NT needed to buy some more minutes to keep his phone active. Since late March was the end of a 12-month period of prepaid costs, this is the first expense of the "fiscal year." (I divide it up into 12-month chunks to give me a way to come up with average monthly costs.)

NT's mid-April Net10 purchase (300 minutes): $32.87

We're in our first month, so that means our average monthly cost so far is ... $32.87! that was easy.


RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March 2009. We have 2 phones on T-Mobile prepaid and 1 on Net10 prepaid. AS and I refill in 1000-minute increments and only need to refill when we run out or when it's been a year since our last fillup to stay active. NT needs to buy 300 more minutes every 60 days to keep his phone activated.

Our cellphone bill, for three phones on a family plan, used to range from $80-$95, depending on texts, calls to 411, etc. Usually it was close to $85. My ideal goal is to get my average cost to $50 per month, but any average number below $85 is a savings.