I’ll admit: Life without cable isn’t bad. I do, however, have to come to this conclusion on my own. Hi, I’m Tawsha and I’m a TV addict.
Part of life organization for me is getting my finances in order. More specifically: Becoming debt free. This is already a challenge and taking me out of my comfort zone every single day. Coming from a radio background, it was my job to know what was going on with everything at all times. I’m the source of the information, not the recipient. I got into a groove with knowing all and keeping up to date with as many TV shows, movies and award shows as possible. By taking away the ability to view everything on every channel (or at least DVR it), I’m breaking into a cold sweat, here.
I turned on the TV yesterday to catch up on LIVE with Kelly and Michael and that’s when I saw it: The black screen of doom. No DVR, no cable and we don’t yet have a digital antennae to bring in non-cable channels.
Debt free. Debt free.
It would be very simple to opt for an online streaming service but the point is to eliminate any sort of payment, not replace one with another – no matter the savings.
Whenever I do anything, I have to post it on Facebook. Yes, I’m that person. I love to have a community, to receive feedback and to learn from others. In this case, I learned a lot. Turns out: I’m not alone in this whole “eliminating cable” venture.
There are free online services where you can watch just about every show as early as the morning after – with the exception of a few channels. Bravo, TBS and CBS are a disappointment. They don’t post their shows on Hulu at all, FYI.
So, as I venture toward being debt free for my Total Money Makeover, I’ll share anything and everything I learn in order to maintain some sort of normalcy and comfort for me…and you.
- Project TV: Free. You have to provide payment information but you aren’t charged. I don’t have personal experience, though.
Do you have any tips?
I already miss the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills.
Debt free.
If you have a gym membership, you can watch the show while working out.
Here’s the irony in that, Andrea. No gym memberships to save money. Baaaaaaahhhh!
I am looking into a new wifi device at radio shck they say is better than the original thing they usaed to replace the antenna? It cost 83.00 intially but if it gets the ion chanell plus the basic thats all I need. You can hook it up to the tv or run it off your modem. Plus FYI if you type in some of the cable chanels you can watch episodes free their too ABC.com has almost eveything on there chanel
If you have amazon prime then you can watch stuff for free that way as well. We’ve never had cable but once we paid off our debt we added Netflix. Then once we got to Japan we added Hulu plus and amazon prime (since its a life saving on shipping here). Don’t think I’ll ever pay for cable.
I just looked into Prime Membership through Amazon. $79/month. Nice. That would definitely be worth it. Thanks for the heads up. Sounds like you’re all set up! Side note: Can you watch shows like Real Housewives on any of your non-cable options?
We’re getting rid of cable right after the Super Bowl. Might get a digital antenna for next year’s football season, I hadn’t thought of that.
My parents have every channel known to man. I had my mom create an additional email address for me, I log in at my home or via my iPad and have access to all of her on demand channels and movies. I plug my mac into my TV via HDMI and boom, I have access to all shows listed on demand. Sort of like Hulu but BETTER! Perhaps you have someone who is willing to share?
Ouch!!!! That’s gotta hurt. That said, I’m still with ya and sending goodness your way. So, just how does Hulu and Netflix work?
It totally hurts. Has anything happened since I’ve been gone? Ha! Hulu is online. Just log into their website and sign up for a free account and you can watch shows on your computer. The Hulu plus accounts gain you access to even more shows and streaming on any device (computer or mobile). Netflix is similiar to Hulu. There you have it. 🙂 -T