The following guest post is from Elise Degrass.  Elise is a new freelance writer. She spends most of her day writing and reviewing cell phones.  She appreciates your feedback at elisedegrass@gmail.com.

We’ve all experienced shock at seeing a high cell phone bill, and the prospect of facing permanently high phone bills is daunting to many people; after all, phone conversations are an essential part of personal and business life. Rather than giving up your phone or keeping it turned off, there are some smart options that you can utilize to keep your bill low, while allowing your to retain all of the advantages that led you to use a cell phone in the first place:

Carefully Evaluate Whether Your Existing Plan is Cost Effective

Even if you’re locked into a contract with a certain provider, most of the time you can switch between various calling plans. In particular, if you have many more minutes than you need, consider moving to a lower cost plan. If you have multiple family members on the account, then you might want to look at a family plan that will provide volume discounts. For many people, a disproportionate percentage of their call time is linked to just a few people: try to coordinate cell phone providers with those you call most, as that will often all free in-network calling.

Schedule Longer Conversations in Advance

Although spontaneous conversations occur all the time, if you can anticipate longer conversations and schedule them for nights and weekends, you’re bound to save on valuable peak time minutes; check when your night minutes kick in, as it varies from plan to plan.

Resist the Temptation to Purchase Add-on Features

Most people are constantly bombarded with advertisements for upgrades on their cell phones, from ring tones to software packages. Make sure you read the fine print on these plans, as they’ll likely to continue to bill you well after the initial purchase.

Find An Affordable Text Messaging Plan

Rather than incurring an expensive per diem text messaging charge, you can often purchase a text messaging plan that will save your quite a bit when all costs are factored in. Many cell phone providers offer plans which can accommodate your level of use.

Use Alternative Methods of Communication

Having a cell phone can be convenient, but also consider utilizing inexpensive methods of communication such as Skype when you’re at your computer – that way, you can cut down on your costs while maintaining a high level of available for business clients, friends and family.

Much of the advice I share here are lessons I’ve learned the hard way.  I certainly don’t possess any unique skill at navigating the personal finance world, and I’ve made my share of mistakes.  To clean up those mistakes I typically advise families to cut any unnecessary spending, particularly in this time of recession.

We have taken our own advice in the Frugal household by cutting the cable back to basic service, lowering our cell phone plan, signing up for the value Internet plan, and a number of other cuts.  However, there is one expense I am unwilling to let go–my gym membership.

Gym memberships really are a luxury in that I could get adequate exercise with a good pair of walking shoes and a few dumbbells.  However, with our current layout a home gym is not possible, and most of the equipment I use at the gym is too expensive to put in the house anyway.

Over the years I have struggled with whether or not to let go of my gym membership.  I have even gone so far as canceling it and trying to do home workouts to no avail.  Right now my membership costs about $30 a month, or $360 a year.  That works out to roughly a dollar a day.  Actually, because I don’t go every day like I should it works out to closer to two or three dollars a day.  Still, that is not a lot considering the benefits I receive.

Benefits of a Gym Membership

Lower health care costs.  If I can get in and stay in better shape it will help lower health care costs and insurance premiums.  In this way, I consider the $30 a month an investment because it more than offsets the costs of additional doctor visits and increased premiums.

Relieves stress.  After sitting at a desk all day, and much of the night, it is good to get up and move around.  I have lifted weights since high school and find it to be therapeutic in terms of relieving stress.  It would take much more than $360 to outfit my garage with the same equipment I use at the gym–weight bench, squat rack, leg press, barbells and a full weight set, not to mention the various cardio equipment.

Mental clarity.  Ever just feel like you are in a fog, mentally?  Me too.  When I start to feel that way I immediately look at two things:  my diet and my workout schedule.  When I start to slack off on either one I can feel a decline in mental sharpness and often feel more fatigued.  Strange that working to near exhaustion in the gym actually gives you more energy, but it really does.

Adds discipline to your daily routine.  Regardless of what time of day I workout, the workout itself sets the tone for the day.  I used to get up early and hit the gym, but I have replaced that early morning time with writing.  Now I typically workout after I leave work, and it is a nice change of pace to leave the office, hit the gym and then head home.

Networking opportunities. If you are single, this advice may mean something totally different to you! But for us married folks, I am referring more to professional networking opportunities.  The gym is sort of a melting pot for professionals in my area as people from a variety of industries have memberships to the same gym.  It is not unusual to strike up a conversation about the market with the guy on the treadmill next to me.  Eventually we chat about family and jobs and I have established a new contact.  It never hurts to have a few of these casual friends in your network.

Boosts self-confidence.  It is true that better looking people have an easier time getting ahead in life.  Fortunately for me, looks aren’t the only thing that matter!  Hard work and discipline makes up for a lack of looks, but one secret ingredient can override all others–self confidence.  Establishing a workout routine, sticking with it, and making progress boosts self confidence.  The physical improvements are nice, too, but the change on the inside is far more important.

Do you have a gym membership?  Have you considered canceling it to reduce monthly expenses?

A blast of cold air across much of the country combined with a sputtering economy has made for some tough times for those trying to keep up with home heating costs.  In a neighboring town close to where I live, residents were offered assistance through local churches and community organizations on a first come, first serve basis.  Residents lined up in droves and far exceeded the number of spots available for help.  In fact, at one event over 400 citizens showed up in need of financial assistance keeping their utility bills current, but the church was only able to accept around 100.  That left a few hundred others out in the cold.  I suspect the numbers are even worse in larger cities.

Where To Find Help

There is never a good time to have your power cut off, but when temperatures are extremely hot or extremely cold seems to be the absolute worst time possible. Unfortunately, it is the very young and very old that suffer most.  While none of us have an unlimited supply of money to go around paying electric and gas bills for people, there are ways to make a difference in your community.

Here are a few places to start if you find yourself having trouble making utility payments this winter.

Contact churches, community organizations and The Salvation Army. These organizations are on the front lines and are often the first line of defense for those displaced by the cold.  To those looking for ways to help, these organizations are always in need of financial assistance, blankets, coats, gloves, hats, etc.  I recommend contacting one in your area to find out what they need most.

Investigate energy assistance programs through your utility company. Many power companies offer energy assistance programs and will work with customers by offering one-time assistance such as prorated billing.

Be prepared to help pay a portion of the bill.  Unfortunately, charitable organizations are unable to foot the entire bill for someone in need of help.  In most cases they can only offset a portion of the overall bill, so be prepared to cover the remaining amount.  If you are unable to, contacting multiple organizations could pay off as often times they will pool resources to cover the cost of the entire bill.

The first step if you find yourself in trouble is to sit down and complete a budget of your entire household expenses, and any income you have.  Next prioritize these expenses based on their importance to your survival–food, shelter, lights, clothing and transportation is a good start.  Literally write the number “1″ next to the highest priority, “2″ next to the second highest priority and so on.

You will find things like credit card bills, subscriptions, and cell phones are near the bottom of the list.  That’s acceptable for now.  If credit card companies call looking for money, politely explain your situation and promise to notify them when you are able to make a payment.  Hang up the phone the instant they become abusive or threatening. No one deserves to be mistreated or talked down to by some idiot in a cubicle 500 miles away.  Do not be intimidated into putting credit cards before the mortgage, or other basic needs.

Hopefully any financial setback is a temporary one, and soon those in trouble will find a reliable source of income.  When that happens more money will be available to work further down the list of priorities and catch up any amount in arrears.

The year is drawing to a close, and soon people will be scrambling to declare resolutions for the New Year.  I am no exception.  In years past I have identified two or three things I would like to improve on, but usually burn out by March. The goals probably sound familiar:  lose 50 pounds, become debt free, write a book, save $5,000 in my emergency fund at ING Direct, etc.

This year I am taking a new approach, and rather than declaring New Year’s resolutions I will simply identify five things that I want to do every single day to improve my financial life.  They aren’t huge, life-changing habits, but together they represent examples of the kind of daily discipline it takes to turn my financial ship around and stay on course next year.

1. Maintain a spending journal. Journaling is a great way to introduce accountability into your life.  Whether it is dollars or calories, keeping a journal of expenditures provides a way to keep track of your daily outgo.  It also helps you identify trends that may be valuable in creating next month’s budget, or help in reducing a particular budget category. Write down all of your expenses in the journal and give them a category (housing, food, clothing, school expenses, gifts, etc.). At the end of the month group these expenses together.  You might be surprised to learn you spend $200 eating lunch out with coworkers every day, or $2.00 a day at the vending machine.

2. Develop a passive income. Developing a passive income is one of the keys to building wealth because it puts your money to work even when you are not. Passive income may be derived from things like interest accumulation, royalties, rent from real estate holdings (although landlords would argue this isn’t exactly a passive activity), social lending, or you can get close to passive income with activities such as blogging, or selling e-book products online. Even if you only make two or three dollars a day, that is $60-$90 per month that you would not have earned otherwise.

3. Make micropayments on outstanding debts. Many people are now familiar with the concept of snowflaking–collecting small amounts of “found” money and pooling it for a purpose such as savings, paying off credit cards, etc.  Well, I like to take that same method and apply it to debt reduction.  I call it “snowballing,” after the other popular personal finance concept, the debt snowball.  Using any extra money I can squeeze out of my budget, or from passive income, I make small payments throughout the month on outstanding debts. If I left the amount sitting idle in my checking account chances are I would spend it before it was applied to debt.

4. Update your budget. At risk of seeming obsessive, I like to update my budget every single day.  I wake up early, and part of my routine is to review my checking account from the day before and mark cleared items in my checkbook.  I then subtract any outstanding credits, and add back any outstanding debits, to balance my paper register with the online system’s current available balance.  Like I said, it may seem a little excessive, but after going weeks without balancing my checkbook register I found this daily action helps keep financial stress away because I always know exactly where I stand.

5. Read something educational every day. I start my day off reading posts from about twenty-five of my favorite blogs. Then I check the news headlines online before moving onto a magazine article or book chapter I’ve bookmarked the night before. Throughout my day I try to carve out time to read some of the newspaper for local happenings, and usually wind up my day reading more from a book.  I had a goal of reading a non-fiction book every week, but quickly burned out thanks to my hectic schedule.  Perhaps a book every other week is a more feasible goal for this year.  Either way, the idea is to read something educational every single day. And if you can sneak in something finance related, even better.

I have discovered the hard way over the years that success usually comes to those that win the daily battles. You might have noble goals such as to lose 50 pounds in 12 weeks, or pay off 50% of your debt in six months.  However, if you don’t win the daily battles you will not reach those long-term goals. Identify some daily actions to take in your own life to improve your finances before setting those long-term resolutions for the New Year.

It was a great weekend for college football! During the weekend, and throughout the season, I have picked up on a new phrase sports announcers like to toss out after turnovers. They refer to a quick turnover by the other team’s defense as a “sudden change,” situation and it appears statisticians are even looking to track how well team defenses react in sudden change situations.

In the world of personal finance these “sudden change” situations look less like interceptions and fumbled snaps, and more like job layoffs, illnesses, and losses of a loved one. Like any good defensive coordinator, you have to be prepared for these situations.

Be Prepared Financially

Have a solid emergency fund in place. I have seen first hand the devastating effects of a major illness on a family’s financial situation. Imagine being unable to work for the next 12 months because of a major illness or injury, and having very little to cover the six-month waiting period required by most disability insurance plans. Suddenly, there is no money to cover the mortgage, the car payment, the utilities, and even most grocery items become optional.

Insure yourself by saving at least six months of expenses in a high interest savings account. I used to subscribe to the standard 3-6 months worth of savings advice, but after my own family’s experience I now recommend a full six months (unless you have a stellar short-term disability plan).

Put regular expenses on autopilot. I am a big proponent of using auto-drafts for regular, monthly expenses. Things like utility payments, recurring subscriptions, etc. may be put on auto-pilot which helps avoid late payments, especially in an emergency situation. One note about auto-drafts; I do not recommend using the draft service provided by credit card companies and other creditors. If you fall behind on your payments the creditor might clean out your account to collect the debt, and this is especially problematic if you bank at the same place you owe money. Just something to think about.

Be sure you have a solid long term disability plan. Life and health insurance are two of the most highly recommended financial products out there, and for good reason. However, chances are much greater that one of us will become disabled before we die. In this case, it is vitally important to have a disability insurance policy in place so that at least a portion of your income continues even if you become disabled.

If you are currently employed with a large employer, chances are you have the opportunity to participate in group disability policy (some employers even pay for some or all of the premium as part of employees’ benefit packages). If you are self employed, or currently unemployed, I encourage you to shop for a disability insurance policy on your own.

Have Financial Records in Order

Safely store insurance policies, and share the location with a trusted friend or loved one. In times of crisis it might be difficult to remember where you have stashed insurance policies and other important financial documents. In fact, depending on the severity of the situation, you may not be able to tell anyone the location of the documents. For this reason, it is a good idea to tell a loved one where you have stored insurance policies, wills, and other important files.

Create a “Just in Case” file. In addition to the location of important documents loved ones may also need to know things like account numbers, bank account information, info on outstanding debts, etc. One of the things that has really come in handy during my Mom’s medical crisis is that she created a document that listed all account numbers with instructions for handling her financial affairs. We never dreamed we would have to refer to it, but it has been a big help during her lengthy hospital stay.

Be Prepared Physically

The better shape you are in, the easier it is to handle stress. I had good intentions of losing some weight as the weather cooled in the fall season. However, the crisis that hit our family kept me out of the gym, and in the fast food restaurants and hospital cafeterias. In fact, I gained a few additional pounds during the first eight weeks. I went through a range of emotions during those first few weeks, but the one thing that was constant was the amount of stress I was feeling. I couldn’t sleep, I couldn’t relax, I was always tired, and I felt myself slipping into a serious bout of depression.

Then it occurred to me that my poor physical health limited my ability to be a good caretaker. In fact, it interfered with my handling of the entire event because I wasn’t in shape to withstand long hospital stays and keep a tough schedule. I guess I wasn’t as strong as I thought I was. When I recognized this, I immediately began to make time to hit the gym, and have been eating a cleaner diet–even opting for things like salads if I must eat on the run. I feel better now, and am not nearly as stressed out as I was there for a while. Lesson learned–stay ready so you don’t have to get ready.