Ok, we are not without TV. But a serious look at list of big ticket bills to reduce or eliminate to allow us to lose an income and the cable bill certainly was top on the charts. We had cable, HD, DVR, internet and we were topping $100 a month (and no premium channels either). This didn’t include Netflix, etc… What? We weren’t even getting 2-3 hours of sleep in a row – let alone watching enough TV to get $100 worth of value from it. It had to go. But… yes, I like to tube out… I like to control what my child watches with a DVR…. I like to turn the TV off but know I can watch something later. I want it all and I don’t want to pay for it. Yes, I’m not ALL crunchy – I don’t mind a bit of TV in our lives as long as we aren’t total coach potatoes on a sunny day!
So a few months before my husband left work I gave him a job. Find a way that we can have what we need and maybe even a little of what we want. We could have gone cold turkey to just the antenna and if you are looking to cut the entire bill this is the way to go – over the air free channels are more than enough. PBS rocks – need I say more.
We ended up opting to spend a little money up for with an antenna and Tivo. There are actually cheaper options if you are very tech savy but this was pretty simple. Bunny ears are on the roof already and they give us like 20 channels. Tivo allows us to record them and play them back and also gives us the option to purchase shows on Amazon On-Demand or even Netflix should we ever want to subscribe again. A simple option that I love and don’t miss the cable bill or any channels one iota (I can even get my top chef on-demand for just $1.99 a show – much less than my full cable bill). It is a great compromise option and if you need to ditch your cable but are afraid of withdrawals I would highly recommend this option.
Even with these solutions though I should add that getting rid of cable was also the motivation I needed to have that “family talk” about how there would just be less TV. It just isn’t necessary everyday – we all know it but frankly I think I still watch more than my 4 year old so this has also been an experiment in letting go for all of us. We have some routines and veg-time but more and more we try to just leave the TV off. It’s a work in progress :)
Good for you Stacey Ho and family! We have the TV and Netflix, but rarely take the time to watch either. We get Cole a video about 1 or 2 times a month, but after a couple of bad experiences with emulation and tantrums for a video, those are extremely carefully chosen and we build up to them as a special occasion. They will also go away as Ruby gets a little more involved in the family routine, as we're strict about no TV until over 2. It's worked really well for us. It's amazing what happens instead of TV! I like a few things on PBS but never seem to be able to watch at the right time. We've never had cable as the bills were always over our head going straight from being a student to being a parent, and though there are good shows on cable, I just have other things to spend $1200 on!
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