100 Different Ways to Save $100 This Year - Part 2

As we talked about in Part 1 of this series, not all of these different ideas of ways to save $100 per year will work for everyone in every situation. I just share these as things which have worked for our family and allowed us to live through some very lean years without going into debt.

My hope in sharing these is not to make you feel you must also follow in our footsteps or adopt all of these practices, but I hope to inspire you to consider ways you might also cut expenses in order to stretch your hard-earned dollars further so you can pay off debt, live within your means, save money, and most importantly, give to others.

For us, that is our ultimate reason for saving money--so we can have more to share with others. We see money as something God has entrusted to us and we want to be wise stewards of what He has given us so we can not only take care of the needs of our own family, but so we can also effectively help and reach out to those in need.

And it's been so exciting for us to see our hard work and frugality pay off in the last few years as we've not only been able to have more wiggle room in our budget and the ability to save more for our future, but we're also able to share much more with others. Truly, "it is more blessed to give than to receive."

If you've been feeling like there's no way you are able to give and bless others in need in your current financial situation, perhaps some of these 100 Different Ways to Save $100 This Year will inspire you to creatively cut your living expenses so you can share with others as well!

With that said, here are some more things we did during our law school years which saved us at least $100 or more per year:

11) Cut out cell phones or ditch your land lines. For many people, a cell phone is considered a "necessity". I was there, too. I'd had a cell phone ever since I was 15 and had become accustomed to the convenience and sort of security it was. But when my husband and I sat down and mapped out our budget before we got married, I realized that cutting out my cell phone plan would save us a nice chunk of change each month.

And so we dropped it and I survived just fine. In fact, even in an unfamiliar town with unreliable vehicles for those first few years of our marriage, I never found myself stranded on the side of the road. Believe it or not, I only remember one time I ended up having to use a pay phone!

Now, for your situation, having a cell phone might truly be a necessity due to your job or other circumstances, however, I'd encourage you to consider how much of a necessity it is and whether you might be able to live without it or at least go with a pay-per-use plan instead of a monthly contract.

If you can't ditch the cell phone, consider ditching the land line, if you haven't already. Either way, it's almost assuredly gong to save you at least $100 per year.

12) Only have one vehicle. Once again, like cell phones, two (or more) vehicles is very much considered a "necessity" these days. However, I think it's all about perspective: if down-sizing to one vehicle meant you were able to save more money, stay out of debt, live on one income, etc. would you be willing to do it?

Early on in our marriage, our second vehicle died permanently and we couldn't afford to replace it, so we just made do with one vehicle for the next three years.

Honestly, we didn't really miss having two vehicles. I learned to love staying home and making my home a haven for my family. I learned to be creative and make the most of what we did have. Since we didn't have transportation during the day while Jesse was at work, I often hosted play dates or get-togethers at our house or we'd take long walks around our neighborhood, to the park, or to the library.

By only having one vehicle, we saved quite a bit of money--not only on gas, upkeep of a vehicle, and insurance costs, but we also saved money because we did a lot less running around. And, let me tell you, staying home most of the time is one very easy way to spend less money!

Have you ditched your cell phone(s) or landlines or cut back to only having one vehicle? If so, I'd love to hear about your experiences in this regard and how it has worked for your family.

photo by Refracted Moments

Comments

[Priscilla]

We need to have 2 vehicles as my husband's job varies so much...he is a flight attendant. He comes home & goes to work at various times of the day or night & days of the week. The airport he flies out of is more than hour from our home...so, it isn't practical for us to cut back to 1. If he ever does retire, I hope we could then cut back to 1.

Once our 2 yr contract was up, we did not renew our cell phone contract. We went with a prepaid phone $20 every 3 months instead of $50 every month. We use a cell very little...the main reason to have it is (work related) for the times my husband is 'on-call' or we go out on a date/nice to know we can be reached in an emergency. I just can't do away with the land-line yet...we have DSL & I can't see leaving the computer turned on at all times for the other cheaper phone options to work.

[Trixie]

Hello,

I've always had a land-line for dsl access for our online businesses, but have never had a cell phone until 2 weeks ago. Getting a cell phone was something I had put off for years because I didn't want to spend the money or deal with the hassle of researching the best plan.

A couple of weeks ago I finally gave in and bought a prepaid cell phone. The one I got turned out to be much cheaper than I expected to pay. In case anybody is doing research on cell phones, you can take a peek at mine here:

http://farmhomelife.blogspot.com/2009/03/prepaid-cell-phones-cheap-and.html

Take Care,

Trixie

[Ruthanne]

We are cell-phone only people - we got rid of the land-line about five years ago and have never missed it! That has saved us atleast $75 a month!

We also just lowered our minutes on our cell phone plan because we had a huge pile of roll-over minutes that were never being used. When we use up those roll-over minutes, we plan to switch back for one month, acquire some more roll-over minutes and then down-grade again until those roll-over minutes are used up. The surprising thing is we've actually come under our current minute limit for the past two months, so we are adding more roll-over minutes with our lower plan!

Making that little change is saving us $20 a month!

[Megan]

My husband has to have a cell phone for work. So I have one on his plan. About 5 months ago, we ditched our land line and have NOT missed it one bit! We don't talk on the phone a ton so we don't go over on cell minutes.

It has worked really well so far and I doubt we will add the land line back in!

[Candace]

A few years ago, we switched from regular cellular service to prepaid with T-mobile to Go. We were paying around $60-70 a month for 2 cell phones - around $700+ a year.

After switching we were only paying less than $200 a year (.10 cents a minute) for cellular service. It took awhile to learn to only use them for quick calls to keep the minutes down. We viewed them as emergency phones only.

We just added 2 lines to my parents cell phone service and dropped the prepaid. It will cost us about $350 for the year for the 2 phones. This is a bit more than the prepaid, but we can now call each other and our family as much as we want on the cell phones.

Also, our old and I mean OLD phones had to be replaced so this was also a low cost way to do that.

We have a land line and only pay $20 for unlimited long distance. SInce we live 10 hours from our families, this is a good deal!

Candace

Frugalindy.com

[Jolanthe]

We ditched out landline recently, but took the number with us and transferred it to our cellphone. My biggest fear was losing just one little phone. We found a great gadget called the XLink that makes your cell phone a 'landline' of sorts.

I just posted about it last week on one of my blogs: http://www.noordinarymomentsblog.com/2009/03/losing-landline.html

We are loving it and it is saving us money since we have unlimited long distance on our plan and unlimited call time (we use a more local cell phone carrier and the prices are cheaper than some of the nationwide carriers, plus we have local service).

[Kacie]

We're a one-car family now, and it's working well. We had two, but in Feb 08, the second car got in a small wreck and it just wasn't worth repairing.

My husband takes a bus to work anyway (he'd have to pay $15/day for parking otherwise!!) and the bus stop is less than a half of a mile from our apartment. He actually likes walking to the stop -- free exercise! On really cold or rainy days, I drop him off at the bus park n' ride or he drives to the park n' ride lot.

During the weekends, we're together and we don't typically have separate plans that would necessitate having two vehicles.

Though I think we could afford a second car if we really wanted it, it's nice not to have that expense. We're avoiding paying for the car, insurance, registration fees, state emissions inspections, gas, oil and other maintenance, a second car seat ... the list just goes on and on!

We might see the need for a second car on down the road, but not today!

[Elizabeth]

We switched to a prepaid cell phone service. We each buy 100 minutes a year and it is just 10 cents a minute. It works for us and I do use it when I need it. Or even if I just want to. We went from between $80-90 a month to about two hundred a year. So we went from a round 960 a year to 200. We happy with that.

[jillbert]

I cancelled my cell phone a few months ago. I am fine without it even with a busy life and three kids at school and different activities. The few times I've needed to reach someone RIGHT NOW (like when basketball practice was cancelled and needed to revise car pool plans), someone else around me always had one to use. The school has been able to reach me when necessary (I stay home mostly so I'm easy to reach and if I'm not here my DH is since he works from home). My reasons for canceling it were not financial but more lifestyle related. The extra money is a bonus. :)

We've also been a one-car family in the past. Buying a second car was a luxury purchase but due to our frugal ways (and going without 2 working cars for years) we were able to pay cash for it. Now that second car allows us to drive our aging mini-van less (8 yrs old) so we can save it for the big trips. For errands and local driving we use the smaller hybrid car.

[Amy Peca]

We ditched our house phone. When Tmobile came out with their Hot spot at Home - now called Talk Forever, we upgraded our phones and now talk for "free" using our wireless connection. We do also pay for the 5 faves (talk to those 5 people for free) We were able to lower our monthly minutes, b/c we had these other ways to talk for free. I can talk for "free" when I am out on the town too. Just by picking up other free wifi (McD's, Starbucks. Sonic, etc) I am able to talk without using minutes. This is helpful if one person in the household travels and is in hotels frequently--just be sure to check into one that offers free wifi - who doesn't these days. Having this option does require a special phone but we hadn't upgraded in @ 4 years so we were due for new phones anyways...One last thing - we do have a 17 yo family member living with us,,,so we do pay for unlimited texting ...this is great for me since I can text someone to ask a simple question--and not be on the phone for a long conversation (like when I am out shopping and I'd otherwise be burning minutes) --Hope this helps!! amy

[Tricia]

We only use cell phones in our home. My husband is self employed so he really needs a cell phone when he is out and about to respond to customers. I am on his plan and it works just fine. We do not miss the land line at all. I like keeping things simple and it helps that there is only one number where people can reach me.

[Crista Quinn]

We switched our cell phones to pay as you go phones, because we really only use them for emergencies. That has saved so much money. As for the 2nd car....sigh... you are so right. We went for the first 15 years of our marriage on only one car, and I loved that; loved telling people we only had one car; kind of like a status symbol of how frugal we could be. haha Alas, my husband's company was bought by a company about an hour from here, and so, instead of walking (literally) across the street to work, he now drives an hour to and from work each day. We knew that driving our minivan all that way each day wouldnt' get good mileage, and I'd never have a car. So, we took cash and bought a much smaller, reliable car that would get him back and forth to work each day. Two years later, it still seems strange to look out and see two vehicles!! I miss how we only had one for so long. Also, I feel like having only one car forces you more to do things together. I see so many families splitting up to drive to church, run different errands, etc... Only having one car forced us into habits of doing all those things together for 15 years, and we still do that today. Just my opinion. Thanks for your great blog!

[Renee]

We've been cell-phone only for our entire marriage, and it's worked very well. I think there's only been a couple of times where it would have been nice to have a regular phone at home, and that certainly isn't enough for us to want the regular monthly phone bill that would go along with it! I know it's saved us a ton of money over the years.

As we prepare for our first baby's arrival, the need for two cars will disappear (I'll be staying home with him). It would have been incredibly difficult to share just one car previously with our work schedules and locations. I don't see us getting rid of either of our paid-for vehicles, even though it would save on insurance/registration fees. We'd have to cut a lot of other things out of the budget first and still need to cut more before my husband would want to go to one car.

I think there were some issues when he was growing up with his family only having one and there being lots of difficulties with it. For whatever reason, having the two vehicles is a *really* big deal to him, so unless our situation changed so we needed to make some deeper & more painful cuts (to him), we'll stay a two-car family.

If we lived in a location that had workable public transportation he'd probably feel much differently, and we'd most likely discuss going down to one. Although having two does make it much simpler when we have to get work done on one of the vehicles so I especially appreciate it then.

I think it'll help that I'm very much a homebody, so I still don't see that I'll be doing a lot of running around during the day anyway, even though I could.

[Paula]

We just got rid of our land line this month. Our bill was $42.88 a month so we will have a yearly savings of $538.56. WOW, now that I've actually sat down and figured it out, that is a lot. So far, the cell phone has been working out just fine.

[Roxanne]

Good tips. :-)

If you ask my husband, however, having 2 vehicles is a must. Whenever one of our cars is in the shop, he makes me drop him off at work & pick him up. He feels it's very unsafe for his wife and two babies to be home alone without a car.

As it turns out, the one and only time in life one of our children had an accident that required emergency care - we were home carless. So hubby was proven right.

I guess if you can rely on one of your neighbors to always be home and willing to drive you somewhere in the case of an emergency you can manage on one car.

[laura]

We have not had a land line for 4-5 years now. We do however have cell phones, me, my husband, 2 kids and my dad are all on the same account. My dad just pays us his part every month and it's cheaper on us all. We divide the base rate by 5, plus his 9.99 monthly fee and it's a huge savings for him not paying the base rate of 79.95 each month he pays 1/5 that amount. I'm not sure how many people can be on one account but this is a great way to save money.

[Stephanie S.]

Speaking of ways to save money, I just put up a post on my blog about shopping at local bread outlets. Thought it might be something you and your readers would be interested in! Thanks so much for all your great information--your blog is my favorite!

http://onedayonedollaratatime.blogspot.com/2009/03/try-this-bread-and-save-some-dough.html

[jessica]

We had only 1 vehicle for the first 6 years of marriage. Then, that car (10 years old and paid off) began running poorly, no a/c, and with all of our family a 300+ mile trip away, we decided to buy a second, used car and paid cash for it. We still have the old car since it is paid off and usually runs okay.

This works for us for now. We know we could donate or trade the older car if need be. But we did need that newer car in order to have a safe means of travel, especially with a little one you cannot not have a/c!

[Renee]

We got rid of our landline about three years ago and haven't missed it. For our cell phone plan, we go together with my parents and sister and split the cost of a plan five ways. Our portion is $35 a month. We don't any extras on our plan (like texting). It has worked out great and saves us a nice chunk of change.

[Tracey - Girls to Grow]

When we moved into our current home about 18 months ago, we decided to try going without our telephone landline and just use our cell phones. It has worked well for us. Even with family out of state, we have put their phone numbers into our "circle" and still talk with them as much as we want. We have not gone over our monthly minutes and, by not paying the bill for a landline, have easily saved more than $100 a year.

[Tammy L]

Yep! :)

1 vehicle and no cell phones (just the most basic land line for ~$23/mo.; used a phone card for long distance)... it's just part of living within our means. :)

Although, I feel kinda guilty saying that since I'm writing a cookware review right now! We did splurge on nice cookware last year... :P :)

[Jennifer]

We haven't ditched one vehicle, but we have one that is a 1993 Mercury Topaz. It was my grandfather's. When he died, no one wanted the car. We took it as our second car, and it only has 50,000 miles on it! I drive 90 miles round trip for work 3 days a week, so we're putting the miles on this car. It gets 30 miles per gallon, so we're saving money on gas and insurance (because it's old) and don't have a car payment! We're actually saving for a second car but loving the savings we get with this one in the meantime!

[KC in KS]

We've been living without a landline phone for three years now. At first, I was concerned about "official" forms and such that would insist we need to provide a "real" phone number, but haven't run into one yet. In fact, more and more clerk-types are commenting "we see a lot of that these days."

DH nearly signed us up for a landline one day when he couldn't reach me during the day - I'm home with three small kids. I eventually convinced him that it doesn't matter what KIND of phone we have, if I've got a kid in the bath/on the changing table/cuddled up for a story, I'm NOT going to answer the phone!

[Courtney]

We only had one car for the first 8 years of our marriage, and both of us were working outside of the home. We worked out our schedules so that we could carpool together every day. The great thing was that it really helped our communication. I came to treasure our time together in the car, talking about our days and everything else going on in life. I was sad to finally have to get another car when we moved. I would love to go back to being a one-car family someday soon!

[Donna]

We have not ditched our phones all together, but we have downgraded. We went to vongage (parents are a long distance call..so this makes those the same as local)
As for cell phones we did renew our old contract. I simply have a Go phone. We bought a $100 phone card---that is good for 1 year. At the end of the year if I have not used all my minutes, I can buy another $100 card and my minutes will roll over. Three months into the year and I have only spent $16.00--so I think $100.00 will be dooable for the year! That is a huge savings. considering our cell phone contract was $80.00 a month for 2 phones.. or $960 a year to just $200 a year. That is a savings of $760.

We feel we need a land line because of our children..I want them to be able to call 911 without hunting for a cell phone. If I had no children..I would ditch the land lines :)

[Jennifer]

We got rid of my cell phone last year. I was trying to cut our monthly expenses. So I invested $50 in a trac phone with minutes and have been using that every since. It saved me way more than $100 in the past year. I don't use it much, but I have it for emergencies. The best of both worlds I guess.

[Darla]

My husband and I have been married 11 years and have only ever had 1 car. Has it always been easy, NO but God always managed to work out our jobs so that we were working close to each other (even after living in 3 states). I think 2 cars is a luxury that unfortunately most people have deemed a necessity.

[Emily]

Hello,

We ditched the land line - but I think I would prefer keeping the land line and ditching the cell phone if it wasn't for all of the telemarketers (even though we are on the no call list!)

You have been a great inspiration to us - we have decided to pay off our mortgage in the next 10 years. It will take us awhile because we live in the Boston area so our mortgage alone is twice the cost of an average house in your area (YIKES!). We think that it's definitely worth it though in the long run.

[Amanda]

When I was pregnant, my husband and I thought I was going to have to go back to work after our daughter was born to be able to make it. After she arrived I just couldn't bear the thought of going back so we made drastic cut backs. One of which included going to one car. I thought this was going to be a VERY hard thing but it actually was a lot easier than expected. We've been without a car now for 15 months and going strong! :) We somehow work everything out and it does save a TREMENDOUS amount of money - cost of car, insurance, gas, maintenance expenses, etc. My husband just got a new job and we have talked about the fact that we could fit a second probably in to our budget if we really wanted but it's worked so well that we'd rather just stay with 1 car for now and put that money towards other good uses.

[Suzanne]

About 2 years ago my office required us to change to a treo phone which could be a pager and cell phone. They pay for the service and I use that as my only cell phone. I have phone service bundled with my cable and like to have a home phone number to give so that I don't get solicitations on my cell.

[Sara]

Hi! Yes. We've ditched our landline and we are a 1 car family. Most of the time it's fine to be a 1 car family. Sometimes it is very inconvenient, but not often enough to pay for a car payment. Thanks!

[Jessica]

We've taken steps in this direction. Instead of both driving to work everyday, we carpool in one car. We've ditched the landline for cellphones on a family plan that share minutes. I've held out from getting a newer smartphone with an info plan till I have the money to pay in cash.

[Erika]

I agree with the previous poster--and I'm keeping my landline.

911 calls can be directly, immediately linked to your home address in the event of an emergency. (From what I understand this is not the case with cellphones; it takes longer to pinpoint location.)

I'm home alone all day in a rural area with 2 small children and the peace of mind of having a landline is worth the cost to me.

[Kitty]

I don't have a land line for talking - I have DSL for my internet access. You can use Skype to make your calls for free! I have been using it for a while and love it.

I think my cell phone is a necessity - with 4 children it makes me nervous to leave the house and not have it. They can reach me or txt. me at all times and that is extremely important to me.

Thanks for the great article!

Kitty
http://coupondivas.com

[Michele]

Don't forget, if you get rid of your cell phone service, you can still use your old cell phone to call 911 (as long as you keep the battery charged).

[Sarah]

We had a cell phone and a land line. My husband wanted to get rid of the cell but I begged to keep it! I have 4 kids and one is a baby. We have an older truck and an older truck, I didn't want to get stuck somewhere with 4 kids. I live in the middle of nowhere, and getting stuck in a snow bank with them in the middle of nowhere was NOT an option for me. So we gave up our land line, and changed our cell # to our former landline #. It was actually cheaper to do that! We also have 2 vehicle (a van & a truck). Both are paid off and we keep them both because we live on a minifarm and need a truck, and we need the van for the family. There was a time tho that we could live without 2 vehicles, when we didn't live on a farm.

[MB]

We switched to prepaid phones a few years ago and it saves us a ton. Also, until recently I had a really old phone and refused to buy a new one, but it finally started breaking down, so my husband found an old (but newer still) at work that they let him have and we just put the SIM card in it. Works like a charm!

I, too, am a little too nervous about ditching the landline due to the 911 thing. Maybe one day.

We skype for overseas calls and it saves us a ton.

When I first moved to Australia, we didn't have a car for 18 months, then we bought my sister-in-laws, but then still took public transport to work. We can't do that now as we live in very UN-public transport friendly city (in the U.S.). I'm hoping that changes one day. Still, we are within walking distance to many things and walk when we can.

[Melinda]

Hi. We haven't had a landline in probably 5 years. We ditched it when I realized I had had a total of 3 calls on the landline in one month, and about 35 on my cell phone. We also invested in cable internet, so it was easy to turn off the landline.

It's been okay, except for recently. We've started leaving our oldest at home for about an hour once every other week, and I get nervous with her not having a phone to call for help if she needs it.

We are also a one car family. Again, it is a big savings, I know. But there are times I wish we had 2 cars. It would be easier. I want to go back to school, and I don't see doing that before we have a second vehicle. But I'll live without in the meantime.

Hugs,
Melinda

[Michelle]

Crystal,
What a great post. I was a full time working RN, when God laid on my heart to leave my job and be a full time "Keeper at Home". I have shared the challenges and trials on my blog. Here is the linkto the series: http://michellebyhisgraceandforhisglory.blogspot.com/2008/06/coming-home-seriesweek-1.html
http://michellebyhisgraceandforhisglory.blogspot.com/2008/07/comeing-home-series-week-2.html
http://michellebyhisgraceandforhisglory.blogspot.com/2008/07/coming-home-series-week-3.html
I am not sure how to get you to directly link. Hope they are a blessing!
By His grace and for His glory,
Michelle

[Beth]

We switched to TracFone for our cell phones and DH and I can both have a phone for about $10/month. We are not phone chatters, though, we mostly use them for quick updates about who needs to be picked up where.

We've been a one-car family for 15 years now. In fact we have a 19-year-old daughter, so we share one car between 3 drivers. She and her dad carpool to work on the days she works; that helps a lot.

The secret to one-car contentment, for me, is being willing to STAY HOME a lot. :) I find that my homeschool day runs much more smoothly that way. I can't run around to CVS and get bargains, but I think the lack of car payment/inspections/tags/tax/gas makes up for that.

About emergencies: I've only once had an emergency where I thought a child might need to go to the hospital. But he was exhibiting such scary symptoms that I called EMS...even if I'd had a car I would not have felt comfortable taking the time to drive him to the ER.

Rather than true emergencies like that, we sometimes have "urgent" needs for a car...that has not come up much at all for us. But we do have family nearby who are sometimes able to help, and my DH does have the flexibility to leave work if it's truly urgent.

My husband and I both grew up in frugal families, in small houses, with one car per family. We are in our 40's, so probably older than a lot of your readers. At least we're old enough to know that people used to live like this all the time and made it work somehow.

[Camille @ Growing Up Gabel]

We're going on 4 years with only one vehicle. We bought another one and had it for about a year, but found we just didn't need it and it wasn't worth the cost! I find now that I prefer to be home during the day and I don't feel the pressure to over schedule my kids -- I can't sign them up for classes because I can't drive them!

We also ditched our cell phone in October when our contract was up. We do have a Tracfone, but that costs about $7/mo. The only time I miss the cell is when we are in a large store together and get separated! :-) LOL

[passion06]

We have to have a home phone and a cell phone unfortunatly.... :( I live in a area, that VERIZON does not pick up well?? Who would have thought, "can you hear me no, NOPE" LOL... So we have a home phone due to that glitch, and I use my home # more often then my cell... But in the same note, we have not been able to get rid of the cell phone, cause DH is afraid if I'm out and about, and he needs to get ahold of me, he wont be able, or if there is a problem, you know.
We BOTH have cars, but they are used and fully paid for. I only fill my van up maybe 1 time a month.. If we could go down to 1 car we would but we live 45 mins from DH's 2 jobs.. So we are 2 car must family...
But we are frugal in ALOT of other ways..

[Liz]

We could do it if absolutely necessary. I do most of my errands when DH is home anyways because it is so much easier than trying to drag the kids with me (even just 1). However, we'd need something big enough for 3 kids, 2 of which are still in safety seats and one who is almost as tall as me at age 8 (I'm 5'1"). DH also works an hour away (gas prices..OMG), and finding a comparable job here is not an option. I have had to make do without the cell phone before...I pretty much didn't do anything or go anywhere for fear of the kids' school needing to get ahold of me. We do have emergency contacts but no matter who we would choose, I can't guarantee that they would be able to be reached, and that just really makes me nervous. So, could I do it? Yes, if I had to...but I am very thankful that we don't!

[Heather]

When we moved into a new rental 5 months ago we did not set up a phone. We have only our cell phones. somedays it feels a little annoying, but it's working. Only downfall is that when we get a babysitter I request that she has to have a phone in case of emergencies, but i'm finding that most young girls have them now anyway.

Coming up this Friday we have a buyer coming to look at my car. We are in some money trouble right now and getting rid of my car will give us money to pay off some debt. It will be a challenge, but right now my husband works nights, and sleeps in the day, so it should work out for us.

[Tiffany]

We ditched the land line as soon as we got cell phones. We are on Verizon and so is the rest of our family so we talk for free that way. It also allows us to keep a low minute plan and the whole family knows if they switch to another service we won't be calling unless it's a weekend.

We also went to a one car household when gas hit $4 a gallon. My husband's car was a gas hog so we got rid of it, there have been times were it would be nice to have 2 cars but for the most part it's fine. If I go back to work in a couple years when my son is in school it maybe time to rethink the 1 car thing unless I get a job close to home and can walk.

[LeMira]

We have never had more than one vehicle (our insurance agent was surprised to hear that!), and we have a land line because it's cheaper for us than a cell phone plan. I only recently bought a pre-paid cell phone that I renew once a year for those times when I'm out and about. I rarely use it, though, and it's worth only renewing once a year. I've never had to go back to work, and my husband uses the public transportation system to get to and from work. It saves us TONS of money doing it that way.

[Amanda Hensley]

Its kind of ironic for me to read this post. My husband has been saying that we need to ditch our home phone - which means no more internet at home b/c all we have is dial up. I will be able to get online at my mom's or my husband's work, which isn't very far, but I have enjoyed the convenience of having it at home. It's been really hard for me to let go, but I'm sure once I do, it won't be as bad as I think. Thanks for the posting.

[Mary]

Ahhh....what I wouldn't give to do both of these things. But it is not possible for us in our current situation.
DH is in the Army, leaving for Korea for a year. It is important to him that 1) with the time difference and 2) with horrible work hours, he be able to reach us at all times. So, we got a pre-paid cell phone, which does cost a bit, but not as much as a contract.

And for the cars....now...for this next year, we'll basically have one car sitting in our driveway not being used (it's paid off, and I'll take the insurance off of it), but I can't use that car because we have 5 children (all 5 in carseats or boosters) and it's a Honda Civic. So, we have a minivan.

In normal life, it's still not feasible for us to have just one car. 2 of our children have life-threatening illnesses, and one of them is a "get him to a hospital within 20 minutes" kind of thing. Combined with the fact that we live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, 20 minutes from a hospital, and 20 minutes from shopping, if DH were out with the car and Pierre got sick at home, there would be no time to call DH home and then take Pierre to the hospital. So....it's not practical, and a decision to only have 1 car could cost our son's life. Not something we'll be doing.

[Jessica]

I got rid of my landline years ago when living with my sister and now that I am married still don't have one. I am glad of our decision to keep cell phones instead because it is a comfort to know that I can call someone in an emergency on the road and I can turn it off or turn off the volume if I don't want to answer calls at home. No more loud answering machine that annouces all of your business to the entire room either. I don't think we will ever go back to a landline unless we live somewhere that doesn't get cell phone service.

[Carrie]

We haven't had a land line for nearly ten years now. But after I quit my job to stay at home, I cut my cell phone plan down to almost nothing.

To supplement, I have a telephone number through Skype.com. I pay about $5 a month for unlimited calls in or out and it works right through my computer. It comes with voice mail, call waiting, caller id, pretty much everything.

The quality isn't always the best, but I mostly use it as a back-up.