Everything is going up in price, from utilities to network service bills, and everyone is looking to make budget cuts in order to make ends meet and keep the lights on back home.
In fact, almost all of your expenses can be put up for debate, and your phone bills are no exception to the rule, as coverage has been getting more and more expensive with every passing year.
Supply and demand are to blame, and as much as it’d help our finances, few of us can actually afford to completely abandon our phones, as we need them to stay in touch with family or they’re absolutely necessary for work.
As important as cell phones seem at times, there are still things you can do to save a couple of extra dollars on your phone bills, and we’ll go over some of the things you should consider if you want to keep your finances in check.
Stay away from financing programs
As cool as it can be to have the latest phone model, flagship phones are usually far more expensive than what you’re actually getting, and you’re usually better off just buying an older model.
With how fast technology evolves, a phone’s price can fall by almost 50% in a year or even less, and at the end of the day, you’re making a small sacrifice for the sake of more financial security.
Every $30 you spend on financing a phone could’ve been allocated to something else instead, and as small as that number sounds, it can add up to quite a hefty amount over time.
If you spend 20 years constantly buying the latest phones at this rate, you’d find yourself missing $18k that you spent on phone purchases and nothing else.
There are more than a few better ways to spend that amount of money, and you’ve probably got some ideas as well.
Data plans
Similar to how financing programs eat away at your finances, having an expensive data plan can be just as damaging, and you should try to use as little data as possible.
By using data to access the internet, you’re practically letting the Wi-Fi you’re paying for at home go to waste, and you should make sure that you’re using data only if you absolutely need to.
Of course, listening to a podcast on the commute to work or on long walks can be relaxing, but you can preload these while you’re spending time at home, and this could save you hundreds of dollars in payments every year.
You should also check your settings every so often just to make sure all of your apps are set not to refresh automatically when you’re using data, and as long as you’re careful enough, your bill will stay within some reasonable limits.
Look for discounts
There are dozens of different network carriers in the US, and you shouldn’t limit yourself to one just because you’ve been using their services for an extended period of time.
Shopping around for better solutions is the best thing you can do when you’re looking to save money, and company discounts are a fairly common thing when it comes to phone service providers.
However, you may also find that you already qualify for a number of discounts with your current provider, and the savings are nothing to sneeze at, as they can be as steep as 20% at times.
Some providers will require a form of verification to determine whether you qualify for a discount.
Others may only ask you to provide a work e-mail as a means of giving you a return on some of the hard-earned cash you’ve spent.
Make use of family plans
Some carriers may offer discount plans for partners, and even though you may be single, you’re still able to benefit from these.
If you’ve got a friend who’s willing to sign up for a discount plan like this with you, you can share a plan and reap the benefits together, and seeing as you’re getting family rates on your phone payments, you’re going to end up saving even more money.
Every dollar you save is an extra dollar you can invest in something else, and these savings are even bigger if you’re cutting back on regular payments that happen on a monthly or bi-monthly basis.
Once you start saving on these expenses, your financial security will improve, and with it, your financial freedom will increase exponentially.
Final word
Phone-related expenses are the bane of many low-income Americans, and as important as phones are in this day and age, you can still make some budget cuts to make things easier on your wallet.
By making use of discount plans and avoiding spending too much on data, you could potentially save hundreds of dollars on your phone expenses every year, and this can add up to great amounts of money really fast.