If you are planning to decrease your spending in the new year, whether to help pay off debt or to save for the future, cutting out cable is a great way to save money. The money that you save on a monthly expense like cable adds up quickly.
In addition to the huge chunk of change you’ll save on monthly bills, going without television will impact your finances in more ways than just your cable bill.
1- Kids won’t beg for stuff from commercials
Since we have never had a TV in our home, our kids haven’t been bombarded with commercials. It is wonderful! They don’t insist on having the latest and greatest toys of the season and they don’t care about licensed characters. While we were watching TV at someone’s house over Christmas my 5-year-old asked, “Do people actually obey the TV and buy all these things?”
2- You’ll never have to replace it or fix it.
As with all electronics, there will always be a bigger or better one. There’s always the temptation to upgrade. In fact, I’m sure you remember several years ago (2009 in the US) when we switched from analog television broadcasting to digital. You could get a converter, or you could upgrade your TV. If you don’t have a TV, you’ll never need to upgrade.
3- You’ll have time to _______.
If you aren’t sitting in front of the TV for hours each day, you’ll have time to do something else that will save or earn you money. You could start an etsy shop, sell stuff on ebay, cook from scratch, plant a garden or start a blog. People complain that they don’t have time for these and other money-saving or money-earning endeavors, but chances are you would have much more time if TV wasn’t your default activity. Without TV as your part-time job, you would have time to earn and save more. Time is money. Without TV you’ll likely have more of both.
Try a challenge or compromise
I know we’re in the minority for not having a TV. I don’t expect everyone to give up TV completely, but for those who are seriously looking for ways to cut costs, budget, and pay off debt, giving up TV or cable, even just for a limited time, is a great way to save money and time. Challenge yourself to go without TV or cable for a set length of time.
If you think that going without TV would be too hard, you could try an alternative, like a Netflix or Amazon Prime subscription. Netflix is a popular alternative to cable and only costs $7.99 per month. You can try it out for free to see if it works for you. Amazon Prime costs even less, currently at $79 per year, which comes out to $6.58 per month. Most people know that Amazon Prime gives you free 2-day shipping on millions of items, but it also lets you watch over 40,000 movies and TV shows. Either option is way cheaper than cable and you can still watch your favorite shows!
Everyone is Different
While giving up TV would be a huge sacrifice for many people, it’s not really a sacrifice for us. I am the weird one in my family who doesn’t watch TV. Even as a teenager I didn’t enjoy watching TV. For us it isn’t about money at all. Even if we weren’t six figures under, we still wouldn’t have a TV.
My family (parents and siblings) think not having a TV is crazy extreme frugality. When my husband and I were first married, they thought I was depriving my husband of television since they didn’t realize that he didn’t want a TV any more than I did!
If you love TV, that’s fine. You don’t have to cut your cable or ditch your TV, but you must admit that going TV-less will save money.
What do you think?
- Is getting rid of cable or TV altogether extreme frugality?
- Would you be willing to give up TV to save money?
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We really like Netflix.
I would like to recommend VidAngel too. For $1 per movie you can rent a movie for 24 hours and filter out the things that are objectionable to your family. The filtering is really well done and I don’t have to put up with commercials and can watch the show when it is convenient for our family. I hate going to the video store because of all the nasty covers on the dvds at the video store. Now I can just pick the movie that I want without having to leave the house and I can filter out the profanity, violence, nudity, etc.
Out of the mouths of babes! My older sister doesn’t think we even had cable when I was that age! Nowadays there’s little I have to watch anymore anyway.
We have not had TV( outside programming) since 1992. Our kids grew up without it except for 2 weeks a year when we were on vacation. And we were all sick of it after 2 weeks. The benefits of no programming are huge. Advertising is designed to make humans want things. The less advertising you are exposed to, the easier it is to be happy with what you have. It puts more control in your family life. My kids watched videotapes of the same Roy Rogers shows I grew up with, and they loved it as much as I did! Now there are even more options for accessing shows. And I think it is easier to get enough sleep, without feeling the need to watch whatever silly program is on late at night.
When my oldest daughter turned 4, she started to beg for things she saw during commercials. This included adult items, like kitchenwares and such. She would look at me and say, ‘Wouldn’t you like to have that, Mama?’ with this glazed-over look. I hated it. But I loved my shows, like House, M.D., and Scrubs. My brother told me about all the shows available on Netflix, and ever since then, we’ve been T.V. free.
It was hard for the first few months, but now we don’t like to watch T.V. even at a friend’s house!
Congrats on being TV-free!
When my kids watch TV at Grandma’s house it’s funny to hear what they say about commercials. As they are getting older, they are becoming more skeptical of advertisements. They’ll say “why do they really want us to buy that so much?” and “I think they’re just saying that so that we’ll want to buy it.”
Our family also cut out cable in preparation for a possible layoff and I don’t miss it a bit! We have Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus and Netflix. It saved us money and got us up off the couch! We use our laptops to access news sites but otherwise, we’re totally out of the loop and that’s fine with me! I’m especially glad my 9 year old is no longer exposed to some of the shows on the “Kids” channels…all in all, it’s been a good decision for us!
Awesome! There are so many other options available, that not having cable isn’t as big of a deal now.
My husband and I have been cable/satellite free for the past 3 years. I am completely out of the loop and love it. I rarely even know what the weather forecast is and yet, I manage. Two of my three grown children have joined the no cable/satellite tv movement, too. 🙂
My family has teased me for years about being out of the loop, but I don’t mind. 🙂
I don’t think ever giving up TV will be an option. My boyfriend and I are both huge football fans, so there’s that. However, I’ve also noticed that assuring that all of the TV I watch is “appointment television” as opposed to just mindless watching we spend a lot more time together and while the money saving benefits may not be immediately apparent? It does show up in small ways in that there’s more time for other activities such as crafts and walks in the woods that are close to where we live. Maybe the crafts may someday prove financially beneficial or the walks we now take have long term health benefits. Ultimately though, I’d have to say the biggest benefit has been to our relationship as a whole and that, alone, is worth it. 🙂
That is perfectly fine Brigitta! If watching sports is an important part of your relationship, then don’t give it up! I like your idea of “appointment television” rather than just vegging out in front of whatever is on the screen. Thanks for sharing!
I want to get rid of our TV so bad! We don’t have cable, but we do have a giant not flat 52″ screen sitting in our living room. I hate that thing. I feel like these days there’s no need for it because any tv you may possible need can be found on youtube or other online source.
It’s true. We have access to so much online for free or a fraction of what cable costs. Even then, we watch maybe one movie a month. We are just too busy and prefer doing other things together.
We go the Netflix streaming route too. I don’t know if we buy less stuff because of not having tv advertising, but I think that we are more content with the stuff we do have. This seems especially important for our 5 yo who has already learned the “if I had $X I would…” mentality.
We’ve been without cable for a few years now. It was hard at first, but now I cannot imagine paying the cable company. We have netflix and hulu and a great TV antenna! Our son does not really care to watch tv anymore either (now 5). When he was younger he LOVED having nextflix. He loved being able to choose from 1 of 30 Thomas the Train episodes. He would be disappointed if we put on the tv and “they” had not picked an episode he liked!
Options!! Yet another perk of Netflix over cable! Thanks LeeAnn!
I agree. We did that when we moved into our new home. We don’t miss it. By buying the DVDs of the cartoons we feel are okay for our kids, we can monitor more closely what they watch, and then TURN IT OFF! Great post! Great advice.
Thnaks Rosilind. My kids watch DVDs too. It’s nice to be able to monitor what they watch and not have to worry about the commercials. And you’re right, it is easier to turn off a DVD than get sucked into the next show.
What perfect timing for this post. While we didn’t cut out television, I actually just called our cable company to cut out our cable bill and was able to reduce it by almost $40. Although, I think we’re heading towards getting rid of cable in the future. BTW-found your blog from the Thrifty Thursday Link Party
We got rid of our cable about 6 months ago because the cost kept going up and was getting outrageous! We were spending around $180 a month for our cable :/ As much as we do miss our cable… I’m a Food Network, DIY, and HGTV kind of gal and it was hard to part with it but we’re able to still get our tv fix through Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime. I’ll stick with those and save the $2400 a year in cable!
Holy cow! That is expensive!! That makes for some huge savings. Thanks for sharing Jess!
I’m with you Stephanie, I watch very little TV, would rather spend my time doing something more productive. I do tend to watch a little HGTV though. I hope to show my daughter other things to do, rather than sitting in front of the television.
That’s great Jim. I have a hard time feeling unproductive too. Whenever we sit down to watch a movie as a family I have to be doing something with my hands. Usually I work on my etsy orders while I “watch” a movie with my kids, so I can still be productive.
This is all so true! We don’t have cable and my kids never see commercials. It really does help us save because they have no idea what the “hot” toys are.
Yes! It’s so nice to not have kids beg for things at the store!
I love this!! Instead of TV I watch shows on Hulu, which is free 🙂
Another great alternative… pick up a BOOK and read!
Free is my favorite price 🙂 Reading is a great alternative!
My fiancé and I went a year without cable when we were in our apartment. It was rather freeing! We still had a tv and DVD player to watch movies. Other than that, it was Hulu or Netflix. I think we will go back to that again once move out of my parents and get our own place.
That’s great Katy!
I see your point, but I just can’t do it. I shutter at the idea of a screen-free day. I know, it’s such a bad vice, but really I’m such a healthy eater, I work out 5 days a week, I don’t smoke, seldom drink, and avoid chocolate (much to my dismay). I just can’t part with my Real Housewives 🙂 I’ll keep looking for ways to save though! Thanks for the article.
That’s fine Beth! I, on the other hand, couldn’t live without chocolate! 🙂 I much on chocolate chips out of the bag, if I don’t have any other chocolate on hand. We each have things that we are willing to give up and things we aren’t and that’s fine. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
We are a HUGE HUGE HUGE sports family. So cable will probably be one of the last things to ever leave our house. We love watching certain shows and tons of sports together. I am ok with cable because there are a lot of other expenses that we don’t, haven’t, or wont undertake.
That’s perfectly fine CeCee! I remember you saying before that you were big sports fans 🙂 You are saving in lots of other areas!
Yes, yes and yes!!!! We cut the cable almost a year ago and don’t regret it one bit!!! We still watch TV/movies but do so through Amazon Prime and Netflix. 🙂
That’s great Stephanie! I’m glad you haven’t missed it. Amazon Prime and Netflix save a lot of money!
We haven’t had cable TV for over 3 years now. We do watch TV through Hulu, netflix and directly from the networks sometimes. One thing we’ve noticed is that commercials are offensive to us now. We kind of laugh now when we see a commercial or talk back to them. We have no idea what is popular. We have no idea what’s out at the movies, which makes Redbox an adventure in itself and requires a little bit of homework if we get a free rental.
But it definitely reduces the want list and reduces the anxiety from the news casters who only report on the negative. Granted, I’m pretty out of the loop on the news but I’m also less stressed and if I really want to know, i can look it up.
I totally agree. Once you’ve been without TV and you go back, the content and commercials really are appalling! There are definitely some serious non-financial benefits of no TV!
My siblings totally make fun of be for being out of the loop, but I don’t mind 🙂