Cutting out Internet & Phone, talk me through this please....

awilen · 01-08-2008, 03:53 PM

My DH and I have committed to getting us to a better financial ground. We are willing to make some sacrifices, and now we are making the decision to lose internet and home landline. I am freaking out right now. It may be only for 6 months but six months feels like forever. I should like a baby and should just do what is right, right??? I can check my email and of course Mommysavers at work or at my sisters but my nightly support group (all of you) will be gone. Has anyone gotten rid of these types of services would you do it again?

Seriously, I do not post often and have never generated a thread, yet I am always bumping around reading all of your threads and words of support. Thanks for any insight.

BabeInTheMoon · 01-08-2008, 04:20 PM

You can do it!!

We went without internet for 12 months when we had to some major cutting back because of a medical garnishment. This was especially hard for us as my dh and I met online, and I moved to Oregon to be with him, when my family and most of my friends live in Wisconsin. Plus, dh was going to school at the time, and was taking online classes.. so he had to do his studying at the library or at a coffee shop with WIFI.

We kept our phone, but striped it down to the bare line. We kept it as we decided to ditch our one cell phone, and I was a SAHM, so I needed to be able to make a phone call in an emergency. Since dh was ALWAYS at work, I would be able to contact him at any time. For us, keeping the landline was way cheaper than keeping the cell phone. Since we did this, I decided to get online and download Netzero's free service package. it was something like 5 or 10 hours of dial up a month for free... and it enabled me to have an e-mail address everyone could still contact me at. I checked my e-mail once a week at home, and at least once a week at the library.

Quite honestly it was a difficult first couple of weeks, but I soon got into the habit of not having internet. The most difficult part for me was having little to no contact with my Mom.. until she got smart and sent me a phone card.. I would call her, and then she would call me right back so that I wouldn't waste any of my minutes. We managed to make that one 90 minute phone card last through that entire year w/out long distance. My friends from back home got in the game too. I would call them, and they would call back on their "free" long distance on their cell phone. The best one however, was my local friend who moved to texas during this time. She signed up with Vonage, and right away got a secondary local phone number for portland so that I could call any time.

All my local friends made sure that when I visited their homes I had access to their internet to quickly check my e-mail.. and one of my friends even had free longdistance on her home phone so I was able to call home once or twice on that as well.

I guess what I am trying to say is that it can be done.. YOU CAN DO IT!!

Edited to add: If I could get rid of our internet right now, I would, just to save us the extra $$.. but as my dh now has the opportunity to work from home 1-2 days/week, he is able to save enough gas $$ to more than pay for the internet over the course of the month by not having to drive 60 miles round trip each time.

MandaRenee · 01-08-2008, 05:05 PM

Right now the only place I can access the internet is at work. Its actually not bad, I discover that I have a lot more time to spend with my family this way. So if you can still access it at work it shouldn't be too hard to adjust to.

BESTMOMMYSAVER · 01-08-2008, 05:18 PM

i've been thinking of duing the same thing.
cutting internet and cable.
the problem is that without the cable, I don't even get the regular channels because
of the bad signals.
also, with the internet, I dont' have a land line (just my cell) so, I cannot get internet for free because that requires a land line.
so, i've cut back on other things.

melsb · 01-08-2008, 06:15 PM

You'll be "twitchy" the first few days and then one day you won't notice it's gone. When we moved we didn't have our internet for about three weeks at this house (something with Verizon, I don't know) and we did fine.

taylyn · 01-08-2008, 07:24 PM

When Our old computer Crashed - We Had No internet for about 6 Months

It was bad though - Since we were on a 2 yr. contract with them - We still had to Pay the internet bill

SO we didn't Save any money that way ...... However Since I wasn't Able to Shop online and all that Great stuff - We did save money.

It was So Hard at First but than I thought of My mom Talking

Who Doesn't Understand the Internet.... " what Did People do before the internet was Even around??"

Seriously -you make do. You will be fine.

morgie's mom · 01-08-2008, 09:26 PM

In August 2006, I became a single mom to my then 3 year old daughter. At the time, I didn't get cable or Internet because I was afraid of being financially drained. I did without for about 11 months, and only resumed cable and Internet in July 07 or so.
During this time, I learned to get movies from the library, and I had to find an alternate place to do my school work, while working full time, and continuing progress on my graduate degree.
So--while I love having it, it can be done.

BabeInTheMoon · 01-08-2008, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BESTMOMMYSAVER

the problem is that without the cable, I don't even get the regular channels because of the bad signals.

I was concerned about that as well.. but you learn quite quickly to make due. With the bunny ears we actually only really received our local PBS chanel clearly. usually we got NBC, and we couldn't get ABC at all. The others were sporatic. I just learned quite quickly to pick up extra movies at the library when I was there checking my e-mail.

And the best part about that was for a whole year my son had no idea about all the "IT" toys that were being advertised.. so no begging all year long!!!

awilen · 01-09-2008, 08:49 PM

Thank you all for your thoughts and more importantly your own life experiences. I know it can be done, I remember when it was done. My dd asked me today if I had webkinz when I was her age? No I did not have them and we did not have a home computer and certainly not the internet. I have gotten myself very dependent on the computer. I pay almost 85% of my bills online, I get most of my recipes from web sites and as stated before I get so much from all of you. Struggling financially has taken a toll on my own life but also more marriage. I also have to admit the internet also took a bit of a toll on my marriage. I do think that we will save money and realign our focus without the internet. I guess I needed to hear from some sane women that I was doing something realistic and not just trying to find a quick and unmaintainable solution to our problem. As always Thank you and I look forward to checking in soon?

satsukirebel · 01-09-2008, 09:03 PM

I've gone without both. Do you have a personal cell phone? I'd recommend making sure you have at least 1 way to contact people while at home. You will find that you have much more time for family and chores. I personally went a bit crazy without internet so I know that's not an option for me. Also, living with internet but no phone you will have things that come up where you need to contact someone through a phone. So, I suppose it's not a bad idea. I guess I'd just cut it down to a dial-up connection and bare bones phone line. That's me though and for me life without that would be nuts. I'm home 24/7 with my baby and I'm doing it alone with no vehicle (I've been preparing to get one next month). This means that no electronics would be the equivalent of no communication. It doesn' sound like thats your situation so I guess I'd look at it and see whats right for you.