It all started with cutting back on expenses. My hours were shortened to four days a week for a few months, over the summer. I struggled month to month, finally in September I went back to five days a week. Things were smoother, but catching up takes time. I had to prioritize. Cable went to the bottom of the list. It didn't help that I absolutely HATE our cable company. I like Direct TV, had it for 7 years, but it's inconvenient in an apartment.
Anyway, I started noticing a disturbing pattern. We were just watching the same shows, the same reruns, over and over. The new shows I watch were all on network channels anyway. Finally, I made the decision to cancel cable. And I did. We have those old rabbit ears anteneas on both TVs (living room and my room). I need to get the converter boxes soon. My mom hasn't had cable for years, and already has a converter box. The channels come in almost cable clear.
I ordered AT&T DSL for my internet service since that was part of cable. I am still saving between $50 and $70 a month after the cost of DSL. And we didn't even have any movie channels! Once we are on our feet, which will be very soon, I plan to use the money we save from cable on DVDs, movies as well as a few favorite kid shows for Brianna to watch. That's the one drawback, there aren't many kid shows on network TV. Before we very rarely bought DVDs. I also want to join something like Netflix. We used to have a Blockbuster membership, but it just became to0 expensive for the monthly thing, and I never remember to turn them in on time just renting them the normal way.
As a bonus, I've noticed the kids don't instantly ask for the TV to come on when we are home. And I don't turn it on right away either. We go hours with no TV going, and we listen to music more. And I'm not sure about the girls, but I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything at all. I am glad I finally canceled it. :)
3 comments:
Yay for no t.v.!!!! I had antennae only until this August when I moved in with the current roomie. And still I don't watch t.v. that much. Netflix is AWESOME. I love them. And they have cheap options. :)
We are TV whores. lol... but i understand why it would be desirable to not have it. I think in the summer months we seldome watch tv. But we do watch quite a bit in the winter. we have a pvr though, so we record our shows and watch them when it is convinient for us, and not be controlled by the network scheduling.
It's always been interesting to me how my children react to TV. I've always been something of a TV Nazi, and the other adult in the house is a TV junkie. So, for him, we *have* to have cable or some such, because network TV does NOT do it for him.
Most of the time, I limit the kids' TV time, and they do quite well with it, even turning the thing off of their own accord. However, if for some reason, I'm not as vigilant about it, and they start watching a lot of TV, they WANT a lot of TV.
There will come a day when I may not even have one... or just have one for watching movies only. I do like movies.
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