How We Saved Money On Our Phone Bill and We Cancelled Cable

It's been awhile since I posted one of my Frugal Friday posts. But I wanted to share with you a couple ways that you can save money on cable and your home phone.

Last December we decided to cancel our cable as soon as our contract was up. I know for some of you cancelling cable is just not something you want to do. So I thought I would share what I learned in the process. This may not work with all cable companies but here are some tips that you might want to know and then see if your cable company offers the same thing.

When I called to cancel I was informed that I can put my account on hold for up to 6 months a year. The benefit to this is you won't have a bill for 6 months out of the year but remain with that company and not be under contract. I know you can get an introductory rate for just as cheap, if not cheaper but the benefit is that you are no longer under contract.

I was also told that they have special rates for existing customers, all you have to do is ask. 

What we did was put our account on hold for 4 months to make sure that we could live without cable and then when I called back to cancel I was offered a couple different rates to stay with them. They offered me one rate and then when I told them that I still wanted to cancel, they offered me an extremely low rate.

As far as living without cable, I miss the DVR. My kids miss their shows. My husband misses his sports. We save about $900 a year not having it. We now have a digital antenna hooked up to our TV. A lot less TV gets watched as a result.

Now onto our Phone Bill.

I am one of those people that just can't part with my home phone. Part of the reason being is that I work from home. Sometimes cell phones aren't that reliable so I like to have my home phone as back-up. Besides we have had the same number for 11 years and a lot of people have that number. I'm also not sure I want to give my cell phone number out on every application, registration, giveaway, etc.

We have always had the bare bones. No caller id, no call waiting, and no long distance. Last month I got my bill and the charges had again gone up. I called the company and they actually had a lower rate plan that I could get. They offered a lower monthly rate but for each local call you make you get charge $.04. Not per minute, per call. Incoming calls are free and toll free numbers are also free.

In the end it's not a huge savings but over a years time I will probably save about $90. That's a week of groceries around here.