We are currently running a contest to let someone else negotiate your bills for you. Check out Tuesday’s Giveaway post for more details.

So apparently sending a post only to RSS readers is harder than I thought, so this is the new sign up page.

Simply leave a comment here and you’ll be entered!

Anyone signed up for e-mail alerts will receive an extra entry. Deadline to sign up for e-mail or leave a comment on this page is Saturday 11:59pm EST.

Everett S. blogs about his family’s experiments in simple living on his blog about living the simple life and shares how-to videos from his Simple Living Skills Channel on YouTube.

When we hear “voluntary simplicity” most people think about hermits who quit their jobs and trot off into the woods to live in a shack. However, you don’t have to drop off the grid completely to simplify your life. People all over the world are starting to realize that simplicity comes in many shades.

Our shade of simplicity allows me to work a full-time job from home using high-tech conveniences like laptop computers, high speed internet access, printer, fax machine, VOIP… It is hardly the life of a Luddite. But it also allows me to spend that would-be commuting time with my family, and to live in a rural area where we can keep goats, chickens, bees, and grow much of our own food.

Choosing to simplify your life doesn’t have to mean a move out to the country or a full-time telecommuting job either. We started years ago while still living in Denver, Colorado and working in cubicles. First we gave up crap we didn’t “need”. I cut the cable off and found out how much better local news was than the sickening, repetitive, opinionated “analysis” they play ad-nauseum on cable news channels. I cut the satellite radio off in our cars and rediscovered the joy of playing audio books on CD during my commute. I even learned Spanish… un poco. We started spending time together making Christmas gifts for family (soap, cheese, scarves…) instead of fighting mall traffic and lines during the holidays – and learned how much more people appreciate a hand-made gift, and how much more enjoyable it is to make them than to buy them.

We kept our good “city jobs” for several years. Instead of buying big flat screen TVs like all of our friends, we just kept our perfectly good oldschool 27″ box TV. Instead of buying all new fancy furniture for our living room my wife sewed covers for our thrift-store couches. They were comfortable and looked great. I took leftovers to work for lunch, had a pretty good sized garden in the backyard, and made my own yogurt for breakfast every week.

But we still went to the movies at least twice a month – popcorn, soda and all. We still went out to dinner sometimes on weekends. We still went snowboarding and had the occasional drink at the bar with friends. In other words, we never once felt “deprived” of anything, yet were able to save enough money over several years to pay off all credit cards, pay off a new car in 8 months, and put a 20% deposit down on our new farm.

We could have had the attitude that if we’re not going to do the voluntary simplicity thing “all the way” then we might as well not do it at all. Or we could have taken it to the extreme, quit our jobs and moved off the grid and into the wilderness. But neither answer seems right for the average American family. Our politics are polarized with no middle ground and look where that has taken us. It is time we start looking for the golden mean – the middle way – and in this way we can live happy lives as productive members of the greater community without falling into a consumerist gotta-have-it-now mentality.

I absolutely hate to see people wasting money on phone, Internet, and cable bills. It drives me crazy when people pay extra for features they don’t use or have 3 text message plans on the account for $15 each when a $30 one would make texts unlimited for the whole family.

A good friend of mine, Jason, is starting a side business of negotiating on the customer’s behalf to help reduce the cost of monthly bills. He, like I, wants to help people save money by eliminating unnecessary expenses. Here’s his story of how he helped an older couple on Sunday:

I traveled with my girlfriend to her grandparents’ house to help with things around the house and to chat with them.  They happened to be opening their internet and cable bill as I entered.  Being that I like helping them for obvious reasons and because I seem to have a knack for lowering bills, I asked them to see their bill. Upon first glance, I noticed they were paying $90 more than I was per month and didn’t even have as many features as I did. They had very basic cable and internet and were paying $150. Part of that was for a rental fee on five cable boxes, but $150 still seemed ridiculous to me.

I placed a call to one of my favorite (NOT!) companies: Comcast. A nice man got on the phone and the party began. I asked him how they pay so much a month and he told me that they pay regular price for both with no deals included. Since everyone has some kind of deal, I told him how I saw on the internet that they have a bundle for $69.99 a month.  After a while of looking around probably at nothing, he said the best he could do was $79.99 a month. That was way better than $110, so I agreed. He then quoted me a new price and said the taxes would be $10. I had just saved them $30 a month, but somehow the taxes increased, and being the math person that I am, I could not let this go.

I asked him how the taxes could be higher on a lower bill. The customer service representative didn’t have an explanation and could not even try to give me one. Since we agreed that taxes can’t be more when the bill is less, I asked for a $4 credit. Instantly he said that it sounded reasonable and I had just saved her grandparents $34 a month. That savings comes out to $408 yearly.

Jason has graciously offered to help 3 people who sign up through this contest for free. His usual fee is the first month’s savings (that’s only 8% of you SAVINGS!) and he saves the average customer over $300 per year. This isn’t for someone who calls every 3 days to negotiate their bills, but there are plenty of people who just don’t know where to get started. Jason can help you. For free!

You may earn entries in three ways:

1. Earn one entry by emailing YourNegotiators@gmail.com and requesting his service. Mention the site!

2. Earn two entries by subscribing to my feed via RSS or email (There will be a special post sent only to RSS and email readers on Sunday with instructions to confirm submission, which must by done by Sunday at 8am EST. If you are already a subscriber, you will get this email, too!).

3. Earn two entries by following me on Twitter.

4. Leave a comment at the contest page.

I will pick the three winners using Random.org and on Sunday will contact the winners as well as announce them on the blog.

Good Luck!!

If you reached this site with questions about AT&T, I can help you. I can help you get free minutes, free text messages, and your cell phone bill reduced, even if they are legitimate charges. Just send me an email, I’ll respond quickly and we’ll get any unnecessary charges removed.

My sister-in-law owns an iPhone, but when she went away on a business trip a few months ago, took a cheap international cell phone her mom had and left the iPhone at home for the week and a half she was away. My brother, Not thinking that his actions would have any consequences, took his sim card and put it in his wife’s iPhone and suddenly he had thousands of apps at his fingertips.

He was probably pretty amused by it for that week and a half, but what he didn’t realize is that if you’re going to use an unlimited service, you should probably sign up for the unlimited data plan. For those 10 days he was happy as a clam, but every time he checked his email or downloaded an app, it was costing us money. And it wasn’t just a few cents here or there, it was over $900 for the 10 days he had the phone.

When the cell phone bill came out, I saw a $600 overage and realized something was wrong. I scanned the bill and found that one number used a ridiculous amount of data. I called my brother make sure it was a mistake (surely he didn’t actually use that much data), and when I told him that our account was messed up and it said he had an iPhone, he paused for a second and said, “O crap.” He really did it. I’ve had my share of negotiations with AT&T, so I told him not to worry, that it wouldn’t be a big deal, and that I would take care of it. But first I called him a few names and made fun of him quite a bit.

I called up AT&T to explain what happened and get the charges reduced, and got a customer service representative who listened to my problem and agreed to try and resolve the situation. The conversation went something like this:

Customer Service Representative: Hi, my name is Tracy, how can I help you today?

Me: Hi, I just got my bill and saw that there are some ridiculous overages for this month, so I wanted to try and get that reduced.

Tracy: I’ll be happy to help you. It looks like the 0480 number has a lot of data usage this month.

Me: Yah, my brother put his sim card in an iPhone and didn’t realize that he should have signed up for a data plan first. Is there a way to remove the charges?

Tracy: Well, unfortunately it looks like the charges are valid because he didn’t sign up for a plan before the billing cycle began, so there’s not much I can do. If he had called up in advance to get a data plan before doing so, it would have only been the $30 cost of unlimited data for the month.

Me: Yah, I know that the charges are technically valid, but if you looked what happened, it was obviously a mistake. He doesn’t have an iPhone usually and it was a temporary mistake. We’ve been loyal customers for 10 years and we’ve liked our service a lot, so I’d hate for this to give us a bad impression of AT&T. Is there anything you can do? I’d like as a courtesy to have the bill changed. Can you apply the $30 a month data package retroactively?

Tracy: Well, we do appreciate your business, so as a one-time courtesy, this is what I can do: While I can’t remove all the charges, I can retroactively apply a $30 data plan to that line so you’ll be charged only the $30 and not $600.

Me: Wow, that would be great. You just saved us $570!

Tracy: It’s not a problem. Actually, I can apply the data plan from the date he started using data, which was 7 days before the end of the billing cycle, so the charges will be prorated. So for those 7 days, it comes out to $7.32.

Me: Thanks, I really appreciate it. Since we just realized what was happening, can you do the same thing for this month as well? He’s been using it for the past few days, while the bill was coming out, but after the billing cycle started, so I’m sure he’s racked up some more charges.

Tracy: I’m unable to remove charges from a bill that hasn’t come out yet, but what I can do is keep the data plan on for this month. When your next bill comes out, you will see the charges on the account, so you’ll have to call back next month and a customer service representative will see my notes and make the adjustment for you.

Me: That’s not a problem. Thanks so much, I really appreciate you helping me out!

I called my brother and told him that I got the bill reduced to $300 and that he should send me a check because I already paid the bill. Just kidding. He was pretty relieved that he didn’t cause our family such a large, unnecessary charge. He felt bad about using the data, so he took out the sim card and put it back in his regular flip phone.

I called up AT&T again to have the data package removed since he stopped using the iPhone, and the prorated charges for the month totaling just $3. Then, when the next bill came out with $300 in data charges, I called up again, told them to reference the notes, and they were able to credit our account. So instead of paying over $900 for 10 days worth of data, we paid only $10.

While I like to think that I have special powers and just plain good at negotiating, the truth is that I’m nothing special. Customer service representatives are there to help you. They may not always jump at the opportunity to reduce your bill, but ultimately they are willing to help if you ask the right questions. If you think you’re paying too much for your phone, cable, or internet, call up and ask if they have any promotions that could save you money. You definitely won’t save money by sitting on the sidelines.

This was a huge week for me because I guest posted on four blogs! It was sort of a coincidence that it was all in one week, but it was a really great experience for me, and hopefully you’ve had a chance to read the posts. Thanks to all four of the bloggers who gave me the opportunity, it was a lot of fun! Here they are:

Who cares if you saved money by spending money?! at Budgets are Sexy – It’s not saving if you don’t put it in the bank! Check out the comments, his readers are GREAT! (also the two links in there may compete in Free Money Finance’s March Money Madness Competition. What a crazy coincidence!)

The Pinnacle of Frugality at You Have More Than You Think – My experience buying triscuits and how rain checks can save you a ton of money.

Simple Negotiation Boosts Your Mood And Your Wallet at PT Money- 3 ways I negotiated to save me money and get free stuff

Why I Don’t Stress About My $23,000 Pile Of Debt at Money Relationship – Sure, I’m in debt, but here’s why I’m able to deal with it.

Here are the must reads from this week:

Financial Samurai explains Why Converting To A ROTH Is A Mistake. He makes some excellent points and you should go read it right now if you’re considering doing it. (Also, I’m ranked in the top 5 in the Samurai Fund this week! Check it out, how do you think we’ll do??)

Fiscal Geek asks: Should you Invest or Save for Retirement While in Debt? It’s an interesting question and he provides a way to earn a guaranteed 19% return on your investment.

Bucksome Boomer shows through her experiences that Smaller Isn’t Always Cheaper. This may help you rethink your next shopping trip.

Five Cent Nickel explain How We Paid Off Our Mortgage in 10 Years. WOW. Congratulations! His explanation is very cool and while difficult, apparently it can be done!

Miranda Marquit guests posts at MoneyNing and says that you should Stop Using Your Tax Refund as a Saving Account. For some people it may make sense, but if you’re responsible with your money and keep to your budget, don’t give a free loan to the government!

Finally, here are the posts I was mentioned in this week. Thanks guys!

Mighty Bargain Hunter
The Millionaire Nurse