I totally agree, and a great way to do this is to open an account with ING Direct (an online bank). They're paying 1.8% interest right now, and you can link this account to your regular checking account and have them automatically withdraw money (and it's very easy to transfer it back over when you need it). I don't know if it's still running, but they had an offer where if a friend referred you you'd get $25 for opening an account, which is a great deal if you know anyone who banks there. There's no minimum balance requirements or service fees. I've been very happy with them.
On the topic of cell phones, I'm only paying $6.67 a month with Virgin Mobile (prepaid cell phone). You only have to purchase $20 of airtime every 90 days, and I never use it all. The unused minutes roll over. It's .25/min for the first 10 minutes, then .10/min afterwards. In effect, it gives you about 26 minutes of airtime each month you can use (if you stick with the minimum $20 purchase, of course you can buy more) which is plenty for emergencies or the occasional "I'm running late" call. The only downside is that their service isn't everywhere. We live in metro Atlanta so it's fine for us, but if you roam alot or live in a rural area it won't work well for you.
