Just Saved $1000!

I can't believe it.

No, I'm not trying to sign you up for anything, or trying to get you to buy anything. But I did just save over $1000 for 2010. Here's what I did.

I've been seeing these commercials for the new phones, blackberrys and droids. I've had my HTC smart phone for over 2 years and was looking to upgrade. I was excited about all of the bells and whistles that those new phones have. In fact, I would really like to have an iPhone, but AT&T doesn't have service where I live, so no iPhone.

I started comparing phones and realized that I really didn't need to use my phone for the internet. I can tweet by using text messaging. I mainly used my smart phone to sync my contacts and calendar.

I started searching, and found software that could sync my Mac's calendar and address book with an LG enV3. I could get the LG without getting the data plan, saving $70 a month/ $840 a year.

When I went to Verizon to make the switch, I was told that I had to keep that old plan I had, since we still had 2 Alltel phones that would not work on the new plan. So, I wasn't going to save any money. How much would it cost to get 3 LG phones? Buy one ($79), get one free. Then have to buy the third one. I would get a $50 rebate on the first one, so $108 for 3 phones, not so bad.

The lady entered my information into the computer, stared at the screen, and said I've never seen this before. Somehow, I had some kind of credits or something, but I was going to get all three phone for $11.64 after I get my rebate. Wow!

They talked me into getting insurance on my phones @ $6 per phone per month. The insurance would replace the phone if it is lost or broken. If a phone is broken or lost, we don't qualify to get a new phone for 2 years, so we would have to pay retail, about $300. Counting all 4 phones on our plan, that's $24 a month in insurance. After thinking about it, I called and had it canceled.

Here's why. Over the two years that we would have the insurance before we would qualify for a new phone, we would pay $576 for that insurance on all 4 phones (4 phones x $6 /month x 24 months). That almost paying for two $300 replacement phones. Since we don't have a history of losing/breaking phones, I thought we would keep the $576. We can use it to replace a phone if we mess on up or for something else. I'm voting for something else.

How are you saving money?