WHY WE DITCHED CABLE

 

No, you haven’t accidentally stumbled on to a tech blog.  This is still Haute in Texas, where we talk about fashion, beauty, and motherhood.  But for today I thought I’d let you all in on a different type of secret.  Not the kind that will make you look five pounds slimmer, or your skin glow like Aphrodite.  Rather, it will make your wallet slimmer and your heart glow.  Kind of.

We ditched cable a few months ago, and I wasn’t sure how we would do initially.  I thought it was worth it to try, and the bill every month from Time Warner was confirmation of that.  When we finally took the leap, however, we never wanted to look back.  I just want other families in similar situations to know cable isn’t TRULY a necessity.  You CAN live without it and still feel like you live in modern day times.  Here’s five reasons why:

1) There’s a million other options now.

Netflix, Hulu, Roku, HBO GO, Amazon Prime Video, the list of other ways to watch your favorite shows is almost endless.  And there’s literally something for everyone.  I’ve watched documentaries, cooking shows, home improvement segments, kid’s movies, and rom-coms from the comfort of my home and without the help of the cable man.  It also means I can access it on my iPad, iPhone, whatever medium I want.  Wham bam, thank you ma’am.

2) You’ll only miss live sports.

I’m not going to lie, it was a little awkward when our family all came over for Thanksgiving, only to discover they wouldn’t be able to watch the Cowboys game.  Live sports are a slight downer, but with ESPN Go and NFL Mobile, if we REALLY missed it we could find some alternative options.  It’s something we truly only miss 3-4 times a year.  Worst case, we have friends or a Buffalo Wild Wings within driving distance to catch the big game and all the hoopla that goes with it.  No worries.

3) It makes financial sense.

Out of all the channels we had access to with cable, we probably watched 4.  Think about how much we were paying per month compared to the value of what we were getting!  Now that we’re saving over $100/month off our cable bill and just paying for internet, the $8/month charge from Netflix is almost laughable.  Add in our Amazon prime membership (which we use for free two-day shipping on Amazon ALL the time anyways) and we’re still far below what we used to pay every month.  I’m horrendous at budgeting, coupons, and saving money in general, but this is my kind of math.

4) There are far better uses for your time.

Without the time suck I find I get more done, and we spend more time as a family actually interacting with one another, not just staring at the same screen at the same time.  Sure, Cora still watches tons of My Little Pony and The Magic School Bus, but since it stops at the end of each episode it’s a clear choice to continue watching.  More often than not, she gets bored with it after one or two and we’re off doing the next thing.  I’m not anti-screen when it comes to kids, but I do think it shouldn’t be the predominant activity in a child’s life.  Get outside and do something for the love of Pete.

5) News sources are everywhere.

Besides live sports, most people like their live TV fro the nightly news, weather, and keeping abreast with what’s happening in the world.  I find that listening to NPR in the car, and checking the weather app on my phone pretty much eliminates the need for that.  And if I want to see what the local news stations are up to, a quick visit to their website or Twitter feed is all it takes.  And then it’s not a matter of catching it at the right time each night, it’s available when and where I need it.

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The irony of all this is that we didn’t have cable when I was growing up either, and I HATED it.  Every time my friends would talk about some show on Nickolodeon or MTV, I had zero idea what they were talking about.  Then I went to college and promptly became addicted to E!, VH1, and TLC.  Along with sugary cereals that I wasn’t allowed to have at home, either.  Yup, I’m a rebel.  But now it seems I’ve come full circle, and for the eight millionth time it turns out my parents were right.  Television should never be the end all, be all of our existence.  I just hope Cora agrees with me someday too.

XO,

A