I've been tossing around an idea to The Husband and he is having none of it, guys. I'll toss it into conversation casually, easing him into the idea like an old man into a warm bath.
This idea? Getting rid of satellite television.
(audible gasp)
I know. We are people who watch A LOT of TV. It's sadly become our recreation of choice. Which is why I have been ok with funneling money towards that end. We have netflix, we'll probably get an apple tv, we have the satellite, a nice tv, a couple game systems, tons of movies, etc.
But satellite has been bugging me lately. We've had the same DVR since the twins were born and it's becoming less reliable, it often just restarts for no reason, at least once a week, and the company has been increasing our monthly bill a little too often for my liking. I've tested the waters to see if we could get some better equipment, or some sort of perk for being with the same provider for seven years, and NO. They DO NOT CARE. This irks me to no end, and seems to me to be a terrible business model. It makes me want to take my business to other providers. Actually no. I know other companies operate in the same exact way. I want to cut the cord completely. Save the monthly payment and... dare I say it? WATCH LESS TV?!
(Don't get emergency medical assistance out here, I assure you, I'm fine! Really!)
Can I survive if I don't watch the most recent episode of Project Runway? Teen Mom? Scandal? (cause heaven knows I'm not staying up until 10 pm to watch network television!) I THINK MAYBE?
If I'm folding laundry and don't have a folder full of this week's House Hunters (and don't forget about House Hunters International!) will the universe collapse in on itself? I SUPPOSE MAYBE NOT? (Perhaps this will open the door to more podcast time?)
Still, Husband is looking at me like I've grown two heads. He cannot fathom a life without effortless television on demand. Frankly, I may be a bit delusional even thinking about it as well. Because really, we are not THOSE people. You know the kind who perhaps don't even own a television? HO! We are SO not those people.
Now I contemplate. Where to go from here. Is there a DVR system that doesn't have a monthly fee? (we're trying to eliminate all the monthly expenses, man they can pile up if you let them!) We don't actually have apple tv yet because I don't know... I don't really understand WHAT it is, and what I would need to make it work right. (I have a macbook as our main computer, besides the iphones and the ipad)
Watching our shows at night after the kids have gone to bed has been our bonding thing. Instead of going on dates often, we snuggle over Parks & Rec on our couch to unwind. If we eliminate tv, I'm slightly worried we'll retreat to our own corners to read or whatnot. MARRIAGE OVER.
Perhaps I should just shut my trap, fork out the money every month, and forget about it.
What do you guys do for daily entertainment/decompression?
Dooooo it! We cut cable in 2005 and have never looked back. There is SO MUCH content available now! And if you have an antenna you can still watch and record network TV! Try it for a while and if you hate it you can sign back up with a new provider at probably a lower price.
ReplyDeleteHere, I wrote about our setup a while back. http://www.adellstevens.com/2012/11/27/we-dont-have-cable-and-we-love-it/
I feel jealous of everyone who does this, but we never will. Sports (especially baseball) make it near impossible. Our local sports station plays 150 of 162 baseball games on tv, but it's cable only. No possibility of change here. We've dropped some things that we don't get enough of, but otherwise we're stuck until our local teams aren't blacked out if you watch them by app.
ReplyDeleteWe got rid of our DirecTv when we moved into our new house (in 2012, I don't guess it really counts as the "new" house now, in 2014.) Anyway! After a year and a half-ish of no cable and no DVR, we're good, really! It took a little getting used to, but I truly don't miss it. It's cut out a lot of mindless background noise TV for me (I rarely watch it anymore at all, except for shows Josh and I watch together.) I did think I'd miss my trash tv (Teen Mom, amirite?) but I really don't.
ReplyDeleteWe have Hulu Plus to watch most of the shows that we watch during the current season (usually avail. days or weeks after the original air date)- stuff like The Daily Show, Modern Family, etc.
We have Netflix for watching other shows (we love to marathon seasons of shows that have been out for a while.) Also, Netflix shows like House of Cards and Orange is the New Black.
Annnnd we iTunes subscribe to seasons of shows we just can't wait for. (The Walking Dead, Mad Men, Sons of Anarchy.) These aren't cheap, but one season is still less than half of ONE month of our old satellite bill.
(oh and if your parents/or someone close has a subscription and will share the password with you, you can also borrow it to watch HBO Go shows. Game of Thrones, etc. Not that we do that, *cough*) If HBO would just get with the program and let people by a one-off subscription without having cable, we would totally do that.
Anyway, we stream all of this through our Apple TV. And we have an antenna for basic cable stuff. (Losing CNN actually was the hardest for me to give up. I like my morning news! But I've gotten used to the CBS morning news and actually prefer it now. Hi Norah & Charlie! Call me!)
Of course we get away with this because we don't care about sports at all. I know that can be a deal breaker for a lot of people.