Do you really need a telephone?

Inspired by a post over on Penniless Parenting, I decided to share what works for me in terms of having a home phone. Or not, since I don't have one.

A while back, in our old house, the phone line had a fault and stopped working. It took a while (months) to get in fixed, so we learned to live without a home line. When we moved into our new house we decided to forgo the homeline and live as we had been. A homeline would have cost us $50 a month. Here is how we get by without it:

-We have a naked broadband plan, where we pay $5 more a month to have the plan, but no homeline.
-We also pay $10 a month (some months, not so much over summer when the boyfriend doesn't need to make business calls) for a skype account that gives us unlimited landline calls.
-We also skype overseas friends, which is free.
-The boyfriend pays $50 a month for his cell phone. This is the cheapest and best plan and even if we had a landline he would still have the plan, so while it doesn't really count, he does get free minutes that he can and does use.
-I have the boyfriend and my mum on a bestmate plan, which means that for $12 a month I can call either of them as much as I want.
-If I want to get in touch with people I just text them or facebook them. If it is urgent I will use the boyfriends minutes, but it is never really urgent.

So I spend $12+$5+$10 a month on being able to call people without a homeline. That comes to $27 a month, which is a saving of $23 a month! That $23 can be put to better use elsewhere!