The Cable cord.
I decided to get rid of my cable about a week ago.
And it has been a roller-coaster ride of emotion.
First, you need to know two things about me.
1. I love the magical box with the moving pictures known as TV. I get sucked in and am pretty much worthless when I am watching it. Seriously, it is one of my favorite things on the planet.
2. I have been working on paying off debt and getting my financial house in order for months now. It is a big part of my life and cutting costs is one of the ways I am doing that.
A few weeks ago, my cable bill went up by almost $40 a month, and for someone who is watching every penny, this was utterly unacceptable. So I set out to figure out once and for all a better, cheaper way to watch my beloved TV. I spent two hours one Saturday researching all the different options for getting TV, and there are quite a few out there. I made a cost comparison and figured out that in most cases, no matter what I did, I could not get huge savings on TV unless I got rid of it altogether. It was very disheartening.
But then, I looked into what I could do with bundling all of my TV, Internet and Phone expenses. When you added in the new options that provided, I found a way to save over $75 a month and get rid of all the cable boxes that I had in my house.
I decided to go to a strictly streaming TV situation. I am still getting my internet from the cable company (they really are the only game in town), and I moved my phone on to their mobile service. Ok, maybe I didn’t get rid of the cable company, just the cable TV…
And then the fun anxiety that comes with change happened.
I have been a mess all week trying to get used to the new normal.
I have had dropped internet in the middle of a TV show.
I have fought with the settings on my new router.
I learned that many shows I watch are now “On-demand” and they don’t have commercials. Loving that!
I also learned that change is good. Really!
I got thrown into this by my circumstances, but I am really learning to like it. I no longer have the ability to scroll mindlessly through channels with nothing on, wasting the afternoon. I am intentional about what I watch now, choosing only the things I really want to watch. I am getting more done around the house because I don’t have the distraction of the TV. It has been a real eye-opener on how much time I spent with TV in the past.
So, I am trying to embrace the change even though it has its challenges.
Have any of you gone this same experience or something similar? What did you think about it?
🙂