Several months ago, our cable and internet bill was nearing $150 a month. This was definitely not going to work on our slim budget where all sorts of other life comforts were being cut. After several months of debate, we finally did it: we bought out of our contract, and cancelled cable.
I am not one of those TV snobs, that are like, "Oh, I don't watch television, because I read and do things in real life that far too interesting to sit and watch that garbage." I LOVE TV. But I had little choice.
So, out went cable, and in came an increase of Netflix and we subscribed to HuluPlus.
There has been one day (ONE DAY!) I have missed cable. The Vikings game was playing on regular television, and Kelly went to his parents to watch the game while I stayed home and cleaned for a dinner party that my grandparents and fellow family members were coming to.
But that's it. I don't miss it at all. If anything, I kind of love that it made me focus my television habits, and invest in certain programs. Gone are the days of channel-surfing, just to end up watching re-runs of Keeping Up With the Kardashians.
Especially with the addition of HuluPlus (which allows users to watch not only the current season of a show, but also every season before it) I have actually spent time watching really good television shows, like Breaking Bad, Pushing Daisies, and my current endeavor Mad Men. (Though, in full disclosure, I didn't watch any of those on HuluPlus. I think through them I have watched Desperate Housewives (Judge away), and a smattering of new fall television, like The New Girl, Up All Night, and I even watched an episode or two of Whitney before deciding it was just terrible.)
Oh, and I watched The Real World: Las Vegas, so I did get the dose of reality television my brain somehow enjoys.
I think that lots of people feel this need to have cable television, but can't really point out why. Sure, you like you favorite TV show, but if you can watch it through a different avenue for 1/10 of the price, why are you wasting your money?
Well, it seems that for the first time in my life, I think being poor actually helped me! Hurray!
5 comments:
I also enjoy having canceled cable. I don't channel surf anymore, and I pretty much miss my crappy ghost shows and the National Geographic channel.
I just do streaming Netflix and it's got enough good shows for me to be happy and enough crappy shows for background noise while I clean or sew. Then I use the free Hulu for the new stuff.
We went without cable for the middle 2 years of our relationship - with all that hulu and netflix instaqueue you're right, it's easy not to miss cable at all.
Our bill is up about as high as the one you mentioned, maybe more, all I know is my jaw dropped when Devon mentioned how much he spent on TV a month. Sunday Ticket is a killer. I do find that I waste a lot more time keeping up with my Real House Bitches of Wherever and about 10 other mind-numbingly dumb shows since we've had cable. Now that we've gotten used to having it I'm really reluctant to go without again, but spending that much just for TV when most of what we watch we could view via the things you mentioned does seem awfully silly.
We just switched our Internet (boo comcast!) and the guy offered us free freakin' Sunday Ticket. And it was all for the same price of what we were currently paying for JUST INTERNET. And there was free showtime for three months! I about died.
But, then I realized that in three months from now, I would be, again, paying for a product I didn't really need. Goodbye Dexter! Vikings! I loved you.
That's how they get you! Our first 6 months were such a sweet deal - free Sunday ticket and all the premium channels! Now I have to bribe Devon's friends with geek power with desserts or bum over to a friend's house for Dexter and True Blood.
So, I'm thinking that if we don't get axe-murdered first at your "I'm not an internet creeper" get together that I might need to throw a "Ryan Gosling Shirtless + Drinks" girls party soonish. Because you don't need cable to enjoy good beer and Mr. G.
Um, yes! No good Internet girl would be without a healthy obsession for gosling! And I love good beer. This sounds like a party that is right up my alley. Will attend.
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