Disbelief in one of our frugal habits

[FrugalTexan75]

Since 1997 (when I graduated from college) I subscribed to cable 7 years. 3 of those years I also had Tivo. When I first graduated, I was coming from a home that had cable, so I thought it was just a normal expense. Then 4 years later, I realized that it was something I could live without, and I did for 3 years. Then my dad came to live with me for about 8 months or so and he wanted cable, and we got a Tivo. I experienced the wonders of Tivo (and yes, I did LOVE Tivo) and so had cable/Tivo for 3 years. Finally I realized that I was watching way too much tv - and so cut cable and eventually Tivo as well (of course it helped that when I started with cable I was paying $10/month and by the 3rd year it had gone up to $22/mo for the same service!! Made it real easy to cut.)

Now I only do Netflix streaming, and occasionally will do Hulu Plus for a month or two at a time. I don't even own a tv anymore ... Mostly not having cable is not a problem - it's only with shows like Person of Interest which I started watching on the shows website and fell in love with it, then the network stopped streaming full episodes (and it is nowhere else to be found - believe me, I've looked! At least not legally/ethically to be found.)

Steve - I watched Awake too, and absolutely loved it. Am very sad it was canceled.

[gogirlanime]

I haven't really told anyone that I don't have cable, not because I'm shy about it but the subject has never come up. I'm sure they would give me and odd look as well. My boyfriend and I have Hulu and Crunchyroll (a Japanese animation program/droid/app) both cost us $22 total a month, yeah you can get basic cable for $20 a month but nothing is of value to watch. I like to watch the TV shows I want to watch when I want to and Crunchyroll provides hundreds and hundreds of Japanese animation series so I'm getting tons and tons of material I want and it's cheaper than some cable. I agree, this is why I've been going to the gym more often, get off my lazy butt and be more productive I'm not going to be one of those people who's one hobby or one of their few hobbies is watching TV shows that suck and have no real value to them, they are just brain-fillers.

[mom-from-missouri]

being in the sticks, there is no cable, and basic dish is around$49 a month in our area, but we have the next package up to have the racing channel....DH works part time as a firefighter for nascar, so we like to watch it..But, we if were given the option of only purchasing that one channel for much less, we would. We only watch a few programs anyway,

[chrisburke21]

It is encouraging to see so many people without TV. There is almost nothing worth your time on TV. My guess is that most people on the forum are smarter then the average bear.

[mom-from-missouri]

Without TV my life is nothing. How can you all live without TV? I am wonder to know that

TV has been around less than 100 years. People have been living for thousands of years.

I think you would survive.

[JoeP]

TV has been around less than 100 years. People have been living for thousands of years.

I think you would survive.

I'm almost positive this user is just a troll. His/her last posts have had zero meaningful input.

But I agree with you. While some people may choose to spend their time watching TV, there is a majority who still see it as an unnecessary distraction. Hardly needed to sustain life!

[SeanH]

For people who are interested in ditching cable TV, but are concerned about missing out on sports programming there are actually a number of options. You can purchase internet plans for football, baseball, and basketball that will allow you to watch the entire season online (which you could stream to your television). I will add that any of these plans probably costs a few hundred dollars, but my experience was that cable TV cost $90-100 a month so it pays for itself if that's really the only thing you are interested in watching.

In addition - some internet providers will provide support for you to stream espn3.com over the internet. This will allow you to watch a lot of college sports programming - for example I believe all of the bowl games last year could be streamed over espn3 in high def(720).

EDIT: Baseball is cheaper than I thought. Appears you can purchase a year of their plan for less than $100.

[dawnwes]

We ditched Satellite about a year ago. I thought we would miss it terribly and I thought I would really miss my DVR.

We are surviving just fine and I don't miss a thing. We do have Roku boxes on our TVs and Netflix and Hulu+ and an antenna for live TV.

My $100 satellite bill went down to $16/mo.

Dawn

[dontgopoor]

Just let those people who stare at you know that you've taken advantage of technology to get more for less money. And then stare back and say, "You haven't?"

[Mori]

First of all, mom-from-missouri is not a troll.
Grew up with cable and when I moved out on my own I had it for several years. Then I dropped it to save money and picked it up again due to 3 or 4 shows that weren't on the regular networks. Finally gave it up 4 years ago when I discovered that I could watch those shows online for free. Never did get around to getting dvr but still have my vcr which is sitting around collecting dust. It was great, because it automatically fast forward though commercials.
I greatly enjoy watching regular network shows on my tv, otherwise, I catch the rest online. Last week Yahoo had a post on how people are getting of their cable and these two websites were listed channelchooser.com and 1channel.ch I haven't had a chance to check them out yet but the channelchooser sounded interesting.

[SnapDuck]

My wife and I have been pay TV free for four months now. I kind of feel like I need a support group after being so addicted to the DVR. We now watch OTA and Netflix and have slowly been reducing our time in front of the television. We now have a vegetable garden and blog to show for all the time we've gained back. Most of my side of the family thinks we're crazy but a few on her side have joined us.

[TheShopMyCloset Project]

I don't have cable either!

I have had the same reaction. I haven't had cable since college? I don't miss it. I manage to watch t.v. without it. And, even more shocking, I don't have a flat screen t.v. My cute little t.v. is 12 years old has rabbit ears and a digital convertor. The picture is perfect, and I even get tons of spanish language programs. If I want to watch shows from HBO, etc. I check out the dvds from the Library, for free. Or, I watch regular Hulu, or use online streaming a week after the air date. I watch: Grey's Anatomy, True Blood, CSI, Extreme Makeover, basically everything!

[Gailete]

We don't have cable but do have antennas and the converter box, so after the cost for that, TV is free except for the electric. We do however have lots of videos and DVDs that we have picked up at thrift stores, yard sales, given as presents, etc. I see no reason to pay to have netflix. We don't mind watching favorite shows over and my hubby when working in his shop likes to listen to his favorite movies to the point he has them memorized. Sounds crazy I know, but for him listening to music is distracting since he is very musical with exceptional hearing and when music is on he stops doing whatever he was doing to listen, figures out which instruments are playing, what kid of piano and if it is in tune (he restores pianos and tunes them for a living) etc. so he basically gets no work done when music is on so he listens to movies to the point he literally wears them out. I would rather see someone wear a DVD or video out than pay full price and see it once.

I could live without TV as I like to read but since I have gotten such bad arthritis, I have found at times that I need the comic relief to help with pain control and I literally at times hurt too much to hold a book. I've finally thinking about a Kindle, which means maybe in a year or two I might get one I'm especially interested once I found out just how many FREE books Amazon has and that library will check out e-books to you. I also like to do handcrafts and can't do that and read at the same time so I don't mind watching a show at the same time (I generally always am reading while watching TV too.

[learnedcounsel]

I would like to try "cable free" personally, but the wife would never allow it.

[Blessed]

I don't find it odd at all. We just got cable for the 1st time in 15 years. My dh wanted to try it again. I can't say we are watch many more channels than we did pre-cable.