Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Ending '08 With A Small Bang

So I finally called my phone company to remove the voicemail ($6) and maintenance ($7.50) services that I discussed in the Every Penny Counts post. When the customer service rep asked how she could help me, I told her that I was interested in reducing my monthly bill but not at the expense of upgrading or getting additional services to bundle. To my surprise she said "okay, let me see what I can do." She then rattles off the following:

  • We can reduce your local service from $35 to $26;
  • We can reduce your unlimited long distance from $21.99 to $9;
  • Your voicemail is $6, we can reduce that to, $0 (yes, zero);
  • The maintenance plan is $7.50 but that will increase to $9.99 if you choose to keep it (the increase is due to the additional coverage of the DSL modem);
  • The DSL you have is $32.95 and we can reduce that to $27.95 (my company pays for my DSL so this doesn't impact my monthly budget, however the $5 savings is still welcomed)

The total phone savings per month is $30.50, $5 for my company and $25.50 for me! I was calling to reduce my services and save $13.50 but I get to keep all of the services and save $25.50 instead! How awesome.

Feeling pretty good about my conversation with the phone company, I called Directv to see if my luck would continue and guess what, they offered me a $10 per month price reduction, plus free premium channels for 6 months. My guess is that either the recession or cable is creating some customer reductions for them and they are trying to hold onto those of us who remain. Whatever the reason, I'm happy to be a beneficiary of their generosity;-).

In total, there will be an additional $35.50 added back to my monthly budget for 2009. The $35.50 monthly will yield an annual savings of $426, which will be used as
extra principal payments on my mortgage. Paying the additional $426 in principal payments will save me approximately $1,400 in interest payments. Woo Hoo!

9 comments:

jpkittie said...

that is wonderful news! congratulations on the savings!

I think I am going to start 09 by looking into where and what I can cut out or cut back on!

cheers!

~Truly Tina~ said...

Whoa! That's a good savings!

Jolie said...

Amazing how a little bit of savings can add up month by month to such a great annual savings. Good for you.

Anonymous said...

Cool beans! I plan on calling my phone company this week, too. Of course, to cancel the caller ID box we have. Unnecessary item. I don't think most people are aware that phone/cable companies will do that for you... see where you can save.

Hey, did you check with Direct TV on the 6 month premium channel. You're not locked into a 2 year contract with that are you? Because that is what we have. 6 months free with 2 year contract.

Happy New Year!

RTC said...

Good for you for checking on reducing the monthly cost. It's amazing that a $400 extra payment to your mortgage will result in an overall savings of $1400! Way to go!

Sharon S said...

Hi there-Very well done indeed-shows what a couple of phone calls can do!! Happy New Year!

Anonymous said...

This is something I really need to do. Hopefully, I'll have the success that you did.

Ms. MoneyChat said...

jpk: that's a good idea. i've had my phone bill on auto pilot for so long. all it took was a phone call and i'm saving $25 on it going forward.

simply me: isn't it;-)

jolie: it truly is amazing how a little savings can add up month by month. it's also amazing how much mortgage interest i'm going to save in return. this was like a triple win for me. also, thanks for stopping by!

christine: i did have to commit to 1 year of service but that's all. i don't mind the 1 year service bcuz i don't have any plans of switching to cable.

RTC: i know right, it's absolutely crazy. i'm so excited.

SharonRose: yes, just 10 minutes and 2 phone calls later ... not too shabby as jpk would say.

debtfree2009: definitely let us know how it works out for you. my phone company is att so you may have similar success if you're dealing with any of the baby bells.

Anonymous said...

Great way of showing how just saving a little bit can save you a lot of money in the long run.