Conscious spending plan in action
Kris and I pulled the plug on our television last week. We canceled cable, gave our DVD player to her sister, and moved the television to the workshop until we can find a buyer. We’re now officially TV-free.
Sort of.
We haven’t given up TV shows and DVDs entirely — we’re just consuming this entertainment via other methods. Namely, we use:
- iTunes subscriptions for Glee, The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser, and The Amazing Race. Plus, we occasionally rent movies via the iTunes Store.
- A Netflix subscription. We get three discs at a time (and I’m lobbying to drop to one disc at a time), which also allows us to access the site’s streaming content.
- Hulu for classic TV programs like Adam-12 and The Mary Tyler Moore Show
The Netflix subscription costs Kris $20 a month, and our iTunes subscriptions cost about $215 per year. So, we’re still paying $455/year for home entertainment, but that’s less than half what we were paying five years ago.
No, I’m not able to watch sports on TV. But most of the time, I don’t miss it. For big games, I can always go to a sports bar or a friend’s house. I’m not sure what I’ll do for the Olympics and the World Cup, both of which I enjoy. I’ll worry about it when the time comes.
This latest move is the culmination of a years-long transition. We’ve been gradually weaning ourselves from TV. A couple of weeks ago, I realized that neither of us had actually turned on the television since before we left for Italy in September. That’s right: For five months, I paid for a cable package we didn’t use. That seemed like a clear indication that it was time to finally cut the cord.
The Conscious Spending Plan
It may seem strange to some of you that Kris and I are willing to spend thousands of dollars on trips to Europe and Africa, but we’re unwilling to pay $15 a month for basic cable. Actually, that’s the point.
The heart of frugality is choosing to spend on the things that are important to you while cutting back ruthlessly on the things that aren’t. Ramit Sethi calls this conscious spending, which is a fantastic way to describe it. Conscious spending implies that you’re actively choosing to spend on some things and not on others.
Contrast this with how most people spend. (And, in truth, how even financially-savvy folks spend a lot of their money.) We tend to spend on reflex. We buy things because we’re expected to, because everyone else does. We spend to have what others have. We sign up for gym memberships that we never use, subscribe to magazines we never read, and pay for golf clubs that get buried in the garage. We make impulse purchases at the grocery store — or even on large items, like computers and cars. Most of the time, people spend without thinking.
But with conscious spending, you evaluate every purchase. You vote with your dollars.
I’m saying, for instance, that I’m willing to spend several thousand dollars for three weeks in Africa because this is an experience I value. In exchange, I accept that I’m giving up television, and that I’ve delayed replacing my car. (I’m in no hurry to upgrade my Mini, which is a good thing. I opted to drain my car-replacement fund so that I could afford this vacation.)
Conscious Spending in Action
To put the conscious spending plan into action, I’ve learned to ask myself questions before I buy:
- Will I use this? I’m often tempted by neat gadgets and pretty toys. But as fun and nostalgic as a pocketwatch might seem, is it something I’ll actually use? (Answer: No. Unfortunately, this is an instance where I didn’t exercise conscious spending. Now I have a pocketwatch I barely wear.)
- Can I get this cheaper — or free — elsewhere? Can I borrow it from a friend? Can I find it used at a thrift store? If it’s something I have to buy new, will someplace else have it for a lower price?
- Can I wait to buy this? Why do I need to buy it today? I’ve found that I can do a lot to control impulse spending by using the 30-day rule: If I want something, I write it down; if I still want it 30 days later, I consider buying it. By waiting, I give myself a chance to cool off.
- Why am I buying this? Does it fill a need? Or is it just something I want?
- Is there something else I’d rather spend the money on? This last question has been a powerful motivator for me in recent years. First, I wanted to use my money to get out of debt. Then, I saved for my Mini Cooper. Now, I usually want to save my money for travel. By reminding myself of my priorities, I’m able to avoid a lot of stupid spending.
Again, not all of my spending has been conscious over the past couple of years. I still make plenty of impulse buys. (The pocketwatch I mentioned above is a good example.) But whenever possible, I aim to analyze all of my purchases.
Conscious spending isn’t restrictive; it’s liberating. It can help you recognize when your spending is aligned with your values, and when it’s just being made out of habit.
Now I’m looking for ways to reduce my cell-phone bill. I’m paying $80 a month for my iPhone plan. When my contract expires in a couple of months, I want to move to something cheaper. Doing this could free $20 or $40 or $60 a month. That’s money that I can use for more important priorities — like exploring South America in 2012!
Addendum
This weekend, we hired a friend’s 12-year-old to help with yardwork. As we cut blackberry canes and pruned arborvitae hedges, Ian explained that he’s saving his money. He wants to buy a remote-control car, but his dad persuaded him to hold on to his cash until he’s sixteen, at which time he can buy a motorcycle.
Ian really wants the R/C car, but he wants the motorcycle more, so he’s being patient. He’s willing to wait four years to save for his goal. That, my friends, is conscious spending in action.
Later in the day, I talked to another boy who wants an iPod — but he’s not willing to save for it. He’d rather spend his money today on video games and bubblegum. When I tried to talk to him about it, he didn’t see any connection between the fifty cents he spent on a pizza-parlor video game and the iPod he wants so badly.
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There are 167 comments to "Conscious spending plan in action".
My wife and I gave up cable over a year ago, and there are plenty of ways around it if you really want to watch a show. You’ve mentioned all the ones that we utilized, and you’re right, sports are a little tougher to watch. I’m sure you probably have a friend with a 55″ TV in their living room though. Or, the local sports bar is always an option.
I think since you love to travel more than you love TV, you’ve made a great choice. You won’t regret it!
I’m often surprised at how many people overlook broadcast television as an alternative to cable.
I cut my cable over a year ago and like you rely mostly on Netflix, Hulu and iTunes to get my favorite shows and movies (for a grand-total of about $160-$200/yr).
For everything else, a $50 digital antenna can get me about 20 over-the-air channels (some in HD) for free. I can watch CBS, NBC, FOX, ABC and my local PBS station with little trouble. That takes care of major news and sports events which can sometimes only be seen on live network television.
My husband and I still have our cable, more for him then me. But we scaled back and save $50 a month! We love to travel and always think in terms of if I don’t buy this its extra $ for our upcoming trip. Another big way we have saved is by living in a 700 sq foot home and not upgrading to a larger home – our $400/month mortgage is 1/4 of what most our friend pay for their 3000 sq foot homes. Friends and family think we make big $ since in 2010 we went to Rome Italy, Key West Florida, Munich Germany and Oahu Hawaii. We just value travel over big cable packages, fancy new cars, expensive gadgets, and large homes. Although my husband and I both have iphones, we pay $100 a month for an unlimited plan as my husbands company gets us a discount that saves us $50/month. If we did not get the discount I don’t think I would keep mine.
Have a wonderful time in Africa!!!
I’m surprised you didn’t consider keeping your TV for free channels (over the air). Maybe you can’t get them where you are though – I’m not very clued up as the how this works in the states.
I’m always surprised here at how much people spend on TV. I’ve never had pay-TV, and never missed it. But then, I guess we’re spoiled with good-quality free-to-air TV in the UK. I must admit, I don’t even watch that much – three or four weekly series at the most. I never have time to watch DVDs, but I’ve no idea what I’m doing that fills the time other people use to watch DVDs…
Another aspect of conscious spending to consider is to set specific finance goals for the items you absolutely know you want to purchase after a thorough cost/benefit analysis . Start a fund for the items you know you want to buy preferably with a specified date you expect to fully fund the fund. Let’s say you’ve always wanted to go to Europe, but your current finances don’t allow for it. Just start a “European Trip Fund” and contribute whatever you can until you’ve reached the funding goal. It may take a year or it may take five years to fully fund. But your dream of going to Europe will likelier be actualize by setting a specific finance goal than if you didn’t set a specific goal and spent the money elsewhere.
I hadn’t heard it termed “conscious spending” before, but that is how my husband and I live (or try to really, really hard, lol). Everything we spend on is prioritized so we don’t waste money on things we don’t use. I like that there is a name for it.
We do spend on cable with DVR, but we use that service every day. We don’t spend anything on magazines because neither one of us would read them. We also don’t spend much, if anything, on books anymore since the library has a terrific online hold system.
Congrats on killing an expense that wasn’t worth it to you!
Is there a reason you and Kris are paying for iTunes subscriptions that you can get for free from Hulu? I know they only offer it in 480p, but the savings are worth the decrease in quality (to me at least).
I really like your no cable idea a lot. This is what we’ve been doing at my house for a few years. It doesn’t bother me since I live on the computer. I am thinking you can save even more money by cutting down the itunes subscriptions because these shows are on Hulu which you can watch for free.
Congrats! Are you keeping your TV to watch via these alternative methods you describe? If so, you can get an antenna to get the major networks + PBS over the air, in HD no less! It’s a handy way to at least get the major sporting/live events, and you’d be surprised at the quality – assuming no one is standing in exactly the wrong spot.
Good for you! Conscious spending is awesome.
Re: motorcycle… those things are dangerous, especially for a teenager. (A teenage friend of the family died in a motorcycle accident.)
My sister has been enjoying her South American travel this year.
Your wife may have an employer discount through your cellphone company that you can get by just asking. Turns out we did…23%. Go state government.
Some people don’t seem to get the fact that little purchases, as small and insignificant as they may seem, can add up into big things. My wife gets made fun of by her sister sometimes when she uses coupons or waits for sales, saying that the few dollars isn’t worth the hassle, but if you add up throughout the year everything that she saves by doing so, it’s literally hundreds of dollars. Who in their right mid would turn down hundreds of dollars?
My husband and I gave up cable TV about 18 months ago. Neither one of us really watches sports much, but the Olympics are a different story!!
In wracking our brains how we could pull in the Olympics without going back to cable, we realized that the Olympics are broadcast by NBC on a digital signal. We made a one time investment in a set of rabbit ears that could receive that digital signal and we were in business.
The only thing we miss out on is Discovery Channel. Miss my Deadliest Catch, but we’ll wait for it to come out on DVD and Netflix will likely broadcast it then.
While I’m all for saving money on things you don’t really want or need, there seems to be an assumption on these kinds of websites that TV is somehow bad, and (to give another example among many) that you really should aim to become vegan. Sorry, but a nice juicy steak and a reality TV marathon are my idea of heaven, and I don’t consider them a waste of money – in fact I save money by never buying organic (it’s a con) and stopping my donations to various charities who I discovered were little more than political pressure groups. In short, I’m tired of being hectored by the brown rice and basket weaving brigade. Don’t let them make you feel guilty for enjoying cable TV, eating meat or whatever else they deem unacceptable.
We haven’t had a a T.V. in over 2 years now, and before that we turned it on maybe 2-3x a year. The only time I really miss it is when things like the Olympics, Superbowl, or the State of the Union are on.
Having no T.V. has been great. We too still watch shows through iTunes and Netflix but we do not watch a lot of T.V. and we only watch when there is something we really want to watch.
Makes me feel like we have more free time- which we really need!
Congrats on taking the plunge.
I must point out that today, all TV stations in the US are digitally broadcast over-the-air, many in full HD resolution, with crystal clear delivery.
So if you don’t need 900 channels and you just want to keep your TV around in case you want to watch something like unfolding world events or something like a State of the Union address, this is a great frugal alternative. It’s like cable TV Nicorette.
My wife and I cut the cable over a year ago and we have Netflix and rent the occasional DVD. But by adding the onetime cost of an antenna that cost us about $40, we can still tune in on the odd occasion when there’s something we really want to see. And if you’re really frugal, there are lots of plans online to build yourself a functional antenna out of old coat hangers and $5 in other parts easily found at Radio Shack and a hardware store.
There are whole communities of people into this. They call it over-the-air HD or OTA HD. Google it and you can find out lots of info on what type of antenna you need, which stations broadcast in different areas, and all the other info you need to set up this wonderfully inexpensive workaround.
@8 Annelise
You can still have your reality TV marathon via Netflix. It will also be commercial-free.
You don’t have to have Netflix, but it is a good substitute for TV. I think we actually watch more shows rather than fewer with Netflix compared to cable because we don’t have to be at a certain place at a certain time for the shows we want to watch. What we want is there on demand without shelling out for a DVR. No preaching, just a better, cheaper, substitute for many of us who aren’t into sports and don’t have time to keep up with scheduled tv is now available.
Great article. We, too live very frugally, but where we do spend money is on travel. Such a good reminder that conscious spending is an active choice, and one that is highly personal!
Don’t forget you can borrow DVDs for free at most public libraries.
I think it’s tougher to give up cable in Canada. For one thing, Hulu doesn’t work up here (it’s blocked). The over-the-air signals don’t penetrate very deeply into our country, and Netflix’s selection is pretty spartan up here.
I’m willing to pay my $80/month for hundreds of channels, dozens of which are in high-def, plus the streaming music channels, on-demand shows, pay-per-view, the reliable signal, and avoiding the hassle of trying to find a show I want on iTunes or whatever, then somehow getting it to play on my TV instead of my computer.
Here’s the way I prefer to look at it. Sure, I can save $80/month by canceling it and finding a new way to cope. Or I can just earn an extra $80/month (1% of my salary) and enjoy it.
You can try justin.tv for sports.
Just a reminder: This isn’t an anti-TV rant, and I don’t mean for this to be another television debate. The TV is just an example of how I’m using conscious spending to prioritize some things and get rid of other things that I never use…
One of the ways to save money is by not buying things you only need to use once in a while. I totally agree. What I have problems with (and you aren’t the only one to use this idea)is the “borrow from a friend/neighbor”. I would hope that you own things that you are willing to loan out if you expect to borrow other things. I know that personally I would get very peeved with people always borrowing what I spent my money on to buy and maintain if they weren’t willing to reciprocate.
None of the websites that have mentioned the idea of borrowing that which you don’t have makes any mention of payback for the favor.
Our “dinner out” money is pretty sparse. We save what we used to spend on dinners out for travel out:>) We also have a limited clothing fund- a few pieces each season. That way when we need specific clothing for travel (looking at that travel vest) we have the money.
Your example of tv is a good one. We definitely gotten to the point that we judge each purchase for the end goal. I would much rather spend money on a second home near my children then put in a new lawn every year here (I live in the country so people don’t see my lawn anyway).
Keeping the TV might also be a good idea so you can watch movies through Netflix via your Wii. Sometimes I just prefer watching stuff on the bigger screen. Since the TV is currently in your workout space, you can watch Netflix while you work out.
Haven’t had a TV since I moved out of my parents’ house 7 years ago, and I barely miss it! I get all my favorites – Glee, Modern Family, Bones, Castle, 30 Rock – on Hulu. The inconvenience of waiting a day or a week until it is released is tolerable given how much money I’ve saved ($40/month*12 months*7 years).
The only thing that bugs me is when I want to watch certain shows that haven’t caught up to the times, and aren’t available online (American Idol, Olympics, Superbowl). I wouldn’t mind sitting through the same amount of commercials as a regular tv viewer, or paying per piece for this extra content, as long as I could just get it online!
I think I take conscious spending too far — I often feel I have to justify everything!
@whiteoak — I agree! When I buy books, I think about their lending potential. I’m more likely to buy it than go to the library if I know i’ll read it more than once and if my mom and best friend will read it too!
You know that almost all broadcast network shows can be watched for free through Hulu or on the network’s direct website? You don’t need to pay for an iTunes subscription.
I gave up my TV about a year and a half ago and have managed to keep up with Glee, The Office and the Amazing Race (along with other broadcast shows) for free online.
Sports, pretty much the only reason we have cable in our house. I think this is what is keeping the cable companies in business these days.
I do need the occasional reminder that small, unnecessary and impulsive spends add up. Thanks.
We got rid of cable last month after realizing that we only watched the shows on two stations. So we just put the shows on our Netflix queue and watch them as they come in along with other movies.
We save $110/month by not having cable. This way we get to go out to eat at least once more per month which we would rather do anyway since I am such a terrible cook 🙂
When we tell people we got rid of cable because we didn’t use it that much they think we are looney tunes – but hey we all have different priorities, right?! (aka “conscious spending”)
We ditched the cable service 5 years ago because dealing with the cable company was so frustrating. Basic service through cable company was $18 per month but that was more than I was willing to pay them. Bought a far ranging HD TV antenna and get all the local news and PBS that way. When we need a low cost entertainment fix we buy or rent movies from Amazon, they seem to have a wider selection of new releases than Netflix. We watch Hulu occasionally but not that often. My friends often comment about how much I can get done in a day. I think it’s because they spend so much time camped out in front of the TV rather than doing something or living life. Being current on the latest pop culture TV icon is not a priority for me.
We love TV in our house. And I know I’m exposing ourselves as shallow losers, but we’d way rather have cable/DVR every day than an occasional exotic trip. That said, one of my neigbhors has just gone the Hulu/Netflix route. I’m watching them closely to see if this method will work for us. Than we can have our exotic trips and TV too!
I’m surprised those itunes subscriptions cost so much. Especially since you can watch most of those shows on hulu for free.
I don’t mean to be critical at all, I don’t care what you spend your money on, but you shouldn’t make it sound like you’re getting rid of tv to be frugal. You pay way more in a year for your itunes/netflix than I ever paid for cable when I had it. It sounds like you just don’t really need it anymore since you watch your tv elsewhere.
We don’t have cable either, and we can watch sports online on espn3, I’m not sure if you have to have Comcast though. We live in IL and are Texas fans so they’re games that wouldn’t have been on tv, even on cable most of the time.
@ Kevin — I have basic digital cable, and I figure there’s no point dropping it for Netflix (even if the service was better!) because of overage charges that my ISP would charge. Between the Netflx fee and upgrading my internet package, I’d be paying the same either way! (The debate about the CRTC ruling is quite something, isn’t it?)
For me, basic cable is a justified expense because I do use it. (I can’t justify anything more than that, however!) That isn’t the case for everyone, so it’s really a personal decision.
All the shows you subscribe to in iTunes are available on Hulu and also over the air for free. (Glee is on FOX, Office, 30 Rock, and Biggest Loser on NBC, and Amazing Race on CBS).
In comment #7, you replied that you are doing it for the flexibility/hassle. Only you can answer this question for yourself, but is this flexibility worth to you the $215/year you spend on it? For reference, that number is almost 1 1/4 times larger than the cable bill you just cut.
A possible third option: cut the iTunes subscriptions and just buy the episodes that you won’t have an internet connection to watch for free (e.g. the Biggest Loser episodes you want to watch on your flight).
We watch very little TV anymore (but I do love Office and 30 Rock). However, I don’t think I could give up my cable because my son and I love to watch baseball in the summer, it is a nice tradition we kind of have.
Let us know how it goes!
I’m glad to hear you talk about the liberating effects of conscious spending. You are correct in noting that it isn’t about denial, it’s about getting value for the money spent.
Having a long term goal helps me determine what is really important to me. A detailed budget is how I make conscious decisions about spending. I spend the money on paper first (budget); this forces me to make decisions and prioritize.
A detailed budget also helps me identify areas where money can be saved through economizing, in much the same way you have identified your cell phone expense as an item than can be reduced in cost to achieve greater value.
About 6 years ago we would cancel cable TV for the spring / summer. Didn’t miss it
4 Years ago I bought a media center PC ($380) connected to a HDTV antenna (all the local stations), It runs Hulu Desktop, and Netflix (have 1 disc & streaming plan) is integrated into the Media Center. It goes to sleep when not being used and comes on with a remote or if the DVR is sheduled to record something. The PC is tucked away in a closet out of sight
We don’t miss cable at all – especially the $100 monthly bill. And there is a lot less time wasted. Its also fun to see people’s reactions when they find out you don’t have cable and only one TV in the house
I brought up the idea of canceling our subscription to cable TV recently, and was summarily shot down. To me, the TV isn’t highly important, but my wife has stated it’s very important to her to have the television available for news, weather reports, and some of her favorite shows (that aren’t available on Hulu and other sites). I guess sometimes you have to bite the bullet in order to keep your family happy…
Just watch out for the usage based fees that are going to the cable companies are trying to push. It just went through in Canada, and you will easily fill up your allowable amount every month while streaming with Netflix or Hulu.
I like it how some people and the poster talk about giving up something in order to have more money for a trip to Europe. Reminds me of my parents who saved up for their big trip to America when they turrned 50 – I had been a dream of theirs for years.
We have been cable free for a long time. We use our screen as the computer monitor now. Olympics and most college football are accessible online. My children and I watched a bit of the Olympics that way. We don’t miss it and like you said choose to spend our money other ways consciously.
I’m with the others as to why you’re spending $215/year on shows that you can watch OTA. If you have a single PC that has a tuner card you can use a media center program to turn your computer into a DVR for OTA channels.
I spent half of that $215 on a one time purchase of an antenna (that picks up all the networks in HD despite being mounted in my attic) and a basic TV tuner for my PC. I get all of the shows you’re paying for for free and can watch them whenever I want.
JD – Use ESPN3.com for sports. Its a legitimate way to watch almost all ESPN broadcast sports for free.
Between that and a digital antenna, I’m able to watch most of the things I used to watch on cable tv.
has Any body looked into Google TV?
Does any body have any Ideas for an alternative to Cable internet? (and don’t even recomend no internet or dial up)
PS I am very happy with free digital broadcast
I had to read the addendum a couple of times…I kept thinking that you cutting your “blackberry canes” meant that you were turning off your cell service!! 🙂
We talked about doing this, but couldn’t seem to make it happen. Why? Because if we dropped everything but internet, it’s nearly as much as paying for a cable bundle. We were able to go with the cheaper of two providers[0]and the cheapest package we could find. Even that is still more than we want to pay, but the other option is literally not having any internet connectivity (again, we’re talking like $10/month difference without TV). No internet means no Hulu, no iTunes, no Netflix streaming, etc.
So yeah, if anyone has cheap options for broadband internet, I’m all ears. I’d be thrilled to drop to whatever video comes to me online and local channels. I simply cannot deal with only connectivity given to me by local TV and whatever internet isn’t blocked by my work.
~EEE~
[0] Note that having two providers of cable/internet is a luxury in the U.S. Most people have one.
Like Paul & Edward mentioned, and since it sounds like you’re keeping the TV, rabbit ear antennas work fine!
Esp, if you want to watch the Olympics, it’s definitely broadcast over-the-air. If your TV doesn’t have the digital tuner, you can probably pick a converter box pretty cheaply on eBay, craigslist, even Freecycle.
Granted, you don’t have the flexibility of watching the shows when you want. But wouldn’t be terribly costly to have the antenna option available as a supplement.
Ads drive me crazy, but I use them to get little tasks done – empty the dishwasher, put away some laundry, etc.
Disclaimer: grew up w/o cable TV, so I’ve never understood the need for cable TV.
My TV is for the sole purpose of watching DVDs. I love how productive I am without cable. I`m able to cook at home every night, do all my own housework, sell my artwork on the side, AND hold down a part-time job on weekends. I think that once I pay off my wretched student loan, I`ll treat myself to some cable and maybe a housekeeper. But until then, fewer distractions help me stay motivated…
JD buddy, you are about to meet your new best friend if you are a sports fan.
I did this same thing 8 months ago and love it. The one thing I really missed was my sports, than a buddy introduced me to atdhe.net EVERY televised sporting event, every one. It is like having the MLB and NBA and NFL and NHL packages!
OK it is not high def, and sometimes you need to watch commercials in some foreign language, but for free, who cares right.
They play back on a few different formats, and some of the formats require a download, but I have not had any issues with the downloads to date.
You can thank me later!
If you know (or don’t mind!) Spanish, Univision streamed all the World Cup games online this last time around. By the time the next cup comes around I expect there will probably be an English language stream too.
Shouldn’t the expense of going to sports bars for big games be included in the cost of watching TV?
I’m a little confused, because you say you wouldn’t watch free over the air channels but the shows you watch are all over the air free network tv shows.
We get only broadcast TV, too, and always have, so I’m always surprised to see people saying they’re unplugging the TV because they don’t have cable. There is a lot of broadcast TV out there and then the high-quality cable ones usually show up on DVD eventually.
I love the idea of the windows media box as DVR, I keep thinking we should set one up. But then I hit the due date of another movie from the library without having had time to watch it, and think maybe not.
I don’t own a TV, nor does my boyfriend. We watch all our ‘TV’ (which is only currently one show) online. I watched the entire World Cup online last year. You just have to know where to look to find the feeds for it.
@Chad #44 – you just have to check what’s in your area. We have wireless internet, and it’s fine for reading blogs or for both of us working via VPN, but not so good for streaming video. Which I just cope with, since it’s also only $12/mo, but last time we had a houseguest she was pretty upset by not being able to watch TV on the internet.
Congrats JD!! We haven’t had cable in years either. I do the hulu bit as well and use slacker.com for music. No subscriptions at all.
I think for many people TV is something to feed empty hours of boredom. Let’s face it, there is some really great entertainment out there (although I’m always amazed when I’m at my Mom’s and flip through 100+ channels and can’t find anything to watch!!!). It’s just hard for me to imagine filling so many hours watching others live life. For us, we’d rather live/do it than watch it! ; )
Squirrel saver@5 – great post – great point on being frugal in a practical way!
Soon you will realize that you’ll never actually want to tell people that you don’t have a TV, because they’ll assume it must be because you are too poor to afford one, and they’ll keep offering to give you their old ones. This used to happen to me pretty regularly. Even my manager at work did it, and he knows my exact salary!
Besides that, I think your pocket watch example is a poor one to illustrate impulse spending vs. conscious spending. This is because you say that you didn’t exercise conscious spending and justify that conclusion because you don’t *use* the watch. Whether or not you actually use the watch is a separate issue from whether you bought it consciously or not. I buy stuff speculating on whether or not I’ll actually use it fairly often, but not without a lot of thought going into the purchase. I recently bought a Kindle from Amazon, for instance, fulling realizing that it may turn out I don’t use it as much as I hoped, and with a contingency plan in place to sell it and get most of my money back if that’s the case. Whether or not the purchase turns out to have been worthwhile, I thought a lot about it before I did it.
Another example could be your boy and his motorcycle. What if he does save for four years, buys the motorcycle, and then crashes it, gets scared, and stops riding it? He will have a motorcycle he barely uses, but not for a lack of conscious spending.
We’re essentially the same. Our basic cable is $12 though, and by “bundling” our cable internet with it, we save $10 off the internet, so it’s like paying $2 for cable. Basically we’re paying $2 for a clearer picture on our local channels should we want to watch something live.
Would you get a similar deal by bundling? Maybe $5 cable?
@cdf What media center box do you use? I have a homemande MythTV system right now, but it can’t play netflix. If I could get it to play Netflix streaming, I would be in heaven.
I have my MythTV box record all my over the air shows and then transcode them to a video file so I can take it with me on my phone or laptop. Way cheaper in the long run then paying iTunes for those episodes. Also, they are free from DRM so I can play them on almost any device, or even burn them to a DVD to watch later.
JD – I would think this idea would appeal to you greatly. It is a bit of an expenditure up front, but over time you save a lot of money not buying those shows over iTunes. I still buy some shows that I can’t get over the air and I’m not willing to wait for Netflix to get. (ie Eureka)
Ditching the TV is a mistake.
THis year, snow storms have battered NYC. During the last one, I went to check the mta website to see the status of the trains, the MTA website was down, 311, the city information hotline is backed up for hours, and i wondered how will I find out what trains are running?
Of course!! the TV! The morning news broadcasts gives information like traffic, weather and transit delays!
You need a TV and a radio when the internet and cell service becomes congested. It’s broadcast and TV and radio will never be congested and will always operate when emergency broadcasting is in effect giving you valuable information.
Also, how do you entertain occasional gusts? Like if you and some guests are going to attend an event soon and need a couple of hours to kill?
Congrats JD! I’m also cable free although we do have a TV – it’s used as a big computer screen and for watching movies.
Not sure if you know this, but the shows that you subscribe to via iTunes can be (legally) steamed right from the network’s websites. Of course, in that version you have to watch ads and sometimes there might be speed issues, but it’s free. That’s what I do although I admit I wish I could get myself to cut it out as I spend WAY too much time watching TV on the internet. 🙁
Glad to hear that you’ve made a move that makes you happy! 😀
Related post at Simple Mom today. How to watch tv on the cheap: http://tinyurl.com/48zuhob
That post lists Roku for streaming video onto your TV. Looks intersting. ttp://www.roku.com/
We utilize the 1 disc at a time Netflix (we mostly use the streaming content) and the channels that are available over the air (my husband built his own antenna). Netflix via the Xbox has a newer feature where ESPN broadcasts some games live – so we didn’t have to miss out on the BCS championship this year! Our tv/entertainment spending has dropped considerably since we made these changes – $8 a month for Netflix and the yearly X-box Live subscription (which is also used for my husband’s gaming).
I don’t think this post is well written.
It starts off with the theme of “We’re cutting cable and putting the tv away never to be seen again, aren’t we the most frugal things you ever saw! We’re TV free!”
And immediately you say actually the tv is sticking around so we can watch DVDs on it and play Wii etc and your wife is watching a Yoga DVD and you’re going to watch tv on your computer screens which is akin to a tv screen anyway.
Um…just say you’re cutting cable in the OP then, JD. That’s what you say in your comments, that it is stupid to pay for cable when you don’t watch it. D’uh. This is not a novel idea. Hardly worth a post even.
JD says:
“Now I’m looking for ways to reduce my cell-phone bill. I’m paying $80 a month for my iPhone plan. When my contract expires in a couple of months, I want to move to something cheaper. Doing this could free $20 or $40 or $60 a month. That’s money that I can use for more important priorities – like exploring South America in 2012!”
If you don’t use the cel phone often, I suggest getting the Tmobile pay as you go service. You can buy refill minutes in 10 30 50 and 100 dollar increments. The $100 refill comes out to $.10 a minute (includes 1000 minutes) and expires in a year. The cheaper the refill minutes, the more you pay per minute. Ther cheaper refills are also only valid for 90 days.
I only use around 150 minutes a month, so I only end up spending $15 a month to use my cel phone.
@cole
A Refurbed Gateway Windows 7(64 bit) Media Center PC – It hasn’t crashed on me since W7 came out. Great for TV, Music for Kids, Showing photos on the big Screen , Internet Radio and much more
I was interested in transcoding DVR’d espisodes for use on phone but not bad enough to follow through.
Tried Mythbuntu but too much managment – W7 interface doesn’t intimidate many people
So many stares trying to figure out what able provider I have when I pull up the on screen display
@Eric:
Call your cable provider. The internet packages they offer with their bundles may not be the cheapest ones available, and they often won’t tell you about the cheapest ones unless you call and are persistent.
About two years ago, I unbundled my cable package, dropping the basic television and downgrading to a cheaper internet plan. I may have lost my bundling discount, but I still cut my bill roughly in half. That was with Cox in Phoenix.
JD- that makes sense, I realized after I hit submit that was probably what you were talking about.
I cut way back on my cable, I have internet through Comcast so it’s actually $3/mth cheaper for me to have the cheapst cable option + internet. I only get the broadcast channels and the shopping networks and stuff but it works.
I have a blu ray player with wifi(xmas present last year) and I use that for Netflix, Amazon, Pandora, etc.
Although I’m serously thinkign about getting a cheap used computer and hooking it up to my tv so I can watch free hulu stuff and things on the network or cable channel’s websites rather than watching them on my computer.
@JD:
OK, I get why you prefer iTunes vs. Hulu, and if watching TV on a flight (as opposed to, say, a DVD) is worth $215/yr to you, then by all means get it. However, with a little schedule tweaking and prioritizing, most people can watch most network TV on Hulu, and yes you can just buy the shows you miss individually.
For sports, you can get ESPN3 via a lot of ISPs. It’s really great– the quality is not quite there yet but you can watch live and replayed games in a wide range of sports. For me it’s only soccer, and the ability to watch games from La Liga, the Premiere League and the Bundesliga on demand is a wonderful treat.
If you watch the World Cup (it’s just one month every 4 years), you can watch OTA on Univision– I do and understand every word of it, but even if you don’t, you can enjoy the games (my wife does– of course I translate a little). They show every game no matter what. I bought a TV antenna just for this purpose last year– it was $30. Then again, if you must have it narrated in English, you could get a short-term cable subscription
Aren’t the olympic games on NBC though?
ps- some time after the World Cup I switched from antenna to basic cable– it’s free with my internet connection because the ISP charges a “non-bundled” surcharge of $15– and basic cable costs $13, so I added the service to avoid paying $15 for nothing. I negotiated a cheap installation ($15 for 2 outlets) and rent no boxes, so it was a good deal. I turn it on rarely but it’s there when I need it (PBS, sports).
I’m running Mythbuntu and like it quite a bit. I’ve been thinking of going to Windows 7, just for the Netflix streaming but I really hate to pay for another Windows license just to get Netflix. I bought an $80 Bluray player that streams netflix, but it defeats my goal of “one box”. Also, the automatic commercial skipping in MythTV is fantastic. I can’t go back to manually skipping commercials now. 🙂
You should definately look into transcoding stuff for your phone (or tablet, or laptop). It is one of those features you can’t live without once you have it.
Thanks!
I agree with Elizabeth at 33 that doing everything via computer is sometimes cost-shifting (we are not, for example, upgrading our older computers to larger screens) rather than cost-conscious…
But this discussion is interesting because it does underline the TV or not TV gap which is apparently still active, that is the TV users haven’t quite been cowed into silence yet! I sometimes feel much more lonely as as a “I seem to live OK without a smart phone” person — it does seem like everyone I know feels they must have a phone on their person (and turned on!) at all times. And yet, well, it does seem to work for us. And it’s a big saving (enough to cover the cable bill!)
FYI, for $8 a month, you can get Hulu Plus, which has all of the shows you’re paying for on iTunes except for the Amazing Race. You could save another few hundred bucks a year that way, and the only downside is that you watch about 3 minutes of commercials per episode.
Everyone else has pretty much said what I’d say, except one thing:
@60 – how do you entertain occasional guests? You talk. You play board games. You cook together. It makes me crazy when I visit people and the TV HAS to be on. I just don’t get that, and never will.
@AndrewL:
“Ditching the TV is a mistake.
THis year, snow storms have battered NYC… It’s broadcast and TV and radio will never be congested and will always operate when emergency broadcasting is in effect giving you valuable information.”
For one, J.D. lives in Portland. It doesn’t get snowed in too often. Secondly, I have yet to ever see any of those emergency broadcast system things actually hand out any useful information, even in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, when we were without power for three days. We tuned in on the radio — they told us the power was out. Gee, that was helpful. My dad was even a ham radio operator with all battery powered-equipment who could talk to people all over the world. It didn’t help us at all. Third, like I just said, in lots of real emergencies, the power is out anyway, so what good is a TV? Fourth, the radio in the car works just fine, even when the power’s out.
“Also, how do you entertain occasional gusts? Like if you and some guests are going to attend an event soon and need a couple of hours to kill?”
Usually we have guests over because we want to spend time with guests. We entertain them with food and wine and conversation. How boring would it be to go over to visit friends just to sit around and watch TV? You could have stayed home, or come a couple hours later if you’re planning on going to a specific event.
Looks like a lot of people are giving up cable. There may be changes coming with the cable companies to compete with the other options that we have.
My daughter is giving up her cable too. I pay $16 a month for my cable connection and $10 for Netflix. I love Netflix!
Another aspect of “conscious spending” is spending at merchants you want to see stick around. I still rent DVDs at our local video store instead of Netflix or Redbox because I want to keep it there on my way home from work. It should not always be about can I get it cheaper somewhere else.
I know these comments have focused entirely on alternatives to cable, but I think that’s indicative of how fed up we all are with it. I was just talking with my BF yesterday about how the pricing model for cable has really not kept up with the way people are consuming content. Why haven’t they switched to a true cafeteria plan so people can just pick and choose a channel here and there? Instead of making $0 on customers that don’t want a bunch of channels they will never watch, they could be making some $ on people who will pay $5 a month for a certain channel. I don’t understand their model at all.
@Kevin (#19): Being in Canada, I wonder if your health care costs are less than in the U.S. Maybe cheaper health care is a fair trade off for free TV through Hulu. 😉
Like Ali (#68), it’s a few dollars cheaper for me each month to pay Comcast for bottom of the barrel basic channels than to just pay for internet service. (And DSL has been really unreliable in my area, so that only leaves cable for internet.) Recently Comcast started scrambling *all* of their channels (they say it’s better quality digital…right…) and said I’d need a digital converter box. I just ignored that since I continue to get HD channels through my TV. I’m missing out on the shopping channels and other crap they provided for my low end package, but I still get my basic broadcast channels in HD just fine.
Whenever I want to watch a movie or show from Netflix or Hulu on a big screen, I just plug my laptop into my TV with an HDMI cable. The quality is great this way and the only out of pocket costs I had were the cost of an HDMI cable (I think that was around $20) and a converter for my MacBook’s output port.
My BF got rid of his cable entirely recently and is using an Apple TV box for streaming Netflix and iTunes content. (Yes, he could have tried Roku, but he’s an Apple geek.) He loves it.
Last year we gave up cable for 6 or 7 months and didn’t miss it with netflix hooked up to our tv through a netflix compatible blue ray player. Then Football season came around and I got suckered back in. Next month we’re giving it up again, hopefully this time for good.
I really like the concept of conscious spending. Its something to keep in mind before every purchase. The other thing you’ll notice when you get rid of tv is that you’ll experience conscious entertainment. You will actively be selecting shows you like rather than sitting around aimlessly watching whatever is on.
We are practicing conscious spending this year with our dining out budget. When I looked at the 2010 expenditures and saw how much we had spent on dining out, I realized that I couldn’t remember most of the meals we had since most of them were just because we felt like it (mind you, we didn’t go out to eat much at ALL – maybe 3 times a month, and most of those were inexpensive meals). My spouse & I talked; I want our dining out budget to be more conscious…and I think that will make it more fun. If we plan on dining out instead of it just being spur of the moment, then it will be something we can look forward to as well which, in my mind, is part of the experience of dining out. To help encourage us to more consciously spend on dining out, I also slashed our budget for 2011; since there’s less money to spend (and this is also the first year I am separating it from the grocery budget), I hope that we will be more conscious of how we spend the money.
@Tyler Karaszewski
What about the unlikely event of a mass evacuation? How will you find out where to go and when? Say a huge storm is incoming,and your local government’s website is down due to congestion from everyone trying to get information at once, Broadcast TV or Radio will provide the information. If Radio doesn’t work, you have TV, if TV dosn’t work you have Radio.
I disagree with you about going to friends house to watch TV. you’ll go see a movie with friends, watching TV with friends is similar.
I’m just saying, even if you don’t watch tv at all, you should still keep one around. Just as you would think it weird if someone told you they don’t have indoor plumbing, people would think you’re weird for not having a TV.
I think another aspect of conscious spending is making sure you don’t go with the status quo. Amazon is generally cheaper on downloads than either iTunes or Netflix.
I’m in the same boat as a few others – when I called to cancel my cable a few months back, they told me that the cost to keep the internet by itself was only $10 less per month than what I was currently paying for the whole package!
The only thing that might tempt me to cancel it all is if I ever get one of those fancy cell phones that creates its own wifi hotspot. Then we’ll see.
@Brenton – I echo the use of ESPN3 (I’m not sure that all ISPs are affiliated, but I could be wrong). I watched the Sugar Bowl this year and, last year, caught several of the World Cup games that were not broadcast over the air. I’ll bet that NBC (or whoever has the next Olympics) will have online options as well.
I’m actually able to watch more of the sports teams that I want than I ever was before (though I’ve been without cable for a long time). It’s better than going to a sports bar and negotiating to find the game on the right channel (especially if it’s not a high demand event in your area).
Great post. I have been encouraging some of my monetarily challenged clients to cut the cable. But I just can’t seem to convince them that they are wasting money that they do not have. (It is not a value judgment, because they do not have money to pay their rent/mortgage.)
I completely agree that everyone needs to make a choice as to how they spend their money.
My tag line and mantra is “Conscious Money Choices”.
Conscious spending sounds a lot like what we are doing. It sounds much better than being cheap and that’s what I’ll call our plan from now on. 🙂
We get DVD from the library and it is working pretty well. It takes a while to get the movie/show we want, but the queue is revolving so we always have something to watch. We don’t have much time to watch anyway.
Can’t you see all the itune shows on the internet?
@AndrewL – “people would think you’re weird for not having a TV” – and that’s exactly the wrong reason to have one. Who cares what other people think? If you want a TV, have a TV. If not, not.
It is not at all in the same class of household appliance as indoor plumbing.
And frankly, if there’s a mass evacuation, it’s because a city is functionally destroyed. Nothing would be broadcasting, even if the power were still on, which it wouldn’t be. (I don’t know if you realize just how fragile infrastructure is.) The best anyone would be able to do is use a smart phone to get information, which would be coming from well outside the area.
J.D.’s post may be a little (uncharacteristically) disjointed, but it only fails to make sense if you don’t *want* it to make sense.
Ouch – _encouraging_ a 16-year old boy towards a motorcycle…
#@80 AndrewL
you write “people would think you’re weird for not having a TV.”
So who cares what “people” think? Truly. Isn’t part of “getting rich slowly” about NOT keeping up with the Joneses and what they think? To be socially controlled at that level must be hell. “I don’t watch TV, but I put a dead TV in my living room so people won’t think I’m weird for not having one”.
I have lived without a TV most of my adult life. I only have one because a plasma makes a GREAT computer monitor. Before that, I did watch tV and movies– via a TV tuner card or movies on a computer or just going out to the movies.
I’m not an anti-TV zealot,I watch a lot of things I like, but believe me when I tell you I don’t need “people who think I’m weird for not having a TV” visiting me at home. For one thing, I don’t think we’d have anything to talk about, and then we’d be uncomfortable without a TV to distract from the awkward silence. So we usually don’t hang out with that crowd.
I vote for “no TV with friends”. Music, food, drink: yes. TV: no. Getting together for a movie is ok, but since it’s a group thing it doesn’t have to be one’s non-existing TV. However–visiting people who have the TV on all the time is incredibly annoying.
Congrats on the move! I can see my husband and I doing something similar, as I am sometimes horrified at the amount of television we watch. There are certain shows we get really into, but then it’s hard to turn the tv off once you have it on.
I think this is a great post and I’ve copied down your list of questions you ask yourself before making a purchase. I’m going to make my own list and keep it in my notebook.
One of the questions I’ll add is “Will this solve a problem or annoyance in my life?” I find that it’s easy for me to buy a new pair of shoes or a handbag that I don’t really need, but then I put off buying a $5 cell phone charger to keep at the office, even though the stupid cell phone charger would be a major convenience. This year, I want to turn that around by spending more money on things that make my day-to-day life a little easier, and less on items that mostly just add clutter.
When Netflix streaming came out, I cut my cable back to just the basic (about 20 channels). I actually find that I hardly ever watch TV but I live in an urban area where an antenna just won’t work. It costs me about $25/mo. Still, I consider cutting even that once in a while.
My next big change, though, is selling my car and going car-free! I will be zip-car-ing, busing and el-ing it around Chicago.
@AndrewL
“What about the unlikely event of a mass evacuation?”
You mean like Katrina, where every single media outlet in every format in the whole country was talking about the evacuations? Without a TV I still think it would be difficult to fail to notice at least one of:
All your friends talking about it.
All your neighbors talking about it.
Your family calling to ask if you are OK.
Your facebook friends discussing it.
The newspaper talking about it.
National news organizations websites running articles about it.
The radio talking about it.
etc.
Do you honestly think there were a lot of people in New Orleans who *only* knew it was being evacuated because they saw it on TV?
Besides, I wouldn’t even bother to try to look and see if my areas was being evacuated unless I already *knew* there was a storm coming, right? If I have that information, I’ll find the other information somewhere, even if I have to call someone else with a TV and ask them what it’s saying. If every possible media outlet has become inaccessible to me, then I’ll probably scared enough to leave on my own.
I feel that you’re fabricating a risk that doesn’t actually exist here. Even if you *had* a TV, you’d have to know that there was some important reason to turn it on, and if you already knew that, you’ve basically already got the information you need.
You can watch Glee, The Office, 30 Rock, The Biggest Loser on Hulu for free I guess. And CBS airs The Amazing Race. 🙂
I also came to this realization when I was paying $30/month and watching maybe an hour a month. We canceled a while ago.
I couldn’t agree more, JD. Gave up TV myself when I was a student. If some show is really important, I can probably watch it online a day later or so.
We watched Germany’s games at last year’s world cup (football, or as you Americans might call it, “soccer”) over at our friends’. And we surely had a great time with them.
THe thing about Hulu is they only keep episodes on for a limited time. For example they may only have the last 5 shows and it’s mid season and you want to watch the first 8.
So I can understand wanting to get iTunes. I almost did that one time, but then I realized I’d be paying the same thing for the dvd set, which I’d been planning on getting anyway and I didn’t want to pay $44 (or whatever it was)and then turn around and spend that again.
@Linda in Chicago – Comcast tried to pull that “you need a convertor box” crap on me too. I could never get the damn box to work – because I didn’t need it, just plugged the cable right into my tv. Well, into my surge protecter and that into the tv.
Comcast had the gall to tell me my tv was “too old”. It was brand new, I replaced it after a power surge came through the cable and fried the tv and the dvr I had at the time. Then Comcast tried to tell me there was no way the surge came from the cable. I kept having connection issues and finally they came out and after 2 hours of mucking about inside the guy went outside. To find the outside connections were damaged from a power surge.
It’s all about sports with me (and the fact I run a fairly popular sports blog and need to stay in the loop), which means I cannot cut the cable. Trust me, I’m not going to a sports bar to watch 162 baseball games.
All due respect to those who say to use ESPN3, Justin.tv, atdhe.net or buying an online package like MLB.TV for your sports, you aren’t getting the whole story.
Not all ISP’s have access to ESPN3. Mine does (Comcast), and it works great (you can also watch it via your Xbox 360 if you have a Gold acct), but it’s only good for watching ESPN sanctioned/owned broadcasts. If you are a fan of a local MLB, NHL or NBA team, you are out of luck, unless they are playing a nationally televised game, which for most teams, is only a few times a season. Otherwise, regional sports networks hold the rights, and you need cable to get them.
MLB.TV, NBA.TV and the like are great…if your favorite team is in a different city than the one you live in. For example, I’m a fan of the Detroit Tigers, and I live in Metro Detroit. MLB.TV blacks out Tigers games, forcing you to watch on your regional FOX sports channel, which is only available on cable. You want to see all the games of your favorite MLB, NBA or NHL team, you pretty much have to have cable.
As for Justin.tv and atdhe.net (and there are plenty of others, starting with MyP2P.eu), be aware those are pirated feeds with variable, often lousy, quality. They are watchable on a monitor, but on my 42″ plasma, it’s not so hot. I only use them as a last resort. Such as to watch blacked out Lions games…and I’ve seen the stream die mid-game due to the rights holder making a copyright claim or technical issues with the person running the stream. You are totally at the whim of the person pirating the broadcast and staying under the radar of the rights holders. It’s OK when it works…but it doesn’t always work.
So I’m stuck. I don’t watch much in the way of reality or scripted TV, but I watch quite a bit of sports. And if you are a big time sports fan, as much as I’d like to, it’s damn hard, if almost impossible, to cut the cable. Going to a sports bar can get expensive and to be honest, be a PITA.
So cable TV will remain a constant in my life, and I don’t see it changing anytime soon, thanks to the billions of dollars involved between the leagues and broadcasters.
At least the NFL remains available OTA.
“But I like my main point! Conscious spending is important, and it’s why Kris and I are able to travel right now. ”
Fair point! Conscious spending is very important, and worth a dozen posts or more here on how to best assess the reader’s best happiness-per-dollar-spent budget. Keep up with that and thanks for the response.
Personally, I get a lot of value on spending money on fitness/grooming/appearance, as well as books, and of course, the ubiquitous travel–a single 34 year old man. While I enjoy a good meal and good wine, I’m not a foody or a wine-y(wine afficianado?) so spending tons of money on restaurants and bottles of vintage wine isn’t important.
Would love to see more posts on good ways to prioritize conscious spending, because it is a great topic!
RE: squirrel saver
+1
That is exactly what I did when I got rid of my iPhone. I went with TMobile because it was the only pay as you go phone that would let me port my number (though, I had to fight through several store reps who didn’t know what they were talking about to do it.)
I figure 95% of the time I am at home or work, where I can use a regular phone to talk to people, and a wireless internet connection. The pay as you go plus a MagicJack at home cost $120 a year, which is what 2 months of the iPhone was costing me.
Are all of you screen-centric folks?
Just because I never see the version of this discussion that includes radio – I’m a free broadcast person for radio, too, just like the TV, but things like weather/evacuations/news I really rely on a mix of radio and Facebook (seriously, I have friends who are farmers. They pay more attention to the weather than I do. It’s saved me traveling in at least one big snowstorm.) But I know some people pay for satellite radio – is it just less common than cable, and that’s why these discussions never come up?
Have you tried FREE over the air television? There are channels being added all the time (depending on where you live). You may not even need an antenna. Here is the website I went to learn about it.
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=611957
this is FREE television, like ‘we’ had when we were kids, except there are a LOT more channels and they broadcast for FREE in HIGH DEFINITION. The picture quality is better than the high definition you have to pay cable/satellite companies for.
You do need to beware that if you have several TV’s, you may have to invest in a $40 signal booster and re-run or check the run of your cables. I had to do this to get optimum picture quality. I was able to do it myself after asking questions on the forums noted above.
Good luck! I never thought my husband would go for it, (he thought it would be fuzzy picture), but it’s GREAT!
Check into it!
After you spend hours trying to watch a game online that keeps stopping and starting and isn’t even in SD, you’ll going groveling back to your cable company. Sorry.
Good for you! I’m all about cutting the recurring costs so that I can free up my money for other things that mean more to me.
I’ve never paid for cable; I only use my tv for dvds and don’t like streaming onto my laptop. I suppose one day I’ll get some gadget to take better advantage of my tv + netflix, but I think I might need a newer television for that? and at any rate I don’t care enough to investigate.
What I really want to cut down is my home land line/internet bill. It’s 48 bucks a month and I don’t use the phone at all, and am only online a couple times a week. However everyone I ask thinks that the price is reasonable, but that just doesn’t seem right to me. My cell is already as low as possible, as I got onto Sprint’s SERO plan back in the day.
I’m also looking at cutting collision on my car insurance, since my car is 6 years old and not worth that much on paper.
Every incremental saving gets added to my travel account! (Honduras and Greece this year) (on two different trips!)
Yay, welcome to the cable-free world! I gave up my cable a couple of years ago, even though I work for a TV station and haven’t missed it one bit. Like you, I’ve been using some of the money I’m saving on cable to go travel instead. As a result, I’m heading to South America in April. 😀
Have fun in Africa- it’s an amazing place to be. I was in Kenya last year and it was such an incredible trip. It gave me a new appreciation for my life and has increased my desire to help others.
Like what other people say, get a (free) converter box, some rabbit ears and you don’t have to ditch the tv. Yes no cable (we haven’t had it in years, have not seen a single Sopranos show for example), but it’s nice to have it for Saturday morning cartoons. To be honest, except for our new Wii and Netflix subscription we haven’t had a reason to turn on the tv since LOST ended.
Yay, bunny ears!
Good for you–TV makes your brain turn into mashed potatoes, anyway. In all seriousness, though, I think the largest component of conscious spending is impulse control–a quality that is often in short supply in today’s society. For a couple of interesting stories about impulse control, check out the November 24 and November 27 postings on http://www.pocketchangebook.com.
Rabbit ears aren’t an option for some people. I tried that and it was horrible. If my tv was right in front of the window at the right angle, and if the rabbit ears were positioned just right, and if my cats didn’t knock it over, I could get 2 broadcast channels, 1 PBS and 3 religious channels.
And every time my cats knocked over the rabbit ears it took 5 minutes of fiddling to get the picture back. And cats being cats, as soon as I got it set up again, they had to come knock it over.
I did find a website that shows what stations/channels you can get over the air in your area (based on type of antenna you have plus your address and that was the extent of the channel options.
So I gave up, decided to go wtiht he $12/mth cable opton and have my tv where I can actually sit and enjoy it andnot have to worry abotu the cats messing up the picture.
We used-to-not-have TV… then my husband presented his business case to me:
For each sporting event – that he would have to go out to the bar to see – he might just spend a minimum of $20 on drinks and snacks.
Quick math told me that between college football, pro football, basketball, and baseball – I’m better off getting a satellite dish for $30/month.
Be sure to keep track of those lack-of-TV induced expenses when you head to the bar for the game JD.
I love Netflix. We have the one DVD at a time deal. It costs us right under $10/month. And luckily we’re not much into watching sports. We haven’t pulled the cord yet, just reduced it to basic for $15/month. $25/month for entertainment is still cheaper than one trip to the theater.
I have been slowly cleaning house by donating items. But now I’m on a mission. Starting this weekend, I am saying good-bye to more items, fast. I’m going to go room by room until I have gone through the whole house. I cannot wait to feel free again.
Rabbit ears doesn’t work for HD/DTV, as many HD channels are transmitted in a higher radio frequency (RF) outside the range of rabbit ears. But a good $30-$50 HD antenna should get you all the free channels you need. I got a Winegard and I watched for months on it until a switch of ISP made basic cable available for free.
Still, it can be a pain to install hidden (requires orientation) and not good enough in some areas. But that’s the cheapest solution for sure.
Here’s a website to help you pick an antenna for your area in the US:
http://www.antennaweb.org/aw/welcome.aspx
Great post! It’s a great way of saying that we should be smart with our money and how we use it… there are many “leaks” that don’t let us accumulate what we want and drain our finances without giving us anything back.
The only time my husband and I have had cable was for the duration of the Olympics (in fact, prior to the Olympics, we didn’t have living room furniture or even a TV! We just watched movies on our computers! Also, prior to the Olympics, I didn’t know my husband cared that much about the Olympics!) There wasn’t any contract that we had to sign, so we paid for cable and a DVR for a month or two, and then canceled it and took the hardware back when the Olympics was over! It was worth the money for him to be able to watch the events, but once it was done, it was done. Until the next Olympics, anyhow 😉 So fret not, if there’s something coming up that you really want to see, there’s probably a way to see it without having to commit to any long term contracts!
I have an interesting perspective on the cable debate because 1. I’ve lived both with and without a television set and 2. my husband works for the cable company.
We gave up our television set for a cross-country move – it was just too heavy to move, and we needed the money, so we sold it. We planned on replacing it, but we didn’t find jobs right away, was too expensive, new technology coming out every month, etc. We certainly didn’t set out to be “anti-TV.” So we had no television set for approximately 4 years. In that time, I’d love to say that we took up cooking, learned a foreign language, traveled extensively – but we didn’t. Instead of wasting time watching TV, we ended up wasting time on the internet.
We did get a TV about 2 years ago, when the pull of watching movies at home not on a computer screen got to be quite strong. We tend to watch mostly DVD’s, movies we bought from iTunes, and we use it to listen to internet radio. Our cable box came unplugged for 3 months once, and we didn’t notice. I think once you’re out of the loop of the popular shows, it’s much easier to step back.
Since my husband works at the local cable company, we get free internet and cable. I realize that this option isn’t available for most people. But I will say, even with free cable we don’t watch it much – maybe once a month, and mostly for sporting events.
Someone also asked why cable isn’t ala carte. That has to do with the way the agreements are structured. Say Comcast wants to carry MTV. They go to MTV and cut a deal. MTV will want them to carry all their channels (MTV, MTV2, MTV3, Classic MTV, MTV for Cats, etc…) and they will tell you want tier they want to be on (basic, expanded basic, movie package). Comcast will pay MTV, say, $1 per subscriber – so it’s in MTV’s best interest to be on the lowest tier. If Comcast has 500,000 households that have expanded basic, Comcast will pay MTV $500,000 a month to carry it on the expanded basic tier. This model certainly doesn’t accomodate ala carte channels, and it’s the reason why you end up with 16 different ESPN channels or 5 different HBO channels. It’s also why you end up with more channels on the lower tiers and fewer channels on the higher tiers.
@ El Nerdo – I was using an HD antenna and that’s the website I went that showed 5 channels.
If it had worked for me and there were more options I would have been all over it.
There was a question about radio – I don’t really listen to the radio. Just in my car and I don’t have a long commute. At home I listen to mp3s or Pandora.
wow- lots of comments when the subject of TV arises!
I just wanted to remind those who posted about free tv and PBS in the same sentence that it really isn’t ‘free.’ If you consume it, you should contribute to it! (no, I’m not affiliated with PBS, just a lifelong fan and longtime supporter/member!)
I haven’t had cable for almost five years now. My husband and I watch Netflix on our TV, streaming via the Xbox — we don’t pay extra for hard copy DVD delivery. I watch hulu occasionally, and we’ll buy one-offs for our iphones when we travel. Don’t miss cable a bit.
People would think I’m crazy for the money I spend on the gym, eating out, and travel, but these things are much more important to me than having cable! I also bring my lunch to work, don’t drink coffee or soda, use the library instead of buying books…small prices to pay (or not pay!) to do the things that are meaningful to me. In fact I’m looking for more ways to cut costs…
@112 Ali
Ah, yes, the website is not perfect, but it shows you the true RFs of the channels in your area.
Rather than follow the site’s advice I went and got the best-rated antenna in Amazon at my price range–a Winegard as I mentioned. It worked beautifully, whereas a pricier amplified antenna from Rat Shack wasn’t picking up anything in the same room.
About radio, I hate it all except for NPR, all the good stations died ages ago, except for a few like KEXP I stream on the internet. Pandora is nice to a point, it has a limited selection of the stuff I like.
For emergencies, the only thing that works is a manually powered emergency radio, which should include both with short-wave and weather channels and can also pick up TV audio. They also often come with cellphone charger jacks and flashlights. Look for the with some sort of Red Cross branding.
Nobody is going to be carrying around their 65″ TV in an emergency!
I like the idea of “conscious spending” and ever since I started using an envelope system of budgeting, I “miraculously” understand that I have a finite number of dollars and if I spend $10 here, it means $10 I can’t spend there.
I’m in the old house renovator/world-traveller club, too. I’m very happy to skip the nickel and dime expenses in the here and now to save up to finish my reno work and then do more traveling. It’s not a sacrifice, it’s a conscious decision. Glad to know there’s a name for it!
I know I’m weird but I don’t listen to NPR because almost all the voices bug me. Not quite as bad as fingernails on the chalk board, but bothersome enough I can’t listen for long period of times.
I’m finding with Pandora I get best results when I make a lot of stations based on artists I like and then do a quick mix.
I checked the website again, and of the 10 channels listed I’d need a rooftop antennae to get the 6 good ones.
Welcome to the untelevisioned. We have much to teach you. 🙂
I haven’t had a TV since I left my marriage nearly seven years ago. I’ve got nothing against television per se, I just don’t watch it. When I’m visiting my daughter or a friend I’ll watch something, enjoy it and then not watch anything else until I visit again six months later.
While visiting my daughter recently I enjoyed the heck out of Season 1 of “Eureka.” (I want to live there!) Swore I would get the next couple of seasons from the library. Haven’t. And I’m OK with that.
The only thing I don’t like about not having a TV? The value judgments. When people find out that I don’t watch television I hear things like, “Oh, you’re one of those people who thinks you’re too smart to watch TV” or “How could you NOT have television? Please tell me you have Netflix!”
I also hear, “Oh, we don’t watch it that much” or “I only watch the news and ‘National Geographic’ specials.”
You know something? It’s a free country. I don’t care what you do. Please just let me do what I do, i.e., not have a television. Or Netflix.
Where do you live that basic cable is $15 a month? Here it’s more like $60 a month.
We have basic cable as part of a fiber optic package for phone and broadband internet service.
We live in a valley- no TV without cable, no cell phone service. The fiber optic service was cheaper than rewiring our older house (the copper wires were failing). What do we watch? Political analyses, news, PBS, and DVDs. On a 19″ cathode-ray tube TV that’s nearly 20 years old.
What #46 Eric says. We thought about this once (since we seldom if ever turn on TV), but in our case our provider’s basic cable + internet bundle is *cheaper* than their internet service only. Yeah this is ridiculous and we don’t know what they are thinking. Anyway, since ditching a cable per se was not our goal, we decided to keep the bundle, which was the least expensive package they offer.
Traveling is always money well spent!! Dropping to one disk is a must – Netflix streaming content will eventually take over!
Best,
In Albuquerque I get Comcast basic cable for $13/mo. It’s REALLY basic, i.e., just the OTA channels plus some 2 or 3 ultra-garbage like the home shopping network. When I refused the rental box ($7/mo) and they told me I wouldn’t be able to get the “extra channels!” I asked what they were and when they told me I laughed. The cable jacks straight to my TV and I get HD signals crisp and clear. There are serveral deals called “basic” cable, like 50+ channels, that’s called basic extended I think– I don’t care for it.
Having offset the “unbundled” internet fee of $15 with this cheapo deal, I’m essentially getting paid $2/mo. to get a more stable picture and a less cluttered living room than with an antenna. I sold the antenna at a flea market for $10. I think the cable co. is hoping to sucker me into going mainstream and buy full cable some day– it’s not going to happen any day soon.
Normally I would be discouraged from buying services from someone who charges an “unbundled fee”, but since they offer ESPN3, which has international soccer, I figured I’d raise my tolerance level just this time and let them have their stupid fee.
When i purchase something, I go in the mindset of how it will impact my bottom line.
I really love this post. I have been living this way for a while now, with the exceptions of a few things I can’t control due to living with a roommate. When I move out and get married, I don’t plan on having a cable package or really any extra monthly expenditures when so much of it is freely available online.
I am in favor of conscious spending, although cable is not an issue for me. It is part of my entertainment budget. I guess I am more frugal with my other expenses.
I don’t have cable and was able to watch last year’s World Cup online. ESPN.com carried most of the games. For the games that the cable companies had rights to, I streamed the video off of a Hispanic website and listened to the audio (in English) from ESPN radio.
Just an idea. 🙂
I have become very conscious of my spending though like you its not always perfect. Over the past few years I’ve found that while I still want the toys and gadgets I am much more willing to wait for them and rethink the purchase. This really solves the want versus need in many cases (though not all).
For about 6 months now I’ve been toying with the idea of buying myself a MacBook but I haven’t taken the plunge – the biggest reason is that I don’t need the computer I just want it. On the other hand I have been thinking about the purchase for a few months it might be time to seriously consider it. With that said it carries a hefty cost and because I’m much more conscious about my spending I’ll save for it rather than just purchase it then if I turn out to not use it as much as I would have initially thought its not a debt to deal with.
By spending your money consciously you don’t regret the purchase when the interest starts piling up and if the expense is like your trips its worth the end cost (I’ve valued my travels much more than their cost even if they were purchased on credit)
I wear my pocket watch almost every day – the idea and history behind it is worth it and it saves my ass when I forget to take my phone with me.
We got a TV last year but we don’t have cable and we’re not planning on having it. We also use Hulu and other streaming services over the internet. We’ve actually hooked a desktop to our TV so we can watch our shows without sitting on our computer desks all the time.
Its really nice to be able to watch our own shows on our own schedule, without the need for Tivo and for cable. Why spend money for cable + tivo? To us its not necessary.
Although I realize that some people love cable + love tivo – so I really can’t judge what other people decide is good for their own lives. I’m not judging other people who choose this, its just for *us* this is what *works*.
When I visited my parents for xmas, I got to watch cable because they have that, and it was very boring, I got tired of it pretty quickly. 500+ channels and most of it was boring stuff I didn’t care about.
We also use our tv for gaming, so its really nice. I don’t think tv is evil, I don’t think tv shows and movies are evil. I’m not anti-tv/entertainment.
I just think its nice to have that option of watching the shows you like and forgetting all the rest that you don’t like, which is why we don’t have cable. IMO cable/satellite companies are missing out on providing customers a la carte service.
The only thing that irritates me is when people think they’re better than you just because they don’t own a tv. We have one of those flat panel tv screens, so its not that bad in terms of moving it. And no we didn’t buy it on credit.
That’s another thing that irritates me, sometimes at PF websites they think that just because someone has a tv, or an ipod that they’re in debt when the truth is we save for the things we want.
Blah I’m all over the place on this comment, anyway, congrats on conscious spending and your decision to do this. btw, your PF journey reminds me of Maslows Pyramid, dunno if you’ve heard of it, in psych 101 I learned that people meet their basic needs, but once we have the basics (house,clothes,food) we transition to other things…creativity, personal fulfillment.
That’s what it seems you’re doing with your money now, you’ve transitioned from getting off debt, to having fun with your money such as traveling. 🙂
yeah sorry for my all over the map post, its almost midnight here 😛
Hi –
So you are watching your subscriptions on a…computer/laptop? Why don’t you keep your tv and get an over the air antenna? All of your subscriptions are available over air in HD. There’s an extra $215 per year for your world travel.
Maybe it comes down to personal preference but if given the option of watching media on a tv vs a computer display, television always!
My wife and I have done without cable for three years. We’ve spent $60 for a roku box[netflix, huluplus,amazonondemand, much more], and pay the monthly minimum subscription for netflix.
I have been a conscious spender for a long time. I consider literally every dollar I spend – even though I make a six figure salary. Yes, I stand in supermarket aisles considering unit costs, relative quality of ingredients, bulk buy vs single units. Having a tiny house is great, as every time I see some cute homeware item, I have to ask if I really need it and then wonder where the hell I would store it.
But I do have to be careful to rein in some tightwad tendancies mentioned way back in comment #5. I have gotten better at this in the last year or so, but in some areas I learnt to give myself permission to spend money in areas that I value or are needed.
Food is very important to me. I love it! I consiously allow myself to spend money eating out and socialising. 90% of my “weekly allowance” is spent on some sort of food purchase outside the home.
Travel is another area of value for me. I have even changed how I spend when travelling as well now. Because I have a limited leave, I am more willing to spend money on convenience when travelling than I would have when I was a student. This means more expensive flights that have better connections, more direct routes, as I want to make the most of the time I am away. I still seek out bargains, but now it’s OK to take more (relatively) expensive flight to go direct, instead of taking a bus/ train that takes two days to get there. Or if I’ve spent good money getting to a lovely town in Provence, I’m going to spend a few more euro on that nice dinner in the main square and enjoy the experience. Particularly coming from Australia, I am spending $2000 to fly to Europe for five weeks, so I want to get value out of that investment.
I really like that kind of articles. I don’t have cable, never had since leaving my parents’ home, and I keep a TV set only to play videogames on it. People seem to think it’s silly that I won’t pay for cable, but I will pay for videogames.
They’re missing the point! The point is to spend on what you do use, and cut where you don’t feel like you’re missing out. If you don’t watch TV to begin with, you can safely cut it. If you can’t live without, you might cut on something entirely different.
Conscious spending will be different for everyone, because we want and care for different things.
JD. what is your plan for cell phones? trying to decide right now for myself.
We’re awesome because we don’t own a tv.
Instead we have a gorgeous video projector that we spent a lot of money on back when we had very little money 8 odd years ago. Worth every penny!
I cut the cable over a year ago – and it’s all your fault J.D! LOL
I’d read your piece about how to negotiate with the cable company for a lower monthly rate. I knew that I had to be prepared to cut the cable if I couldn’t negotiate the rate I wanted. And that is exactly what happened – the cable lady laughed at my request to lower my monthly rate and then charged me $160 for the ‘privilege’ of pulling out of their contract early.
What had annoyed me so much was that the contract had offered $10 a month off the bill for 12 months. I accepted this contract. Then they hiked the monthly rate! So they had me in the contract, but they hiked the rates so that the deal wasn’t worth the paper it had been printed on.
The cable company has so far lost over $1000 in subscription fees from me. I get all the TV I want on the internet – Hulu, Netflix, etc.
The biggest benefit though has been MORE TIME. Instead of veging in front of the TV I’ve cut the cable and cut the ball and chain that was sucking time out of my like. I’m now so much more productive, and less stressed by not watching the politics, death and destruction that poses as news.
Thanks J.D. you’ve saved me a lot of money and improved my life.
P.S. I suffered about six weeks of withdrawal after cutting the cable – it was all I could do not to call up and beg to be reconnected – but going cold turkey worked in the end.
The post is about conscious spending, not about the best way to slash your cable bill, which has been covered endless times. I don’t like paying for things I don’t need or use even if this isn’t the most frugal choice. It’s like buying something you don’t eat just because you have a coupon. JD states he is paying for iTunes for the convenience…meaning he won’t need an internet connection to watch his shows while traveling. Again, maybe not the most frugal choice, but I bet he thinks it’s money well spent to occupy his time on a long flight. Maybe a nice followup would be an “Ask the Readers” to hear about everyone’s conscious spending habits rather than to sing the praises of Hulu and Netflix.
In terms of Conscious Spending I did use that when I changed my cable/internet set up.
When I decided to drop down to the cheapest cable package I also paid for the next fastest internet speed. So instead of paying appx $50/mth I’m paying about $65/mth for cable and internet. But it’s worth it to me because not only do I watch streaming video and listen to streaming radio, I also play WoW and use Skype all the time.
I cut cable when I moved because Comcast was such a huge pain from a customer service angle.
I now have DSL through the phone company (just the DSL, not the landline) and it is $28 a month with all the taxes. It’s fast, I watch streaming Netflix through it and am very happy with the customer service.
I also bought an antenna at Target and get 15 OTA channels. I spent $30 on the antenna and $100 on Apple TV and that, along with a $10 a month Netflix subscription, is all the TV I need. I probably watch MORE TV now than I did with cable because there is always something interesting on.
For those of you asking about alternatives to your broadband, check for DSL. It has been perfect for me.
I am a little embarrassed to admit TV is pretty much last on the list of things I would happily forego, but I completely and wholly agree with the foundation of your decision. Along those lines, I’d like to add one more consideration for readers to your list of things to contemplate in determining what’s important in regarding expenses. ROI!
For example, on the surface that $125 jacket may seem like a wasted expense when you can get one for $60. But, if you know you will wear the $125 for 3 years, vs, the 6 months it will take you to turn your back on the cheapie, the long-term value of the pricier option is obvious.
We cope the way most of you do without cable: Netflix, Tivo, antenna.
When our telecom bills hit $250 (cable/DVR/mobile/landline/internet), we cut back on cable and went back to Tivo.
The only show we’re willing to pay for is Mad Men, downloaded to Tivo from Amazon for $2-3/week. Way cheaper than cable. Our current place came with an “antique” antenna in the attic, which works beautifully, and is far less ugly than the satellite dish our neighbors have.
We Tivo most shows we want to watch, and most come in on the 25 or so stations we get via free digital signal. We could probably spend all our TV-watching time on PBS shows (we get 8 stations).
I thought we were complete Luddites, but it turns out our market (Milwaukee) is about 26% cable-free.
FYI – I used to be on the one DVD at a time plan with Netflix – they just dropped it! Now we’re on the streaming only plan (which costs the $8.99 that the one DVD plan used to cost).
We stopped cable almost 2 years ago & haven’t regretted it. The few network TV shows we watch, we simply watch via the network websites. Sure, you don’t get to watch them the moment they broadcast, but we don’t care about that. 😀
@Krista #138 – excellent point. This is not about frugality and how to get the most screen time for the least money. It’s just another little sideways look at how to tell what is really important to you.
“Conscious spending” for me means first, having a spending plan with my absolute commitments laid out and second, knowing how much I have left over.
Third, it means choosing where to put the money each pay period, so that DH and I are covering everything that’s important to us in ways that are most cost-effective: whether it’s going out to a theatre or ordering a movie on PPV, going out to dance or taking some private coaching, going out to dinner with a couple of friends or having a dinner party for 8.
Like J.D. says, you can have anything you want – you just can’t have *everything* you want. Locking yourself into paying for something all the time, when you only use it some of the time, takes away from financial flexibility.
I liked the concious spending bent of the article. I have to admit, that since I started reading getrichslowly that has been the FUNDAMENTAL change in our spending habits. As a result, we probably spend less on a lot of things, and probably more on others. It seems we’re paying down debt a little faster these days, but not outrageously. The difference is that I know what I spend money on, and I never (almost never) have that feeling of, man what a waste of money that impulse purchase was! Our big social faux pas (in the name of concious spending) is to not own a personal computer. GASP! I know! How will be be able to cancel our DSL if we can’t get streaming video? And there you have it. We pay for cable, we even pay for premium channels (OMG!). I think for a living, and being able to get home at the end of the day and plunk down in front of the TV and catch the latest episode of Big Love or Dexter and tune out, life is good.
Now in the interest of full disclosure (like how do you read this blog?), I have a smart phone, and my work lets me use my work laptop for reasonable personal use.
Not having a computer means I never worry about the antivirus being up to date, I spend $0 on video games to load onto it (it’s a work machine) and I don’t have to devote and entire room of my home to storing all the crap that goes with having a computer. I see everyone I know with their pretty new HP laptops and I think, that would be nice to have one I didn’t have to reload my photo software onto every time I get upgraded, and then I think about the stupid anti-virus, the upgrading, the peripherals and I smile and say No Thanks!
Fantastic site- I read it all the time. Just wanted to help out! The best place to watch sports without a tv is atdhe.net. This site puts up free broadcasts to NBA, NFL, MLB, NHL, miscellaneous sporting events.
I’m a huge sports nut and I watch games ONLY this way.
You can purchase a DVR for your computer at Costco.com and use it with an antenna for sports. That’s what we do!
I liked one of the first comments from a person who consciously decides she wants TV rather than exotic trips. That’s what this whole post is about, right?! Unfortunately, many truly want nice things or nice trips and don’t realize they’re leaking money in small areas that don’t really matter to THEM.
Good post thanks. I have found paying for items with cash, rather than plastic increases spending awareness. Something about feeling the currency, ya know?
Also, the T.V thing is very interesting. It’s really the Sports – I find very few things more relaxing than plopping on the Couch for the final day of a golf tournement, a tennis major Final (or Semi)- or a baseball, basketball or Footbal game. Maybe there will be a sports only cable option one day!!
Great article. All financial choices should be thought about consciously and it always helps to look at your “habits” to see where you could cut back.
We’ve been satellite TV free since May and haven’t missed it (or the $75/month fee). In fact, since hooking up the antenna, we really enjoy the additional OTA channels we get, especially the 3 PBS.
Plus, the shows we always watch (Office, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood) are online anyway, so we can watch them there if we miss a week. I do miss hockey on TV, but with 2 little ones in the house, I don’t usually have 2 1/2 hours in a row to commit to anything.
If I was a personal finance coach/financial adviser, the first thing I would do with a new client is go through this exercise – find out their “unconscious spending”.
@Raghu #146
Your recommended site, atdhe.net appears
SEIZED BY ICE- HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS
for having their way with copyrights, basically (I won’t quote the whole thing since it’s a picture and the text can be copypasted).
Anyway, If in the US, stick to ESPN3 for online sports. It’s 100% legal and free with many ISPs. Plus, our creative economy depends on the preservation of intellectual property rights, so this sort of thievery has repercussions.
Wooohooo! Congrats on the NO TV!!! I hate tv. I feel like it sucks up my life. Then when I watch shows because I actively look for them on the internet I know they are something I am interested in and worth watching! 😀
If it wasn’t for college football, my cable would be gone in a heart beat. I would love it if I could just pay for ESPN and ESPN2, as they are the only channels I watch on a regular basis other than the free channels. Sadly, my ISP does not get ESPN3.
We do almost the same thing. We don’t do the iTunes thing but we do use Netflix and don’t have cable. Sometimes I miss it and I wonder what I will do at the Olympics but it still works. When we watch the NFL we normally go to a friends house or make it work some other way. You can watch stuff like that on the internet too.
Brenton- Agreed! My husband and I hung on to cable for a long time because of the sports. ESPN3 finally set us free!
JD – you say you’d “never” watch the over-the-air channels, that’s exactly wher the Olympucs (NBC) and the Wold Cup (ABC) are.
I watched this past world cup online. I assume you’ll be able to do again so in four years!
I too cut Cable. The biggest trouble for me was the high speed Internet. The only other option was DSL through AT&T. I waited until AT&T offered a sale. I now have better Internet then Comcast ever offered and I am paying less then $20 a month for what Comcast would have charged close to $60. My total savings is about a hundred a month when you factor in not paying Cable as well as the inflated price for Internet.
I stream Netflix from my X-Box (I’d have preferred an Apple TV, but I got this as a gift). Another benefit of the X-Box though is it comes with an ESPN app. I don’t watch a lot of sports, but I like college football. There are thousands of sporting events free. The commercials are even cut out. I watched the Sugar Bowl with Ohio State on it. As others have said, in my area you can get many sporting events over free broadcast TV. In fact, in my area there is probably close to fifty free broadcast over the air channels. Companies like NBC offer multiple channels over the air as opposed to how they just used to offer one.
Hi my name is bob.. and i’m a spend-a-holic.
I just now read all the comments. I’m in a little shock over #60 suggesting that if you have company over, you MUST have tv in order to entertain them. Huh?
How about good old conversation, playing board games, or just going for a walk? I hate competing with the tv when I’m visiting with someone. To me, it is the height of inconsideration. If I took my valuable time to come and see someone, then the least they can do is turn off their tv and talk to me. If not, I’ll gladly go home and spend my time doing fun stuff at home. (I have no problem filling my time at home.)
Completely off topic, but for all those with smart phones, it’s incredibly rude to come over for a visit and sit with it in your hand (or even your pocket) just in case somebody has to reach you. If you came to visit with us, have the courtesy to actually be present. Otherwise I get the feeling you’re just here until someone texts you with a better offer.
Stepping off soapbox now.
I don’t get that you feel comfortable what you’ve done about home entertainment.
What we do with our lives should ultimately feel comfortable, otherwise we’ll pay for it in some other way, such as being dissatisfied, and not know why. Of course, you may grow into your new entertainment life style. But, we have to be careful that our decisions are true to ourselves.
A lot of our spending habits are tied to temperament which is how we perceive and judge things. There are 4 basic temperaments only one of which is inherently conducive to spending discipline. For the others you need to have developed a consciousness about money which I guess ties back to this theme. I once used a temperament online tool at http://www.thenewtemperament.com should anyone be interested.
So you watch all your iTunes shows and DVDs on your computer? I’m on my computer all day and if nothing else, i want to be out of my office to watch my free, with a converter box, TV and DVDs. Also makes it much more comfortable when watching with another person.
Another thing you can ask yourself in order to be consciously spending is how long it will take you to earn the dollars to buy the item. When you think about your own labor and the time at the office, or the factory, or wherever you work, it really makes you stop and think about the worthiness of the purchase.
Twenty years ago we built our home on a couple of acres 20 out from the suburbs. There was no cable available and it was before the days of digit internet anything. Our only options were to install a giant 10′ diameter satelite dish (remember those?) or take whatever was free off the airwaves via rabbit ears or an antena on the roof. I couldn’t stand the thought of screwing anything to the brand new shingles so we decided to try living with whatever the tv’s own antena could pickup. We got 3-4 channels and decided it was actually all we needed. There are many other options available now, but we’ve continued on taking whatever is free – at this point I can’t see adding a bill to our spending plan when we already get enough to entertain us.
Our two financial goals are early retirement in Dec 2020 (at 57/60) and a major annual trip with the kids while they are still at home. Yes the travel is delaying the retirement by ~3yrs but is a choice we’ve consciously made. To that end, every other dollar of spending is under the microscope. Every dollar wasted on crap and nonsense is a dollar taken from the next trip or moving up the retirement date. When you have clearly defined goals it sure makes it easy to prioritize where your dollars go. Do we really need that $20 fast food meal while out running Saturday errands, or do we take 5 minutes before leaving and pack a picnic for the road? In the back of my mind I know the addmission price at the Louvre in Paris is $20. Forgettable heat lamp burgers vs. seeing the Mona Lisa? Um, really not a tough decision. Do I need those great $100 shoes or would I rather use it for a gondola ride the next time we’re in Venice? Again, no contest.
The idea of signing up for any recurring $100 monthly bill would drive me crazy, since I’ve calculated that for every $100 additional that I save moves up our early retirement date by a day. Everytime that $100 went out of the account I’d be imagining what I could have been doing on the lost day.
I love that you spent thousands on your trips but won’t spend $15 on tv. I completly get that. Many of my friends don’t understand our choices, but that’s okay, they don’t have to. It is slightly annoying though when they seem to throw money at every indulgence imaginable and then say “wow, I wish we could afford to take our kids to Europe for a month like that!”. Actually, you probably could if you made it a priority. Just saying.
I know this is an older post, but I just wanted to say it. In your post, it says that you want to cut your cell phone bill. There are many other cell phone carriers that are very good and cheap. Personally, we use Ting. This plan is very flexible and you only pay for what you use. If you want more information head over to ting.com. If you want a referral to get a discount, let me know.