Summer Project Update

In my massive summer project of learning how to live more simply (translation: not spend so much money), I have made a very difficult decision. I'm giving up my cable package. I had my cable, phone and internet bundled. As of today, I am officially without cable at my house. (I unplugged my cable box last week, but it became official today.)

The decision to drop cable was a pretty easy one. I really don't watch that much TV. From August-May, when sports are in season, I work lots of overtime. When I get home from games, I feel like taking a shower and laying in bed, not sitting down to watch TV. My daughter doesn't watch much TV. She wants to watch DVDs (over...and over...and over...). I was paying $130.00 for my bundle, and come July it was going to increase to $175.00 a month. There's no way I can justify paying that much money for TV that I only watch a couple of times a week, a phone that I never use, and internet that I only access a few hours a day. It was time to do some research.

I saw an article from a reader of Money Saving Mom about how they saved money by cutting cable. I bought a Roku box ($50) with some money I made from working overtime. I re-activated my Netflix and Hulu Plus subscriptions (under $20 a month). My boyfriend has Amazon Prime, so he set me up with that and some extra channels that he has (such as HBO Go). I'm debating on purchasing an MLB.TV subscription ($20/month), but it's not really necessary since I have the audio and we're halfway through the season. (An investment to think about for next year) The internet is going to be $60 a month (for the first 12 months, ugh...). Total, it's going to end up costing me $100 a month (during baseball season). It's cheaper than what I had, which is good since my rent and kiddo's tuition are both increasing next year. I'm going to use this year to research if there are cheaper internet options in my area, but right now I'm happy with what I have.

The only issue I have are a few shows that I was used to watching that I haven't been able to find a way to watch them online. However, my best friend told me that for the two that I really follow, I'm welcome to come watch them at her place since they are during times she doesn't watch anything. This will give us some bonding time as well, so it's a win-win.

I really don't think I'm going to miss cable. My family has rediscovered some shows that they love when they are here. (Especially my dad!) I don't have a DVR, so if I didn't watch shows live before, I wouldn't see them. Now, I don't have to worry about that since I re-activated Hulu Plus! I think this switch is going to be a solid financial decision that will also put a little extra money in our pockets. :)