Thursday, October 21

Thrifty Thursday...tips to save you some dough!

Today's thrifty tip was an easy one for my family to do. But I know many people will have a hard time with it.
Are you ready??
GET RID OF CABLE or the entire t.v for that matter!
Shock I know. So lets go over this in detail...

It all started in the summer for us. We were barely home, it was gorgeous outside and there was plenty to do out door. No need for t.v then. Not to mention the summer selection of programs totally blows. Year after year we were paying for t.v and premium cable channels and not watching a thing. I will admit that on rainy days and once Henry was asleep our "on demand" did get quite a workout. But was it worth the $130.00 a month plus rental of the d.v.r box???....I think not. So we put a end to it. Slowly.
First we got rid of the HBO and SHOWTIME but on one condition, I got to finish Dexter, Weeds, Sex in the City, L word etc. So once those series finally came to and end. Joe canceled  that part. Well by then spring was upon us and Henry was getting older and I found myself becoming very aware of what was on the tube when it was on. Sure P.B.S is great but the commercials aren't always the best. I grew up on Sesame Street so I said hey why not, but as I began sitting with Henry, I discovered that the Sesame Street of my day was long gone and in its place is a dumb downed version, complete with a annoying red furry monster that has a entire 15 minute long sketch and not a darn thing to learn from it. Yet he is the most popular thing going these days. Don't believe me??? just take a look at your local toy store. I will admit it.... I hate ELMO!!!
After long debate with Joe, we gathered that t.v as a whole was not needed. Most of every show can be found on the Internet. We decided that Henry was to only watch d.v.d's. Only allowed to watch a hour of t.v at the most and of course not every day. In the spring and summer never!
We put our wireless service into our phone bill and saved the $130.00 a month we were paying just for cable!!
I still watch t.v though..only in bed and on my lap top. I am on the current season of True blood, Dexter Vampire Diaries. Up to speed on Weeds, dying for The Secret Diary of a Call Girl and Californication to start. Joe and I watch Survivor only a day later than everyone else. You Tube has his poker shows and if you look hard enough on Google you really can find it all. And for free.
As for Henry...well he now watches Sesame Street but only the old school disc set for now. He loves Planet Earth, Little Bear and Maisy and I now let him watch Little House on the Prairie. He totally loves it!!
I do too and I must say watching it again as an adult, it really is a honest to goodness show with terrific values and there is always good lesson to teach to Henry!

So talk it over, think on it a bit. Take a stock as to how much t.v you watch. what are you watching. Can you find it on the Internet. See how much boob tube you view in the nice months. I bet after having that insight you may see that you  don't need that expense.  You can use all that saved dough to buy a 1000 piece puzzle and declare Game Night or spend a little time reading a good book in bed with your hubby. Trust me the rewards are huge and worth every penny of that saved cable bill!

1 comment:

NML said...

Love it! We haven't had cable in years, and I'll never go back. We download everything...