No to cable TV!

[hawkgirl]

My son and I just moved into a great little house, but I am AGHAST at the price of cable TV - $80 per month!! And that's the lowest price of any provider when you figure in taxes, etc.

Even with a 5-year-old, we don't watch TV that much - a little in the morning and evening, and that's mostly cartoons, during which my son sees ads for toys and foods I'd never buy.

So yesterday I got the 3-movie Netflix membership instead. For 25% of the price, I have much more control over what my son watches, with no ads!

Plus, when I do hear about a show I wonder if I should watch on TV, Netflix usually has it on DVD (okay, a season behind, but no one I know cares about that).

[frugalbabe]

I am right with ya. We cancelled our cable a few months ago and really do not miss it at all. I did just request two of those $40 off coupons for the digital antenna converter. I guess in my area you can get 3-7 channels with it. So I figure come Winter (which is when we will miss TV) we will have a few channels at our access but NO monthly bill which we have decided we will never have again. The only thing that kinda kills me is that I have missed the olympics and not seeing the election stuff...but besides that most tv is garbage and the internet is great for getting the few shows I do like.

[HisDaisy]

We have cable now, but we won't after we move next month. It is just too expensive even when it is bundled with other services.
Any way most of the TV shows we are like are available online the next day.

[LexTysMommy]

I have cable. and even basic is $55 here. When I think of it on yearly basis its $660! But i do love my lifetime on weekends without kids and a few shows here and there. Wondering if i can watch them online. Wait i have dial up. well after i get rid of that.

good job!

[Telephus44]

Cable is such a rip-off - there are so few shows we watch, and so few good shows out there now. We gave up TV completely and haven't looked back, although we're considering getting one once our son is 5 or 6, so we can watch a couple movies.

Of course, DH works for the cable company, so we get phone, high speed internet, and extended basic for $15/month with the company discount.

[Fotobug]

I have always wondered how in the world people had enough time to watch that much TV anyway. We turned ours off 30 years ago and I haven't missed it a bit. We also use Netflix, Hawkgirl, I read a ton of books, and if I need to know about breaking news, we have the internet and radios. (Remember radio? Yes, amazingly, they do still exist and there is actually some pretty good programming out there.)

Cheers to those who "cut the cable!"

[pip]

No cable for us, either. Got rid of it a good 12-13 years ago.

[BlessedMomof2]

We do not have cable either. We cancelled ours just over 2 years ago, when it was getting raised to $59 after taxes a month. We do not watch that much television to be paying that much!

Instead dh went out and bought antenna's and we are able to pick up all the local channels. That has worked just great for our family.

[DonnainME]

We can't get ANY local stations where we live. We do have the lowest satellite package we can get. We have that and it includes the locals for like $29.99 plus an extra tv in our room for $5.

[joyofsix]

I'd also suggest Hulu.com. Great free site for movies, tv shows, etc. We use it all the time.

[Luv2BeFrugal]

Yeah, we haven't had cable for nearly a year now... It's just ridiculously expensive... We did send for that converter box coupon from the government and picked one of those up. It ended up costing us only $15...and we'll be able to watch the local news and such.

I just wish that internet wasn't so terribly expensive. Up here anything that's not dial up starts at about $75/mo after taxes. OUCH. Is that normal??

[Starlight9803]

That's why we never had cable until moving where we are now. In town, the only cable available was $65 for the ultra-basic service (30 some channels). Now, we have a small, locally-owned provider and we get expanded basic (over 80 channels) for $35, and for us, it is worth that, since with antenna, we only get 1 pbs station - and it is only on the air for about 5 hours a day LOL.

[peanut]

good for you! We had cable one year as a gift from my mom. I hated it. Seemed I had to do more policing of what the kids watched, and they were becoming really sneaky about watching things without permission. I didn't realize it at the time, but when we got the Internet they just switched to questionable stuff on-line.

At any rate, I was relieved to be without cable, and, in retrospect, I should have been more careful about what they were into on the Internet too.

Jean

[LeeCee]

I would like to applaud all of you who live without cable or satellite! I think that is really great! Especially today where people think pay tv is a necessity.Believe me, you are not missing anything,there is never anything on anyway.I have a converter box for a tv without a satellite box and it works great! Just make sure you hook it up properly.I get alot more channels with the box. Also it comes in crystal clear. You will love it.

[lukesmama]

No cable, no tv. Well, that's not entirely true, we have a tv in the garage, which is only used for my workout dvds (so I can work out in peace, lol). But it receives NO channels; no antennae.

...we don't miss tv one bit. I won't get up on that soapbox, but I am thrilled to have NO idea what tv shows are "hot" this season, or what commercials are in heavy rotation. They can't sell to me anymore, at least not by streaming into my den.

Funny how distasteful ALL tv is to me now. It's loud, distracting, and obnoxious to me when I visit others' homes and it's on.

(That's not to slam those of you who like your cable. Different strokes.)