Month: March 2019

According to J.D. Power, the average Americans’ cell phone bill was $73 per month in 2014, which comes out to roughly $850 per year. If you were to invest that $850 per year and allow it to compound over 10 years you’re looking at an opportunity cost of over $12,000 which is a ridiculous amount of money.

If you are paying the average amount, or really anything over $20 per month for your cell phone, chances are you could be missing out on some juicy savings.

I recently changed to a new service provider, Tello, which uses Sprint’s network and offers a plan with unlimited texting, unlimited minutes and 200MB of LTE data and unlimited 2G data after that for $12.30 a month after all taxes and fees. Again, that’s an essentially unlimited plan for $12 per month.

You may be thinking, “I don’t know if I could make it in this crazy world with only 200MB of fast data and unlimited slow data!” Consider that you would save $720 per year compared to the average American, be about $10,000 wealthier every 10 years of your life, might be more conscious of the time you spend staring at a glowing screen, and you can always download all of the entertainment you would like on WiFi (which you most likely have access to 90% of the time anyways).

When I personally made the switch from multiple gigs of data to 200MB, the only major change I made was downloading podcasts while on WiFi instead of streaming music while traveling. I also made some updates to my phone settings (most of which are outlined in this helpful article on reducing your data usage). After all, data is the most expensive part of any cell phone bill so it makes sense to optimize your usage no matter what service provider you use.

And if you really can’t make it with more data, Tello has more plans with higher data such as one with 1GB for $14 per month. If you want to check out the plans they offer, feel free to use the link below which will give you a $10 credit if you try it out (and will give me $10 too, so thank you!)

Tello Plans

#MoneyGoals

(Pictured: Me using my 200MB of data in Deep Ellum, TX. July 4, 2018)

A smart man once said to me, “Sometimes the most obvious points are the most insightful.”

The idea that recurring costs are more impactful than one-time purchases seems like one of those points. It’s obvious that saving $10 per month on your cell phone bill would have a bigger impact in a year than trying to find a good deal to buy a new TV for $50 off, but how many of us spend time researching big purchases and hardly pay attention to our smaller monthly charges?

Next time you’re looking to save some cash, see if you can optimize your weekly or monthly spending. Rent, all kinds of insurance, cell phone/internet/TV service and groceries are some of the areas I focus on, and you can certainly think of more. Stay tuned for a hot tip on how to save on cell phone service next week!

#MoneyGoals

(Pictured: My most prolific money-saving tool, shielding me from recurring expenses of gas, car insurance, tolls and maintenance. Dallas, TX / October 20, 2018)