by Hope
I finally took the time to dig into my cell phone account. I’ve had a business account with Verizon forever it seems. As each child got old enough to have a phone, I just added them to the plan.
When I transitioned from a personal plan to a business plan, they explained all the benefits and savings. It was a great deal…back then.
Fast forward 8ish years and the addition of multiple lines and devices. And my bill is definitely way too crazy!
(And yes, I know the BAD Community has been on me for too long to do something about it. Finally, I did!)
Change without Loss
My biggest concern in making any changes was the thought of losing the excellent reliability and service we have had. It is crucial for my business.
And while I did appreciate all the suggestions for other providers. I did check several of them out.
But after 10 hours on the phone and chat support, I was able to lower our bill significantly. And stay with Verizon, which is the best outcome I could hope for.
Each line now has Unlimited Talk, Text and Data for $30 per month. There are two exceptions, for an extra $10 per month, two of the lines have hot spot capability. All in all, I have reduced our monthly service by over $120.
And I have communicated to all the kids that we will no longer be financing phones. If they want a new phone, they will need to buy it outright, meaning save for it. The twins have been responsible for their own phone purchases the last couple of years. And Gymnast purchased his last phone by saving his birthday money and doing chores.
I’ll have to wait until this next month to see what my new bill will look like, but it should be at least $120 cheaper every month and both History Buff and Sea Cadet pay their portion of the bill. Score, score, score…excited for this new financial win to go along with the strides I’ve made in paying off debt this month.
Hope is a creative, solutions-focused business manager helping clients grow their business and work more efficiently by leveraging expertise in project management, digital marketing, & tech solutions. She’s recently become an empty nester as her 5 foster/adoptive kids have spread their wings. She lives with her 5 dogs in a small town in NE Georgia and prefers the mountains to the beaches any day. She struggles with the travel bug and is doing her best to help each of her kids as their finish schooling and become independent (but it’s hard!) She has run her own consulting company for almost twenty years! Hope began sharing her journey with the BAD community in the Spring of 2015 and feels like she has finally in a place to really focus on making wise financial decisions.
Wahoo! Awesome job. Now, set that savings to automatically go towards your student loan payment every month and you won’t even notice it. Any other bills you can cut down on and do the same with? Every little bit adds momentum.
Savings aside. Have you reflected personally on why you so fiercely resisted looking into lowering your bill before? I mean, it’s been well over 5 years you haven’t even looked into it and actually strongly defended it over and over again. Why were you so resistant to changing it? Was it fear? Pride in that you were so busy with work that you “needed the best connection”? Procrastination? The dangling carrot of the fancy upgrades? It could be just procrastination or laziness. No need to answer publicly but this small win might help reinforce that switching things up is okay.
That’s a very good question. And one I definitely need to think about. Even now, as I see my insane car insurance bill with just Princess and I…I dread, like physically dread, having to call to get quotes. I feel it in the pit of my stomach. Definitely something I need to figure out.
I know I avoid confrontation and frankly, most human interaction when not absolutely needed. But phone calls/internet research should not be causing this.
My kids and I are all very well aware that I might very well become a complete hermit when my daily parenting responsibilities are over. I will be the old lady who is only seen in her garden or out with her dogs. And frankly, I’m perfectly find with that.
Congratulations on this win. Any other cost savings you could find; perhaps on internet or car/renters insurance?
I’ve just moved the twins off my car insurance policy. Which actually didn’t help me. But I suppose I should shop around for it as well.
Get some quotes online. If they all come out higher, call your current company and ask if there are any discounts if you take a defensive driving course. Costs ~$50 but can be taken online and maybe bring down your rates from those accidents. I actually need to do the same!
Did you get a discount for putting the payment on autopay? I think we have a $5 discount per line for using autopay.
Yes, 25%, that is included in the now $30 per line.