Frugal Friday

[ecosophia]

Welcome back to Frugal Friday! This is a weekly forum post to encourage people to share tips on saving money, especially but not only by doing stuff yourself. A new post will be going up every Friday, and will remain active until the next one goes up. Contributions will be moderated, of course, and I have some simple rules to offer, which may change further as we proceed.

Rule #1:  this is a place for polite, friendly conversations about how to save money in difficult times. It's not a place to post news, views, rants, or emotional outbursts about the reasons why the times are difficult and saving money is necessary. Nor is it a place to use a money saving tip to smuggle in news, views, etc.  I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #2:  this is not a place for you to sell goods or services, period. Here again, I have a delete button and I'm not afraid to use it.

Rule #3:  please give your tip a heading that explains briefly what it's about.  Homemade Chicken Soup, Garden Containers, Cheap Attic Insulation, and Vinegar Cleans Windows are good examples of headings. That way people can find the things that are relevant for them. If you don't put a heading on your tip it will be deleted.

Rule #4: don't post anything that would amount to advocating criminal activity. Any such suggestions will not be put through.

With that said, have at it!

Comments

Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Everyone,
I often find people babble at me about their phone and the expense of their plan. They are talking about cell phones which are simply an annoying and pernicious addiction, not an actual need. We pay for a landline and use it to book events, talk to family members and friends and that is about it. That is what phones are for.

I bet people could save a lot of money and a lot of time and have a more pleasant life without a cell phone.

There is also the possibility of writing a letter by hand and sending it through the post. Receiving a real letter from a friend is a huge boost to most peoples' day.
Maxine

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

Hi Maxine,

I'll piggyback on this and note that in at least some places, such as where I live, landlines cannot be obtained anymore - what you get is a cell modem in a box that you plug a normal handset into. For either case, however, both actual landlines and these cell-modem-in-a-box-"lines" cost far more (as in 2-4x) than a basic prepaid* cellphone plan in my area. I've heard from others in very different regions that this is also the case for them as well. The higher tiers of prepaid plans offer unlimited minutes and often a modest amount of data if you care for it. Compared to anybody with a landline of either kind in my area, I'm paying less than half what they are per month and could pay even less than that if I went for an even more no-frills plan without data of any kind.

So, don't think that landlines are at all frugal in all areas - in some areas and countries they're a terrible deal compared to prepaid cellular.

* Note, I'm specifically talking about prepaid cellular - as in what poor people get, not postpaid contract-based plans. Check with the various cellphone providers in your area - you often have to do quite some digging on their website to find the various prepaid offers they have available. Some are hidden behind small fine-print links. They can be confusing (and often intentionally are) - but a little bit of careful calculation will show you what each of them will cost comparatively. If your phone is an important and often used instrument of communication, I highly suggest plans with unlimited nationwide minutes at the very least so you have no surprises with per-minute usage. Check the terms carefully for rollover, balance expiration, and things like that, but you can get shockingly good deals on phone service this way if you're willing to put a little effort in.

Re: Cell Phones

[borealbear]

As another data point, this applies to my situation here in rural southeastern Norway too. They literally dug up and removed the landline infrastructure a couple years back, so now it's either a wireless "landline" that still uses the mobile network or a cellphone. I'm old enough to remember landlines from my childhood in the 90s, and I'd love to get one if I could, but it's both way more expensive than a cell plan and not a true "landline" in the first place, so kind of pointless.

My compromise has been to get a 10 year smartphone that was midrange at the time and install Ubuntu Touch on it instead of Android. That means I get most of the smartphone functions, but no apps, which is fine with me. (They can technically be emulated, I think, but I never bothered to look into it.) Most importantly, I used it for an internet connection, which is about half the price of the fiber optic I'd otherwise have to get. Maybe a fifth of the speed too, but again, not a problem for me.

Re: Cell Phones

[fringewood]

Where we live, a landline is not an option. We have no grid lines coming up to our homesite and we like it that way. A cellphone or no phone are our choices. We decided to go with Vsible's $35 per month unlimited with hot spot for internet and our occasional call out.

It's only on when when we're using it. Otherwise its turned off and put in an aluminum bag. It's just a tool in our toolkit. No wires, no muss, no fuss. It works for us😊

Re: Cell Phones

[peristaltor]

Can confirm. The Wife and I still maintain the landline and use personal pre-paid cells. If I can keep the cell usage at a decent level, that's only $80 a year, a ton less than the landline.

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

Yeah, we prepay our dumb phones a year in advance to get the dirt-cheap rate. It would be more expensive for us, in our area, to have a landline. Which is a bummer because I'd *prefer* a landline. The handsets are cheaper and last longer.

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

A landline costs less overtime when it is a family in the household. And, landline phones last forever. I have one on my wall in my house that has been in continuous operation since 1975 ! Cell phones cost around $100 and up, often WAY up, and people who use them all the time are always breaking them or losing them. Multiply this by 5 people in a family ! there are family cell phone rates, but it will be over $100/month for the family of 5. Even if you were one person, how many cell phones will you buy over 50 years ? Compared to my one phone ?

I keep a landline as it always works, we have alot of power outages. Yes, I have backup at my house, but the internet lines themselves only work when they have power ( people here use stationary or cell phones thru the internet, there is no cell phone service thru the cell network) And, cell towers also need power. I have spoke of this before, "they" want to get rid of our actual wired landlines, but so far, the rural areas here have won out and they are not allowed to do away with them.

Ifond the safety aspect worth the cost of my landline. It would be cheapest for me to just use a VOIP like Magic Jack, since I have internet service already, I would save about $380/year. But then, when the internet went out during power outages, I would have no phone. The landlines are very, very reliable. It is so sad and so short sighted that they are literally ripping out the lines in many places. ANd, as I said, it is cheaper to have one landline for a family than 5 cell phones, even in monthly charges, let alone the bigger saving in equipment over the years. But, the phone companies make more money if we all go to cell phones, so they love to get rid of hardwired lines and structure the rates to get people to change over.

atmospheric RIver

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

I suspect your 'land line' phone is actually VIOP to the closet TelCo switch-box and only copper into your home. I'm not aware of many remaining full-copper circuits being maintained. Once the battery BU at the switch-box dies, you'll lose the 'land line' too...

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

It isnt voip, at least not in how I use that word, as it is a different provider, it is not the internet provider, but away from my house it is carried on fiber optic until the last couple miles to my neighborhood and to the houses, which are copper, as they have not "upgraded it" to my area. SO, there 2 types of providers running data lines, the poles here are wired Electric on top, Internet in the middle, ATT (phone company) on the bottom.

And, yes, that fiber optic needs power along the way, I dont know its official name, I just generically say it has repeater boxes every so many miles. And they of course do indeed have back up batteries. But, here is the difference from the internet provider, ATT the phone company has better and longer lasting batteries and they also have generators at those repeater nodes, so they run generators all over during our long power outages. The internet company does not do this. So when we have a power outage after a number of hours the internet is gone. Their repeaters are no longer powered, and I cant do anything using internet ( including not being able to do magic jack voip or use a cell phone thru the wi-fi). But, the phone will continue to work for days and days and days, 6 day outage, no problem, the phones work. The phone company also runs data on their lines in addition to regular landline phones, but when the power is out and they are running off their back up power, they prioritize the voice calls and dont send on the digital to save power, the voice uses less power. They are not being alturistic, the government requires that they prioritize voice phone calls and requires that they make sure it operates, no matter what it costs them to keep the lines powered. The internet company does not have the same requirements. This is a point of contention out here and we just had to fight to not let them off the hook for this responsibility.

I have lived here for 26 years, the landline phones work, they are reliable, they are the only reliable way in a power outage that people can call for help, cell phones do not work here, the terrain is hilly, the population density is low, and this is why the state government did not allow them to rescind being the "carrier of last resort" and dump us. There is alot of California areas like this, alot of Northern California. And we spoke up, and innundated regulatory agency feedback portals, state and local elected representatives, etc... Until next time. Then people will be back to HAM radio only. get your HAM radio license.

Atmospheric River

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

I kept a prepaid phone for emergencies for many years. I rarely use my phone, so I just put the minimum 5 dollars on it every month. That worked fine, though more often than not I was putting more money on when I didn't use it. I had to put the minimum 5 dollars on every month, though, or else the phopne company would wipe out the whole balance. Guess what happened? One month I forgot to put on the 5 dollats and by the time I realized it, two days later, they'd wiped out the balance. And then shortly after that, they gave away my number to someone else.

Part of me was pissed off that I forgot, and part of me was relieved.

It was a stupid amount of money that got wiped off, however, it was way, way, waaaay less than I would have been paying monthly all that time for a normal cell phone contract.

I'm on the fence about getting another one of these. Maybe I will, probably I won't.

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

We have a landline, but not by choice since we are in a dead zone for cell phone coverage. Our landline costs us $100/month. Our time with it is probably limited, though, since more and more of our neighbors on the same line are switching to cell phones. We also have a pre-paid cell phone that we use when working in remote fields or when going to town. That cell-phone costs us $9/month.

Re: Cell Phones

[mistyfriday]

In a single person household a smartphone can be more frugal than either a landline or pre-paid flip phone when it replaces the computer, phone, and internet service. Instead of using a major carrier I use a mobile virtual network operator with an unlimited plan that costs $30 a month.

I use my phone primarily for reading and writing. I have a bluetooth keyboad and mouse I use with the phone for longer writing projects. The small screen isn't good for everyone, but it can be a frugal option.

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

Sometimes a cell phone is not optional. I just visited my retina doc, only to find my appointment had been cancelled. It turns out they have a computer text you a few days in advance; if you don't confirm, the computer cancels your appointment. They had my land line #, so of course the text went into the great bit bucket in the sky. Annoying...

-Roldy-

Re: Cell Phones

[(Anonymous)]

Yes I find it annoying that so many service providers assume one has a smartphone, and do things like this.

The thinking seems to be: All things smartphone are so modern! This is all so inevitable! We have no choice!

Where I live almost everywhere I shop the clerk up front asks for my phone number. Even in the nail salon, where I'm supposed to wait for, like, not even 3 minutes on a perfectly comfortable chair in the lobby, they want to take my phone number. I've learned to say, "Sorry, I don't do the phone thing." I've had a couple of clerks get flustered about that, but most are slightly surprised, and then they're, like, "oh, well, OK."

I did have one incident recently where I told the clerk my phone wasn't working and he got annoyed with me. I thought that was strange, I mean, that does happen to people. I should have told him, dead straight, it fell in a vat of boiling peanutbutter fudge.