Sunday, April 7, 2013

Life Without Cable

Yep, you read that title correctly! I'm living life without cable! Mr. Hunky and I decided about two weeks ago that it was time to pull the plug on our cable company. I've never not had cable, so the idea of not having it sort of scared me. I have a huge list of TV shows that I love to watch and not being able to turn on my TV and just start watching something freaked me out! Is that sad? I feel like it's a little sad.

Our cable bill (not including internet) was $85 a month. The lightbulb went on when I realized that everything we watch can be found on the TV stations iPad apps, on Netflix, or on Hulu Plus. Yes, we would have to wait a day or two after our shows originally aired, but when I really got to thinking about it, everything we watched we would DVR and watch it a few days later, mostly because we hate the commercials. So what was the point of paying for something that I could get for free or for less than $10 a month if I subscribed to Hulu Plus or Netflix?



I canceled the cable, signed us up for Hulu Plus and downloaded majority of the TV station apps. We have been sharing a Netflix account with my uncle back in California so there was no need to sign up for that! So essentially for $7.99 a month we would have TV that was comparable to the $75 package we were paying for with our cable company ($10 a month was for our DVR service). Seemed like a no brainer to me.

Within a few days I realized that Hulu Plus was complete garbage - I'm sorry, I'm sure there are plenty of you who love it, but for us there was nothing! Everything on Hulu Plus was also on the apps that I had downloaded. I couldn't believe that Hulu Plus didn't have shows such as The Walking Dead, Breaking Bad, The Ultimate Fighter (for Mr. Hunky), Pretty Little Liars (they only had a few random episodes), The Big Bang Theory, Friends, and a few other shows that I enjoy watching.

Anyway, it's been about two 1/2 weeks since we canceled cable and I am excited to say that I'm not really missing it! Until we canceled it I never realized how much time I spent in front of the TV or at least with the TV on. I was wasting time watching shows instead of using my time to do other things like write, read, and really just relax in silence. If you're on the cusp of canceling your cable I think you should try it! Worst case scenario you sign up for it again! What do you have to lose?


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8 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, I thought we were the only ones without cable!!! My husband had it when I moved here. I found we just surfed a lot, since there was so much garbage. Also, I hate commercials. So I convinced him we should cut it off (saving $50 a month won him over). Like you, he was so worried at first we couldn't live, but, alas! He realized life without cable is great! We won't be getting cable again, ever ;)!

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    1. The monthly savings is great! I was jumping with joy when our cable/Internet bill came and it was only $5 due to crediting us for our cancelation- to bad it can't stay like that! The only thing I miss is commercials for new shows and movies that will be coming out. Thank goodness for google!

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  2. This is so cool! I think I'm going to join the no cable crew! Question: what tv apps are you using??

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    1. It's been great! I downloaded ABC, the CW, CBS, NBC,Disney Junior and ABC family but really I'm only using the ABC family and CW right now. All of those were free! I also have Netflix which we use a lot as well as my iPad is hooked up to my parents direct TV app but there isn't anything on that either.

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  3. We gave up cable about 4 months ago, and have no desire to go back to paying a premium for junk we don't watch anyway! 9 out of 10 programs we were watching were on Netflix (which we were already paying for) or broadcast channels. After HD, DVR and a package that included the couple channels we thought we REALLY wanted...we're saving something like $80/month!!

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  4. I think that my husband would kill me if I cancelled the cable. We have Comcast...we signed up for their "triple play" a couple years ago. So for $185 a MONTH we get phone, internet and cable (including an extra $10 or $20, I can't remember, for my husband's HD channels). Which I would like to know why we have to pay for the non-HD channels when we only watch HD channels. It's ridiculous!! And Comcast is the ONLY provider we can get out here. We also have NetFlix.

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  5. We haven't had cable in over 2 years, were without a TV until my son moved back home a few months ago, and now get stations via the antenna. We use Hulu+, Netflix, and the websites of the shows we want to watch. The only time I've missed cable is keeping up with Doctor Who. Don't regret it a bit.

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  6. Yeah we broke down and bought a Roku box about 2 weeks ago, and have begun using Netflix, etc. We also dropped our phone with the cable company and bought an Ooma box, which after purchase costs only 3-4 dollars a month tax or add $10 for the premium services. So far we are going to be saving almost $110 a month, and thank goodness because we can hardly make our bills, and have a lil extra.

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