Telephone
Managing your telephone expense is more complicated then it was 10 years ago. Most Americans have cell phones and we have many more choices for our landline service. If you are in a contract now, be sure to review your options once the contract has expired.
Let’s discuss landline services first. Telephone companies are always adding and deleting service plans so you should contact your carrier once a year to verify you are on the best plan based on your usage. For example: if you make a lot of long-distance calls you can probably save money by enrolling in a long-distance plan. It is not unusual to end up paying less money for long-distance then you are currently paying and get unlimited calls to boot. Don’t pay for features like three-way calling if you rarely or never use it. Ask friends and family who their providers are and what they pay. Contact several providers and get bids. If you have a high speed internet connection in your home a voice-over-internet-protocol is something you should definitely look into. This is a type of service that connects to your internet, but your phone works just like it does with a traditional service. VOip (www.voip.com) has a plan for $20 a month with unlimited long distance. Vonage (www.vonage.com) has an unlimited long-distance plan for $25 a month. Voice over internet service usually comes with a small equipment fee and requires you to sign a contract, so read the fine print including the part about 9-1-1 service. (They do have 9-1-1 service but you need to understand how it works.)
If you don’t make a lot of long-distance calls consider switching to a plan without long-distance service, then purchasing a long-distance calling card to use when you make a long-distance call. These are the things to look for when comparing the different calling cards: 800 number to access service, per minute rate, does the first minute cost more, is there a per-day minimum, is there an additional connection fee, is there a monthly maintenance fee, and do the minutes ever expire.
Now let’s discuss cell phone service. (Also referred to as mobile or wireless service.) Most of us have cell phones and many children also have cell phones. Cell phones help busy families stay in touch but you need to remember that they are a luxury. You can save money by just sticking to voice services and blocking text and internet services. If you think you must have texting and internet, at least make sure you are on a basic and inexpensive landline plan or drop your landline all together. Cricket (www.mycricket.com) currently has a plan with unlimited talk, text, and internet for $45 per month. Take advantage of free nights and weekends to make long-distance toll calls that you would otherwise make on your landline phone. Most plans do not charge you for minutes when you talk to someone using the same service, so keep that in mind when choosing your carrier and making calls. Carefully compare plans before signing any contracts. Also, confirm that the carrier can give you a signal in the locations you frequent. Signal strength varies by carrier and area.
Many people have good luck with the pay-as-you-go cell phones. Although the per-minute price is higher then a traditional cell 
phone, your overall cost can be considerably lower if you reduce your usage. On some pay-as-you-go phones you only have to purchase $30 worth of minutes every three months to maintain your phone number, so your yearly cost would be $120. If you did not purchase the $30 minimum you would just get a new phone number when you decided to buy more minutes. This may not be a bad thing – you can give your new number only to the people who really need it. The phones themselves are as low as $20 and can be purchased at stores like Target, Walgreens, and Walmart. These phones work especially well for younger children who just need to occasionally call parents or someone who will use the phone only for emergencies. (Several children could even share one phone.) Prepaid phone cards can be given as gifts. Kids quickly learn to conserve their minutes. Once they use all their minutes they cannot make any more calls until they get another prepaid “top-up” card. If you decide to use a pay-as-you-go phone carefully compare the different brands and purchase the one that will cost the least based on your planned usage. Take all of the following into consideration when shopping for your pay-as-you-go carrier: per minute rate, does the first minute cost more, is there a per-day minimum, is there an additional connection fee, is there monthly maintenance fee, and do the minutes ever expire.
Some individuals do not have a landline phone and only use a cell phone. If your landline phone is only used occasionally, and you can keep your cell phone usage under control, this may be a good option for you. You could also justify going to an unlimited usage cell phone plan by dropping your landline service.