A few months ago, we finally got rid of cable. Since cutting cable out of our lives, we haven’t missed it one bit.
We are still watching all of our favorite shows, we can still watch the news, and we don’t feel like we’re missing out on anything at all.
There has only been one time when I wished we still had cable and that was so that I could watch the newest season of Walking Dead. That will eventually come out on Netflix though, so I can wait for that – no problem at all.
According to NPD Group (a market research company), the average monthly cable bill in 2015 is expected to be $123. By the year 2020, the average cable bill is expected to be around $200 a month.
That’s a lot of money.
That’s $1,476 for 2015 alone. By 2020, the average annual cable bill would then be $2,400.
I know of many people who spend much more than this as well, such as someone who recently told me that they spend over $300 a MONTH on their cable bill. While that may seem crazy to you, I have heard of many people who pay this much money and sometimes even more for cable.
By learning how to cut cable, you could save thousands of dollars over your lifetime. That money could be better spent on retirement, traveling, family, and more.
Below are different areas that some of you have wondered about when it comes to cutting cable. Continue reading to learn how to cut cable today.
Cutting cable is easy with a digital antenna.
When you think about antennas, you probably think about the classic rabbit ears that are big and ugly. You probably also think about how the picture is never perfect and how channels can get blurry and almost completely fade away.
Well, these days antennas are no longer like that and this makes cutting cable much easier. They are sleek looking and allow you to watch your favorite TV shows with no problem at all. There is no monthly cost, just a small upfront cost to buy the antenna. You just pay for the antenna once and you can watch local channels as much as you want.
We recently bought an antenna (you can go to this website 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 this product and recommend it!) and it has been working well for us. It’s an indoor one that sits behind our TV, there is no ugliness that goes along with it, and you can’t even see it.
The antenna gives us around 14 channels and they are all of great quality. The antenna was around $60 and it will allow us to save hundreds of dollars a year for years to come, so it was a great deal.
If you get an antenna, I’ve heard of others getting many more channels, sometimes even 50 or 60. If you are interested in learning how to cut cable and looking for alternatives to cable TV, I highly recommend getting an antenna.
We spend $8.99 a month on Netflix.
The only thing we spend money on monthly after cutting cable is Netflix. I can watch everything I want to because of Netflix and it’s nice because I don’t have to watch commercials or wait to see what happens after a cliffhanger.
The only bad thing about this is that we are watching a little too much Netflix. We’ve watched whole series of shows already but luckily we are getting a little better with controlling ourselves.
There are also many other options when it comes to still being able to watch your favorite TV shows after cutting cable. You could get Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, pay for the episodes you want to watch individually, and more. There are TONS of options out there.
We don’t watch sports so cutting cable was an easy decision.
Many people have asked “Oh, but what are you doing so that you can watch sports?”
Figuring out how to cut cable and whether it would work for us was easy since we don’t watch any sports on TV.
It’s really that simple.
How much money are we saving?
We aren’t saving a ton of money, I will be honest and say that. However, it was money we were just wasting though, as it was very rare whenever we did watch a TV show that wasn’t on a local channel or on Netflix. This is the main reason why we decided to get rid of cable, as it was useless and just another bill that we didn’t need in life.
We are saving around $41 each month and around $492 each year, after you subtract Netflix expenses.
We are also saving time. I used to have to talk to our cable company once every six months so that I could negotiate our cable bill down. Our cable company seemed to have a $10 or $20 increase a few times a year, and that is just insane. If we would have never negotiated, I’m sure our monthly cable bill would have been in the $100 or $200 range.
Are you planning on cutting cable? Are you interested in learning how to cut cable? How much is your monthly cable bill?
Leave a Reply
I also cut off our cable last year and I’m glad that I did it! 🙂 Well, we don’t usually watch TV, we only watch the news every night. I’m also planning to get an antenna, one company offers an antenna that cost $50 to 10-15 channels I think.
Good job!
Funnily enough we’ve decided to get rid of our cable TV. Here in the UK I pay £46 per month and to be honest, we don’t even what that much television as we’re too busy working in the evening. The children do watch kids programmes but they have youtube and plenty of dvds so I doubt they would miss it either.
I actually wrote a monster of a post yesterday (3000+ words) about how I intend to kick debt’s butt. I look at our finances with a fine tooth comb and we’ve worked out that by getting rid of cable tv along with quite a few other things, we’ll be able to save a few hundred pounds per month!!
Do it!
We cut our cable about a year ago, we don’t miss it either. I love the lower monthly bills. I watch the least amount of TV in our home, but I was the one who opposed cutting cable for years afraid I would miss something. I still only watch a few hours of TV a week and I have time for other hobbies like reading books.
Good job Rachel!
I am a huge NASCAR fan, but to save money, we cut cable. I use apps to keep up on the live action (when not distracted by a baby). It’s OK. Not ideal. But I totally buy the season of TWD through Amazon Instant Video. I can’t stand to be a season behind.
When all is said and done from the rentals and purchases we do like this – I am not sure we are saving money!
How much is it for TWD for each season?
It’s about $40 for the current not-on-Netflix season. That’s my one big purchase but we end up purchasing kids shows and movies to download on iTunes, too, because the Netflix selection gets old.
Good to know. Thanks!
We don’t have cable and when we did it was only because the package with cable was cheaper than buying internet solo. Never miss it. Not one bit.
Awesome. Great job!
We cut cable when we moved. I got sick and tired of a $180/month bill and Comcast not waiting to treat an existing customer as well as they wanted to treat a new customer. We now pay $35 a month for internet only and another $20 a month for Sling (which is awesome… 20 channels that we watch 18 of including AMC, ESPN, TBS, TNT, Food Network and Disney for the kiddo and we got a “free” amazon fire stick). The beauty of sling, is when the Walking Dead isn’t on, we can simply cancel the service if we want to. We also have Amazon Prime (which is a gift we get every year for Christmas from my father in law). So all told we now pay $55 a month.
I was a little worried we would miss cable, but I don’t at all. If there is something that is on TV that I have to watch I can always buy a season pass for like $40 (which we did for Scandal because my wife binged that and the current season is half over and the old episodes aren’t on hulu). I can’t see us doing that much more in the future, but you never know.
In the end, cutting cable has saved us money, but I think it has changed my mindset of choosing what I want to watch instead of just mindlessly flipping the channels
I’ll have to look into Sling. Thanks!
Sling isn’t perfect… No DVR and their on-demand is very limited… but then again the service is only like 8 weeks old at this point. It is just a nice alternative to cable in my opinion
Thanks!
My hubby and I have been discussing this as of late and my only concern is that my internet bill and limit will not support it and I winter Dave in the end.
Holy moly sorry posting from my phone and auto correct strikes again. Lol….I meant that I wouldn’t save in the end
Haha Sheri 🙂 You should look into how it would impact your bill!
I have believe me I’ve been doing research on it and finally have my husband convinced to go ahead and do it!! Then I read a post about how it could impact your internet bill. I know I can save approx $120 a month cutting the cord, just need to make sure that I can get enough internet to handle what we need. The crux is that I am a corp office manager for an internet co and where I live I don’t get our service otherwise not only would that be free as well it would be unlimited!!!!! At the very least we are cutting down our Direct TV to the very very least we can. And I found a way to cut my cell bill by over $100 a month while using my same phone and network!! I’m so excited to save the $$ 🙂
Good job!
I would like to cut my cable, but have been unable to find internet services in my area. It seems in order to have the internet I have to have cable. Any suggestions?
Where do you live? I’ve never had that problem, but if you are experiencing that then maybe you can just call the internet provider directly?
I live in Maryland and have been unable to find an internet only provider.
Weird! I have never heard of that. Do you have AT&T or Centurylink there?
We cut our cable in December, and amazingly, we still get about 70 channels on both of our TVs. I, too, was really tired of calling the cable company every 6-12 months to get our ever-increasing bill lowered a few dollars. It’s amazing how they keep raising the price, yet there’s no corresponding increase in service! What a scam. We save $70 a month without cable.
Had the channels not still come in for us, we would’ve bought a Google Chromecast, or the similar offering from Amazon.
Good job!
We cut cable after the football season. We’re not missing it at all but the hubby is a little worried about next year’s season. Luckily we can get most of the local games with our digital antenna. I told him he should have the guys over to a couple of those games and see if he can get invites over to their places for the one or two we can’t see. Seems like a win win to us.
Cutting cable has not only saved us a bunch of money, it has also increased our time spent together. Yes we were together when the TV was on but not really. We certainly weren’t paying attention to each other. We have many more meaningful conversations now! It’s just one more step in editing our lives down to be exactly what we want them to be!
Sounds like cutting cable was a great decision for you. Good job!
My CFO and I were chatting about this very topic and he got SlingTV $20 a month and it has all the ESPN stations, the nice thing about it is that if your hubby is only watching, lets say football season, you can cancel in the off season and save even more.
Sounds like I need to look into Sling!
$300 A MONTH?! That’s seriously nutso!
I agree!
I’ve never had cable except when it was free in college. I have Netflix and my brother gave me the password for xfinity online. Honestly I don’t really mind it since most of what I like will turn up online somewhere so I’ll get to it eventually haha.
Good job!
I cut cable as soon as I moved out on my own, I don’t miss it at all. Mind you I work at a TV station during the day. I do have Netflix and I did pick up an OTA HD antenna which gives me a few free channels.
Good job!
Life without Cable – start saving TIME today.
For us it’s never been primarily about the cost, it’s been about the time it sucks out of our lives – watching too much. In other news, I spent much of Monday evening packing up my skis and gear. Then Tuesday (yesterday) morning, I was fortunate to stand on top of a peak at 14,200′. Not something I would have done in front of the TV watching rerun episodes of Chopped.
Yes, the time suck is bad!
We cut ours over 3 years ago. We house sit and still prefer to log into our Netflix or Hulu account even tho we have access to cable. I noticed we have less of a want list.
Good job!