I DID IT! I do NOT have cable TV! - Page 2

[amydawnsmommy]

Hooray!!! Great for you!!!!

I am always amazed at the amount of money people spend every month on cable. And often I see the families with very low incomes spending such a large percentage on cable. I shake my head.

Having said that I *know* what a hard thing it can be to turn off the tv once it has been turned on. During the 3 1/2 years dh and I were dating we spent a lot of time at his parents' house in front of the boob tube.

Once we were married I was *determined* to not have a tv and amazingly enough (I can hardly believe it myself) eleven years later we still do not have a tv! Yeah!!! When I mention that to people they look at me like 'Wow! How could you ever live without tv?' Their expressions can be priceless!

Seven and a half years ago we got a computer with a DVD player. It was a way to be able to CHOOSE what we watch. I really like it. We don't get the commercials (I am so glad Hope isn't tempted to have the 'latest' toys, junk food ,etc.) or the jingles singing themselves in our heads. (I still remember jingles from eleven years ago and further back!)

The thing that's really great about it is we get to CHOOSE what we watch and especially what Hope watches. Since we got a video membership at our library ($25 for a year) we can rent up to 5 movies per day for the year. Not that we watch that many (we go about once a week) but it gives us choice without all the expense. Renting movies is not cheap! It adds up rather quickly at $3 a pop.

I'm so glad you went cable free!!! Great for you!!!
Think of all the extra time and money you'll have to work with!

[stacyg]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

We figure our friends and family are going to think we're going broke or something. They will NOT get it at all . They might start sending money and food.

Good for you!!

My parents say my kid's NEED it. They'll pay for it too! We just politely say No thanks! I think they get bored when they come here and we have no tv. They think we are crazy! Just another thing to think we're weird about! :

[Alkenny]

We still have cable internet...through Time Warner...AND, you can ask about their Lite package that they don't advertise...it's half the price of what they say their internet is, and it's just as fast, IMO.

[MorganRiley]

i could live without tv easily

dh cant

congrats to you and yours for being on board!

[chanibell]

Congrats. I wish I didn't have cable b/c my ds only watches Wiggles DVDs. My dh watches "Current TV" like a crack addict though. I watch TLC b/c I love to watch Little People Big World. Mostly I watch DVDs. Ho hum

[tinybutterfly]

Congrats!

I am so jealous!

My dh would NEVER give up cable! He has a long list of shows he watches.

I do love DVDs and Saturday night scarey movies on the Sci-Fi channel, but I have lived without a t.v. before and didn't miss it. I read a lot.

My older son rarely watches t.v. My younger son...watches too much.

Enjoy your cable-free life!

:

[sweetfeet]

Cool! I just called and cancelled ours. We're going to go tv free except a weekly movie night. I'm excited. We didn't have a tv for the first 2 years of my dd's life but my parents bought us one because "it's ridiculous to not have a tv"

[dinade]

Good for you mama! I'm so jealous one day baby steps!!

[Dillpicklechip]

My dh is so cool. He complained a bit at first with the no cable thing but now he's totally on board. Yesterday I showed him an ad from a toystore showing board games that were on sale (as in, Scrabble and Pictionary and stuff like that) and I suggested that we should buy a few board games to play in the evenings, now that we don't have cable.

And he got all excited about the idea, and suggested that we make a fun family trip out of going to get the games! I love this guy.

[mightymoo]

Originally Posted by sanguine_speed

We still have cable internet. Here, you can have cable internet without cable TV. It's filtered somehow.

oh we can too, you just have to pay more for it, which was why I asked. They give a 'discount' on internet to cable customers, so when you ditch the cable, you have to pay more for the internet.

I wish there was a way for DH to watch his sports without having to have cable. MLB has an online package you can watch on your computer, but they have blackouts when you live local to the team, so he couldn't watch the games live anyway. :P

[sanguine_speed]

Originally Posted by mightymoo

oh we can too, you just have to pay more for it, which was why I asked. They give a 'discount' on internet to cable customers, so when you ditch the cable, you have to pay more for the internet.

It used to be that way here too. When we called to cancel our cable, we were prepared for this and were going to ask that they reduce our regular cable bill by the difference. Turns out they stopped doing this, probably because you can get other high-speed internet service that doesn't have this. So, yeah, Internet costs a set amount, and cable TV costs a set amount from the same company; we aren't paying a premium on Internet as a result of canceling cable TV. As well, since we were prepared to ask for a discount, they actually took another $10 off our Internet bill for each month of the next year. It worked out really well.

[nina_yyc]

Congratulations!!! We don't have cable either...and we both work(ed) in the TV industry : All the good stuff is on DVD anyway.