We've all been there. Money's tight, and you're cutting cost everywhere possible. Heck, you've even cut out the cable TV, which seems like the ultimate sacrifice, but is nothing more than a pittance in the world of frugality.

Landlines have been another area of cuts, since cell phones are more convenient. However, they cost a good hunk of cash, many times more per month than your landline. Clearly, with no landline (and even with a landline) it would be beyond difficult to cut out the cell phone. You just have to tinker with your monthly payments so you're not paying $50 a month for it.


Some criticize the prepaid arena because it has higher prices than contract plans. However, if you follow Rule No. 1 of prepaid, you can do much better than a contract plan. That rule: Avoid talking on the phone. How to do this, you ask? Find other methods of communication.

If you can get yourself in a steady regimen of e-mail and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), you can do just fine with a prepaid plan. If you need to talk to a family member or friend you don't see often, place the call through a VoIP service like Skype -- you can even get a Skype phone to make things a whole lot easier.

Now for your cell phone. Since you're on a monetary budget, it's time to get on a prepaid budget: 100 minutes per month, absolute max. It might not seem like a lot, but with time and the use of your Skype phone, you can probably get it even lower than that. In order to place a wall around your budget, we'll only recommend true pay-as-you-go services, noting the lowest price for 100 minutes -- and how to obtain it. We'll also factor in 1,200 minutes per year, though we don't recommend it, since it's easy to use 200 minutes in January, thus leaving December in peril.

For the record, night and weekend minutes, and mobile to mobile minutes are a complete bonus here. If the company offers, them, all the better. But we wouldn't go spending, say, $1 per day to get them (::cough:: AT&T ::cough::).

Page Plus: Their $25 card gives you 300 minutes, though, which should be the real deal here. That's $25 for three months of service (and the cards last for 120 days, so you'd be fine) -- just over $8 per month! You just need some discipline so you don't use all of your minutes the first month.

Net10: Net10 comes through big for you budgeteers, offering 10 cents per minute all day, every day. There are no roaming charges -- though coverage is not available in all areas. But you can rest easy knowing that all of your calls are only costing you 10 cents per minute. That's $10 per month, and that's music to our ears.

T-Mobile: Ready to discipline yourself? If not, then maybe T-Mobile isn't for you. But if you can really stick to your 100-minutes per month plan, T-Mobile might have the solution. For $100 you get their Gold Rewards program, which means your $100 gets you 1,000 minutes. That means you only need 200 for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, your options are then $25 for 150 minutes (under budget) or $50 for 460 minutes (over budget). Honestly, the $50 is simply a superior deal. That puts you at $150 for the year, or $12.50 per month. Plus, you get a few extra minutes to play with.

Jump: If you're on a budget, you likely don't travel much. That would make you very compatible with Jump Mobile. At just 10 cents per minute within your local calling area, you can get 100 minutes per month for just $10. Once you leave the local area though, you're hit with an astronomical 69 cents per minute charge. So make sure you know the exact bounds of your local calling area before signing up. Still, it's one of the better deals if you don't travel.

STi: Both of STi's rate plans can benefit you, even though they have access fees. The first is 10 cents per minute and 10 cents per day, so for 100 minutes it's $13 per month. The seconds is 7.9 cents per minute and 25 cents per day, so 100 minutes is $15.40 per month. Yes, the former plan makes more sense, but if you're looking for a bit of flexibility (might use more than 100 minutes one month and fewer the next), STi is a good place to start.

Boost: It's tough to gauge how much Boost will cost you per month, since they have two-tier pricing for their pay-as-you-go service. Peak calls are charged at 20 cents per minute, while off-peak are 10 cents per. If you can evenly balance the times you use your 100 minutes, you can come in at $15 per month. Plus, calls to Boost or Sprint customers are billed at 10 cents per minute, so you can receive even better savings. Hell, if you can avoid talking to non-Sprint and Boost between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. Monday through Friday, you can get by on $10 per month. We don't expect that much from you, though.

Omni: As we note in our review, there is no clear indication of features or additional fees charge to the account. So we don't know if there is a hidden fee behind their 14-cents per minute rate. But you will get 100 minutes per month for $14 through them, so we say take a look.

Alltel: They're at 15 cents per minute, so $15 per month. Of course, you could opt for their daily plan, but then you're locked in for 75 cents a day, so $23 per month. Yes, you get unlimited nights and weekends, but we're not going for bells and whistles here; we want the essentials.

Simple Freedom: You have to be cautious with Simple Freedom. If you're calling from your home calling area, it's just 15 cents per minute, so $15 per month. However, that jumps to 50 cents per minute when you're roaming, so you really need to make sure you're calling from your home area.

Tracfone: We'll refer you to this article for deals on a Tracfone. It's easier to go through that than to re-explain it here. But we will say that you can probably do it for $15 per month.

Virgin: This is one rate plan we will recommend: $15 for 100 anytime minutes. Perfect, right? The only downside is that if you go over, it's 18 cents per minute. If you need the pay-as-you-go there to really keep your minutes in check, you can pay 18 cents per minute ($18 per month) or pay $7 per month for 10 cents per minute ($17 per month).

kajeet: Ugh, the ever-present access fee. The 35 cents per day puts you at about $10 per month to start out. It's 10 cents per minute after that, so you're looking at about $20 per month. Hey, it's still better than AT&T.

AT&T: WIthout paying $1 per day, AT&T's rates are 25 cents per minute, so you're at $25 per month. That's still within a reasonable range, but you can definitely do better. The $1 per day makes absolutely no sense in this scenario, since that puts you at $30 per month without even making a call.

Honorable Mention

Liberty offers a plan of 300 minutes per month for $30. That means 10 cents per minute...it's just more than you should be paying (and more minutes than you need) for your phone.

Dishonorable Mention

Mojo has airtime cards that expire in 30 days max. If you want to stay in the budget and buy 110 minutes per month (an 80-minute card and a 30-minute card), you're paying $30 right there. So just say no to Mojo.

Verizon charges $1 per day no matter what, so before you make a call you're paying $30 per month.