Summary
Hey guys welcome back to my page. Today I'd like to jump into one of my personal financial decisions that effectively changed the way I live my life with the simple idea of getting myself one step closer to financial independence through real estate. What'd I'd like to try to do here is get some of you into my state of mind and how I tackle every day issues when It comes to finances. I’m not a big money wizard working with 100s of thousands of dollars. I’m an ordinary father and husband trying to accomplish extraordinary goals by making simple changes to my everyday life. How could it possibly make sense for me to become an iPhone person and SAVE money on my phone bill? Keep reading to find out.
Backstory
To kind of get things started off here I’d like to just say I’ve never been a person big on material possessions or jumping on the latest trends to impress the people around me. Luckily at a young age I discovered books like Rick Dad, Poor Dad and The Millionaire Next Door. To go along with that I’ve always been an android guy for the lower price point and ease of use. Plus I find the google ecosystem to suit me better. These are all my personal opinions as a regular guy and tech enthusiast.
My wife on the other hand has always had an iPhone in tow since the day she could afford the new iPhone 6 with the upgrades charging capabilities and fingerprint scanner. Some people are just different in these ways and she chose the iPhone for the simplicity and straight forward nature of the operating system.
Brands have always been a big influencer as well and the Apple logo is a shining example of that. It’s the status symbol and the “I’ve made it” mentality which might not always be right, but that little confidence boost helps people all over the country. Be it a Rolex watch, a stunning suit, or a flashy sports car we’re ingrained to seek out these items of admiration. It’s completely understandable. I say all this to highlight I’ve never been the type to prioritize these items over financial security, which is why a major switch to a basic phone at a 30% higher price point can be confusing to most.
The Fold
Jump to present time just a few months ago, 2021. I’m reviewing the family budget and realize we’re close to paying off our last cell phone bill meaning any day now I can expect to start getting the subtle hints from my wife that she’s due for an upgrade. I do have to admit she’d held out well up until this point. My phone payment was frozen for a year while on military duty so instead of the standard 2 year upgrade cycle we had agreed to push out to the 3 year mark to make sure all of our bills we’re comfortably taken care of, before adding on extra phone payments and setting us back on certain goals.
I began brainstorming options on how we could both come up with new phones while also putting money in the bank and keep our 2 line phone plan from being over $200 a month. I looked on Amazon for deals on phones. I checked with different providers for deals on new devices and I even ventured into Facebook marketplace to see what was available. Unfortunately with facebook there’s no way to guarantee the phone you’re getting is safe as verification information can easily be forged. At this point I thought of an offer I saw a couple years ago at a different provider, “switch and save. Get 2 iPhones for the price of one”. At the time I felt like we had missed out because we don’t have phones from the same manufacturer to take advantage of deals like this.
At that moment I decided no matter what choice was made, us as a family will always save money on devices if we’re able to take advantage of these bundle and save deals through our carrier. As painful as it was for me to stop using androids I had to get past my own brand mindsets that have unknowingly plagued me for years to get the best deals possible for our financial future. I had overlooked this money saving “hack” simply because “androids are better”. In my attempt to save money by avoiding name brands I had backed myself into the same box as the people and ideas we try to overcome. I folded. I made the smart and strategic financial decision to become an iPhone user and actually managed to save money in the process.
How I personally saved money using iPhones
Now this is all fine and great that I could potentially save money using iPhones because we’ll get a special deal every once in a while, but sometimes that’s not good enough. These onetime deals and once in a lifetime switch and save discounts aren’t reliable. I needed to further this plan and make it work for me. How do we both make sure to get new phones in a timely manner where we’re not messing with buggy software or outdated phones that let us down day in and day out? What we finally decided on is that we’ll get the newest/newer phone at the time for my wife so she still gets the shiny new phone with the nice box and brand new accessories and I’ll take ownership of her old phone! That is the secret sauce to making this agreement work for our situation. I always harped saying we don’t need new phones, and these phones worked perfectly fine after 2 years and this was my chance to put my money where my mouth is
I’m a Network Engineer by trade and have always dabbled in different tech so as I receive her old (2 years) phone that still works like brand new I just needed to swap the battery and get a new case to have a brand new phone myself. We both upgrade to newer shinier phones and I’m only out of pocket 1 overpriced phone every 2-3 years. Along with that, since my phone is an older model that’s basically brand new to new any of the replacement parts that I might need are now significantly cheaper. As the tech gets older and people aren’t breaking phones they’ve already gotten rid of all these suppliers have access inventory of parts that they slash the prices on so they keep selling. Even without working on these phones myself a new screen for an older phone could be as cheap as $150 to replace. Compare that to a brand new phone out of the box at around $600 for a new screen and it’s easy to see the savings add up and the stress levels shoot down.
Was this actually a good idea and how’s it going?
I can say with 100% certainty this has been one of my better financial moves. Look I get it, we’re only saving about $50 for the price of a new phone if I were to upgrade, but those little charges start to add up fast. $50 on a phone here, $80 for a furniture loan here, $30 for a car wash there and before you know it you’re hundreds of dollars deep in monthly payments that you could have avoided. It’s this mindset shift from doing what’s easy to doing what’s necessary and still making it work for everybody that I’m trying to get across here.
The phone is still holding up great at its current age of 3 years and 8 months old. I’m sporting the iPhone X from yesteryear if anyone is curious. It’s been great to me and I did have that extended period of shiny new phone, that I was looking for as well. I added my full google suite and got everything synced up as well as messed with all the new tech I had at my fingertips that wasn’t available at the release of my old android. I have wireless charging, Bluetooth, Airdrop and most everything else you would expect and there was no significant change in the camera quality as I’m already sporting the dual camera setup. I have no regrets for this current phone and it seems to have been the best choice in our situation financially as well.
In conclusion
Like all things in life you need to do what is best in your situation for your family. In my mind your family shouldn’t struggle in a transitional neighborhood with millions in the bank. It isn’t worth putting your safety at risk for those extra dollars. This is the same thing on a much more toned down scale. If you can afford nice good quality tech and do it on a budget then I’m all in. If your budget allows for it then it becomes a personal choice and you can find little quirks like I’ve mentioned above to save a reasonable amount while still living life. Take this advice and apply it to all aspects. Car wash membership you never use? Switch to saving that $30/m into a separate account and pull money out as needed. You might come out ahead. Opt for bringing fancy meals from home to get good flavor on lunch instead of eating out at a sit down restaurant every day. We’re all humans who want to have fun and live, but that can also be done on a budget. Happy saving everybody!
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