A frugal life is an easy life!

I have had a mobile phone for about 9 years now, the past 7 years, I have been on contracts.
I paid £30 per month at first, but for the past 5 years, just £20 per month. This is not because o2 offer great deals, this is because when my contract is up for renewal, I don't speak to upgrades, I contact "retentions dept" and ask for a PAC code. They don't want to lose my custom so they offer me a deal to stay, be it more texts/minutes etc.

Last month, my bill for the month for my mobile phone, rose to £27. My 18 month contract had come to its end and without any notification, they removed the discounts from my account. The price went up to what it should have been.
I rang them for my PAC code, they could only offer less minutes and less texts and they removed the option for unused ones to "roll over" to the next month!
They tried to get me to sign on with their "only £10 per month, because you keep your existing handset!" - this would still be £120 per year.
I had a look at their handsets online, the choice was abismal!

I do not know if this applies only to o2, but out of more than 80 Nokia mobile phones currently available, o2 are offering a wide range of 5 (yes just five) nokia mobile phones to keep their customers with them.
Two are worse than one I have now
One has the same quality/features as my current mobile, but looks like a brick
One has the same quality/features as mine, but is almost twice as big in size
The last one looks okay, smaller than mine with a couple of new features, shame I am being punished for being a "light user" and would have to pay £195 for the handset!

All this got me thinking: Why do I need a mobile phone?
I don't use it for calling people much
I don't always update my handset (I wouldn't be doing so this time!)
I don't get many texts anymore

I worked out that this year alone my mobile phone has cost me £247!
That's a years car tax and a night out
That is jetting off for a week in the sun
That is our food budget for four weeks!

So as of tomorrow, I'll be turning it off and cancelling it, I may put it back on when the better half returns to work, but until then, I do not need it.
£247  more in my family's pocket - that's a good result I think.