Phone bill getting you down? Cut the cord once and for all.

As I mentioned before, part of going green to me is cutting back on expenses and consumption. This means we can spend less time working just to afford living.

One of the largest expenses we have cut out is our phone bill. We got rid of our cell phones and our land line about two years ago and replaced them with Skype. Now we have our basic cable bill which includes high speed Internet and pay about $3.00 a month for Skype. This has saved us roughly $100 a month.

So for just over the cost of basic cable we have TV, Internet and telephone. Not a bad deal.

A couple of things to consider though. First Skype does not support 911 calls. If this bothers you you may want to consider other options. Or you can get a $10.00 prepaid cell phone for emergency use and call it good. Second, Skype needs Internet access and electricity to work. If you lose either you are out of luck.

For most people it also requires a computer, however you can get around this by using a Skype enabled WiFi phone if you are set up for wireless access at home.

Last week when our computer crashed we saw just how important getting the WiFi phone is. At any rate, the financial savings and overall quality of service have far outweighed the inconvenience of the last week.

This is yet another way to cut back without adversely affecting your quality of life. In fact once you are no longer working to pay that phone bill month after month you may say your quality of life has improved.

Photograpy by Fillipas T