Thinking about giving up TV

[J3nn78]

Well, not the TV itself, but satellite TV. Someone just gave us their ROKU and we signed up for the $8.99 netflix which allows for unlimited Instant Watch and unlimited 1 DVD at a time. We currently pay $70 for the cheapest Dish plan and have no other options here.
Neither DH nor myself watch much TV anyway and the kids usually just watch the Disney Channel.

Anyway...just looking for some input on anyone who has done the same. Would save us over $700 a year. We are not hurting for money, but just thinking about how much we spend to stare at a box makes me ill!

 

[akcire]

We cancelled cable and love the instant download feature on Netflix. We use our new blu ray player (DVD play finally died) to watch on the TV, and could not be happier.

Between Netflix, Hulu, and some of the networks having full shows available to watch on their websites we don't feel like we are missing out.

 

[BelleBeautyandtheBeast]

I did that about a year ago. At first it was a little hard to get out of the habit of just switching on the TV to see what was on but I adjusted. I have Netflix (currently one DVD at a time with streaming to the Xbox) and no one is suffering.

And that could be $700 saved towards a Disney vacation Priorities!

 

[J3nn78]

I think we are going to do it- and yes, I see that $700 going to Disney too!

 

[TiffanyK]

We've only had rabbit ears (no cable, dish, satellite) for years. We do get netflix. My sister cancelled their satellite about a year ago. She said it was an adjustment, but they were fine with it once they got used to it.

 

[mrs.sammich]

We are cable/satellite free at our house. We now realize how much the tv was on, just because one of us walked by it and turned it on out of habit. The kids would leave the room and it would still be on. We don't miss it. OK, we miss Phineas and Ferb- found the DVD though- all is right in the world again.

 

[Muushka]

We we dumped satellite last November. We needed (I know, nobody NEEDS this, but my husband pays the bills and really LIKES it) the Speed channel so our satellite bill was close to $93 a month.

NASCAR season has started up again and I know it is killing him not to be able to see the Busch and truck races, but he so far has not asked to have it turned back on.

We also stream Netflix. I love that service. Our TV is only on in the evening now, I am not watching news during the day and we are saving $85 a month.

 

[redlawyer]

we are looking into this as well. Unfortunately, we just got Verizon's tripple play about six months ago. We just don't watch much TV, except for the kids' Disney Channel and PBS. We need to find out how much our cancellation fee would be at this point.

 

[ohlas]

I only watch a couple of shows but my husband would have a full out tempertaum if we got rid of his tv programing.... lol

Im with you !!!!!!!!!!

You really dont need it.

We are playing more like 120 month for satlite with all the movie channels

 

[AntePrincess]

Well, I went one better. We don't technically have a TV. We have some family favorites on DVD and watch them on the computer. Sometimes we borrow something new from the library (free...if we remember to return it on time ). We figured out we were watching a dozen favorites or so, and that was it, so this was a natural. If you're already re-examining your TV habits, keep in mind what you're actually watching rather than what just sounds good. No doubt a lot of people wouldn't go to this extreme, but I wouldn't be surprised if many were in the same boat.

 

[ShannonMB]

I forget where we got the idea, but a few years ago DH and I decided to try a TV-free night and just entertain each other. My DH, (love him ) was being all secretive about his "act", had gone into the other room and found an old BeeGees album and did a disco dance for us. OMG, DD and I almost died our stomachs were hurting so much from laughing. We did some more dancing and singing, then took turns reading stories, including some shorts from "The Rest of the Story" by Paul Harvey we had laying around. It was a really fun night and we really bonded, though I hadn't thought of it in AGES!

We are WAY too hooked on TV, although I did recently get rid of most of the movie channels we were getting ($$$ ). Thanks, though, OP for reminding me of how much fun a TV free night can be! Maybe I can talk them into another one soon!

 

[Sarah_Rose]

We have Netflix and make heavy use of the unlimited streaming. We have a PS3 and they sent us a disk so that we can watch it through our tv without it being hooked up to a computer (although it still is, so that we can watch Hulu).

We also "splurged" on a digital antenna before the Olympics and were surprised at how well it works. We had tried the old rabbit ears a few years ago without much luck, but we get about 20 channels in almost perfect quality (just a few stutters here and there) for free with our new digital antenna. We paid about $35 for it on Amazon. I honestly can't ever see us paying for cable or satellite!

 

[AntePrincess]

We are WAY too hooked on TV, although I did recently get rid of most of the movie channels we were getting ($$$ ). Thanks, though, OP for reminding me of how much fun a TV free night can be! Maybe I can talk them into another one soon!

I can vouch for the fact that it doesn't get old, either. We play board games nearly every night, and we listen to music every day. Our oldest LOVES musicals. Having seen "Bedknobs & Broomsticks" a few times (we watch one show every Friday with homemade pizza), she can do almost the entire Portobello Road sequence while singing along. The Pirates of Penzance is another favorite, you'll hear "A Paradox" and "When the Foeman Bears His Steel (Taranatera)" around here a lot. We do walks, programs at the library and a local bookstore, and started a supper club, so it really worked out for us.

For people just looking to cut back on expense, in addition to the library, can I suggest Hulu as an alternative to Netflix? Short (but frequent) ads and a rotating library of movies and shows, all free. We stumbled on it when they had the Kevin Kline, Angela Lansbury, Linda Ronstadt, and Rex Smith version of Pirates of Penzance on for free. We also view Sesame Street and a lot of other nifty shows which are available completely online for our Friday night line up. Archive.org has a library of free classic movies to stream as well.