Can You Hear me Now?

After following the Happy Rock‘s postings this week regarding Virgin Mobile’s pre-paid cell plans, I’ve decided to follow his lead.

I’ve been a customer of Verizon for nearly a decade now. I’m on my third phone with them. The plan I’ve been grandfathered into is what I’d call an affordable rate these days. It’s just shy of $40/month with all of the taxes rolled in. Certainly within my budget.

Problem is — I’d say in that over the entire decade, I’ve used less than 500 minutes. That’s right. I average less than 5 minutes of airtime per month.

That, my friends, is a waste.

Thanks to the Happy Rock, my eyes are now open to the fact that I’m essentially paying $8 per minute at my current rate?

I always considered having a cell phone, given my daily activities and total lack of usage, to be a waste anyway, but on the freak chance I *needed* to make a call (such as after the accident, the convenience of having one available was worth the monthly bill.

Well, with more attractive alternatives out there, those days are nearing an end.

Posted on October 5th, 2007 at 7:47 pm by Brainy Smurf
Bargains, Cell Phone, Cutting Costs | 1 Comment »

October 2007: Quest for $1,000,000.00 Dollars

Another month headed in the right direction!

That’s what the numbers say, anyway… I didn’t really *feel* like I made any progress in September.

I mean, I’m the type who usually pays the mortgage nearly a month in advance and I was only able to afford it three days before it was due this past month. I hate cutting it that close.

Obviously, the big jump came from my 401k. Over three quarters of the increase is tied up where I can’t touch it. I’m still *very* cash poor and that’s mostly due to the fact that a number of my clients are behind on their bills. One of these days, my mailbox should have a decent number of checks waiting in it.

Until then, I’ll continue to tread water.

Posted on October 2nd, 2007 at 7:26 am by Brainy Smurf
Finance, Net Worth Updates | No Comments »