Money Saving Tip: Family Cell Phone Plan

One way that my family saves money is by using a Family Plan for our cell phones. It started first when my husband added me to his plan a couple years ago. Shortly after that his father retired and therefore handed over his work cell phone so we added him to our plan. Then my parents moved to Pennsylvania and wanted local phone numbers so we added them too.

Here is the breakdown for our cell plan:

700 Minute Plan- $60
Unlimited Text Plan- $30
Unlimited Data Plan (for my husband's smart phone)- $30
4 Family Share lines @ $9.99 each - $39.96
= $160 a month

Divided by 5 people = about $32 per person a month

Now, 700 minutes isn't a lot, but our cell phone provider offers unlimited mobile-to-any-mobile minutes meaning that all calls from our cell phones to any other cell phone (regardless of who their provider is) are included in our unlimited minutes. This helps keep our minute count down significantly! Many people are transition to cell phones only and eliminating their landlines. Additionally, our provider offers rollover minutes of which we currently have quite a stockpile!

If each of us had our own plan, it would cost us $40 for the cheapest plan plus $20 for unlimited messaging. Add that to $90 for my husband line alone ($40 + $20 + $30 for unlimited data) and we're looking at $330 plus taxes! That's a $170 savings each month or over $2000 a year!

Do you have a tip for saving money on cell phones? If so, just email 2010housewife@gmail.com or leave a comment below.