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For a few months now, I’ve been over-paying for my mobile phone service. When I signed up for my Verizon plan, I thought minutes were going to be most critical. I use my BlackBerry primarily for reading e-mail and talking, sending tweets and occasionally scanning Facebook. While Web is included in my plan, I don’t typically surf on my BlackBerry. And until a few months ago, I rarely sent text messages. Text messaging was not included in my monthly plan.

But at the start of the school year I hired a high school senior to babysit my boys two days after school. She primarily communicates via text message and I’ve been paying 20 cents per text. I’ve also noticed other people in my social circle, including several mom friends, are texting more today than ever before.

It was time to reevaluate my plan. I called the Verizon service center (based in Columbia, South Carolina) and was lucky enough to get Bob on the line. He was friendly and knowledgeable and in ten minutes was able to look through my usage history and make recommendations on plan options that would not only save me money, but also provide the appropriate level of service.

I reduced my talk time from 900 minutes per month to 450 saving an instant $20. Over the past few months I was consistently using less than 400 minutes of talk time and sending and receiving an average of 25 text messages. In July I attended a bloggers conference where, not surprisingly, my texting reached an all-time high. So I opted to add a texting plan for $5 per month. These aren’t huge savings, of course, but overpaying for service you never use—or getting penalized for using your device in ways you didn’t expect at the time you entered your contract—is just wrong.

Most wireless providers offer you the option of changing your plan at any time. Try to make changes at the start of your billing cycle. Verizon offers several short cuts to check your minutes and texting status at anytime during the month right from your phone (airtime is free):

# BAL (#225) + send = check your balance
#MIN (#646) + send = check your minutes
#DATA (#3282) + send = check your data usage/Text MSGs

One important thing to consider when switching plans is whether features like Verizon’s Friends & Family plan, which offers unlimited calling to your most frequently called numbers, is still covered. In the new plan I selected, Friends & Family was not included. But that wasn’t a big deal for me since my immediate family uses Verizon, too.

If it’s been some time since you entered into your mobile contract, take a look at your usage and see if your current plan is doing the trick. Also investigate whether your employer offers any corporate discounts. You might save an additional 17% on your bill!

Once I updated my plan and applied discounts, I'm saving $21 a month. The way I see it, that's two extra hours of babysitting!

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