We are down to basic channels, thanks to the writers strike! I am finding my life to be much fuller since we cut down our television watching. Direct TV had raised our rates again (just another $5 after the numerous $5-8 rate increases) and I just thought to myself, “Now what sensible person would continue taking it from the man?”
Ryan isn’t really as on board with this decision, but I suggested all of the great things we could do with our thirty dollar a month savings. We could maybe get a couple of new Wii games, we could have a great date night (and TALK!), we could read the same book and talk about it, we could play board games, we can enjoy taking walks… the possiblities are endless!
I went on the website, I picked the option to change my plan, and then I thought of all the shows we couldn’t see and that I would miss.
We will see how it goes, but I am committed to trying!
Sound Off: Do you have cable or satellite television? What type of plan are you on?
We have cable – the cheapest cheapy cheap plan one can get. It’s about $8 per month for tv and we get enough channels to keep us satisfied.
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i live in a townhouse, and our association pays for basic cable. My husband works at night, and honestly, food network keeps me company after my son is in bed. i don’t know what i’d do without it! i’d freak out more than my husband without cable, i’m sure, though during baseball season he’d have a rough time:)
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I think it’s great that you guys are trying this out. Our family did a similar thing about two year ago. We decided to make some cut backs in the budget, so we called and had our satellite service ‘frozen.’ That meant that our service would stop for about 4 months and then once we decided to ‘unfreeze’ it, we wouldn’t have to worry about our rate going up. It would stay the same.
We had a bit of withdrawal the first month or so. We could actually still get the satellite menu, showing the programs and scheduling for the different channels. So, there would be times where we would actually just sit and flip through the menu, lamenting about all of the shows we were missing. LOL!
Eventually, we couldn’t even get the channel guide and so we slowly began to not even think about what we were missing. Then, at 4 months we unfroze our account and started back up the service. It wasn’t long before we realized that we didn’t want the service anymore. After having a break from all the ‘stuff’ on television, we were hyper-sensitive to it all when we began viewing it again. We realized that when we were regularly watching television, we were desensitized to the garbage that was spewing out of it. And, this isn’t just the cable channels. The regular channels are just as bad, if not worse. So, we decided that we did not want to waste our money on garbage and we turned off the satellite.
Now, we watch very little television. So little in fact, that we no longer have a television in our family room. We have one in our bedroom, that we use to watch movies on occasionally. And we have one in the garage, placed in front of the treadmill, so that we can watch the news while working out in the morning.
Another thing that we’ve found is that it changed the demeanor of everyone in the house. I think it really goes back to the whole garbage in/garbage out thing.
I don’t miss it at all! We have more time to interact with the each other now. We play games, read, and just entertain ourselves.
Sorry that this was so long!
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had to laugh, we use those old rabbit ears- are able to get three stations(CBS,ABC, and PBS) and don’t feel like we are missing anything. except hubby does miss his football games in the fall. Heather
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We got cable AND a cable modem about 7 years ago. Dropped the cable TV several years ago, but won’t drop the cable internet.
Prefer the web to TV any day. (Hubby keeps up with his shows on the net.)
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Neither. Just good old rabbit ears and we are just fine. With all the new digital stations coming on we actually have quite a few to pick from and the picture is digital so it is clear as a bell. Free tv there is nothing better.
Smiles!
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We, too, have the basic-basic (less than $10) and we’re happy with it. I sure do enjoy being at a hotel or my parents house and having an abundance of channels, especially since we don’t have the Food Network or TLC or the Weather Channel. But if we had more channels, I’m sure the TV would be on way too often, so we’ll stick with this.
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He have no cable or satellite. and we do just fine, we get what the rabbit ears give us and we do just fine. It is keeping my 3 year old off the Nintendo…
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All we have is our antenna….. which is fine for me… I’m not much of a TV watcher. My hubby on the other hand would really like to just get about 3 of the satellite channels to watch baseball and hunting shows! It is NOT worth the money! We do netflix instead…. we can watch GOOD things without commercials! I don’t want my kids being subjected to all the advertising. We do have PBS, so there are some good kid’s shows on there.
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We have satellite. I don’t watch any channels but local. However, Hubby is addicted to the movie channels. He watches lots and lots of movies. Of course, my 2 year old watches some Noggin and Disney.(Only a few shows he really likes.) I could defintely do without it. Where we live if we get rid of it, we will have no TV so we have to pay or get nothing.
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We did the dish thing for awhile, but wi;th the price increase we just went with our local telephone’s cable. There is no other cable services that run in our neck of the woods. We are out in the country here baby!
Anyhoo, we pay about $42 a month for their basic package. No movie channels, just the ESPN’s, history, tlc, discovery and so on so forth. There is enough garbage on all of the basics without the movie channels too!
Oh and we are in Alabama.
Blessings!!!
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We did have DirecTV up until a few weeks ago then went cold turkey with no tv!! Now we have Netflix so we’re not totally bereft but it was a hard couple days there…it’s a hard addiction to overcome. I still miss Alex telling me trivia while I cooked dinner and I miss a couple of sitcoms…but it’s nicer to have silence or music while I cook and clean.
(Notice I called the host of a game show by his first name like he’s my friend? He’s not my friend and I don’t know him, but because he was present in my home I thought of him as my friend. Crazy thinking, and I’m starting to get it straightened out.)
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We have Dish Network…..the America’s top 100(lowest plan)and pay about $43.00 a month (a $3 increase in Feb bummed us out). I don’t watch as much tv as dh but I would definately miss a few channels. Ellie
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We haven’t had cable or sattelite for a year now. The kids miss it, but I DON’T! We have lots of movies on DVD to occupy us on the occasion that there isn’t anything good to pick up with our antennae.
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We have a lot of channels, but not the movie channels like ho, cinemac,etc. I’d rather not have cable at all but the only way to get the business channels is with cable here, and hubby needs them. The kids and I only watch an hour or two of tv a week. We rent movies when we want to see one. I only need th local news now and then and some PBS and I’m happy.
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We have nothing! We have a TV, VCR, DVD, and internet. We haven’t had cable since 1999. My husband and I agreed to try going w/o it and we were fine. We knew we wouldn’t be able to have it while he got his master’s b/c he would watch TV instead of studying. The kids don’t know anything else. Our library has a huge selection of videos and DVDs (including TV shows on DVD). Now we can get free redbox too. I’m on e-mail newsletters for Hollywood Video and Blockbuster, there’s often a rent 1 get 1 free printable coupon. And Pampers has the Blockbuster reward for points. And some surveys that I do can earn free movie rentals too. However, we did borrow rabbit ears for the NYE countdown when we hosted our Sunday School class NYE party!
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