We ditched cable TV last year about this time, and while I think it was the best idea for our family, it may not be for yours. For that reason, I wanted to write a post to expose the truth, for better or worse, because maybe it’s not it’s all it’s cracked up to be. It’s all about your prospective!
Pros and Cons of Ditching Cable
PROS
- We save $80/month. Our bill before ditching was $140 for cable and high-speed Internet. Ouch. Now, it’s $60 for Internet, a basic channels package and Amazon Prime. That adds up to saving $960/year.
- We aren’t paying for a bunch of channels we aren’t watching. When we had cable, we only watched a small portion of the channels we had, and even then, we only watched what *we* wanted for an hour or so after the kids went to bed.
- We can avoid most annoying kid shows. My 3-year-old isn’t crying for DVR’d Calliou anymore, or any other show for that matter. {She was a huge reason we gave it up in the first place — she was a demanding monster with it.}
- We barely watch TV with the kids unless it’s a movie or a morning cartoon on PBS. So when we do watch TV, it’s more deliberate. If there isn’t anything good on, we switch it off and find something else to do.
- It helps forces the kids to be creative, play independently, and get outside more. {Less TV temptation = more time to do important kid things, like jump in mud puddles!}
CONS
- We are SO out of the loop when it comes to discussing popular TV shows or movies, though we do watch some occasionally through a friend’s Netflix subscription.
- We can’t watch many sports unless they are on local channels, which makes our home an unpopular destination during football and basketball seasons.
- My kids aren’t totally free of screen time, and often will beg for our phones and tablet instead. For those rainy days or times I need to make a call or get work done, I’m thankful for these items.
- We have to worry that the next time we’re up for Internet renewal they may jack up our price or penalize us for not having a more traditional package.
Even though the pros and cons are pretty evenly matched, I don’t see us going back to cable anytime soon. The savings are just too good, there are too many easy options for streaming when it’s wanted, and it’s hardly missed.
But, if the cable companies ever come out with a ala carte package where we can just pick a few channels we like for a fair price, we may be back. Only time will tell.
Have you ditched cable? Was it all you’d hoped it would be?
All of these things—-yes! We have been cable-free for almost 3 years!
Woot! It’s such a freeing feeling, really. Way to stick it to the man…Or, cable companies 😉
We just cut cable. I agree with you and can’t wait for the savings. We did get sling tv and Netflix and so far it’s been nice. We don’t watch as much tv but the sports will be a big change. Cable was just outrageous and we felt like we were just surfing channels a lot and wasting time. Thank you for this timely article. I enjoy your perspective ?
Thanks so much for chiming in! We are lucky to have options. I always say it would be one thing if I had a few more hours in the day, but we just don’t. Good luck with the transition 🙂
Thank you for this! Our contract is up in April and I’m really ready to cut the cord. I have a Chromecast, plus Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime–I think we’ll be okay 🙂 I do worry about the sports, especially since Ricky is a Bears fan–never going to be on basic cable around here. It will be interesting to see how much our internet alone will wind up being–I hope they don’t jack up the prices.
Yeah, they did jack ours up, but the savings were still pretty awesome. Fingers crossed for you!