How I saved $90 on my Phone Bill

Recently I quit my job to become a stay-at-home mom.  I wasn't making THAT much money, but boy did losing my income hurt, especially when we found out we were expecting our 2nd baby!  So for the past few months DH and I  have been cutting back and looking for places where we were paying to much for something.  Our phone bill was one of those.  We were with T-mobile and we were paying about $125 a month.  This was the cheapest plan with Data that we could sign up for at the time.  They recently changed their rates to a "no-plan" option that does save money.  We looked into it and it would have put us at about $107 a month instead after taxes and fees.

Then one day I was sitting in the Dr office waiting for them to call me back and I overheard someone talking on the phone, telling their mom/friend/sibling about Ting.  I vaguely remembered my SIL telling me about Ting about a year earlier.  I decided to go home and check it out.

Ting uses Sprint's network and Sprint's phones (only Android, though *sigh*).  If you want to check coverage, just check Sprint's coverage in your area.

Basically, you are charged for what you use instead of what you think you're going to use, but it's not pre-paid.  It's a tier system, so your bill will change every month but you're not paying for what you're not using!  They even have a Rate Calculator so you can figure out what your bill might be before you sign up!

I looked at our old bills, and decided we would probably be in the Large tier.  I selected large on all three sections; Minutes, Messages, and Megabytes.  Then I selected 2 devices because my husband and I will both have our phones on the account.  It told me our estimated bill was $62 plus taxes.  WHAT?! That was about half of what we were paying!  Taxes and surcharges on our T-mobile bill were less than $10, so I assumed that's what they would be with Ting too, making our bill less than $70.  I was ready to switch!  Even paying a cancellation fee, it would only take a few months to save the money we spent on canceling a year early.  Worth it, I thought.  Especially because we received a $25 referral credit for our first bill.  How'd we get that?  Just because we used a referral link from my SIL.  So not only did we get $25 off, but they did too!  Way to help a sister out, eh?  To get yours use THIS LINK PLEASE!!!

Now you're thinking, "Wait a minute... the title says you saved $90.  That's only a savings of like $50-$60... where's the rest?)

First place we saved was in Megabytes.  You know you can get Wi-Fi pretty much anywhere these days, right?  So why  not use it.  However, your phone won't always automatically be connected to it.  To make sure you're using Wi-Fi instead of your Data whenever possible, simply turn your Data off.  Yes you can do that!  I'm sure it's different for all phones, but on my LG Optimus S you simply go to Settings-Wireless & Networks-Mobile Networks- and take the check mark off of "Data Enabled"  TADA!!!  Your Wi-Fi still works, but you're not using precious Megabytes.

Second place we saved was on Messaging.  I don't know about you, but the person I text most is DH.  He is almost always at work and on the computer, so when I need to message him I just use Google Talk instead.  For those not in the know, that's instant messenger through email.  We can both access the IM on our phones, so that gets rid of most of our messaging.   Guess what our bill ended up being after a month?

That's right.  AFTER taxes and fees our total was $33.69.  We went from $124 to $34.  We actually ended up only paying $8 something because of our $25 credit.  

You can easily monitor your account on the Ting website to see how many minutes/messages/megabytes you're using.  You can also download an app on your phone that monitors it for you, as well as set up alerts if you're getting close to going over the amount you want to use for the month.  It's awesome.  

I almost wish we had waited one month to switch over, though.  Ting is now assisting in paying early Termination Fees if you're stuck in a contract.  For more info on that go here.

Please make sure you use my referral link, though!  Every penny we save is going toward this baby, help a girl out!