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. Richard Brandt

    Yes, for Turner Classic Movies.

  2. Barbara Montag

    I entered the wrong info for following you on Twitter
    @JalapenoMama

  3. Diego F.

    I don’t have yet cause of money, but ll have it soon 🙂

  4. Gord

    I have cable only because its included where I live.

  5. Annmarie W.

    We don’t have cable…we’re longtime DirecTV subscribers. But my mom has cable, and this might be a great option for her!

  6. Allison lesley

    We cut our cable about 3 years ago and we stream Netflix and Hulu now. It saves us a ton monthly just by making this one cute. Cable is outrageous and the plans are always changing so its not worth the money paid for it.

  7. Laura J

    We do have cable, but I have been thinking for the last year about cutting it. This would be such a great option!

  8. Julie Waldron

    We have satellite TV but we’ve thought about getting rid of it.

  9. Patricia Delgado

    We do have cable because my children enjoy nick and disney jr

  10. Priscilla S.

    We have the basic package but plan on cutting the cord soon. When we really looked at our typical viewing habits we stream more than anything else. I’d like to give SlingTV a try too!

  11. Natalie Brown

    I do have cable and it’s just okay. It’s so expensive though. This is a really cool product! Thank-you for the helpful information & generous chance. 🙂

  12. david

    No, I do not have cable. Too expensive.

  13. Lyz S

    Cable is too expensive for us, so we haven’t had it for years.

  14. Kay

    Yes, I do have cable. I guess I don’t feel tech savvy enough to have anything else. It’s soooo expensive though! I’d like to try other options but I just don’t understand them.