Self-employment is definitely on my mind, and I want to be as prepared as possible for self-employment as I can be. I have been analyzing our budget a lot (our budget will be posted soon), and I have been looking for any categories in which we can lower or eliminate our spending altogether. Cable has definitely been on my mind because of this.
There are also other reasons why we have thought about possibly eliminating cable. We spend a lot of time in front of the TV, and we constantly wonder if it is worth it.
There are some shows that we feel that we NEED to watch (Boardwalk Empire, True Blood, Walking Dead, and the list goes on forever), but the rest are mainly just shows that we watch to procrastinate with things that we should actually be doing.
Also, another reason is that there are many people out there who watch all of these same shows and save tons of money. Some don’t spend anything, or they spend a very small amount each month, such as $10.
If I can possible save money, then why not? Who wants to spend more money than they have to?
Surprisingly, I have received some flack on the blog lately for wanting to save money. With self-employment, income is not stable, and I would like our budget to be low if we can help it. We still want to enjoy our lives (there are plenty of free and frugal activities out there) of course, but if we can save money and still receive the same value in return, then why not?
What amount do we pay for cable right now?
We are currently paying $57 (this amount includes all fees and taxes) for nearly every single channel imaginable and also for channels such as HBO.
It would be higher but around every 6 months I call the cable company and ask them for a discount, and they always easily say yes. This must be because so many customers are cutting the cord lately.
Would we be more productive without all of these extra channels if we determined cable isn’t worth it?
$60 is probably not an amount that could break us, but I wonder that if we paid for less channels if we would be more productive and maybe even happier in our lives.
With the amount of channels that we have, there is almost always something on TV for us to watch. We pay $60 a month for only 3 shows each YEAR pretty much.
With less channels, I do feel as though I will be more productive. And this is a big reason for why I might want to get rid of cable. Sitting in front of the TV when I should be working during the day just sounds too tempting! If I get hooked on a show, it’s really hard for me not to watch a marathon of it for the rest of the day. I am guilty to say that almost every single Saturday I work on my side hustles while watching a Boy Meets World marathon.
If we were paying $10 a month for what we watch, then we would be saving $50 a month. That $50 could go towards something else that has meaning instead of all of the mind-numbing shows that I currently watch (ahem… Teen Mom and everything else on MTV that I seem to be addicted to).
Related: 16 Alternatives To Cable TV That WILL Save You Money
We do love watching TV.
Don’t get me wrong, we both do love watching TV. I always love a good movie and a new TV show (I’m loving Under the Dome right now) too.
The price we pay isn’t too high, and I believe we pay much less than what others pay. I have heard of some cases where some families pay over $100 a month for less channels than we receive. I have even heard that the average cable bill is around $125 a month, which blows my mind because I would never pay that much. Would you ever pay that much for TV?
There are many ways to save on cable, of which we have done in order to lower our cable cost to as low as we have it. It’s always best to sign up under some sort of “New customer” discount.
Also, always make sure to ask for additional discounts. You can ask for the receiver for free, any insurance on the satellite, free HD channels, free premium channels such as HBO and so on. Also, do what we do and call your cable company every 6 months or so and ask for a discount. This has ALWAYS worked for us and usually takes less than 5 minutes.
What other TV options are there?
Netflix – Less than $10 a month
Netflix is around $10, and with it you can stream shows straight to your TV. Or you can get DVDs straight to your home.
At one point, my sister bought Netflix (I’m not even sure if we still have it, I’ll blame my laziness for not knowing the answer to that), and we would stream it from our PS3 straight to our TV. However, I never really saw too many shows or movies that interested me. I’m not sure if I just had bad timing, but I also only gave Netflix one or two chances.
Hulu Plus – Also less than $10 a month
Hulu Plus is $7.99 per month. I have heard that Hulu Plus is great if you want fewer ads (as compared to the free Hulu service) and because you can stream a lot of recent shows that may not be on Netflix.
Antenna – Free
I hope everyone knows what this is. Find those rabbit ears and put them on your TV. You can get basic channels for free. If you don’t already have an antenna, they can of course be bought at stores for what I’m thinking would be a relatively low price.
EDIT: I now use an antenna so that I can get my favorite local channels. You can [easyazon_link keywords=”go to this website” locale=”US” tag=”maksenofcen0b-20″ link_id=”3628″ id=”52224″]go to this website[/easyazon_link] and find many great antennas – this is an affiliate link, but I didn’t find out I could be an affiliate until after I was already using their antenna. I truly enjoy their product and recommend it!
Amazon Prime – $79 a year, but there are often discounts
There are many benefits of Amazon Prime, such as free shipping, but the main point of including it in this post is that they offer unlimited streaming as well in their service.
I logged in to see what the exact price would be, and it says it is normally $79. However, when I logged in, Amazon said that I qualify for a 50% discount, which would make my price only $39 a year. That seems like a deal! I have heard that there are many different discounts out there, such as for being a student, so please research this. I’m sure most people don’t pay the full $79 price.
Library – Free
The library is also another option, and all it costs is whatever it takes in gas to drive there. The library often has movies and you can rent what you want to watch for free.
Do you have cable? Is is cable worth it to you? How much do you spend each month on cable?
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I used to have Freeview so I would only pay about £12 each month to have access to about 50 channels. I was rarely watching TV as I prefer to watch a movie at the cinema instead. So, I cancelled my Freeview and I don’t have any channels anymore which is totally okay with me. However, for someone who like watching TV but would like to save a bit of money, I think a basic package is a good idea or Netflix as it is so much cheaper.
I’m different, I prefer to watch movies at home. I don’t know why!
My guy and I have moved around a lot and sometimes we have had cable and other times we have not, depending on our budget. Overall I would say it’s not worth it. We currently have netflix and we have ways of watching every show we want to see. I only am interested in a few shows so I personally don’t miss it at all. Every time I go to visit my mom who has cable, I spend most of the tv just flipping through channels and thinking about how much of a waste of money it is.
I agree Ashley! We only watch a couple of shows so I don’t really see it as worth it.
cable is included in our rent, mostly because our landlords are nice people, and don´t charge extra for it. So we don´t spend any money on it.. but I guess I would´ve been hesitant spending a lot of money on cable otherwise… mostly because I like to watch certain tv shows, but I always stream them online, that way I can watch the newest episode, only a day after it aired in the US, instead of waiting a year or so before it might get aired on Norwegian television. So considering how the Norwegian television is filled with American, British and Australian tv shows, I could definitely do without cable, and rather watch it online!
Wow that is a nice deal!
we spend about 125.00 for cable and internet. I estimate that if we did not have internet (God forbid!) that we would spend about 50 to 60 dollars a month on cable. Do we watch too much TV? Yes. Is that going to change? probably not.
Haha yeah I don’t think I could go without internet.
We have Netflix but the problem is we have cable as well. And we also use RedBox. I don’t see us getting rid of cable but it could save us a few hundred per year. I don’t watch much tv but for those things I like watching like sports and playoffs I just find that cable is one of those I could cut but probably wont bills.
We don’t really watch any sports, but I do see how it would be worthwhile to those who do.
I once thought that I’d never be able to live without cable but I haven’t had it in about 2.5 years. I did have netflix and hulu plus for 2 of those years though. right now I have nothing but am thinking about getting hulu & netflix again (I love me my tv!)
Wow that is awesome Nicole! I don’t know if I could go totally without.
I haven’t had cable since I moved out at 18, so coming up on 10 years. I’ve made due with over the air channels and more recently Netflix and Hulu+. Those two combined are about $17/month. I’m not anti-tv by any means but I do find that I don’t mindlessly get sucked into what’s on next watching online. The only time I wish I had cable is during football season, but that just means games on ESPN are watched with friends!
That is awesome Amanda!
We’ve been without DirecTV for several years and it’s been a blessing for our family to not watch as much television. We do have an antenna and a Netflix subscription. Once our mortgage is paid off sometime next year I think we will subscribe again to DirecTV with the freed up money in our budget.
I think that’s a great idea Brian!
No cable, just antenna TV here. I don’t miss it and glad I cut the cord years ago! It’s amazing how much there is still on TV without cable to watch like Downton Abbey is on public TV.
Yes, there are tons of shows on public TV, and a lot of our favorites are on there as well.
Well ever since my bill jumped 33% and they pretty much refused to drop it again (I had them drop it twice in the past year or so), I have been paying too much! Probably going to switch to satellite soon. I like all the alternative options that have come about, but I don’t foresee myself cutting the cord anytime soon. I oftentimes have shows or sports on in the background while I’m working on the site or entering giveaways.
Wow a 33% jump is too much! How much is your monthly bill now?
Lol, I did virtually the same post this morning…save for the different options you could look at. We’ve still got DirecTV and don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Haha it’s a popular topic! 🙂
I actually just set up our antenna (the Mohu Leaf) and our blu ray/dvd/wi-fi device this weekend and will be cancelling Direct TV today. I don’t think there’s a right or wrong answer, and I also don’t really think it’s worthwhile to compare what you spend to what others spend. If you value the purchase and still have room in your budget for your top financial goals, then stick with it. If it’s compromising your goals or you just don’t enjoy it anymore, then get rid of it.
I’m not exactly comparing what I’m spending to others in order to gauge whether or not I should keep it. I am just curious 🙂
I think I could go TV-less. It’s my husband that can’t. We have digital cable, especially for the sports. He recently renegotiated our contract, though, so we’ve got more channels for less $$. Then he recently added a Roku. I think it’s a lot of money for all of it, but I know I can’t ask him to give up his sports, just like I wouldn’t want him to ask me to give up travel!
Haha yes, I think it’s the same for us as well.
We haven’t paid for cable in ages. It must be 4 years now. I just don’t see it as worth it.
Good job!
I love Boy Meets World! Leslie and I cut cable a few years back and were subscribed to Netflix for a while. Now we don’t even have a TV so we thought it was silly to continue to pay for Netflix. Luckily for us, a lot of our favorite shows air online a day or so after they air on TV so we still get to watch them. For free! Not having all the extra TV channels and whatnot has really helped us boost our productivity during what would normally be our downtime. To be honest, I thought we would miss having TV a lot more than we actually do.
Haha everyone loves Boy Meets World, right? 🙂
That’s awesome that you two don’t even have a TV. I honestly don’t know if I could do that though!