There are strong feelings on both sides of the issue of whether kids should have cell phones or not.  At this point only our oldest has a true cellphone.  She’s had it since her 13th birthday (almost 3 years ago.)

At the time all the kids were going to school together and were in the musical staying after school for a different length of time each day.  We found ourselves often wishing that they were easier to get ahold of.  For her big birthday gift, we bought her the cheapest phone we could find and added her to our monthly bill for $5 a month.  Life was instantly better for us.   The best part was the texting.  All of a sudden the teenage awkwardness between us was gone and we could communicate.  She texted me from her friend’s house just to say, “I love you.”  And I dropped her notes throughout the day just to say, “God made you special and I’m glad you’re in our family.”

Now that she’s older we realized it would be handy for her to have a smartphone where we could share the family calendar and she could access Facebook messages from her choir and youth group.  A friend told us about Swappa, a reliable website for buying used phones.  The phones are guaranteed to work and to not be stolen. She saved up her money from mowing lawns and babysitting and bought the exact same phone I have for 50% less.  We didn’t activate her 4G network with our cellphone company (we use T-mobile because they are the best value for our area) but she can use those features anywhere there’s wifi: home, school, most restaurants and her friends’ houses.

The other kids have been eyeing Heidi’s phone since the day she got it.  It was easy to tell them no when they were little, but they are getting older and going in different directions.  We decided it would be nice to communicate with all the teens when they are working or at school activities and need rides. (Plus it’s a motivating thing to take away if they’re naughty, lol.)

When Heather and Caleb started their businesses and saved up their money to buy an ipod, we looked into cheap ways to get them phone access.  Turns out there’s a magic jack app for iPods.  iPods are about $100 less than iPhones, but can be turned into phones with wifi access with the Magic Jack app.  The app itself is free, and it only costs $15 a YEAR to get them their own phone number with unlimited calling and texting capabilities.  We went that route for those two kiddoes.

We looked at other options such as prepaid cell phones, but since the kids usually aren’t places where there isn’t wifi the Magic Jack was the best option for us.  There’s one more option, Ting, that I haven’t tried yet. My friend Kristen from Frugal Girl says it’s great.  It’s might be a way for you to turn your entire family phone bill into $21 a month.

What do you think about kids and cellphones?  Do you know of another way to save?

This is Day 22 of our series 31 Days of Kids and Money