Fact: We Got Rid of Cable | Anchors Aweigh

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Fact: We Got Rid of Cable

It's true. There, I said it. Gone are the days of watching hours of HGTV or Sunday movies on ABC Family. Well, at least temporarily. Let's back up...


Once upon a time, a young couple in newlywed bliss ordered DirecTV for a reasonable $48 a month. The young couple enjoyed hours of entertainment in front of the television their first year of marriage and happily paid the very reasonable $48 a month. Just when life seemed too good to be true, well, it suddenly was. Just like that, the honeymoon phase was over, and the blissfully happy married couple of a year was paying $100 a month for their cable. 

Okay, story time is over, but in a nutshell, that's how it went down.

I must say, well played DirecTV. We loved that $48 a month price we got for the first year that we never thought to check that it might double the second year. So I should actually read the fine print before I sign 2 year contracts? Dually noted. 

Paying $1200 a year for cable just kind of made us cringe. Obviously we could never get rid of cable, so we forked over the money each month. Or could we get rid of cable? When we actually sat down to talk about it, we realized living without cable might not be much different than living with cable. We realized that with Hulu and Amazon Prime, we could watch nearly everything we watch with cable. The big exception: sports. Neither of us are big sports watchers, with the exception of Aggie football. We don't miss a game, so that could be a challenge come August.

Since we will only live in Corpus Christi for 4 months, we thought this was the perfect trial period to see how we survive without cable. It's been two weeks, and so far we are still alive. We did order an antenna from Amazon that allows us to watch the main channels (FOX, NBC, ABC, CBS, and a variety of Spanish channels we can't understand). The only minor inconvenience I can report so far is the inability to fast forward through commercials. If that's the only downside to this little experiment at the end of four months, I think we'll consider it a worthwhile endeavor. I'll check in again on this topic as we near the end of our time in Corpus Christi and let you know how we've fared. It should be interesting!

Have you ever thought of ditching cable? Do you think we're nuts for taking the plunge?


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36 comments :

The Girl who Loved to Write said...

We just did this too. When you add it up like that, it's sickening to think about. Hooray for saving money!

Karla said...

We haven't had cable in almost 2 years! We just have Netflix. We looooove it! Saves a ton of cash too!

Breanna said...

Oh my goodness I have been trying to convince my husband to do this for YEARS! (I won't even go into our horrible experience with COX lately) But he is a serious sports guy which really throws a wrench into everything!

www.goingupupandaway.blogspot.com

Pleas(e) and Carrots said...

Ahh we could never do it, but you guys are awesome for being able to! Brian is obsessed with sports, as in, they are all he watches, so we could never get rid of it. Plus, I've become a bit attached to DVR, exactly for the reason you miss it- recording shows so I can fast forward through commercials!

Caitlin said...

That's so awesome! I would like to do this too as long as I could catch the news channels. With the new Chromecast, I pretty much just watch Netflix which is awesome {and a LOT cheaper}!

Sarah said...

For the first year we lived together we didn't have cable. We loved Hulu and Netflix. Sports is what eventually drew us in. My fiance is a big OKC Thunder fan, other than that I would go back in a second. I think it's a great idea because 98% of the time there's nothing on tv worth watching anyways..

Ashley said...

My fiance and I have decided to not get cable when we move into our apartment. We already have subscriptions to Hulu and Netflix and we can watch pretty much everything we would ever want to watch on those.

Melissa said...

Ryan and I actually don't have cable. We have hulu and netflix, and we intend to get Apple TV eventually so we can stream it on a TV. However, we want to enjoy life outside of our living room, and it's been great!

Ashley - Married to the Game said...

Holy that's a lot to pay for cable! We haven't had to worry about paying for cable in while because the hockey teams cover living expenses, but we probably won't get cable when we get a place because we don't actually watch that much tv. So, no, I don't think that you're nuts! I think you're smart. Have a great weekend!

Kirst Semler said...

Wow that is a lot of money for cable! We haven't had cable for the last year and a half and we love it! We have netflix and that is good for us. Though I do miss property brothers and kitchen cousins, but other then that it's manageable.

Christiana Marie said...

We have thought about doing this too! Only I think if we cancel cable our internet will cost more. What do you guys pay for internet? Does it end up being way cheaper?! Thanks for the helpful post!

Veronica-VeroSays! said...

I would love to ditch cable..' But my fiancé loves sports..! Bummer!

Carly said...

I am trying to convince my husband to do this, but he needs to have like 300 sports channels so that makes it a bit tricky unfortunately! With netflix and online streaming it seems like you don't really NEED cable so much anymore!

Mrs. M ~ a.k.a. ~ April said...

When I saw your title, I smiled to myself. Because we actually JUST got rid of cable! I was SO happy! Before he left on a short foundation building trip in Mexico, he cut cable but I still could watch it until this Wednesday. They cut it! He got home yesterday and instead of having the T.V. to babysit us, we actually sat on the couch together and talked. Granted we had our phones to play with too but I didn't feel like we had this big black screen in front of us to keep us from somehow connecting. It was very nice. Yes, we have the internet still and our phones but t.v. became a big deal. I'm still trying to keep the t.v. out of our room "to watch movies" if I can help it :)
Okay, enough blabbing. :)

Unknown said...

I did this 2 years ago!!!! Hulu plus is way cheaper! I also have an antenna because I really only watched the main channels anyway and CBS isnt on Hulu. With Amazon prime, Netflix, and Hulu, I get 99% of what I want! PS - I even go old school because I still have a VHS / DVD player, and I record CBS shows on a vhs tape like we did 10 years ago. If i forget i'll watch it on CBS online, even though they have a ton of commercials!

Happily Ever Parker said...

But what about BRAVO?! My husband tries to get me to can cable all the time! I told him NO WAY!! :) Good luck to you!

Jen said...

We've thought about getting rid of cable..it's a constant conversation haha.

Diane @ DD Kimball Road said...

We have been without since July when Time Warner and CBS had their huge debate....CBS owns Showtime and we missed the last half of Dexter....we were P.I.S.S.E.D. The hubby misses it....I do not. I have YouTube and Netflix! Haha

Emily Stewart said...

Kudos to you guys, let me know how it goes! I have wanted to do this to save money but Ryan says no way, no how. I really think it would be doable with Netflix and Hulu though. Hmmm thoughts to ponder!

Rachel Lynn said...

We're about to come up on 3 years sans cable. Between online viewing, Hulu, and Netflix (although I keep hearing Amazon Prime is awesome too)....we can watch everything we want to. For under $20 a month. We love it.

Hope your experiment goes well!

My Wholesome Home

Patty said...

We never had cable but just got rid of Netflix. I am actually kind of glad cause it gives us more time together in the evenings; and definitely encourages us to pray and read together more.

Janelle Cook said...

We got rid of cable last September, and I haven't even noticed! It's great saving some money, and I was never a big TV watcher in the first place. :)

Unknown said...

For the record: I thought we would move and cancel DirectTV before we hit year 2!

Jennifer @ Six One Four said...

We got rid of cable, got it again, then got rid of it and well now we have it again... When we move we probably won't get it.. well maybe, we clearly can't make up our minds :)

~Anchored In Christ~ said...

i dont have cable in my room so its like i already do that. but all the shows i watch other than the shows on abc family and abc i can watch online. i do believe. i have netflix for now.

Jes said...

We don't have cable and the only thing I miss is sports. Where we live, even with the antenna, we can't even get network tv so I haven't been able to watch the Olympics at all. I'm happy with the money we save though.

Kenzie Smith said...

We've gotten rid of cable before and at first it was a little weird, but thanks to Netflix and Hulu I was totally fine with not having DirecTV! It's crazy how much they charge you once that first year is up. We lasted six months without cable, then wound up getting it again.

Anonymous said...

I don't think your nuts at all! In college, I lived without a tv for about 2 years. I found that instead of wasting time watching television, I was actually doing things with my life! And honestly, I'm going to talk with my mom to see if we can cancel cable for our house... I'm really the only person that watches it and now that I work 50 hours a week I don't watch it anymore.

Hilary said...

We got rid of cable about 6 months ago, and have never looked back! We got a Chromecast and can stream netflix and hulu directly to the TV. It is great! And way more affordable than cable.

Nicole said...

Everytime my husband deploys I cut the cable. The amount of money saved goes to monthly adventures. Unfortunately, as soon as the hubby gets back we are paying the insane amount for cable again because he loves television. To see $1200 in writing literally makes me sick! Mostly because my husband signed that contract and we are still in the honeymoon phase. I didn't realize the price increases after a year. I'm absolutely sick to learn this. Ugh! But so fortunate you wrote this so I wouldn't really be surprised in 6 months.

Stephanie said...

I am going to cut ours down to the minimum channels when Tom deploys. I only watch things on the main channels anyway, hopefully I can convince Tom of the benefits!

Elizabeth said...

I totally agree! My man and I dont have cable. We just do Netflix and Hulu! It has been working for us so far!!! But make sure to keep us updated on how you guys do without it!

Love Always,
Elizabeth
thejourneycreatingme.blogspot.com

Susannah said...

We don't have cable at all. We just watch our shows on Netflix, Hulu, and possibly illegal sites.

Tammy Jo said...

I have Dish and honestly don't hardly ever watch live tv for the most part it is all DVR'ed

The Grits Blog said...

Girl going without cable is eassssyyyyy!! You can watch netflix and hulu!! Thank you for linking up and letting me find your blog!! Which is super ca-ute by the way!

Lauren {at} Life.Love.Lauren said...

I totally ditched cable and never looked back!

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