Slashing Expenses: Saving Money on our Phone Bill

In order to reach our goal of financial freedom, we are increasing income and slashing our expenses.  We will be sharing ways that we've successfully decreased our monthly expenses in order to help you cut your own costs. 


We've been counting down to this January for the last several months.  It wasn't because we were going on a nice vacation or having a baby or buying a new car or anything terribly exciting like that; it was because our phone contract with Bell was finally going to be up. (!!!)

I had received a good deal on a home phone plan with Bell three years ago as long as I entered into a contract with them.  I was not interested in changing phone providers in the near future at that point and saw no issue with this.  I received a bunch of free features and free long distance which were all valuable to me.  In the past year however, our phone costs have risen as fees have been added and certain features taken away etc.  I thought I was protected by our 'contract' but the fees added were regulatory in nature and I couldn't get around the added expense. I have been able to get several small discounts and such by calling and complaining but this takes a lot of time and sometimes creates additional problems.

We've been checking out different phone providers and have decided to give the Magic Jack a shot. I am always looking for ways to dramatically decrease our monthly expenses (or cut them out altogether) and this seems like a good solution for us.  According to Magic Jack, we will be able to keep our current phone number (fairly important to me as it would be quite a hassle to change our contact number with all the people connected to our side businesses) and will have free call display (I never realized how much I loved call display until it was thrown into our plan by Bell and then consequently taken away...), voice mail and other great features.  Also, they are offering a plan where you don't pay until 30 days after activation and are able to return it within the 30 days if you don't like it (granted, this can sometimes be easier said than done but for us I feel that the reward outweighs the risk).

We currently pay about $45/ month for our home phone which has gone up about $10 over the past year!! Magic Jack costs $39.95 or $69.95 plus shipping depending on whether you purchase the original Magic Jack or the new Magic Jack Plus.  The Magic Jack Plus enables you to use Magic Jack without a computer. There can be small fees for some special features including Canadian numbers.  I will let you know what fees we incur once it gets here and we get everything set up.  The cost per year after the initial purchase is $29.95 or $19.95 if you purchase 5 years worth of usage.


When I called to order the Magic Jack, I was initially turned off because I had questions and couldn't seem to get to a live person.  I hung up and decided to try to find answers to my questions online.  Within a few minutes, a live operator called me back regarding my earlier call and asked if I needed assistance to order the Magic Jack.  I was able to ask her all of my questions (mainly whether I would be able to use my existing Canadian phone number) and ordered the product with her.  You can order the unit online here as well.

I can't wait to set it up and see how it works.  I have heard an equal amount of good and bad reviews regarding the sound quality so I am anxious to see how it performs for us- crossing my fingers that it works well!  I will tell you all about it once it gets here.