Reducing Cable Expense

Tomorrow, the cable company will be coming to pick up the digital box and downgrade our cable. I called and asked that our cable be reduced to 13 channels due to my husband being laid off. They did offer me a price reduction to keep it, but $15 is just not enough. We need to cut more money than that.

I was surprised that they are not charging us a fee to downgrade, since I know I have had to pay this before, but that is good. We really don't need to spend anymore money, but I was prepared to if need be. One $30 charge is in the long run cheaper than keeping the digital cable.

We also have internet, but we won't be getting rid of that any time soon. My husband and I both need it in order to look up jobs, pay bills online, etc. Plus I think I would not adjust well to not having internet. I could care less about tv (especially since there's quite a bit of tv shows online, including Heroes!) since there really is never anything on anyways. Many of the major networks have their shows online and you can check out Hulu.com to find older movies.

By reducing our cable we are going from $107 a month down to $55!! Over $50! That is an awesome savings. Plus, my family will no longer be watching as much tv. So, that is an advantage too. I did tape a bunch of the little ones' favorite shows (the ones that are on Nick JR and Playhouse Disney). Plus we have a bunch of movies they can watch, like Bolt and Cars. They will also be able to still watch PBS and there are some really good shows on there. WordWorld and SuperWhy are favorites in this house. Of course, Sesame Street is right up there too, along with Curious George. PBS has certainly improved its childrens' programming, even since my older son was little (and he just turned 11).

So, if you are looking at a way to cut your expenses this one way. You could also cancel it all together if you don't watch it anyways.

DO REALLY NEED CABLE?

Now that baseball is basically over and the Mets did not make it into divisional play, AGAIN, my husband announced that now we could reduce the cable to channels 2-13. This costs about $10 a month, so our cable and Internet will go from being about $100 a month to about $55. With the main channels we can still watch network television and the kids can still watch PBS. Before we cancel it, we will be taping a bunch of the kids favorite shows like Dora, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Backyardigans, etc.

Saving $45 a month is a big deal. That's my highest credit card payment right there. I could be using that to snowball all our debt and get rid of it quicker.

We won't miss cable too much. We spend way too much time staring at the TV anyway, so it will probably be good for us. Plus a lot of shows can be seen online now. I often watch Heroes online because I somehow forget to watch it. I always watch SNL online because I don't want to watch the whole thing, just the political satire. If we start getting bored with network tv, there is always www.Hulu.com which has older movies and tv shows. Also we can run down to the grocery store and rent a movie from the RedBox for $1 a night per movie. http://www.insideredbox.com/

How much money could you save by reducing your cable or canceling it? By the way, most cable companies have some form of the reduced cable for about $10, but you have to ask them about it.

Flickr Tags: cable,cable reduction,saving money,entertainment