I love saving money on my phone bill. It’s one of the easiest bills to cut. Here are some ways to trim the phone bill.

Cut out Call Waiting

I think this is one of the most annoying phone features. When I’m talking to someone, I don’t want my call interrupted. And I like to give my callers the same courtesy. We’ve never had call waiting, and we never will.

Cut out Caller ID

I know some of you will groan at this one, but we don’t have caller ID either. If we get a telemarketer, we just hang up. If we really want to know who’s calling, we wait until the answering machine picks up.

If you are really serious about cutting costs, consider cutting the phone line protection. How often does a problem with the line really come up? And at $5 a month, you could probably pay for any problems with the money you save every month over the course of the time you pay the phone bill.

Drop the Long Distance

We use our cell phones for long distance. We have the cheapest family plan that includes free calls on nights and weekends. Since I only use my cell phone as an emergency number for the kids’ schools, we usually accumulate a decent amount of rollover minutes, so I always have extra minutes to make long distance calls.

Before we used cell phones, my husband and I bought long distance minutes through OneSuite. At the time we paid 2.9 cents a minute, which was better than we could do with a calling card. And the minutes were good any time of the day, any day of the week. It’s a pretty good deal, I think.

Consider Dropping You Land Line All Together

We’re not ready to do this yet, but I know people who are very happy using only cell phones. Be sure you consider all the ramifications of getting rid of your land line though. What happens if you forget to charge your phone? And keep in mind that if you call 911, the operator may not be able to pinpoint your location.

Use an Internet Phone Service

A service like Vonage is very affordable. For $24.99 you get local and long distance service. That’s what I pay for local service only on my land line. I have never tried an internet phone service, so I don’t know if they deliver what they promise. If anyone has any experience good or bad, feel free to leave a comment, so the rest of us can be better informed.

Bundle Your Services

Some phone companies offer great discounts if you have more than one service with them. We get a pretty good deal on our phone service, because we also buy DSL through our phone company. If we wanted to, we could even bundle satellite television into our bill. It doesn’t hurt to call your phone company to see what they can offer.

So go ahead. Take a look at your phone bill. If you haven’t really taken a look at what you’re being charged for every month, chances are you can find a way to cut your bill a little…or a lot.