You're Out!

After an original 1,000 cell phone minutes at Christmas and two 500 minute refills this spring, my son has officially run out of minutes again. He was doing better than my daughter in the beginning, but now HE is texting a lot more and using his minutes faster than she is lately. OK--it is MAY now--let's figure this out. December 25 = 1,000 minutes + 2(500) later =2,000 minutes in about 4 months. I guess that averages about 500 a month--the 500 minute refills cost $50. Dang--I don't know if a plan would be better or not! I pay about $50 for 420 minutes, plus I get 250 texts, plus I get free nights and weekends. I couldn't rationalize adding both of my teens to a family plan--that would add up to about $100 to $150 a month, and we would have to share minutes--and I KNOW that wouldn't work very well! Some plans are about $100 a month for unlimited everything, but that is for one person--not sure how high it goes to add two more phones to the plan. BUT--if I am paying $50 for my plan, plus about $50 a month for each of them to refill their minutes, it adds up to about $150 a month anyway! I don't know. On the one hand, it MAY be a BIT less expensive to join a plan--the free nights and weekends, or the free everything would keep them from running up too many charged minutes. BUT--I still worry about them using up MY minutes---I just don't think it would be fair to share. So only the free everything would work for us--but I don't know how high that would be for three people. I will look into it. In the meantime, I may go ahead and refill his minutes--he has done a great job in school and at home, too. Plus, I really do like it when they have access to their phones when away from home--it is so much easier to communicate about picking them up or other things. I will ask some of the other parents around here--some have plans and some are pay-as-you-go--I will compare different aspects and decide soon. I do think having a cell phone can be a good thing for teens--especially once they begin driving and dating. I just don't want to "break the bank" trying to pay for them!