Brian and I have settled into our apartment in Normal, IL and are trying to get our finances in order. In the past two days we have (proudly) initiated two money saving programs - cell phones and cd’s.

Yesterday, we went to the bank, cashed in our change (yay, jar-o-change you add up!) and decided to open up some certificates of deposit. We each put in $5000.00 to a year-long CD at a wonderful rate of 5.4%. That means in one year we will each make $270 extra for the trip for only 10 minutes of work to set it up at the bank. Not too shabby! Truly, it makes sense; we weren’t planning on spending the money anyways, so why not put it to good use?!

The other wonderful saving program we initiated is to combine our cell phones onto one plan. Brian and I both use Sprint and really don’t use our phones that much now that we’re in the same location. We decided to investigate the family plans, so we headed out to the nearest sprint store to learn a bit more. The process went smoother than expected, and that, too, took about 10 minutes to set up. We set up the base family plan: 550 anytime minutes, unlimited sprint mobile to mobile, nationwide long distance, and nights starting at 7pm - all that for $60/month.

The 550 anytime minutes doesn’t seem like much for 2 people, but when you consider the unlimited sprint to sprint and nights starting at 7pm, we should be golden. Before this, we were each spending ~$55/month on our cell phones, and now it’ll be a whopping ~$35 after taxes/fees for a total savings of $20/month/person. Quick two-year savings calculation = $960 between us!

Now, if we can only do without cable TV. In time.