I have often recommended that people give up their cable TV in an effort to decrease their monthly expenses and help pay down their debt. The usual response is “No way!”. I can completely understand why they feel this way. Watching television has almost replaced baseball and the national pastime. Now with HD television, large screen plasma panel and more channels than anyone can possibly watch in a lifetime, it is very easy to understand why so many people feel like they couldn’t live without it.
Our journey to giving up cable wasn’t really a calculated idea. In 1991 my wife and I had moved out to the rural part of the county we were living in. We purchased a wooded lot and built our house. We were so far away from ‘civilization’ that we did not have cable access, so we did the next best thing. We called the satellite guy. In 1991, the satellite dishes were still as big as your car, so we couldn’t just mount one on the side of our house. The day the satellite guy came, he started his sales pitch, and we told him we didn’t need the sales pitch, we needed the dish. Remember the wooded lot? There were so many trees he couldn’t find a place to mount the dish so that we would get good reception all day – most of the day, but not all day. When I asked about paying most of the bill, since my service would be a partial service, he wasn’t buying it, and neither did we. We told him no!
Over 18 years later, we still don’t have cable. Just to complete the picture we do have a television and a Netflix subscription, but that is it. I figure over the 18 years, we have easily saved $15,000. What have we done with that money? Well, I would like to say we have invested it wisely and we will be retiring soon; but I can’t. We haven’t always been as smart with money as we are today, but I do know that the amount we are saving now is definitely helping us meet our financial goals and believe it or not we don’t even miss it anymore. The money saved doesn’t begin to match the time we have freed up to do other things. Both of our children are avid readers and one of the reasons is because they are forced to use their imaginations in the absence of cable TV.
What about you? Ready to give up cable TV for the benefit of your kids and your wallet? If not, why not? Leave a comment and let us know how much you are spending each month on cable TV and all of the extras that go with it.
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{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Wow. $15,000 over 18 years is $70/month. I guess that’s normal for a lot of people, but we spend $20/month for cable, primarily to get good, clear reception. No, we don’t get CNN, Fox News, ESPN, Discovery, HBO, MTV, etc.
@Craig – my kids have never had cable/network/antenna so they don’t miss it, and my wife and I are happy to not have to worry about the ‘quality’ of programming coming into the house.
sweet savings! but as a homeschooling mother i have come to rely upon certain channels for educational purposes. i justify the cost because it is less than a private school would cost per month.
*i am a really bad typist, so i don’t waste time with capital letters – sorry =)*
@Sara-
I am sure there are some great programs out there that help with your homeschooling. I really admire families that make the sacrifice to teach their own kids. I am definitely not against having cable for those that can afford it, I just get really frustrated working with couples that spend more than they make and refuse to give up cable because they “couldn’t live without it”.
Keep the unnecessary channels out of the justification and I am good with using cable as an educational tool. I am sure you also use the public library to add additional resources.
What if one spouse wants to give up cable and the other does not??? Any ideas for helping persuade them to give it up??
@Melisa-
Great question. Obviously in a relationship both sides need to agree on decisions to make things at home operate smoothly. I think the best way to deal with your question is to show the benefits of the decision. Decide on a goal that needs to be achieved and then determine how much more quickly you can achieve the goal by cutting $XX out of the budget. It is all about commitment, communication and and a desire to reach your goal. The great thing about cutting things out of the budget is that if you don’t like the results you can always put it back.
We recently dropped our big cable package and our enjoying standard cable. We get the major networks and a few other stations. It’s been a nice time saving device as well as a money saving device. We’re saving over $45 a month since switching, and that doesn’t include the benefits of finding other ways to spend out time – productively or otherwise. =)
The dish was one of the first things that I thought about dropping, although I kept the cable for the internet. It did take me about three months to actually make the plunge, though! However, I had a little help in making my decision. The previous summer, my children and I had a “TV Free” month. We had chosen Aug, since there were no scout camps, time away from home, etc. By the end of the month, we had come to enjoy all the other things we found to do (geocaching, days at the park, library, exploring our community) that as we rolled into Sept, the kids didn’t rush to turn on the TV. By Dec, we were back in front of the tube just as much as ever. But it taught us a great lesson – WE REALLY DONT NEED IT! We do carry netflix and have enjoyed that. There has only been one drawback – with no TV or newspaper, the snowstorm last march caught me unawares! Nothing like going to work in a few flurries in the evening, and having to unbury your car the next morning with no winter jacket!
@Karen – I think you discovered what so many don’t want to discover…we don’t really need cable. Good job. What are you going to do with your $15,000?
My family gave up cable eight years ago. We were desperately trying to make ends meet then. We have not been willing to purchase the service since. My children have never known cable. Our kids are homeschooled and so I appreciate Sara’s comments about using the educational shows to augment her homeschooling curriculum. We have found that we can borrow most of the educational shows that we need from the library. The bonus is that we can show them when we like. I think the biggest benefit to not having cable in our house, is that our children do not seem to be interested in having the latest clothing fads or newest toys. My oldest child has a voracious appetite for reading books and my youngest two have a great imagination. One other benefit that I can think of, is that my wife and I spend more time talking to each other at night than we did when we had cable. We noticed that benefit shortly after we canceled our cable. The downside is that I have to get my news bites from the radio or from local TV (when we get reception). I also have to spend more time reading a newspaper or articles on the internet. No big deal, I’m generally more engaged in what I read than what I am listening to TV. Rarely do I watch TV and do nothing else.
@Gavin – We could do a lot worse than having kids with voracious appetites for reading and great imaginations. Plus spending time communicating with your wife will pay big benefits in the long run. Your kids will grow up seeing a mom and dad that talk to each other…what a concept.
At 50$/mo saved – ALL the credit cards are paid off – all that is left is the HELOC and Mortgage – AND I saved enough for the kids to go to their summer camps without affecting the monthly budget! Go Cheetah!
Great post! I’ll subscribe right now wth my feedreader software!
My wife and I dropped our premium channels and just have basic cable and internet service via Comcast. We’re saving $100 a month and not missing a thing. The kids can watch their favorite shows on PBS and Netflix and I can get ESPN on my Xbox 360.
We still have cable because we don’t want the hassle of making a OTA antenna work. Also for $2 more we have basic cable because it is bundled with our high speed internet. I can live with $24 a year instead of dealing with installing the antenna.
@Dan – saving $100 a month is awesome. Just think of the money you will be saving over the next few years.
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