We decided to cancel our landline a few months ago. Truthfully only my mother called me on it – oh and telemarketers. And since we haven’t had to use that line for dial-up Internet since 2003 we truthfully decided it was a waste of $23 a month to have that phone collecting dust.
(Perhaps we were also looking for budget cuts and I’ll be damned if I’m ready to get rid of my weekly Dance Moms fix on Lifetime.)
(these pictures have nothing to do with post. work with me)
Anyway, we’ve run into a small problem….if we don’t have a landline phone -that means we only have mobile phones..and if there’s one thing we know about mobile phones is that THEY ARE MOBILE. Which is cool because it’s always with me. Problem is – my kids are sometimes not with me and now they receive their personal phone calls on my mobile phone.
Now thankfully a 7 year old and 9 year old do not receive many personal phone calls but it’s kind of dawned on me that their personal phone calls are only going to increase and I’ll be damned if they are getting their own phones until they are 12.
So this goes two ways – AWESOME because I get to be their personal secretary and screen all calls AND ANNOYING because the 7 year olds who call my 7 year old have no clue what they are doing on the phone.
(awesome sweater…has nothing to do with mobile phones)
THEREFORE – parents of 7 year olds – PUHLEASE don’t let your kids make phone calls without an intensive study course on phone etiquette..and really – do 7 year olds need to use the phone?
Because this was my life the other night:
‘ring ring’ – Hello hello hello is anybody there? I asked.
“Um hi”
Hello – who is this?
“Um(giggle) is Esther there?”
Who is this calling?
“Um Elegance”
Okay – just a moment.
Esther says “Hello”
Esther sits on phone for a few moments.
Esther hangs-up.
I ask Esther what Elegance wanted.
Esther tells me she has no idea. Elegance just giggled.
20 seconds later – ring, ring.
Hello, I say
“Hi – is Esther there”
Hi Elegance – she is still here, is there something you need sweetie?
“No, I just want to talk.”
Esther says hello. Then says nothing. Then hangs-up.
20 seconds later – ring, ring.
Hi Elegance. Here’s Esther.
Esther says hello. Says nothing else. Hangs up.
I walk out the door to head to the store ALONE.
30 seconds later – ring ring.
Hi Elegance. I just left home so I’m not with Esther anymore so you can just chat with her at school tomorrow, okay? I hang up.
10 seconds later – ring ring.
Hi Elegance. Esther’s mom again. Esther will talk to you at school tomorrow unless there is something you need from me. Is there something I can help you with sweetie? Nothing? Okay, so stop calling now as I’m not with Esther. Okay, bye. I hang up.
10 seconds later – ring ring.
Hi Elegance – can I talk to your mom?
Yeah, so I’m rethinking that $23 I used to spend on the landline if this is just the beginning of kids calling kids. GAH!
*******
So have you canceled your landline?
*******
Also – I’m in the April Edition of Minnesota Parent Magazine talking about stylish and affordable fashion! (So excited)
Linking up to What I Wore Wednesday.
What I wore on Easter:
Cardigan sweater from H&M
Earrings and necklace from local boutique
Belt from H&M
Skirt from Art & Soul by Bercot
Shoes from Nordstrom
We have a landline after many years of not. We can make free local calls! Not that we ever call anyone, so there’s that.
And Elegance? Stop speed dialing Tracy!
(Cute sweater!)
Alison@Mama Wants This recently posted..The Quilt
I hadn’t heard the term speed dialing in a long time. I need to really do that to ex-boyfriends more.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
You really need that landline back. It will only get worse!
Practical Parenting recently posted..Coping with Sudden Loss
Or get them a cell to share. ouch.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
We never installed a landline when we moved into our house (and recently cancelled our cable — I don’t miss it!), but I may have to get one installed when we reach phone talking age, as I also have three giggly girls.
Leigh Ann recently posted..I Make Making Fun a weekly gig
OMG the giggling. I think they need a phone booth out back.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
oh yay! i’m totally thankful for the fact that you enlightened me as to WHY I WILL NEVER CANCEL MY LANDLINE.
dear lord. stella had a friend call the other day that just completely sat there while i said hello hello hello over and over and over again.
why don’t people teach their kids to use a phone?
jen recently posted..finding the beautiful.
I know – it should be a class in 1st grade. I don’t really let me kids use the phone though.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
We just got a landline again after not having one for about two years.
Honestly, the only reason we did was because for some reason it made my husband feel very stressed not to have one. His point being that the kids should be taught who to call in an emergency (that can be done on a cell but whatever). That if we want to use a babysitter one day she (or he) may not have a cell phone and if we do not have a landline it would be unsafe. (Neither he nor his parents will EVER be okay with the kids being babysat by some teenager!). And his final (and only valid argument), that at some point in the next couple of years our children will start getting calls from their friends. Which by the sounds of it could be super annoying
Love your Easter outfit!! The sweater is one of my favourite colours.
Stephanie recently posted..Mmmm…..Chicken Lasagna
It’s the color of the season. I’m wearing tons of it.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
You look great, and that would be so annoying. Luckily, I have a boy and he doesn’t talk on the phone.
Leigh Powell Hines (@Hinessightblog) recently posted..Southern Porch Entertaining
OH my, I’d never thought about the fact that my kids will soon be getting calls- ugh! Thankfully my two oldest are boys, and probably won’t be too interested in it for a while, and by the time their younger sister has actual friends, I’ll have figured something out! But I’m with you, no cell phones until much, much later!!
Corey Moortgat recently posted..Obligatory Easter Pics
my boys get as many calls if not more than the girls
We have one and I love still having one! Love your outfit.
JDaniel4′s Mom recently posted..2nd Annual Tissue Box Challenge Begins April 16th
We cancelled our landline a couple years ago and I have wondered what we are going to do when the kids get older… probably add it back just for them.
Because like you I think, 7 is a little young for their own phone.
And having 7 year olds call your house must be a little girl thing. My son is 7 and he doesn’t get phone calls.
(thank goodness)
Jen recently posted..We went to Chicago and This was What Happened
We still have a landline mainly for my husband to take business calls (he’s a freelancer and works from home) so we don’t use up our precious mobile minutes. Also in case of emergency and the cell lines and internet go out (learned from experience). My 5 year old just asked for a phone for his 6th birthday. I laughed in his face. Love your outfit too!
Christine @ Love, Life, Surf recently posted..5 Life Lessons I Learned From Surfing
We haven’t had a landline since 2003.
But my kids haven’t started to get phone calls yet. I’m not looking forward to that.
Shell recently posted..Pour Your Heart Out: I Wonder If They Know
No land line here and I did a little dance when we got rid of it, no more telemarketers! But it has been a pain changing our phone number everywhere, as we had the same number for 20 years, and you don’t realize how many places you are tied to your phone number until every cashier starts asking for it. Wondering if you will be able to stick to your guns on waiting for age 12 for the girls to get phones!
maybaby recently posted..oh glorious spring!
We are still vacillating on getting rid of the land line (for us, the main reason we think we can’t is it may be required for our alarm system to operate properly). We don’t use it enough for the amount of the bill and the girls only get random calls. I’m sure that’ll change eventually, but you’re right about little kids using the phone. Whenever one calls and we don’t answer, they call right back three to four times. Um, just leave a message, honey, b/c if we didn’t answer it means we aren’t here (except we are but I saw your name on the caller id and opted not to answer but you don’t know that unless you’re outside and see our car or me in the window checking to see if you’re outside and maybe that’s the reason why you keep calling back b/c you know Zoe’s in here).
I am in love with that sweater, especially the color.
Arnebya recently posted..Wordful Wednesday: Good Endings to Pretty Ungood Beginnings
Love your outfit. We have not had a land line for probably a decade and don’t miss it at all. If you ever want another place to link to, join me on Fridays at Bacon Time for our Anything Goes linky.
Mindie recently posted..New Breakfast Recipes and Sweepstakes with Avocados From Mexico
So funny, we cancelled our landline too but not until Ashlyn was old enough to have her own phone. I can only imagine the calls coming in when all my kids hit 7 or 8 at the same time. Love the skirt!
Jessica recently posted..Imperfectly Complete
I WANT WANT WANT to get rid of our landline, but my kids are almost 13 and almost 15 and they got cell phones when they went to middle school.
I don’t want to talk to a single person who calls my landline.
Everyone who KNOWS me texts me.
p.s. Will you please come to California and stage a fashion intervention for me? I’ll buy the margaritas…
julie gardner recently posted..Today call me gone
As I mentioned on twitter – just watch for me as I’m jump out of your bushes at any moment!
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
You are too gorgeous! Can you stage a fashion intervention for me after Julie?
We have our landline, although we ignore it when it rings because it really is telemarketers calling. We were talking about getting rid of it, but with two girls, maybe we’ll have to keep it.
christine recently posted..Work It Out
too many kids to get rid of my landline.
that H&M sweater doesn’t look nearly as good on me.
Michelle L. recently posted..Easter light
I love your outfit!
We canceled our landline a few years ago. Luckily (I guess) our kids would rather text than actually talk so we don’t have too many issues with phone calls.
ChristyB recently posted..What’s In My Closet Wednesday {Christy B}
Congrats on being featured for your awesome fashion sense.
And I will never ever get rid of my landline now that I know.
Lady Jennie recently posted..Déjà Vu
Yeah, not cancelling. This is just starting at my house so… But yes, right now my Mom is about the only one that calls on it as well. Oh and my oldest’s school…
You look great and congrats on the feature, my friend!!
Elaine recently posted..They smelled so good…
We got rid of ours for about a year, but when we moved, we decided to go back to it. No one ever calls on it, but whenever I try talk on my mobile phone and do something else at the same time (which is ALWAYS), my face hangs up on them. Very, very annoying. So people call my mobile, then I call them back on my home line if I’m going to talk for more than 30 sec. Surely I won’t have to deal with this tween phone thing since I have boys, right???
Stacey recently posted..First Sight
I will tell my girls not to call your boys.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
I have cancelled my landline . . . but I don’t have to worry about taking calls for kids. That said, my kids already have their own iPhones. My sister-in-law and mother-in-law recently upgraded their iPhones to the latest version . . . and my kids inherited the old ones. They use them to play games (and there are no plans associated with these phones, so they’re basically just iPods that could call 9-1-1 — fortunately, neither phone has figured out how do do that yet).
My plan was going to be that the kids wouldn’t have cell-phones until they had after-school activities, and then they’d have phones with two buttons “mom” and “dad.” Now, I don’t know, because I’m pretty sure both of my kids know how to use my phone better than I do.
John recently posted..Where I remind myself that scale only reports a number
oh, you just confirmed one more reason why I can justify keeping our landline..thank you! I was only thinking of emergencies when we are not home and my boys don’t have phones yet, agree with you on that too. We’ve started to have some girls calling for them already at 9 & 11!! Yikes!
Nope, haven’t cancelled it and don’t plan to! I like the security of 911 being able to locate our house if a 911 call is made from the landline. Also, I don’t want the AC repairman, PTA, newspaper subscription service, or kids’ friends bugging me while I’m out and about. They can all call my home line.
Have you had your kids’ friends call and tattle on your kids yet? That cracks me up!! I’ve had a few of those… http://houseofestrogen.typepad.com/house_of_estrogen/2012/01/tattle-by-voice-mail.html
Ann recently posted..Simple Woman’s Daybook, April 9, 2012
OMG that is hilarious. Gah – now thinking I need the landline back..
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
You are adorable, that is a fabulous sweater, and we haven’t cancelled our landline yet, but have considered it.
You make a very good point here, and hat tip for your patience!
Galit Breen recently posted..First Day, Last Day
SO EXCITING.
Not the landline, the Minnesota Mag.
Just WONDERFUL.
Happy and proud for you, dear woman.
VERY HAPPY.
Alexandra recently posted..April is Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Month
That sounds like craziness. I do not have a landline, but apparently I might have to get one when my kids get older.
Also is her name really Elegance??
Marta recently posted..Easter. Censored.
Yes, yes her name is Elegance. I won’t tell you her sister’s name.
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
I’m going to assume its Klassy with a K.
Marta recently posted..Easter. Censored.
Dearest Tracy,
I had to giggle at your post, not because we canceled our phone line, but because I know the seven-year-old not knowing how to talk on the phone thing. My seven-year-old loves to face time on the phone with grandma and grandpa. I can’t stand it. She calls them and then she just sits there. She doesn’t say anything. Meanwhile I can hear grandma and grandpa trying to talk to her while she is watching t.v. or doing something else. It is so uncomfortable. When I tell Susan to get off the phone, she gets mad. So I tell her to talk to grandma, and she gets mad.
Yuck!
Your Utah Friend,
Tina
P.S. I am off to your magazine article. Congratulations!
I’m in love with that skirt! LOVE it! Great, classy, beautiful outfit!
we use our landline as a business fax…
and your knees look bruised in those pics…or is that the shadow? hmmm…..
Not a Perfect Mom recently posted..My Bed Through the Years….
You are so much trouble…
tracy@sellabitmum recently posted..What Happens When You Cancel Your Landline
Never mind the phone problems… you’ve got great legs! Actually, kids calling too often bugs me, too, but it’s a phase that passes quickly.
Rachelle recently posted..The Pioneer Woman’s 2nd cookbook!
We have a land-line but the ringers are all turned off. I hate talking on the phone. It’s part of the package we have and actually increases the costs if we delete it. Who knows!
Jamie recently posted..what the junk‽
I know exactly what you mean. Sophia is now 8 and finally has learned to say “hello this is Sophia” first, instead of “who is this” which was her first instint. But it has taken what must be years of practice, etiquette lessons and me yelling, um I mean coaching, from a distance.
Love the outfit colours. I’ve been trying to talk the husband into cancelling our land line since the only people who call us are my mother and telemarketers as well. We don’t have kids at this point so I think it would be pretty safe for awhile!
Leigh-Ellen recently posted..Friday Favourites