Well, now I've done it.
After reading all the great comments about phones and how you, my esteemed followers keep your costs down, (I especially loved Cro's comment " I don't bother with a mobile phone. If they want to contact me, they'll have to wait till I'm home") I took the leap this morning and cancelled my Smart Phone.
It felt a bit like chopping off my thumbs.
T. But, the immediate financial savings realized have elevated my mood. We were paying $120/month for one Smart phone and one basic flip phone. As of this coming Monday, when my flip phone arrives, we'll just be paying $45 a month for both phones, a savings of $75/month or $900/year.
The customer service employee asked why I was downgrading, but never tried to talk me out of it, yet she did say she could not remember the last time anyone had called to decrease their service or downgrade to a simpler phone. Everyone, she said, wants bigger, better and faster.
I get to keep my old Smart phone which is great because I love its camera, and I can still connect to Wi-Fi with it, if I am so inclined say, in a restaurant or just outside on our property since we already pay for Internet here. But I plan to get away from my obsessive habit of always being connected all of the time. Just because I see an unusual hawk in the yard doesn't mean I have to look it up on Google that second does it? Well, I did, meaning while looking at my Smart phone screen I was missing the birds real beauty, its antics, and probably oblivious to its swooping down and carrying off our ducklings.
I will also have to stop my annoying habit of telling my adult kids to "Look it Up" on their Smart phones when we are in disagreement about something like the US's educational requirement for the Supreme Court. Turns out they don't have to be an attorney first.
Not having a Smart phone in the car will mean that while my husband is driving, I could be writing, reading a book, or how about this? Actually talking to him instead of surfing Facebook, doing non-sense texting or checking my emails. We will also go back to hard copy maps or look up directions on our home computers before leaving for an unfamiliar location.
I think we can do this, I really do.
And when our kids make fun of us, as they will, I'll just remind them that I was the first manager in our hospital to get a portable phone for my car back in 1988 and the first to have a laptop in 1993. Once upon a time, before I was an embarrassment, I was cool, very very cool.
I think it's refreshing to find someone (else) that doesn't need to have their face in a phone all the time.
ReplyDeleteI have never had a smartphone and probably never will. I'm not a phone talker and to find places, I use a GPS.
Sure, I'd like to find a hotel from time to time while on the road, but I'm not paying crazy prices like that for a smartphone for that privilege. I have my $20 a month phone from Consumer Cellular that gives me 250 minutes a month. I can call a hotel call center and book that way. Not as easy, but $20 is all I'm willing to dole out for a phone.
It sits in the truck, unused 99% of the time. Family knows to email me . I'll check my computer at the hotel in the evening. My kid (32)has learned--mama isn't always available. I'm in my "selfish" years now! Ha!
Have a great weekend
The problem is Sue, my face was in my Smart phone too much, so now breaking the habit before I turn 60 and get run over by a teen with THEIR face in a smart phone.Your Consumer Cellular sounds like a great deal
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Good for you guys. It is liberating for sure! We downsized last year.
ReplyDeleteDownsizing is good. We are downsizing so much having a difficult time remembering why we upsized in the first place.
DeleteCongratulations. I'm another one who refused a smart phone. And I turned off the data function on my phone. I wanted a simple, plain flip phone with camera - good for pictures of the car that hit you - I learned to text too. If they want me, they can text or email because I'm not chained to any damn phone if I'm not at my desk using my desktop computer. I hate lap tops but do have an e-reader because I read a lot & like the back-lit screen when I read in bed. I have a home office & will meet any customer in any coffee shop close by MY office. If they don't like it, they can go somewhere else.
ReplyDeleteIt's funny how being 'available" 24/7 becomes less appealing the older I get.
DeleteGreat to read your reasons, Donna, and if this works for you, great. We do have smart phones and don't have any plans to downgrade. However, we don't pay for a lot of extra data plan or other features so that is our economizing. And, we did buy the phones outright so we are not paying the phone company a monthly usage charge.
ReplyDeleteGood on you. We all do what we need to do. My lesson has been telling the difference between Need and Want.
DeleteI do have a smart phone and my husband has a flip phone. We pay $45 a month for the two of them from Consumer Cellular and I don't think I ever use up the data, texts or calls allowed and since he seldom turns his on he never does either. I broke and got a smart phone last winter, my husband had a heart issue while deer hunting and ended up in the hospital in Duluth (we live in east central Wi., some 7 hours away). He was there for two weeks (as was I - trust me, not the call you want to get at 9:30 on Thanksgiving night when you're 7 hours away and have horses, chickens, goats and dogs to arrange care for). Anyway, keeping the kids informed meant a boatload of texts flying back and forth - on a flip phone with no keyboard, not fun. When I'm at home my phone lives on the kitchen table no matter if I'm in the garden or barn or house. I take it along when I leave home but when I'm at rare social thing it stays in my purse on vibrate. It's a handy tool for info and directions but I own it, not the other way around.
ReplyDeleteLove that. You owning the phone instead of it owning you. Hope hubbie is well now.
DeleteThe shackles have been severed. You are now free. I hope others will follow your example. Too many people around with their noses permanently glued to smart phones!
ReplyDeleteWith more and more shackles being broken to our old life...you should see me dancing around this Poor Farm! Well, maybe not, it's muddy and I fall often.
DeleteIs it wrong that I read your post on my smartphone? No, it isn't. Because one of your best qualities is not judging others. This sounds like a sound fiscal plan.
ReplyDeleteNo, not wrong, hysterical in fact. You should have seen me yesterday doing all I could do on my smartphone yesterday, our last day together. It was worse than a dead man walking trying to plan his last meal.
Delete