Need Help Convincing DH to drop cable...

[Piecey]

Here is the deal-- we very much like to be entertained, but we're both in college full-time so not a lot of time.
He's got an X-Box 360 and I've got a Wii. We love our video games so any extended free time we have we play our systems seperately or we play Wii together. We have Netflix, because we're addicted to movies, but anytime I want to sit and watch it he wants to study but doesn't want me to watch it w/o him (He doesn't want me to suspend it, though!).
Between the two of us we own over 500 DVDs, which we watch on a regular basis. There are three DVD players in this house and only two of us, so it's quite easy to watch whatever you want around here without worrying about the other one. We go to the theatre and watch movies almost every single Friday AND Saturday night because he's usually so fried from summer classes he just wants to "get out" and do something mindless.

Point, we never watch the dang TV. I'm the only one with "shows" and I usually watch them online the next day. So we're paying about $50/month for something we rarely ever use but he won't let me drop it! ($60 w/ Netflix!)

How do I convince him it's a waste of money???

(I don't work anymore so I can't really say "I don't want to pay for it anymore")

 

[ICF]

$50 / month seems like a pretty hefty price if it's just basic cable.

Can you downgrade your package to save some $$$?

 

[Piecey]

$50 / month seems like a pretty hefty price if it's just basic cable.

Can you downgrade your package to save some $$$?

Sorry, it's Expanded. When it was just me I had basic, when we got married/moved in together he upped it to Expanded. (He needs his Spike TV or something ridiculous like that )

 

[lillygator]

I'd love our bill to be $50, we pay around $130, more when it's football season for the Sunday ticket.

 

[trip]

Just do it and see if you miss it. You can always get it again.

Put that $50 away for something that you both want.

 

[Barb D]

What do you do for internet?

 

[Piecey]

We have cable internet, but I'm looking to drop the cable tv channels not the internet. Our bill is really $80/month but $30 of it is internet services.

I can't just drop it w/o his permission. It's in his name (Since he doesn't get a W2, DMV would only accept a utility bill and the cable was the easiest to change to his name to get his address updated on license)

 

[SC Minnie]

Why not ask him to drop it for a month as a trial. Put that $50 in a special fund to do something cool either a trip or something special for the house.

 

[Mayl]

Well we use cable for both tv and ‘net. Without the net, the 360 is worthless… (to my family).

 

[Rence]

Ask him for other ways of saving $50 per month. Maybe for reasons unknown to you, cable is important to him.

$50 a month would be one less game for the consoles, going out to a few fewer movies each month, buying fewer DVDs each month etc. etc. etc.

With the economy in the shape that it is in, you should be able to argue that it is best to trim a bit here and there - you've proposed cutting cable to save $50 a month - ask him for his ideas on how to save $50 a month

 

[Kath2003]

I got rid of my TV entirely. Initially it was only for 3 months but I loved having my life back so much that I kept it this way! It's awesome, seriously. Oh and it saves me a fortune too, since we have to have a TV license in the UK ($280/year!).

 

[lillygator]

you have to have a license to have a tv? omg!

 

[Piecey]

you have to have a license to have a tv? omg!

No, no. Sorry if I was confusing.

He moved in with me, I've lived here for a year already. When he moved in, he needed proof of address at the DMV and since he doesn't get a paystub (non-taxable income) or a W2 we had to switch SOMETHING to his name for the DMV to accept the new address. It was easier (required no deposit) to just switch the cable bill over to his name.

Rence- We don't pay for the movies, usually. Brother is management with the company and family gets in for free. Otherwise that would be the FIRST way I'd cut back! Movies are EXPENSIVE!

 

[juligrl]

If it were me, I'd probably just cancel the cable and sit back and wait for him to notice. Not that I'm suggesting you do that, but it sound like it could be a while before it was missed by him.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

We actually just got rid of our cable a month ago. Our cable went out and Comcast was being a giant butt about getting someone out to fix it so I said, "fine, cancel the entire thing."

I have so much more time now! I never really realized how much time I spent watching TV until it was gone. I'll be happy if we never get it back. DH misses ESPN. He's agreed to go the summer without cable and then we'll reassess the need for it. See if your DH is willing to go on a trial run. I bet he won't miss it.

 

[hercamore]

Round here, you can't receive the internet service w/o taking hte tv service.

Are you sure you canjust drop the tv?





herc.

 

[Rock'n Robin]

Don't forget, next February you will need cable or a dish to get TV at all, unless your TV is digital. They have commercials about it all of the time around here! So even if you want to watch the local news, if you don't have cable, you'll need to buy one of those converters to watch any TV at all.
Robin M.

 

[Humphrey Bear]

Speaking as a guy who needs SPEED Channel, You can have my cable remote when you pry it from my cold dead hand! I would not want to give up my cable, but would be willing to cut costs somewhere else to make up for it.

 

[N.Bailey]

Since you have Netflix, perhaps you could compromise and get a Roku and bump your cable down to the cheapest cable available for your local news (If you even watch that - we don't). It would be round the clock unlimited movies and it would only cost you $100 initially.

It appears that you're both only really interested in the movies anyway.

I'm glad to hear you're not wanting to drop the cable internet. With the 360, you'd have ZERO chance of winning that war.

 

[Piecey]

I'm glad to hear you're not wanting to drop the cable internet. With the 360, you'd have ZERO chance of winning that war.

Haha, tell me about it! I use internet on my Wii, we need internet for school and I just don't think we'd make it without the internet.

In good news.. I used all the tactics. I said "Just think, thats an extra X-Box game every month" to which he initially replied "But one doesn't come out every month that I like." (hopeless I tell you )

We're dropping it!