cell phone no more

we have had a cell phone in some form or another for the last 18 years. and yes, they have been around that long! my husband had one of those large brick phones that had the atenae sticking out of it. it got sketchy reception, but it was for his biz. it wasn't until the late 90's that we added a phone for me. our son came along, we had the money and i was just sure i would need a phone for those emergencies that happen with kids. i got the cute red nokia and loved feeling important enough to have a cell phone. ya, i'm that shallow.

over the years we would change our phone plans. more minutes when we had lots of calls to do or when we used our cells as our only phone. it was nice not having a landline at times. less minutes when it just got too costly or didn't seem to be needed. we got a few new phones over the years, some good and some not so good. and we had the unexpected need for new phones after the dog ate ... not one ... but two! ... i said TWO phones in ONE week. not only did we get a new phone, but we found the dog a new home. and yes we warned the new owners of the dogs desire to eat cell phones among other things.

about a year ago we started thinking about cutting the umbilical cord to the cell phone. we contacted our service provider to find out when our contract would be up. not til fall they told us. unless we wanted to pay their outrageous "get out of jail free" fee.

i counted down the days to when we could get rid of the cell phones and the monthly payment. the university apt we moved into provided a free landline with the apt so our need for a cell phone was not as big as our need to decrease our cost of living. when we were finally able to send in our last payment, i was overjoyed. our last day happened to fall on a friday. that weekend something felt off. it wasn't until a few days later that i realized that i had used my minutes to call long distance to friends and family scattered far from boise. i know there are answers for this problem, but i hadn't bought a long distance phone card yet at that point. and i noticed that when i'm driving to and fro, i often think of a phone call i need to make. old habit of making calls while driving which i'm probably better off not participating in.

eventually when funds allow we'll probably get a cell again. but i don't plan on going back on an overpriced 2 yr plan with one of the big companies. rather i'm toying with getting one of those pay as you go phones. no contract, no paying for minutes i'm not using, no hassle if i decide i need to cut costs for awhile.

so how bout you: are you cutting back? have you reviewed any long standing habits to see how you might cut corners? i'd love to hear your story.

ps: its kind of nice not to be interupted all the time too.