Dump your cable... it's what the cool kids are doing!

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Well, most of you know that we don't have cable and haven't for about 7 months now. We got rid of it for several reasons. First, we are down-sizing as much as possible. You know, all the fluff in your life that you don't REALLY need. Well, cable TV was one of the fluffs. Also, for the cost. It was killing us just the thought that our bill was $189 a month (this did include internet). OUTRAGEOUS. Just to sit down and watch the destruction of the world news every night, some Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and proceed to bed. ARE YOU KIDDING ME? So, back in May we took it down a notch and it made the bill cheaper and then decided to get rid of it at the end of July, so the first month without it was August 2010. We still do Netflix (Which is AMAZING!) and we used to get 1 disc in the mail -up until the point the discs would just sit around- so now we just stream instantly 100% and that is it! We still have the internet right now for $41.41 a month and as soon as paramedic school is over in June we will re-asses getting rid of that bill or not... Netflix is $10.96 a month unlimited streaming AND one disc out at a time, unlimited discs a month (which we are about to go back to no discs, because like I said, we never get around to watching them!) So, yes, the only downside we have had is that it is harder to just turn on the TV for noise, but you can just go to a show or kids program for noise. That is what I do. We don't have to watch the horribly depressing news anymore where they just repeat the stuff 5thousand times every 30minutes, no more unsavory commercials that we don't want Logan seeing... sure, we don't watch TV shows that are on TV (which you can watch most current tv shows online at the station's website), but the shows we watch have shifted. Like, right now we are watching Monk starting with season 1 (I think we are on season 5 right now). My "soap" opera that I watch when I am doing laundry or crafting is Desperate Housewives. Logan loves watching Thomas, Sid the Science Kid, Bob the Builder, they have tons of PBS kids stuff, and SO much more. Anyway... I think William misses sports every now and then but he will just hop on the computer, glance at everything and he is ok. He sees how much we are saving and he gets over it REALLY FAST! You can ask either of us... since day 1, we have not  missed it at all... not with the money we are saving... a TON less CRAP that we are watching and the overall conversation that is brought back in the house... When there is less TV on, you ACTUALLY talk to each other and play with the child- haha, who would have thought!

I was surfing blogs and ran across this post that goes into some detail too about different options... I haven't heard of most of her options except Netflix and Hulu. We downloaded the Hulu program on the playstation (until I realized you had to pay) so I really don't know much more than that. I do know that you can also buy these black converter box things that can pick up the digital signal (BUT if you want to go this route... search GOOGLE because I know there are tutorials on how to make ghetto looking ones that can serve the same purpose and pick up the stations) and you can get the local channels (they are at radio shack and places like that). If you have a newer TV, sometimes the rabbit ear things work and sometimes you have to get the black box. (Remember the whole digital conversion thing? this is what people had to buy) Anyway, it would at least be a one time cost that would still get you local channels and such (paired with something like Netflix) and you would be saving a TON!

The only downside I can see is if you don't have a device like a wii, playstation or xbox (which is how Netflix is streamed to your TV). Still, I think if you are serious about saving money and want to go this route, buying a device refurbished, off craigslist or asking around plus the cost of Netflix would STILL be cheaper than your cable bill for one month!!! Plus, you would now have a gaming system! Other than that, I know there are ways you can hook up your laptop to the TV so that it will project (and just stream through the laptop) but I know those cables can be expensive and it would probably be slower. But, still worth looking into if that is your preferred method in order to save money! Who knows, someone may have 2 systems lying around that they don't use that someone else could buy for a good deal!