Cable is a luxury. Television in general is a luxury. The ability to watch seven football games at one time is not exactly a priority.
If you are unsure about your finances and behind on your bills, but you have cable? You need to completely reassess:
- Did you wait to pay your rent because you had to buy groceries that week?
- Is your credit card payment late because you didn’t get your paycheck cashed yet?
- Is ramen noodles a staple at your house for dinner because it’s so cheap?
it’s time to realign your viewing priorities. $75-$150 a month can save you $1,800 a year- even more if you have channels like HBO or Starz.
Story time: Years ago, my daughter and I packed all of our things in our car, and moved across the country. During the trip, the TV busted, and there was no salvaging it. The worst part was that I had just purchased it about four months prior, and was so excited to replace our old good-will TV with a new 32 inch one. (yes, it was years ago) I had used my tax return to move, so I had no money to buy a new one. So my 11 year old daughter and I didn’t have any type of television. I couldn’t watch the news and she couldn’t watch her cartoons, for 7 months.
Eventually I had saved up enough money to replace the TV for about $350. However, we really didn’t care about television anymore. We never turned it on to watch it, or even for background noise. In those months without television, I was able to do so much more with my time, that I didn’t really miss that fact that I missed out on “Lost”.
Now I live in a house with my daughter and my significant. My partner loves to watch TV, we have three TVs in our home, and I hardly ever touch any of them. Reality television irritates me, and I get my news from the internet. Even my daughter doesn’t really watch mindless TV: instead, she has two or three shows she watches religiously, and that’s it.
I’m not saying swear off cable forever, but if it doesn’t fit in your budget, take a hard look at it. Trim down on some services and cut the bill. Cutting cable is awesome for your free time, think of all the stuff you can do since you won’t be watching TV!
~V
Velma
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