winston63 - check into prepaid, the various MVNOs are perfect for what you're looking to do. I'm not closely familiar with the providers, but check in-store at places like Target or Walmart for the ones serving your area. Turn the phone off except when you need to make a call and you'll likely only need to charge it once every week or two (or as needed).

We actually ported our home phone landline to Walmart's Straight Talk Wireless Home Phone. Instead of $53/mo we now pay $16.01 including taxes & fees. $70 box (maybe $80?) paid for itself in under two months, plugs into the house phone wiring and also our cordless phone base is plugged into it. It's going over Verizon's cell network.