Cut Cable, Use A Digital Antenna, and Save Thousands!

We finally eliminated cable earlier this year. Cutting the cable cord wasn’t hard due to the fact that we have a digital antenna. And, guess what? We haven’t missed it one bit. According to NPD Group (a market research company), the average monthly cable bill in 2015 is expected to be $123. By the year…

Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Last Updated: January 27, 2025

Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, meaning if you decide to make a purchase via my links, I may earn a commission at no additional cost to you. See my disclosure for more info.

Cutting The Cable Cord By Getting A Digital AntennaWe finally eliminated cable earlier this year. Cutting the cable cord wasn’t hard due to the fact that we have a digital antenna.

And, guess what?

We haven’t missed it one bit.

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!

In fact, that’s $1,476 for 2015 alone. By 2020, the average annual cable bill would then be $2,400.

Who wants to spend that much money on TV?

I know I don’t!

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I know there are some out there who prefer to have cable because they watch sports, but I doubt that is the norm. I believe many have cable just because it’s an expense that most people have and are “used to.”

However, that money could be used for something else. Perhaps a vacation, retiring a little bit earlier, paying off debt, and so on.

One of the main ways I recommend cutting the cable cord (and making it a bit easier) is by purchasing a digital antenna.

Related money saving tip: You can also ditch cable and get Hulu instead. It’s as low as $5.99 and a great way to save loads of money each month on cable.

 

Cutting the cable cord is easy with a digital antenna.

When you think of TV antennas, you probably think of 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 the cable cord much easier. Digital antennas are sleek looking and allow you to watch your favorite TV shows with no problem at all.

Digital antennas are also cheap. They start at around $29.99 on the Antennas Direct website and go up from there. There is no monthly cost to use a digital antenna, so you can still receive many of your favorite local TV channels (that’s all I ever watched anyways!) and never have to pay money again.

Just think about it – around $30 for a digital antenna and be set for a really long time, or spend thousands of dollars on cable that you probably don’t get full use out of?

Seems like a clear winner to me!

Related: 16 Alternatives To Cable TV That WILL Save You Money

 

Our digital antenna.

We recently got a digital antenna (you can go to this website and find many great digital antennas – this is an affiliate link, but I didn’t find out I could be an affiliate until after I was already using their digital antenna. I truly enjoy this product and recommend it!) and it has been working well for us.

We have the ClearStream™ Micron Indoor Multi-Directional Digital TV Antenna.

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 digital antenna gives us around 14 channels and they are all of great quality. I’ve even heard of others getting 50 or 60 channels. The antenna we bought 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.

Do you have cable? Why or why not?


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Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Author: Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

Hey! I’m Michelle Schroeder-Gardner and I am the founder of Making Sense of Cents. I’m passionate about all things personal finance, side hustles, making extra money, and online businesses. I have been featured in major publications such as Forbes, CNBC, Time, and Business Insider. Learn more here.

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  1. Esther

    Would love to try the digital option.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      You should 🙂

  2. kathy

    I’ve never heard of a digital antenna, and now I want one! My cable bill went up by over $17 just this month. I’m feeling so done with cable!!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Good luck with the giveaway!

  3. Brenda Witherspoon-Bedard

    we do but we got a good deal for 6 months – after that who knows

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Makes sense 🙂

  4. Elizabeth R

    We do not have cable on our downstairs TV, so a digital antenna would be great.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Awesome!

  5. Hannah C

    We don’t have cable because it’s expensive!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Definitely!

  6. MARTHA

    No cable here let it go about 2 years ago ….Thanks for info… & giveaway….

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Awesome!

  7. Birdiebee

    I don’t have cable because it is too expensive; approximately $90/month with taxes..

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Crazy!

  8. Jayson @ Monster Piggy Bank

    I am glad that we cut our cable two years ago because we realized that life is better without it as it makes us more productive and help us save more money.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      I agree!

  9. shelly peterson

    We haven’t had cable service for at least 4 years because it’s just too expensive.

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Good job!

  10. cassie

    Nope, we don’t! I think it’s way too overpriced and we don’t watch tv more than a couple times a week (netflix)

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Same here!

  11. vickie Couturier

    no at the moment i do not

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Good luck with the giveaway!

  12. Julie Wood

    I have cable, but only get basic cable for $12 a month and I get a lot of channels. I want to cut cable someday and get a digital antenna!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      $12 is so cheap!

      1. Julie Wood

        It is and my elderly Father needs to have cable because it is easier for him to change channels.

  13. Elena

    We don’t have because it’s expensive

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Good luck with the giveaway!

  14. devon

    We cut cable for a long time, but then went back. Now we’ve realized we will be able to live without it since most of our shows are on Hulu and Netflix and can be watched on the TV channels websites the day after. Hopefully soon enough there will be subscription services that will let me have my HGTV and Food Network without cable!! =)

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Hulu and Netflix make it so much easy to cancel cable 🙂

  15. Patti cruce

    Sounds pretty nifty! I will have to look into this option. Thanks for the info and the giveaway!

    1. Michelle Schroeder-Gardner

      Welcome Patti!