How We Survive Without Smartphones.

We live a frugal-ish lifestyle.  We do have cars that aren't paid off and eat out occasionally, but one thing that doesn't fit into our budget is something that I feel everyone except us owns.  Smartphones.  I don't have a Blackberry and my husband doesn't have an iPhone, in fact, I believe our phones were around $30 each and don't have any fancy-shmancy features.  Here is how we survive without this luxury.

1. GPS - Not only do we not have this feature on our phones, but we don't even have a Garmin or Tom Tom sitting on the dash of our car.  We keep an atlas in each vehicle and print out directions before leaving home.  If we need to know if there is a gas station or a place to get pizza nearby, we just call Free 411 and have the information texted to us. (1.800.373.3411)  It can be annoying having to repeat yourself to the computer on the other end and having to listen to the ads, but it is free!
2. Video Camera - While we are lucky enough to be able to capture pictures on our phones, videos are another story.  While this seemed really inconvenient at first (so many Mason moments went uncaptured!), we recently became owners of a Flip video camera.  It is small and can hold an hour of video and I totally don't mind carrying it along wherever I think I'll need it.
3. WiFi - It is actually a good thing we don't have this.  We spend enough time the way it is on the internet, having it available wherever we go would just be overkill.  We settle for being able to tweet via text message and send pictures to our Facebook accounts.
4. Blue Tooth - I'm going to be honest here.  I don't even know what this is.  Yep, no idea.
5. Apps - Is there an app for not having an app?  I admit some of the apps that I hear about do sound pretty cool, everyone seems to be showing off their Instagram pictures, restaurants have signs saying to download theirs, and there really does seem to be an app for everything.  But I don't need them.  Having exactly 0 apps on my phone has not affected my life in any way.  You can't miss what you don't know, right?

 
Now, don't get me wrong here.  I love modern technology.  I can't imagine life without internet.  I have a mini panic attack whenever I'm driving somewhere without my cell phone.
I'm just saying, while it sure does sound tempting at times, life is possible without a smartphone.

Phone pictures.. you know, to keep with the theme.