Today I did it…and more. I got rid of our land line. And I have to admit I feel a little odd about that.
Wow, that’s really old? Er…what is it??
OK, I’m a bit old school (or maybe just old[er]). I grew up with a land line, starting with a party line, and I feel funny giving it up. I like being able to give that number to all and sundry who require a phone number–businesses, doctors, schools. Because we have caller ID, I can easily screen calls and not answer those I don’t care to answer.
But that points me to one good reason to give it up. I don’t want to talk to most of the people who call on that line. Most of them are trying to sell me something or convince me to vote for someone. I don’t want the former and I’m already set on the latter (and once the election is over, the number of ignorable calls will drop even farther.) So if I’m ignoring 99.9% of the calls, why have the land line?
Time to recycle this!
Point number two is just as important–cost. The line is costing us about $40/month plus taxes and that’s money that could better be used elsewhere. So I bit the bullet today, walked into the Time-Warner building and dropped that line. Now I have to be sure to update the information to all the places who do have the number and might use it. After 30+ years of the same number, it’s probably going to take me a little while not to whip it out any time someone asks for my phone number. But I’ll get used to it, as well as to not having to screen calls and pay that $40+/month.
As far as the “more’ in “Today I did it…and more”… I really ran amok this morning, also dropping all but the very basic cable plus our organic lawn service as well. I’ll regret the cable a bit on game days, but I don’t really watch all that much TV anyway and I can still get the two “NCIS” shows, my beloved “Blue Bloods” and “Masterpiece Mystery” on the basic cable. I tend to reach for a book rather than the remote and with our younger daughter gone, the TV is off most of the time. I will miss “the box”, though, where I could record things I couldn’t be around to see (or didn’t want to stay up to watch) or stop a current show while making popcorn and then catch up by fast forwarding through the commercials. However, I don’t believe I’m going to regret it for long. (I did keep the internet, though!!) I can watch almost everything online the next day if necessary. As for the lawn service, I can buy organic products and apply them to the lawn myself.
I guess getting rid of the land line isn’t really taking a step back technologically. It’s a step forward, making me part of the group who’s never had a land line and barely knows what a non-cell phone looks like. The next step in the downward spiral will be getting a smart phone but as Aargorn says in “The Lord of the Rings” movie, “That day is not today. Today we fight.” 🙂
Beauty and function…but difficult to slip into my purse
This, that and the other thing 
Oh how fast our world changes…I was just re-reading a mystery from the mid 1990s, and there were several key communications problems in the plot that made me think “Well, just use your cell phone – oh, wait, nobody has them yet!”
Come to think of it, that was twenty years ago. A whole generation. 😮
We have been considering dropping the landline for quite some time, but keep resisting it. It sure would save some money! I really like the cable idea too. But, we do watch several cable channels, and not the network ones that are on basic. My husband would really miss the Golf channel! Still, I’d like to get rid of it and save the money.
I have an old flip phone. Guess it’s time for an upgrade!
Once we get back in the same house, we will have some cable. I figure that by the time you go out somewhere to watch something, the cost is more than the cost of the cable. But it depends on the cost compared to what you can afford (as does so much else.) We have flip phones, too!! Right now, I’m not interested in an upgrade. 🙂
Something my husband considers seriously every month when he pays the bill…way to go! Seems a wasted expense for sure – except when I think of it as my ‘buffer’ from family (hehe) as they are not on the cel phone thing yet. 🙂
Ours worked the other way. My family all has the same provider as we do and that works great. I looked at the land line as a buffer from all the harassing calls and so on, but they’re not supposed to call cells anyway, I don’t think. I know I look back and say, “Remember when I didn’t want to get rid of the land line? I can’t believe I felt that way.” 🙂
Oh my goodness, I do not think I can ever let my land-line go! It hurts (Ouch) – lol.
-Naima.
That’s what I thought too, until I realized that I was using caller ID to avoid answer almost all the calls on my land line anyway, so why pay for it?? It does feel funny, though, after all these years of having one. And when asked for my phone number, I automatically start giving the land line number.
Hahaha 😀
I know, that happens! Even when I am asked of my number, I start babbling my land-line number even if I am holding my cell-phone right in my hand! Lol.
-Naima.