With the economy still in a slump and people looking for continued ways to save money, one of the first targets is cable or satellite TV. With monthly bills that can easily range anywhere from $40-$100/month, it’s no surprise that this is an area for savings. At the same time, many people are hooked on television so the thought of going without or dropping some premium packages may seem unheard of.
As for us, we watch a fair amount of TV and our location makes it difficult to do without paying for some type of service. We live way out in the sticks and our antenna, while it will pick up most local digital channels, you need to rely on the weather if you want to watch TV. If it’s windy outside, forget it. Raining or snowing? We might get one channel. It’s very unreliable.
So, we went with a dish. It’s great, but the monthly bills sure do suck. One of the biggest benefits is the large DVR. If it wasn’t for that I probably wouldn’t even need a TV. Because of the DVR I can watch TV on my own terms. I can go without watching TV for a week while the DVR catches everything that I might eventually want to watch. Then when there’s a rainy weekend or other time when there’s nothing else to do I can sit down and get through my shows in record time. No more being bound to the couch only when shows are scheduled to air.
I can say it would be tough to give up now that it’s more convenient. Most of my shows are on Discovery, the Science Channel, History, Bio, etc. Nothing better than having 3 episodes of Mythbusters queued up and ready to go! The one cost-saving measure the dish did provide is that we were able to cancel one of our Sirius XM subscriptions since you can listen to it on the dish.
Have You Changed Your TV Plan or Ditched it Completely to Save Money?
So what about you? Have you changed your TV habits in an effort to save money? Let’s hear your stories or tricks to save money on television costs.
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Author: Jeremy Vohwinkle
My name is Jeremy Vohwinkle, and I’ve spent a number of years working in the finance industry providing financial advice to regular investors and those participating in employer-sponsored retirement plans.
