NT bough some more minutes to extend his contract, but he accidentally bought 200 minutes which gets him 30 days of service, instead of 300 minutes for 60 days of service. He already has trouble using up his minutes, so this is kind of a bummer; he'll have to refill again next month to keep his service active no matter how many minutes he has. I wonder if we should look into whether T-Mobile will allow an exception to the two-prepaids-per-household rule; their one year of service for buying 1000 minutes is much more flexible (and less hassle).

FY2011 spending so far:

NT's April Net10 fillup (300 minutes): $32.87
AS's May T-Mobile fillup (1000 minutes): $107.78
NT's June Net10 fillup (300 minutes): $33.38
NT's August Net10 fillup (300 minutes): $33.38
CJ's October T-Mobile fillup (1000 minutes): $107.78
NT's Oct Net10 fillup (200 min.=1 month svc): $22.26

FY2011 total: $337.45

We're still in the seventh month of our prepaid "fiscal year," so that means our average monthly cost went up to $48.21. Still slightly below our ideal $50-per-month average, so that's good.

RECAP: I switched to prepaid in late March 2009, so our phone "fiscal year" begins each April. 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.