Times are tough and it has become quite crucial to save money wherever we can, to survive and fight the economic battle. We don’t really realize how much money we spend on phone until we have a closer look. Here is a list on how to save money on phone bills.

1. If most of your outgoing calls involves international calling, it’s advisable to ask your service operator to provide a ‘pay per second’ or ‘pay per 10 seconds’ plan. This has proved to be a much cheaper plan than ‘pay per-minute’ plan. Many times, your conversation time is as short as 10 or 15 seconds, and you have to pay for the whole minute. Sometimes, the person on other end is not able to hear you clearly. In such cases, you disconnect the call within 10 seconds. However, you pay for the whole minute. Hence, it’s better to opt for pay per second plan.
2. Keep a check on your talk-time. Many times we prolong the conversation because we are not aware about the time we have already spent talking over the phone.
3. It’s not really necessary to talk trivial things over phone, if you have a free alternative readily available. Email is a frugal way that tops the list on how to save money on phone bills.
4. Make use of calling cards instead of mobile phones, if you want to make an international call. These cards are much cheaper than your mobile phone and will definitely help to save enormous money.
5. Many people download ring tones, images, and MP3’s through their mobile phones by sending SMS to their operator. Why spend money if you can get all this freely on the web.
6. If your communication method involves sending lots of SMS’s, contact your service provider and ask if they have any unlimited SMS plans. These plans are much cheaper.
7. Call up the customer operator once every week and check if they have any useful offers. Most of the times we miss out attractive, cheaper plans because we aren’t aware about it. This thing should certainly be in your list on how to save money on phone bills.
8. Check if your operator has any special packages for international calling to specific countries. The rates applied in such packages are quite lower than your mobile phone and is very useful if you call up in specific countries regularly.
9. Lastly, determine whether you really need a mobile as well as a landline phone. If your mobile phone is enough to meet all your needs, why should you pay extra for your landline connection?

This list on how to save money on mobile phones is a tiny part of frugal living. Adopt many such lists pertaining to all major areas of your life and enjoy a stress-free life.