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31 Debt Free Missions: Switch Phone Service

Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.

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Want the leverage you need to pay off debt? Why you may need to switch phone service to save money and gain traction.

Tips like these helped us pay off $127K in debt. You can read our story in  Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After.

Welcome to 31 Debt Free Missions! This year on Queen of Free, during each day in January, we will provide 31 concrete debt free missions or challenges for you to take on to #SlayDebt and take charge of your finances this year. Each mission will take you less than an hour (some will only require 15 minutes). Whereas, 31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth (which I’m reworking this year and reposting in January, too) focused on some of the philosophical changes you need to make in order to be successful with money, 31 Debt Free Missions are action steps to put into place after you have your thinking straight. Even better, during the month of January, we’re revisiting each of these challenges in order to sharpen our money saving and debt slaying skills.

Are you ready? Your mission is as follows:

Day #26: Switch Phone Service

Hello? It’s Me. I’ve been wondering if all of these years you’d like to meet.

Sorry, I couldn’t resist the Adele lyrics. But the truth is that you’re likely paying way too much each month for your phone(s). In order to pay off debt more quickly you may want to reevaluate your current plan and maybe even switch phone service to free up a few dollars and put it toward slaying the debt dragon. Here are some ideas to get the ball rolling.

Ditch the Landline

I know a few of you are still holding onto your landline like it’s a lifeline. You may or may not really need this service. We dropped ours early in our debt slaying journey when our phone line was constantly being eaten by squirrels (I promise we do not live in a holler). After a week or two of not having service, I realized we could go without our landline. I don’t think that we’ll ever have one again, but you could always opt to have yours put back into service after you reach your goal of paying off debt. So even if it’s just for a short period of time, ditch the landline.

Stupid Phone

But mom . . . everyone has a smart phone. Um, no. Here’s the thing, you can function on an old school flip phone perfectly fine for a season. While we were paying off debt, I had an old phone that a family friend’s 8th grade daughter no longer needed. It was a pink and black bedazzled, slide out to text, with a 3 that didn’t work sort of phone. I can’t say I loved it, but I survived (even while running a blog). Just because it feels like everyone else has a smart phone doesn’t mean it’s true and if we’re bare bones honest most of us don’t need a smart phone. Don’t get me wrong, I like the internets (it’s why I hang out here so often). But keep all things in perspective.

Want the leverage you need to pay off debt? Why you may need to switch phone service to save money and gain traction.

Know Your Terms

Your cell phone bill can read like a cuneiform Sumerian tablet. No joke, back in 2006 many cell customers got a tax credit because built into their bills was a charge to help fund the Spanish American War. Where my history peeps at? The Spanish American was fought in 1898, yo. Cah-razy. Anywho, you need to actually read your bill during this debt free assignment. Are you going over on minutes? Data? Text? What are the stipulations?

Now that we’re debt free, I have a teeny tiny data plan on the smart phone I got for free the last time my contract renewed. Like 250 MB small. So I choose to set up an option on my account that my data just shuts off when I hit that threshold and also texts me as I near the limits (at 50%, 75%, and 90%). This small measure came from knowing my terms well and that way I don’t get charged more.

New “Rent to Own” Programs

I’m a little sad to see many mobile phone companies beginning to offer plans that require you to monthly pay for your phone. To me, it smacks of a Rent to Own program where you might save a little bit of money in the short term but over the long term you pay out more. It looks attractive because it “drops” your service fees lower but overall it’s borrowing friends and putting the phone on a payment plan. As I’m in the market for a new phone right now, I’m looking to buy one outright (but buy refurbished). I’m not going to get into each specific provider’s plan but if the deal sounds too good to be true, it is.

As with any categorical expense, nothing is sacred when you’re paying off debt. The temporary phone sacrifices you make can free up dollars that you can sling at the debt dragon and meet your goal in a more rapid manner.

Did you see the previous Debt Free Missions? Knock them all out this month!

For more money saving tips when it comes to the phone, check out The Best Ways to Save Money on Cell Phones.

My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out Inspiration to Pay Off Debt: 30 Days of Encouragement from the Queen of Free on Kindle.  

This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!

Related posts:

Keep excellent records in your quest to pay off debt. The practice is essential and these great tips will help you up your record keeping game.31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: KEEP EXCELLENT RECORDS 31 Debt Free Missions: Organize Receipts Why you should quit using paper goods during your quest to pay off debt! Check out this point to rethink your spending and purchases.31 Ways to Kick Debt in the Teeth: QUIT USING PAPER GOODS You are probably paying too much for your cell phones and service. This post was GREAT to help me think through ways to reduce my plan and device expense.The Best Ways to Save Money on Cell Phones
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My book is now available: Slaying the Debt Dragon: How One Family Conquered Their Money Monster and Found an Inspired Happily Ever After. You can also check out The Debt Free Devotional: 30 Days of Encouragement From the Bible For Those Paying Off Debt on Kindle.

This post contains an affiliate link. That means when you get a great deal or maybe even something for free, you also help our family pay off our mortgage early. And for that, we royally thank you!

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