Interesting Money

What it I told you that there was a way you could easily save upwards of $500 every year? Sound nice? What if I told you that you could also increase the general happiness of people around you at the same time? Sound unbelievable?

It is… almost. Most people are simply unable (or unwilling) to fathom what I am about to say. Are you ready for this? Brace yourself, because my idea is so revolutionary and counter-intuitive to the way you’ve been programmed by society that it may actually cause your eyes to bleed. Here goes….

Get rid of your cell phone. Yes, I actually said that. Disconnect your cellular service. Alright, most of you can now stop reading and happily surf to another site, convinced that I’m a complete lunatic. Those of you who want to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, read on.

For several years my wife and I both had cell phones. We paid $65 every month for our service. The phones worked fine and we had nary a complaint about the service, but we possessed the phones simply because we both commuted. In case of an emergency, we could contact someone for help. The other benefits of owning a cell phone were ancillary.

Fast forward a few years – we had moved closer to our school/work, and we had downsized to one vehicle. Since we no longer commuted, the primary benefit of our cells phones was null and void.

The Cancellation

One day we walked into Cingular with the intention of renewing our service contract for another two years. On a whim, I asked my wife if she thought we really needed the phones anymore. She looked at me inquisitively for a moment to see if I was serious, then said, “Actually, we probably don’t.” Just like that, we decided to cancel our service and go back to living the old-fashioned way – sans cell phones.

Canceling the service itself was actually a Zen-like experience. I calmly explained to the cheery service representative that we no longer wanted our phones. She was taken aback (they must not get that request often), but said I needed to call an outside office in order to cancel. She offered me a phone and I called the cancellation “hotline.”

The CSR on the cancellation “hotline” asked me a series of questions about my experience with them. Finally, I had to answer a question on WHY I wanted to cancel. She read the options to me, which included such answers as “unhappy with the service” and “switching to another provider.” None of them remotely considered the possibility that I simply no longer wanted a cell phone. When I tried to explain that to the CSR, she seemed confused, and read the options to me again. It dawned on me that she (and probably cellular providers as a whole) simply could not fathom the idea that a person would no longer WANT a cell phone. Syntax error – does not compute!

The Aftermath

Since canceling our cellular contract, we have saved $780 in cell phone bills every year. I never have to worry about disturbing a meeting or annoying the people around me because my cell phone went berserk. It’s a wonderful feeling, though there are probably very few people left in this country like me.

Are there occasions when I wish I still had a cell phone? Yes, of course, but those occasions are becoming more and more rare. For instance, I drove 1,000 miles one day to help a friend move into a new house, and when I made it to the town (late at night), I couldn’t find his house. A cell phone would have been handy, but I simply stopped at a nearby hotel and briefly borrowed the desk phone. Was that instance inconvenient? Sure, but was it worth $780 a year? No.

Of course, some people legitimately have a good use for cell phones, such as commuting, or their phones are provided by their jobs. Fine. Other people have ditched their landlines and rely exclusively upon their mobiles. I can’t argue with that, as long as you think it’s cost-effective. Other people I know have cell phones that are an extension of their hands, and they call one another from different rooms of the same house. Inexcusable. These are often the same people who go through their ringtone collection while dining at a restaurant. No, it doesn’t make you look cool, it makes you look like an idiot.

Before I stray too far from the subject, allow me to say that separating myself from my cell phone took discipline, but I’m much happier (and $780 wealthier each year) as a result.