From 36″ to 15″
We cancelled our Direct TV.
It’s gone.
No antenna.
No news.
No sitting in front of the 36″ of glowing glass to suck my mind numb with non world changing information.
From that statement it sounds like Heather and I made some Christian tree hugging decision to create more margin in our lives for changing the world.
The truth is we are broke.
But we are rich broke.
Like we could have the TV and all the toys, but we are getting rid of that 65 bucks a month to try and pay off some debt.
And honestly, after a bit of research, I can pretty much watch anything I want online including my local news.
So I don’t ever know if we will pay for television again.
But we are making the choice to not pay for television.
Watching TV on your laptop is not quite the same experience as surround sound and a big screen.
But it is all there.
In the past year we have gotten rid of our home phone, cable/satellite, microwave, and the second car. We only have one car and 5 people.
Four staples to the American nuclear family for the past 30 years.
What Americana staple have you gotten rid of and how has it affected your life for the good or bad?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
I can say that I only turn on the TV on Sunday so that I can take a nap.
I watch everything else on the web
No Microwave? Man…..is that legal?
I only have a few months left on my DirecTV – and then it’s gone too!
we never paid for cable (always used bunny ears), but we got rid of our TV (and the bunny ears) about 1.5 years ago and we are so much better off. We fight less (over what to watch) and we read more. And anything we really want to watch is on the internet. I LOVE BEING TV FREE!
Consider yourself lucky to only have paid $69 a month. In the military, there is a racket…We pay $89 a month if we want ANY TV at all. And then we get to choose from about 10 channels in English and 5 in German. I’ll take DirecTv any day of the week.
Oh, and you say watch them online. Well, most of the things you can watch online, we can’t cuz they’re only viewable if you live in the continental US. A bunch of crap, I tell ya!!!!
we did without the cable and other things for many years, gave in and got tivo then directv 5 years or so ago, but am now seriously considering going back – and I agree, with new technology we can still watch a lot of this stuff in a different format. we’re also getting rid of the home phone – the phone number is on our business cards and with girls at home, we want a way for baby sitter, etc. to call out, so we’re porting the number to our mobile phone account and adding a third mobile phone for $10/month. time to get lean in many more ways than this and giving everything it’s due consideration, even selling my car and going to one, which is real tough to do when you own a business that you have meeting obligations for and live in a city with totally crummy public transportation, but considering it all!
Man Carlos. I know it was just because you are broke but man there is so much more out there than tv. The best tv we have is watching the world outside our backdoors and all of Gods amazing work unfold.
I am confused why the microwave is gone…
Also, you should look into hooking your laptop up to the tv…makes internet tv nice
the tv in my bedroom has had only 6 channels on it for as long as i can remember. 2 of them come in clearly. i am okay with this because ABC is one of the clear ones. hooray for desperate housewives and grey’s anatomy.
The best money-saving things we’ve done are doing most of our grocery shopping with cash (envelope system) at Aldi, driving junky (but reliable) cars, and taking advantage of all the hand-me-down kids clothes we can, and passing on our kids’ outgrown clothes to others.
My wife and I also don’t pay for cable. We’ve paid off both cars and really only use 1 car during the week since we carpool to work – saves on gas. We never use credit cards unless I travel – which I’m reimbursed for. We’ve gotten rid of over $16,000 in debt in 1 year since we’ve been married! Feels good not having bills in the mail!
Wow – not many people would be that honest. We did the same thing last spring and (after some adjustment) like it better without having the TV.
I’m still wondering about the microwave, too. What’s up with that? Is it just a decision to eat healthier? Use less electricity?
Microwave = Because you eat less crap when you have to warm it up on the stove
yup, i chose not to have cable tv in my new place. the tv is saved for watching dvds only. as long as i have the internet, i’m good to go! paying down debt is a GREAT thing, los! i’m doing dave ramsey’s Financial Peace Univ with my small group and it’s been very challenging and enlightening to learn about how much debt we Americans have, and how much more we could do with our money if we work hard and get OUT of that debt.
anyway, before i go on a tirade… great decision! and good luck with paying off that debt!
OH, my wife just reminded me that I lied. We don’t pay $89, but it’s 89 EURO a month which, depending on the dollar, is about $125 a month. I just pi$$ed myself off!! LOL If it weren’t for cartoons, I’d cancel it today!
we got rid of our cable a few months ago. We’ve survived!
my cable is included in my rent so no worries there. but i did just cancel my XM radio.
no microwave for me, either. you don’t use it as much as you think you would.
wow. it is interesting how our tv’s here at my house are dying, one keeps shutting off because the lightbulb is going out, and the others speakers are blown. I am actually really happy you posted this, it might help my family forget about television for a while, and just go on with more important things.
I didn’t have cable last year (b/c I was doing mission work and made $400/month), and I discovered that it was a much higher quality of life. So I do not pay for cable, and I split wireless internet with my neighbor (so I only pay half). I have also cut back on driving for pleasure and really think twice before driving places on the weekend (especially since there are so many fun things to do where I am). There’s still a lot of fluff in my budget though.
I left Time Warner Cable about 3 months ago and bought an Apple TV. Between watching movies with that, and hulu.com, I seriously haven’t missed “live” tv. Sports events can be the one exception, but there’s always some restaurant or bar with the game on and plenty of people to watch it with. Enjoy the extra $828/yr.
I agree with Brian Baute above on the cash for groceries. We made the switch 6 weeks ago and have saved a TREMENDOUS amount. You make way different choices when you look at the cash in your wallet versus the number of days left until the next cash draw. Do I really need a 20oz Diet Coke for $1.79?? Nope.
We have been cable TV free for over a year just to save $$$. I like TV, but not $65/month worth.
I ride a scooter to work to save gas at 80 miles/gallon and have cut phone features down to nothing. Home phone is now only $15/mo. I’d have cut that too and gone cell phones only if it weren’t for a surcharge from ATT for dry-loop DSL.
The one I’m having the hardest time with: we (fam of 4) dropped our gym memberships to save $120/mo. Major bummer, but I can still exercise at the tiny little HOA community gym. It’s not THAT bad I guess.
I have no cable. no internet. no microwave.
Life is so good.
I love, love, love when we cancel our TV. We do it periodically, every few years. My favorite part is all the talking that goes on without it. My microwave is on it’s way out too, as soon as I get my air popper for my popcorn! Have fun!
We got rid of Dish Network (and the DVR) a few months ago. It didn’t take too long to get used to it. We still follow a couple of our favorite shows online (via iTunes, etc), but the days of wasting hours on the couch channel surfing are gone. Now we waste hours on the couch in front of our laptops reading blogs.
Oh, I <3 Dave Ramsey too.
The husband and I got rid of cable several months ago and bought a digital antenna…we get 2 channels now and it’s perfectly fine with us. We are on NetFlix and don’t rent movies locally, making our monthly TV/Movie bill $13.99.
We canceled our home phone and also canceled our regular trash pickup, started recycling and started a compost pile in the backyard. After recycling and composting, we don’t make much regular trash. We now pay $6 a month for curbside recycling pickup and when we have trash, we drop it off at the dump.
Neither of us has ever had a car payment (and we just bought a car), and we’ve completely stopped using our credit cards. Our one and only debt is our mortgage, which we pay extra on every month. By paying extra, we managed to make almost 100 payments last year.
I’m curious… how does not having a mircowave save money?
That’s pretty cool. I am moving into my new apartment and I totally am not getting a t.v. just because it is going to save me so much money freed up to spend on way more important stuff.
Yeah wish I could do that….but to cancel would require paying a $450 contract fee.
But yeah, hook up your mac to your tv and surround sound. Even with TV, I still stream a lot of stuff.
WOW you guys in the US have it sooo different to us in Australia. We dont have a range of options for our phone accounts or have a choice about paying for trash pick up (its all included in the taxes we pay the government). We have cable TV at our place, a microwave and two cars… thing is my wife and I exercise our self control and make sure that we dont overuse any of our stuff. If we had to do without then we would, but we find it more beneficial to work at our self control and manage our finances well… the only debt we have is for my wife’s car and we rent our house, for now that’s how we’re doing it
no tv for 3 years + no car pmts for 2 years + using coupons for groceries + no credit cards + buying most kids clothing from consignment sales + selling our house and renting cheap = paying off $50K in debt over the past 3 years
No lie, it’s been difficult, but worth it? heck yea!
$8K to go till debt free baby
I still have cable – honestly I can’t imagine giving it up.
I guess the biggest expense I’ve given up is my golf habit. Saving close to 2,000 a year on it.
I can’t imagine how much I could get accomplished, read, or finally finished, without DirecTV! I only wish I had the intestinal fortitude to actually make the call to cancel.
*sigh*
Good call on the microwave… mine is about to die… I may not replace it… hmmm.
I’ve not paid for TV for at least 3 years. I had it for a bout a year when I got my first job, but i’ve lived a couple of years prior without TV.
Taking that stuff out of the house can help you focus more on tree hugging, but eventually it just comes down to me surfing the internet more or playing RockBand more.
holy cow! haven’t seen this much traffic on your site in awhile, so i think you’ve found you have company in this decision.
my husband is tech savvy, so for years we had high def tv without paying a cent, and tivo without cable too. however, moving to ga put us too far away from downtown to be able to get high def over the airwaves or any channel clearly (you should see the HUGE antenna in our attic that doesn’t help at all!), so we went without for the first 2 years here. we just had netflix.
we caved in and got cable for the olympics. now my husband regrets paying the monthly bill. we may pay it off and go back to $3 a month with netflix.
i admire your decision to pay off debt. you’re right about what you can get online, but i think you’ll find you don’t miss it as much as you think you will.
looking forward to meeting you at heather’s blog party!
Cut our grocery shopping in half, bring our lunch to work, no coffee from Starbucks, no movie nights at Regal, car pull to work, program our HVAC, and when we do eat out it is a lot of Mexican. Two tacos, chips and salsa is a cheap way to eat out!
Good for you all man! We gave up the home phone, soda, most eating out w/o coupons from Restaurant.com, and a few more things. Feels good.
I currently subscribe to cable tv along with HD and DVR service. It is pricey. I think we’re going to try and not have any tv cable/satellite service when we move. Probably will use the internet for tv shows. But I’ll need to find a way to watch the NCAA Tourney in March.
A good alternative to Netflix is the local library. Ours carries the latest movies and you can check-out 10 at a time for up to 3 weeks. Best of all they’re FREE.
Carlos,
Congrats. We did the same kind of things when we were young marrieds / getting our family started and established. There are still many, many luxeries we do not have that modern america has. It is also overwhelming to me the amount of money we spend on our teen kids, who are by all intents and purposes walking around with portable offices. I know this is all relative as we are guilty of much indulgence. But we take a lot of heat from folks on being so conservative. Compared to my childhood, what my kids have in my eyes is a lot, so it is funny to me when folks tease me for being a tight wad. For example, when we were kids our bed room was our bonus room. Kids went to their room to play – not a seperate great room. Likewise, we did not have personal cell phones (it wasn’t on the market yet – I know, I’m old); rather, we simply used the family land line. And sometimes even dialed our numbers, as in litterally, dialed the number around the circle. Anyway, all that to say, I am really proud of you. We spent many years taking turns with our single car with one of us riding the bus and we are the better for it.
Blessings,
Roxanne
my wife, amy, and i did this exact same thing like 3 weeks ago…for the exact same reasons as you and heather. it’s blown our minds! we talk more. we actually sit down and eat dinner together. we’re reading more…and my brain is growing as a result. it’s fantastic!
get a few a/v cables for your computer and you can watch shows on hulu on the big screen. it’s great!
I pay cash for everything to remind me money is real. I draw once a week and when it is gone I have to wait till the next week. Good discipline! No satellite any more. No gym. No going shopping for fun. Share big things like ladders, garden and power tools. I am selling stuff I don’t need and use freecycle too. Cook from scratch. grow veg. Walk instead of drive.
God called my husband and I to sponsor a kid through Compassion instead of having cable. It is the biggest blessing EVER.
Have not owned a TV for the past 8 years. Watch my shows at Hulu.com and catch my live sports by searching on Justin.tv or UStream.tv
People still look at me strange when I say we don’t have a TV.
A house. We are renting and everyone keeps saying, “When are you going to buy? Why are you renting? You should buy. You are wasting money on rent.” As we watch the houses around us fall and fall in value, we don’t see any reason to buy right now and then own a house a year from now that is worth $100K less. Already did that once, don’t want to do it again!
Not sure owning a house is an American staple but in the suburbs it sure seems like it!
trash removal. pftt I can take out my own trash
Definitely the t.v…. We have bunny ears and it works just fine to get the regular channels so I really don’t watch that much t.v.. which is great…
Also, eating out. We eat out only on occasions such as birthdays or anniversaries.
we got rid of “real” cable…we have a $6.00/month plan where we get VERY basic cable (i’m talkin’ like 10 channels if you don’t count the spanish ones). also, when we moved into our new house, it didn’t come with a microwave so we were just gonna buy one without another thought about it & then we thought “wait, do we really NEED one?” so, we decided to try to see what it’s like without one and i actually like it better. besides, it’s always made me wonder what all those radiation waves are doing to the food (and you’re right, it’s harder to eat as much junk…especially preservative filled stuff).
We cut $100 a month out of our grocery budget & pay with cash. No one even noticed the difference, except me when I had an extra $100 in my account at the end of the month.
We pack homemade lunches everyday for all the kids & for hubs. Hubs taking his lunch saves us about $5 a day. I can send lunch & 2 bottled waters for about $2 for hubs vs. the $7 he was spending. Not including saving about $2 for both kids to take a lunch instead of buying.
We also gave up on having a big bday party for each kid every year. They have big parties on even years. Small family parties on odd years. This saves me $150 per kid on those even years.
Goodwill. We live in a nice area. Goodwill rocks here. I buy stuff on 1/2 off day & use my 1/2 off coupon. I then rip apart & repurpose clothes for the girls. I made summer dresses this year out of men’s hawaiian shirts. They were adorable & only 1.25 each.
Congratulations!
I truly believe it will work wonders to improve your happiness in life. Not only because you’ll create more time to spend with your family, but you also won’t be subjected to the doom and gloom in today’s news reporting or the bombardment of advertising telling you what you need to purchase to live a happier and more fulfilling life.
When I was living solo, I dropped both my television and internet service. It took some getting used to, but I decided I didn’t need it anymore and I lived fine for several months without it. I picked up a roommate who couldn’t live without his incessant desire to play World of Warcraft and his aircard just wasn’t giving him enough bandwidth. So, I’ve got the internet back, at least but I only spend an hour or two (tops) cruising the web and that’s usually catching up on all my tech reading.
The big change for me was deciding to commute year-round, rain or shine, hot or cold on a motorcycle. While the discomfort and inconvenience for doing so isn’t for everybody, saving a minimum of 60% in gasoline (and who knows how much for maintenance costs) is well worth it.
While I’m glad the price of gasoline is dropping, it’s somewhat sad to see it low instead of high. I think it’s time for Americans to really make hard decisions about their life and find a new appreciation for what their time and money is worth.
I’ve gotten rid of my POTS (Plain Ol’ Telephone Service), opting instead for magicJack. Believe it or not, it’s still not enough to make the ends meet. I’m taking the risky move of signing up to be a résumé writer at the Strong Resume web site.
one car, no home phone family here.
first of all. it’s awesome that you’re taking those steps in your life… we’ve been able to proceed with our adoption because of getting rid of the debt and extra in our life.
we go without: cable. home phones. new cars (Go Junky Car Club!). new clothes every season. we only “rent” videos FREE from the library. and rarely go see a new release film opting for the $3.50 theater – and even then it has to be a GREAT movie.
We’re a one car, no cable, no home phone family here! And we love it!
We’ve been talking about downsizing to one car – but who gets the car during the day?
We currently don’t have cable but man basketball season is coming and I need my bball! Where can I watch NBA games?
@jenni // We split.
I have it on Mondays and Tuesdays because I have to go to NP in the mornings.
She has it the other days.
She drops Seanna and I off at Buckhead on Wed and TH since Seanna goes to PreSchool.
I take the train to the bus and then walk 20 minutes home.
She wakes up at 6 am to get me to church with all 3 kids.
That is the roughest day.
But we make it work and are saving BOAT LOADS of money.
You can do it!!!!!!
I live with two other roommates.
The tv thing is out of the question.
I did sell my tv, in hopes to watch it less.
It was a 50/50 success.
My next step is downgrading vehicles from a Yukon to something decent on gas.
I’m a Work-In-Process, that’s for sure.
I hope your new step takes you where you wanna be man.
http://vagabondrunn.wordpress.com
we just cut our cable this weekend as well… not missing it much. our son is even ok with it.
oh, and at 38 i’m starting to cook… it is consuming my life. it’s all good though… i’m actually pretty decent at it.
count down is on. hubby getting laid off in two weeks… here we grow again! can’t wait to see how this turns out.
Wondering… who is your internet provider?
Seriously this is huge on my heart right now. We got rid of our 4br 2b beautiful house and live in a 2br townhouse now. No phone (cells only) and are retentive about usage there. No cable. Broadband is free with the townhomes, and we get those free because I took a job here as the onsite manager. So free utils, rent. No car payment now. Driving junker with no exhaust (thats getting fixed soon). I didn’t put my new les paul on a credit card… instead its on layaway and I’ll see it sometime next month. We shop at sav-alot and aldis mostly. My money goes to compassion and my church mostly now. I buy used cd’s when I can.
Alot of changes. All good.
We sold just about everything when we moved (so we wouldn’t have to move it), including the TV. We made the decision to buy a Mac Book Pro instead of a TV and cable and haven’t regretted it. We’ve been TVless for 1.5 years and still happy with the decision. I can’t imagine we will ever go back…
Just get a decent video card for your laptop with an output to your TV and you’re good-to-go!
OK I get the other stuff, but the microwave?! REALLY?! That’s just evil! LOL
I’ve gotten rid of paying for everything with credit cards. I now use either a)cash or b)debit card. I have noticed that I’m not spending as much. Even though I was paying off the card every month, paying with greenbacks makes me more cautious and conservative. My goal is to save enough in three years to buy my next car with cash.
With the economy, my husband’s home improvement business is struggling so we got rid of the home phone, internet and cable TV about a month ago. Hasn’t phased me one bit… of course I still have internet at work where I read blogs on breaks. ; ) We did splurge on a set of $8 rabbit ears so we have about 6 channels.
No cable, no home phone, no microwave, and no car (but I live in NY and only rich people have cars here). The newest savings is no meat, and cutting way down on dairy. My husband and I just read The China Study and we’re now Flexitarians. It’s amazing how much money you save shopping at farmer’s markets and eating lots of veggies and whole grains.
My wife and I did the same thing over the summer. We found that we were watching things that we didn’t even like, simply because it was available. It was after we had an in-depth conversation about which girl Brett should pick on Rock of Love that we decided we should find something better to spend our 60 dollars a month on.
I can’t remember the last time we went to the theater, and if we do go for food, it’s usually Subway. We split a footlong sub and drink water instead of soda.
We honestly thought we would miss cable and the restaurants more than we do. It’s been great, and we should be able to pay off our car sooner than expected now!
wingnut
Got rid of house telephone, newpaper subscription, my ex wife got rid of me..
I just finished paying my car off a couple months ago-I was soo looking forward to having that extra $$, but we just bought a house and borrowed lots of $$ from family, so I still don’t have that extra $$, plus I transferred to a different branch and I’m getting a lot less hours than I used to. (I’m at work right now, and someone just walked in for an interview, so I guess i’ll be getting even less hours now!)
I don’t pay our sattelite bill, but I don’t think I’d want to cuz they don’t have my soap opera online, and I don’t think Doctor Who is online, either. I think everything else is, though, once those two shows are online, then I’ll be willing to get rid of Satellite!
Los there is hope for your big screen yet. Josh Griffin hooked all of his stuff up to his plasma surely you can do it.
http://www.morethandodgeball.com/?p=4360
Los – what’s the site you use to view TV shows?
well my husb works for cable company, so it’s all free for us [cable, phone, internet] BUT if it wasn’t would just have internet… for sure a positive choice…being free of debt is the best feeling in the world. we are in our mid 30’s and we our debt free this year for the first time in our lives!
I just graduated from college and started a job at a camp and retreat center in the middle of Minnesota.
I love my job! I am learning to love the limited cell phone reception and I love not having a TV! My house came with a microwave…. hahaha. But I (like several others that have commented) just use Netflix and the Internet to get my news/ entertainment. I have so much more time now that I am living more simply. I love it! 
http://www.hulu.com
http://www.boxee.tv
Apple TV
Netflix
The tools are out there. The way we think about home entertainment is changing.
dumped the cable months ago… (try hulu.com for tv!)
ditched the home phone line too…
gave one of our cars to the womens shelter…
stopped using the dishwasher and instead have a competitions with the kids on drying dishes…
stacked our kids on a bunkbed to save space..
oh yeah, and just leased out our house to another family.
We’re moving into a 400 square foot RV. Goodbye trappings, hello freedom!
God Bless. See you on the road.
my wife and i never got cable so that we would not get used to it
now it is helping us with the money
We haven’t had DirectTV or cable in years.
We don’t do credit cards.
We garage sale for needed items.
We have been known to use FreeCycle.
Not often do we buy anything new.
We limit ourselves to budgeted TracFones.
We don’t buy many pre-made meals and rarely eat out.
Dude, I can’t believe how many people have done this. I thought my wife and I were the only ones. I did the math too. I used to watch only two shows with any consistency–The Office and Heroes–and I figured if I couldn’t catch it on my bunny ears I’d download it to iTunes and watch it in HD for 1.99.
And Dave Ramsey’s system works baby. Cash only. Credit/Debit cards are for suckers.
We stopped eating out so much. In fact, we don’t eat out at all and haven’t done takeout in months. So, no convenience eating for us. It’s back to good-ole-homemade-cooking.
We gave up on tv about 6 years ago. No cable, satellite, rabbit ears, nothing, nada.
Best decision we ever made. 5 kids, 2 adults in our family. We read, do devotions together, sleep more, etc.
We get our news from the net.
It was mostly because of philosophical differences with tv programming, and the realization that the US has more propaganda coming out of that box than Communist Russia in its heyday.
Welcome to freedom.
we dont’ have a Microwave, and we only have cable because it comes with our rent. We also don’t buy or rent dvds… just wait for them to come out to the library.
We often hook our apple computers to the tv to watch tv on computer on the tv (clear as mud, right?).
We gave up our home landline phone (cell phones only now) We gave up the need (desire) for a brand new car. We have a 2001 Mazda and 1994 Nissan.