phone, negotiate it.
Negotiate it.
And this was happening to us, and Travis was like, well, you're either gonna let us keep our phones or you're going to pay for new phones for us if you want to keep us as customers. And one person accidentally said okay, and and that was what led us to that. And you know what he won. Travis won. Travis got us.
And if you need help and you're shooting your cell phone bill for friends podcast dot com slash Travis, that.
Link needs nowhere. That's not a real link.
But he is a real person who just gets it done when it comes to self.
Bones asks for a better deal on your phone too.
Yes, well that's a really great point, and I will tie that into my final tip on here as well,
which is skip the insurance plan. But I'm gonna do a little bit of a rabbit trail around this because so often our cell phone bills are high because we are also wrapping in the purchase of our cell phone or the usage of our cell phone, like we're paying almost rent or we're paying the mortgage on buying new cell phones, and they're tying it into your cell phone bill, and so I think that's a whole other piece to be considering is do you have to be getting a
new cell phone every time they're trying to tell you get a new cell phone, And the answer is no, update your cell phone, take care of your cell phone, and don't get a new one every single time. They're like, come on, you can trade it in, you're still gonna end up paying more than you have to. Or you can buy used refurbished phones and add them into the plant. You do not have to buy a cell phone from the network who you're purchasing your plan from. They'll try
and tell you have to, but you don't. It might depend on what kind of phone you get and the type of whatever technology in it. But keep that in mind and go the frugal route with that phone, keep the old one, keep it good. But then when you are purchasing a cell phone plan, a lot of times they will want to add on insurance. And this is especially if you are renting the phone or buying the
phone through them. Keep in mind that many of the credit cards out there, if you are a credit card carrier will offer that coverage that same type of loss damage stolen smartphone insurance coverage through your credit card as a benefit of that credit card. So definitely don't be double paying for insurances. You know, if you are accident prone, it might be something that you want to consider.
But if your.
Credit card already covers that, you could be saving about ten dollars a month on your cell phone plan by not having an insurance plan also through the cell phone provider.
And I will add I will add to that unrelated but similar storage on your phone if you don't have to. If you can clear your phone, declutter all the pictures and the videos and stuff, you don't have to pay for extra storage from you know, Apple or Google or whatever. So that's another cost that you can eliminate. The last one on here isn't really on here. I'm going to piggyback off of this one that says buy a budget five G phone. So with tech, we normally in our
lives as frugal people, we want to buy used. We want to buy quality, but quality that is maybe older, so that we can save some money on it and not not at the sacrifice of longevity. That's always our goal when we're making purchases. Tech is unique in that though, because every phone get there's something more that they add to it.
And we've seen that.
Apple has actually been like slowing down older phones, and so if you were to buy a good quality, older phone, it's not going to be the same as if you bought an older, good quality piece of clothing or car. So this article is saying buy a budget five G phone because their argument is the difference between a three hundred phone and one thousand dollars phone today is much narrower.
This is true.
So if you're one of the people that's like, I don't care about my phone, absolutely do this. So you can do just one maybe like one edition back or one version back, so you can get a phone five G phones for two forty four hundred or I've phoned Mini's six hundred. Something you can also commit to doing is keeping a record of how long you're or committing to your phone for a certain period of time, so
like from three to five years. So my phone is currently three years old, and I will be perfectly happy keeping it for another two years before I get another one. Just even if you're going to get so I got the newest phone that was available, but I got the smaller version because I have small hands, big small ears, I got small hands, so I saved a little bit there, but it wasn't I didn't do that to save money.
I got the newest phone when I was available to me, but I'm committing to keep it for five years, So you may if you want to update your phone more frequently, you can start like a version back maybe and and keep it for three years. Or if you want to keep your if you know you want to keep your phone for five years, you can buy the newest, but just keep a record of how much that phone is going to cost you year over year and month to month.
So if it's a twelve hundred dollars phone and you want to keep it for five years, you'll be paying on it for two years or paying in full, however you choose to do it. It's typically not any cheaper to pay for it upfront than it is to pay month over month, unless you are not buying it from
the carrier, which again you don't have to do. You can buy from somewhere else, so that can be cheaper, but just figure out how much it's going to cost you year to year, month over month, so that you can make that commitment of how long you're going to hold onto that phone for it to be reasonable for you and your budget. So phones cost pretty much the same, like an iPhone costs the same whether you're making fifty thousand dollars a year or one hundred and fifty thousand
dollars a year. But that decision to buy that phone hits different depending on what your monthly budget is. So break it down and look at it, not just the two years it's going to take you to pay for it, but really or if you're paying up front, still, look at how much that's costing you to own it for three to five years and hold on to phones for at least three years. That's another that's a way to save without compromise it having the latest technology.
If that's important to you.
Do you know what we've held onto for more than five years and we've got no intentions of letting it go. Absolutely and thanks to cell phones, we've got.
The bill of the week.
That's right, it's time for the best minute of your entire week. Maybe a baby was born and his name is Williams.
Maybe you've paid off your mortgage. Maybe your car died and you're happy to not have to pay that bill anymore.
That bills Buffalo bills, Bill Clion, this is the bill of the week.
Hi, Jen and Jill. I love your podcast. It's so motivational. Our bill of the week is canceling the subscriptions we didn't need anymore, so we canceled three and this will save us sixty dollars a month. We're so excited, and keep doing what you guys do. I love listening to your podcast.
Thank you him.
This is what we're talking about. Sixty dollars a month just for canceling subscriptions you don't use anymore. Nobody here is talking about giving up lattes. We're talking about the subscription factor. Giving up subscriptions two things.
Doing up the stuff you don't use. Is that even considered giving up?
Right?
Can you even call it that?
That's my offloading, dogloading, That's what it is. That's the subscription factor.
Tamn the stuff you don't need back into the pockets of those who tried to. I don't know the job, Kim Jopkid, this is the main thing. Yes, May this be the motivator and the sign that the rest of you all need today to look back at all the subscriptions you have and forgot about offload and and.
Try can't even subscriptions you do use. Try to cancel those and see if the screen before your cancelation is not a special offer. I dare you to do some Do one of those today, Do that and then leave us the bill. Leave us a bill saying you did it, and how much you're saving for like even three months.
It's yeah, do it even three months?
Wow, if you're out there doing it, if you're offloading or onloading, I don't know what that would be.
And it has to do with a bill. We're here for it.
Submit your bill at Virugal Friends podcast dot com slash bill. We've us that bill, and now it's time.
For so this week's lightning round. This episode's lightning Round, we've kind of mostly covered it, but it's our personal experiences with how do you keep your phone bill under control? And so maybe we switched this from phone bill to phone usage because.
I know, right.
It is, oh my gosh, because even this and this is the this is the way the MVNO's get you, and they know because we are addicted to our phones and even when you're not on Wi Fi, when you're in the car, like at a stoplight, using the phone for something, using that data. That data is leaking and it adds up. So I think our behaviors with our phone, if we can start to pay attention to those behaviors, that can lead into some phone savings.
So good time. Yeah all right, Well then you go first.
If you've got all these ideas about what we can talk about.
Yeah, well okay, so I can have ideas, it doesn't mean I do them. My being on my phone is the bane of Travis's existence.
I am.
Right right, it is really. I am so bad at it's embarrassed.
Do you see it as bad? Yeah? No, I do.
I have had to take frequent like breaks from social media because I can't control my Like I will go literally all the every day, multiple times a day, to pull up my phone to look something up and then just forget why I'm there and go to Instagram and it's sickening to me. It's sickening.
So you don't gross me out, thank you. So it is.
It is this weird balance of having to have a presence on social media as a media company and not getting sucked into it. That is a.
Really hard line to walk.
But in the car, so some tips that I'm trying to implement is like hiding my phone in the car, so putting it in the glove compartment or the middle console or the.
Wait for like when you're driving, not to be scrolling. Is that the thing?
Yeah, like not to be you know, like texting or scrolling at the stoplights, to like not leak data. So just to make sure that when you're using your phone it's on Wi Fi. So keeping that away when I'm in places like the doctor's office instead of going on my phone. Drinking water, like having my water bottle and like being intentionally drinking water. It's like the only because I'm not going to strike up a conversation with somebody.
If you're an.
Extrovert, try it, it's not me. So I'm going to stay hydrated. And those are probably the two biggest ones. It's I'm not this is not a good topic for me. If we're going to be super vulnera well.
Like I love it. You chose it, You chose it, you walked. I didn't did. I'm embarrassing Jen for me? Oh my gosh.
Even so here we are and You've given me this information, and now now this is what I'm going to do with it. So the two things you've just identified, right, So you're saying how you're addicted and it's hard for you to stop, and you do the doom scroll thing.
But then the way that you're trying to control it is when you're in the car or at a doctor's appointment, and I kind of feel like you are there the least amount of any other place, Like I don't feel like the problem is most likely in the car at the doctor.
It's not.
But I'm trying to like make money safe and related. I'm trying to help other people through my anxiety.
I'm not trying to treat.
Because you're thinking you don't have Wi Fi in the car or at the doctor's office, and that's how you can. I mean, first of all, yet, no one should be scrolling while driving. Absolute That's just that's a no no. And when I see it happening and I'm on the road, I'm gonna give you a thumbs down. But they won't see because that's what I do now, just people won't know how to respond to a thumbs down.
The problem is being at the stop light and then it turns the green and you don't notice, and you get hot debt when I say you won't meet.
And that's and that's when you're getting a thumbs down from this frugal friend over here. So okay, we're gonna have to revisit this one. We're gonna have to write you. Can you do your lightning around? How do I keep my phone usage under control? So thankfully, I don't feel that addicted to my phone. I really like to forget about out it and garden, but.
I'm not gonna lie.
I like the scroll. The scroll's fun, but I limit it. And here's your vulnerability, everybody. I limit my scrolling to the bathroom.
Everyone does it.
You send me Instagram reels every day.
Because I go to the back every day.
You can bet your sweet little face that you are getting a real from me during some toilet time.
And that's it. I don't really use my phone.
I mean I'm looking up recipes or yes, I'm googling, and like a fact I'm interested in learning, I'm not.
I don't.
Yeah, And maybe that's that's how I limit myself, Like I'm not going to sit here and scroll and stuff.
When I have other things to do. So I'm breastfeeding a baby, Like, there's that's.
A common that you breastfeeding and you're scrolling your phone like I don't have hands really to like if I am, you know in there.
Well, so that's a tip. Okay, breastfeed, breastfeed a baby.
Have a baby, take a nap on you, and have your phone on the other side of the room because you are not getting access to that phone for at least twenty minutes. There you go at least twenty minutes and maybe an hour if your baby sleeps, we'll see. So thank you so much for listening to our vulnerability.
Many of you know that we have a.
Membership for our listeners who are just as vulnerable or trying to be more vulnerable and pay off debt, and we do monthly money challenges to help. We have accountability groups, and we want to congratulate one of our members for a big win. This is from Joscelyn, our girl, Joscelyn Hey. She says Amazon Impulse spending improvement. I've been buckling down in my Amazon purchases for the last month, only made
three purchases. I won't tell you how much and how often I used to spend on Amazon, but this is leaps and bounds better. I feel like I'm making more deliberate and intentional purchases when praise hands emoji.
Yay, congratulations Joslyn. This is so exciting of home improvement.
If you are looking for community while you make financial changes in your life and habit changes for a better financial future, then check out the Frugal Friends Club. It is at Frugal friendspodcast dot com slash club. We've got at free interviews, courses, challenges, all kinds of things.
We'll see you there, see you there, and see you next time. Frugal Friends is produced by Eric Sirianni Jen.
I think I need to clarify my lightning ground, because the thing is, it's not necessarily that I have better impulse control. I think it's that I don't understand the Internet as much as other people do. For instance, I just learned like a few weeks ago that on the reels on Instagram you can read comments, and yeah, everybody else who might be hearing this is like, yeah, absolutely,
I didn't know that. I thought, okay, it's just a real You can press that one button to read more of what The caption says, but past the caption where I typically am used to seeing comments listed and leave the caption, it's not there. And Eric would always be talking about how I'm reading the comments section, reading the comments section.
Where is that?
He's like, oh, my word, that's the only reason I watched these videos. I live for the comments section. I'm like, I have no idea what you're talking about. He had to show me. I just learned this a couple weeks ago about the comments section on Instagram reels. I thought that in that section of the platform you couldn't access or couldn't make comments, couldn't see other people's comments.
Just learned it. See, I I wish, you know, I don't know how to use it. I wish.
Yeah, yeah, I definitely want to be It's such I am. I hate myself with social media because I want don't. Well, here's the thing is that to an extent, it's so helpful, Like the good stuff is really good, and the entertaining, the entertaining stuff is sometimes it's just a it sucks you in, and the algorithm figures out what sucks you in and it shows you more and it's you know, it's me, Hi, I'm the problem. It's me like, but
also it's the algorithm. And I don't want to put all the blame on the algorithm, but I'm I'm I struggle. I struggle. I get real lost in it.
Here's what you do. You trick the algorithm. You that like I did.
So.
I also thought recently that, oh, because Eric and other people will be talking about ads on Instagram and how the ads are getting them, and I'm like, I don't think I get ads.
I don't think I have that.
I feel as though maybe Instagram's algorithm just recognizes.
I don't bite, I'm not buying, and.
They've stopped putting their marketing dollars towards showing me ads. So then the next time I went to scroll, I'm like, all right, I'm going to keep an eye out for ads because I don't think I'm seeing them, only to.
Find out that I am getting ads.
It's just nothing I'm interested in because I send videos that are not.
About things that I'm interesting. Complicated.
Yeah, So so some context, I this is please don't give us a one star for this, but this is really like inside of this is our relationship. Outside of
the podcast. I was talking about like one day I might get a dog, and Jill was like, don't do it, and I was like, I don't want to do it, but I feel like I'm gonna be forced into it because I have children, And so she starts sending me every day real dogs doing disgusting things, and I was like, Jill, I don't need to be convinced to not get a dog, like and sods are for like, yeah, it is.
It was so the ad the ad when that I was went back in to try and figure out what are what are the ads I'm receiving? It was like for dog food, and that's why it's not registering because I don't have a dog.
I don't need dog food.
Now, to clarify, I do really like dogs, and I support anybody who wants to have a dog. It's just that I know and I grew up having a dog and it was a great experience. But I know for you, Jen, I know that pet ownership would be an additional responsibility.
But if some women don't want to have children, some women don't want to have a dog.
And I've talked to so many people who think my kids will take care of the dog, and they won't. And so I'm like eyes wide open. If you get a dog, you need to know your children are not going to care for the dog. It's going to be you. Hi, it's you. You're the one caring for the dog. And I mean I want you to feel fully prepared, like if you are signing up for like all the like slow motion drool have and just wants your eyes to.
Be slow motion ruel. It is fun.
And now, yes, I do have like a lot of dog videos coming up.
Well you better not send me any more hot dog reels because then you're gonna get hoteads and you really like hot dogs.
And that's totally fine. I will buy hot dogs either way. And I know what brand I want. It's the one where it's just whatever's on the floor of the rendering plant.
I love rendering plants. Crammed. There you go. It's not our sponsor, but it is now