My name is Psycho Mom. I'm an eBay seller who sells textbooks, rear window graphics, secure mail box vaults, and secure wall safes.  My kids named me Psycho Mom when I would rant and rave about things that they thought weren't important, like the way they spend MY money.

So, why am I writing this review? Because it occurred to me that having told the story of our LOSER phone to every parent I know, is not enough...so here goes:

                 

With two kids in college at the same time, the cell phone bills can be overwhelming. Tuition costs have increased by nearly 75% in the last 5 years and the cost of textbooks has doubled. Add to that, cars, food, insurance, and I'm ready to get yet another job. One of the ways that we control costs is to shave every unnecessary item off our monthly bills. We were paying $5 per month, per phone for insurance on those phones. In a family of four cell phone users, that's an extra $240.  The kids were constantly needing their phones repaired and replaced for one reason and another...They would inexplicably LOSE it while out "studying".... It would fall out of their pocket and smash against a rock, it would get stepped on by a friend while "studying"...At one point we replaced both kids' phones twice in two months! These were brand new phones...Dad and I weren't losing or breaking our phones...and they were exactly the same model. It got so bad that the insurer was threatening to have our case reviewed for "fraud"....not to mention the fact that every time we needed a replacement they kept us on the phone for more than 30 minutes, tortured us and made it almost impossible to get the coverage that we had paid for.

Suddenly (yeah, like after two long ugly years) it was time for an upgrade and we were all eligible for FREE phones through our provider. This is when we stopped paying insurance and instituted the LOSER PHONE system. Usually when we got new phones we would donate the old ones to the women's shelters...but not this time. This time we kept two of the old models on hand. They were officially designated as LOSER PHONES...meaning, if you are such a loser that you lose your phone, if you are such a loser that you can't take better care and avoid breaking your phone...well then, you will get to have the LOSER PHONE until you can buy one of your own OR until the next time we get free phones.  If you have a long time until your next upgrade, find one on eBay and buy it there...but make sure it is NOT a cool one...get something that is a generation ago...back when it was JUST a phone!

This was almost two years ago and not only have we saved $240 per year on insurance, but suddenly the kids don't LOSE their phones anymore.  I have to believe that when we had insurance, they thought that they didn't NEED to be careful, they thought that they could just toss it around and leave it anywhere...and if something happened, Ma and Pa would deal with it the insurers and a new phone would magically appear in their mailboxes.

Last week I received a call from one of these precious babies and he said, "Ma, do we still have the loser phone in a drawer at home?"  He went on to explain that he'd lost his phone at a friend's lake house...he wasn't sure where, they'd been to a festival the night before and he might have lost it there.  He said he'd spent 4 hours looking for it, because he didn't want to get stuck with the UNCOOL old model LOSER phone...because, "It doesn't even have a camera or play MP3's!"

Before the LOSER phone system he would have just shrugged his shoulders and given up. Amazingly, the boy managed to find the phone before he left his friend's lake home.

Now I'm thinking about buying a LOSER CAR!!

PsychoMomRocks: The Store

Check out my store for firefighting rear window vehicle graphics, girly girl rear window graphics, wall safes and secure rural mailboxes. Oh, and did I mention that you might also find a cheap textbook?