Our Family Cell Phone “Plan”

I am not a lover of telephones – of any kind.  I’m also not big into techno gadgets so for me, when it comes to cell phones, I keep it simple.  When you keep it simple you also keep it thrifty – Bonus! 

We don’t chat or text a lot on our phones so for us the best solution was a “pay as you go” plan.  Several years ago I researched the best product for us and chose to go with Tracfone.  I bought a phone on sale at ShopKo for $9.99 which came with minutes and two months of service.  It was a pretty cheap way to get started. 

This is the first year my girls are not picked up at school by the daycare van so I wanted them to have a phone to call me on and let me know when they left school or if they had a problem.  The obvious solution for us was to add another Tracfone. 

Last fall my oldest daughter bought the phone for $8.99 at Fred Meyer with her allowance money.  I pay for the service and minutes.  I felt that it was important that she buy the phone as a deterrent to losing it.  I add service to her phone every 90 days and I reload mine once a year. 

So far the average monthly cost on my phone runs $5.25 and $7.50 for hers.  The longer you use their service the less you pay later on down the road.  I am at the lowest right now but in the future I will be given cost saving options by Tracfone to lower the expense on my daughter’s phone. 

In the past ten years I have replaced one cell phone battery in my original phone and the phone itself with the one I am currently using.  Recently I had to replace the charger when it conked out on me.  Fortunately I was able to replace it for $4.99 with free shipping through Amazon.com.  I assume it was so inexpensive because my phone is no longer made. 

I don’t know how families do it with cell phone plans that cost literally hundreds of dollars each month.  If that was the case for us we wouldn’t have one.  I had a friend who spent nearly $400 a month for her phone service including one for her son with all the bells and whistles.  They were also on the darn things constantly.  I have no desire to spend that much time with a phone. 

How do you do your cell phone plan?