Is it Time to Cut the Cable?
February 18, 2007 by Karen Weideman
Filed under blogs, entertainment, financial matters, frugal living
I’ve been giving a lot of thought lately to cutting off the cable. I mean, here we are, almost out of what I call “stupid debt”. This means all debt other than our home.
Even though we are still almost out of debt, our monthly living expenses are high. I just keep wondering where the money is going. I sit back and look at the checkbook and it makes me sick. There are deductions for the cell phone, cable and internet, water, electric, gas, house payment, student loan (almost paid off), Wal-Mart, Target, etc.
I know that there are some things you just can’t do without. I look back though and remember a time when I was in college and we made less than $12,000 a year. It was hard painfully difficult, but we made it. What has happened?
I’ll tell you what’s happened. We got cable, cell phones, a computer, internet, and so on. Now we see them as necessities instead of luxuries. We don’t dare cut off the cell phone because we live in fear of what we would do if there were an emergency. I’m not making light of emergencies. It’s just that all these things that we somehow managed to live without, now seem to be essentials.
With all this thought, I have wondered which of these necessities luxuries we could do without and I’m thinking it’s the cable tv. I’ll admit, during my days without children I was addicted to television. I would sit and watch television for hours a day. It was really enjoyable to me. I just don’t have the time now to sit and do that since having kids. And blogging has taken away the other time that I would have to watch tv. I really enjoy blogging, but it has taken away some leisure time.
I figure that I’m not watching tv much and my kids are in preschool. When they come home from school they take a nap. After nap they get up and play and watch some tv. If I got an antenna, they could watch PBS and possibly some other networks. I think they’d really miss Noggin though. However, they do have a ton of DVDs and videos. Also, Nick Jr has videos on their site that you can watch, but then I’d have to give up my computer for a bit.
Here are some posts about using antennas. These have caused me to think even more about cutting the cable. Let me know what you think.
Our New Channel Master CM 3020 Deep Fringe Advantage TV Antenna
Picture from businessreform.com.
When our income was drastically cut by $110K/year, we learned to live with any of the “necessities” of modern life. And we’ve survived for more than 5 years without cable, cell phones, and TIVO. There is plenty to do when you don’t have cable, like play games and cards, and watch what’s on PBS. We honestly don’t miss cable at all. As for cell phones, since we don’t drive, my kids have found that all their friends have phones, so they just borrow them. I have the numbers of all their friends, so if I need them, I call the friend. We save so much that way.
Hi Karen!
I haven’t had cable for more than five years and are just find without it. We have a couple of primetime major network shows we watch and my son watches a couple on PBS.
So many series are available at the video store (or library!) that if there’s some cable show I feel like I’m missing out on I could just rent a season or two.
Our reception depends on the weather–windy days it isn’t great, but I think of it as an incentive NOT to watch TV. We have some basic powered rabbit ears which help.
Give it a shot for six months. You can always have it turned back on.
We feel the same way. By the time you pay for high speed internet, cell phone, and dish, you could just about save around $400 a month. I can’t believe we find it necessary to have all that. However, if we didn’t have Dora for an hour each day with different episodes, I would never get anyting done around the house or a single post up! What’s a technically savvy parent to do?
We cut our cable access years ago, and don’t miss it much at all. I mean, who really needs to spend MORE time watching TV these days???…..
We do not have cable and do just fine without it, although my husband really, really misses espn. We don’t have kids yet, so I don’t know how much harder it is with kids. We bought a digital reception box (or something like that) and we receive digital cable through an antenna. With digital cable you get more channels. We get 5 PBS channels, one of which is a kids channel, that plays kids shows all day everyday. Good luck deciding.
Just a thought regarding your cell phone. I just use my cell for quick calls, so I got rid of my regular plan and started using a pre-paid plan. I use a Tracfone year plan, so it was only $100/yr including the phone (when you buy on their website). Might not work if you spend a lot of time talking, but since I just wanted a phone for emergencies, I save a ton of money.
For those of you keeping your cable for Dora or some other Children’s show – consider Netflix or your local library. I can rent lots of children’s DVDs at the library and use them. Also, for $10, you can have a subscription to Neflix that you use for children’s shows.
Of course, I’ve just increased my cable channels. And I’m addicted to the DVR. I know I should cut cable – but it is the one thing where I feel we get tons of entertainment value for the cost.