Earlier this year, I upgraded my only phone—I have no need for a land line—to a BlackBerry 8830 on Verizon Wireless. Now I receive my important email (in addition to some junk mail) where ever I happen to be. I accepted the fact that I would be paying for this service. In fact, my cell phone bill increased from about $50 to about $90 to pay for unlimited data, email, and a limited amount of voice minutes.

Unknown to me, Verizon began offering a less expensive option for BlackBerry owners a few months after I signed up for the plan. The new option has all of the same features except for enterprise-level email. I do not use this extra feature, so the new plan would provide me the same functionality for a lower price.

There’s one problem: Verizon didn’t contact me to let me know a new plan type was available. Why should they? If I switch to the new plan, I’d be sending them less money each month. I don’t read websites that focus on wireless services like HowardForums so I do not keep myself up-to-date with the latest industry news.

Here is how I discovered that I have been overspending. A Consumerism Commentary reader tipped me off to Validas, a website that scans your wireless phone bill and suggests opportunities for saving. Validas works with AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, T-Mobile, and U.S. Cellular customers. Using the service once costs $5 but if you order multiple reports, the price drops. One report per month costs $20 for a year. If you order a package of 24 reports, they cost only $1 each.

You can preview your savings for free, but in order to receive details about the less expensive options, you will be required to pay for at least one report.

In order to analyze my bill, I first had to visit Verizon’s online billing website to download a PDF version of my bill. I then logged into Validas and uploaded my bill.

After uploading my bill, Validas analyzed my usage from the last month and presented suggestions for saving money. The website informed me that I could save $30. My current service includes a nationwide BlackBerry plan that includes email, web, 450 anytime minutes, unlimited night and weekend voice minutes, unlimited anytime Verizon-to-Verizon voice minutes, unlimited Verizon-to-Verizon text messages, and 500 additional text messages. Validas suggested I switch to a voice plan that includes the same service except the BlackBerry service is an extra, added onto a 300 anytime minutes plan.

Validas couldn’t provide the details about the new BlackBerry add-on, so I quickly researched the “EMAIL & WEB -BLACKBERRY $29.99” service. As I mentioned above, this cheaper option doesn’t include enterprise email. I do not use this feature, so I was happy to drop it to save $30.

I should also disclose that my employer offers a 19% discount for all Verizon Wireless plans, and Validas was able to take this discount into account.

I visited Verizon Wireless to change my plan to start saving $30 per month immediately. This change did not affect my contract. Even though I was switching to a lower-cost plan, Verizon did not require that I extend my contract for two years.

Next I visited BillShrink, a service similar to Validas, but free. BillShrink does not require a PDF version of my statement, but in order for the analysis to begin, I needed to provide my cell phone number and my login password for verizonwireless.com. After running my usage pattern through thousands of options across all wireless carriers, BillShrink suggested I could save $50 per month by switching to a 200 anytime minute plan (which also did not seem to exist on Verizon’s website).

Unfortunately, BillShrink did not take my BlackBerry into account. I could obviously save more money by dropping my BlackBerry and re-activating my old phone, but since I plan to stick with my current phone until my contract is complete, Validas provided the results that were more appropriate.

For me, the $5 spent to have my bill analyzed by Validas paid for itself six times over in one month or 90 times over for the remainder of my contract. It also made me realize that I need to pay more attention to the plans offered by my wireless provider so I don’t miss out on any price reductions. Verizon isn’t going to make any effort to let me know that I can save money by switching my plan.

I was speaking with a co-worker who used to be a telemarketer, and she told me that if I’m ever again harassed by any strangers on the phone trying to sell me things I don’t need, I should just say, “Mark me down as deceased.” You don’t even have to pretend to be a different person.

Apparently, they have a check box on their form for “Deceased” that will prevent them from calling you ever again. What’s more, this misinformation gets passed downstream to the other telemarketers that they sell their lists of “customers” to, so those people won’t be calling you, either.

This is just a quick and dirty alternative to the more official process that Flexo has previously talked about.

I may have fallen back into old habits. Several years ago, when I was refreshing my life and beginning to control my finances, I made deep cuts into my expenses. I took on three roommates, paying only $325 a month for my portion of rent. I didn’t own a car and relied on mass transit for most of my transportation. When I did move out on my own, finding one of the least expensive apartments in town, I eliminated all but the most basic cable television.

There was more I could have done had I wanted to reduce my expenses, but I reached the point at which I was consistently investing and saving money every month.

As my income has grown over the past few years, I’ve allowed my expenses to follow. I moved into an apartment I actually like and feel comfortable spending some cash on unnecessary things I like, such as amateur coin collecting, amateur photography, and amateur high-definition entertainment enjoyment.

I’ve already thought of some ways to reduce my expenses by $10,000 a year. Consumer Reports has some suggestions for finding another $6,000 a year, but only a few apply to me. How about you?

Find cheaper auto insurance. I mentioned that several years ago I didn’t have a car. That wasn’t quite by choice; my license was suspended when I was younger for failure to pay speeding tickets. It would be easy to say that I received those tickets thanks to a stressful job working 100 hours a week and my failure to pay was because I had no money, but I should have been more responsible. Until I got rid of the car, my insurance was about $4,000 a year if I remember correctly. Now my insurance is about $1,500 a year, and I could only find that rate by shopping around for a while. It’s been several years since I’ve shopped around, so that’s something I will consider. I need to add renter’s insurance as well—something I’m sad to admit I’ve never had despite its reportedly low price.

Optimize your life insurance. Right now, my cat Rupert is the only living being that relies on my income to survive. I have not opted for life insurance yet as it will be generally unnecessary until I have a (human) family. According to Consumer Reports, insurance premiums have decreased on average, so it may be a good time to replace your policy with a new one. You may be able to get the same coverage for less.

Shop smart for food. Buying food for a single guy is not simple. Food is usually packaged for families. This means I usually end up spending more per meal and eating larger portions that I should be. I don’t enjoy spending time preparing and cooking dinner. I have accepted my failure at brown-bagging my lunch and moved on. Consumer Reports’ advice is tailored to a family, indicating on average an household could save $190 a month by shifting to less expensive food. My entire monthly grocery bill is about $190, though eating out (and ordering in) matches that.

Plan menus around sales on fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and make use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared meals. Eat more low-priced, high-nutrition foods such as beans and potatoes… Shop in lower-cost stores such as Aldi Foods, PriceRite, Costco, Trader Joe’s, Wal-Mart, and Sam’s Club, but be sure to compare prices. Try less-expensive store brands. Sign up for store discount cards. Stock up on sale-priced staples.

Stop paying bank fees. This is one of the most unnecessary expenses for just about everyone in the United States of America. There is rarely a reason that you should have to pay incidental or monthly fees for any basic banking service if you manage your money. Avoid overdraft fees or over-the-limit fees by being aware of your account balances. Avoid monthly or yearly maintenance fees by taking advantage of only free accounts—there are many to choose from if your bank insists on charging you a fee for your banking. Avoid cash withdrawal fees by using the right ATMs.

According to Consumer Reports, 52% of consumers don’t pay any bank fees, but the rest pay lots.

Optimize your telephone service. I don’t spend that much time on the phone. I could probably save a lot of money if I were to choose a prepaid cell phone plan. However, I chose a Blackberry plan with Verizon Wireless, which I use more for business, and I don’t intend on changing the plan.

I’ve helped other people look at their telephone usage habits and choosing a plan that better fits the amount of time they spend on the phone. On many plans, going over the allotted number of minutes can be very expensive. If you’re consistently exceeding your limit, you can save tons of money by switching plans.

Pay off your credit card. According to Consumerism Commentary, “On average, consumers who carry a balance owe $2,200, on which they pay 15.2 percent in annual interest charges.” Paying that much interest negates any progress you may be achieving with your savings or investments. To get rid of credit card debt, stop using the cards and then apply the Debt Avalanche.

It’s been several years since I’ve paid interest on a credit card, but I still pay about $30 a month on my student loan interest. I still have a student loan because several years ago, I applied some tuition reimbursement towards expenses rather than my loan. I probably should have done whatever possible to avoid that, but for whatever reason, it was the choice I made. At the time, the interest on the student loan was about 2% and I was earning more in my savings accounts, but that’s no longer the case. Therefore, I have been increasing my debt repayments every month this year, with the goal of vanquishing the remaining balance by the end of the year. If I decide that goal still makes sense, I’ll have to accelerate in order to achieve it.

According to Consumer Reports, the average family can save $500 by making the changes listed above. I have a feeling that many Consumerism Commentary readers are already optimized.

Cut your spending by $500 per month, Consumer Reports, August 2008 (subscription required)

I’m not a fan of rebates, particularly the kind of rebate for which you must pay full price for a product up front with the promise of cash back if you remember to mail in your receipt and a portion of the product’s packaging in time. I’m not a fan because I’m generally unorganized, at least historically.

I’m not a fan also because many people are like me. Rebates are great marketing tools, convincing customers that they are getting a better deal. The company offering a rebate on a product gets the benefit of advertising a lower price as well as the benefit of charging all customers full price. They are well aware that many customers will not jump through all the hoops necessary—or even just remember to do so—to receive cash back. By the time this cash arrives for the lucky customers, the price of the product has been lowered.

As of January, I had the same cell phone for almost three years. I had completed the terms of my latest two-year contract with Verizon Wireless and was delaying the purchase of a new phone for as long as possible.

My biggest problem—a complaint shared by my girlfriend—is the phone’s battery couldn’t hold a full charge after three years. When using a Bluetooth headset, the battery drains in less than an hour. I could have simply purchased a new battery for the phone, but I decided to take the opportunity to pick a new phone that would offer me helpful features e-mail, mobile web, and a functional keyboard. I decided on the BlackBerry 8830, and I’m very satisfied with the purchase.

The current price is $399 with a 2-year contract, minus a $100 online discount (or just $299 in the stores). Additionally, whether purchasing in the store or online, Verizon is also offering a $100 rebate. This is the same offer that was presented to me a few months ago when I was shopping for my new phone. Somehow, and I’m not quite sure how, I managed to convince the salesperson to give me another $100 off. Perhaps because I spent a lot of time in the store and they probably just wanted to get rid of me, they sold me the phone for $199 with eligibility for the $100 rebate.

True to form, I almost missed the deadline to send in my rebate form, receipt, and serial number cut from the box. Here’s the problem. When you take the phone home, you have fourteen days to make sure the phone works properly before returning it. This prevents you from destroying the packaging and sending in the rebate right away (though I imagine some people do, anyway). The box get put away and the rebate is forgotten.

Almost. As March came to a close, I realized I was approaching the deadline for mailing my rebate form and qualifying for my $100 back. I managed to submit the materials in the nick of time. It’s entirely possible that they would extend the deadline, but it’s not with $100 to find out.

As I mentioned before, I’m not very trusting when it comes to rebates. Many times, rebate offers are simply scams. First, the customer must jump through hoops, second, materials are often “lost in the mail,” and third, loopholes which allow the company to reject rebate requests are frequent. Verizon Wireless seems to have a better approach to the process. According to the Verizon Wireless Rebate Center, my rebate paperwork was received yesterday, and I qualify.

The website doesn’t tell me when I will be receiving my rebate, but if I can believe the salesperson (would this qualify me as naive?), I should receive my check within two weeks.