Life Without Cable

We've been without cable for about 8 months. We've gone on and off of cable before, but this is definitely the longest either of us has gone without cable in the last 10 years.

I'll never forget how cool it seemed when we got cable when I was a middle schooler. I was fascinated with "Clean Sweep", "Trading Spaces", "While You Were Out", and the Disney Channel. Also the Weather Channel! And the Food Channel! It was awesome. On a sick day, my time would consist of the TLC wonders...

"A Make Over Story"
"A Dating Story"
"A Wedding Story"
"A Baby Story"

Oh, it was so intriguing. And truth be told, a lot of TV shows are still intriguing to me! I definitely have my shows that I miss.

TLC:
The Duggers
The Little Couple

HGTV:
House Hunters
House Hunters International
Property Virgins

The Food Network:
The Pioneer Woman
Giada
The BareFoot Contessa
Paula Deen
Bobby Flay
The Big Food Truck Race
And an array of other cooking "teaching style" shows

Life Time:
Army Wives (Which thankfully I can watch online.)
Cheesy but addicting movies!

And of course.... I miss DVR!!!

Most of these shows are going on all of the time. And I liked to watch them all of the time. Nothing was more relaxing to me than a Saturday morning filled with my favorite Food Network cooking shows! And I still have my days where I really miss these shows.

But here is what has happened in the last 8 months that would not have happened had we still been cable subscribers:

- Blake and I have had to compromise to find shows on Netflix that we both will watch together.
- Blake and I have invested in a bunch of new games and we play them nearly every evening.
- I've taken up cross stitching again, which keeps me entertained when Blake is watching a game, where as before I'd go into the other room to watch my own show. Now we stay in the room together.
- I've enjoyed a few more books that have inspired me to live a better life.
- My Saturdays tend to be a little bit more productive- though not always much!
- We go to bed earlier and get 8-9 hours of sleep most nights.

And the biggest advantage.... we save over $80 a month. (Giving up DVR and cable.)

We are both sacrificing. I'm sacrificing my little shows I like, and Blake is sacrificing most of his sports games and talk shows that he likes. But we are spending a whole lot more time together than we did when we had cable. We do invest in Netflix Instant Play and Amazon Prime Instant Play but TV doesn't take up as much of our time as it used to. Some nights we don't even watch TV!

I don't say all of this to say I think everyone should do it, but I do strongly feel like it was one of the best decisions we've made. We were looking for ways to save money and that was an easy way that has really payed off by opening up time for us to develop new interests together.

I say all of this to say.... it is possible to get by without cable! We get so comfortable with certain luxuries that they become essentials to us. But they don't have to be! It's amazing how our perspectives can change!

Anyways, if you have cable or not... be sure to shut off the TV now and then. It's good for you! Have one night a week that you don't turn it on! See what new habits start to form! I dare you! :-)