I found more information, in easier-to-read form, on Verizon's Web site. If you're a Verizon user, you can log in to the site with your user name and password. Click the My Bill tab, and then, staying on the Bill Summary tab, click the Voice link. A pop-up will show you how many minutes each family member used during that month, plus the total. You can check other past bills, as well.

This information led me to an important discovery: We regularly used between 500 and 600 anytime minutes a month--far less than the 1400 we were paying for. Right there was a way to save money.

But how much could we save? That wasn't on the bill.

Which brings us to that translator I mentioned above. To really know what you're paying for, you have to call your carrier and fight your way through push-button hell until you get an actual human being.

The human being I got (who was very nice and who understood my need to cut expenses) told me I would save $20 a month by going down to 700 minutes. She also said that I could save another $30 by eliminating our unlimited texting.