I know what you’re thinking, you ditched your TV are you crazy? Maybe we are but there’s some really good reasons. I usually put on TV as background noise when I’m doing something, I started doing that for the girls too. I noticed my two year old was doing a lot more than just playing with her TV as background noise. She was getting sucked in. Same with my 6 year old, she thought she HAD to have TVÂ before she went too bed or she just couldn’t sleep. Then it got to be a fight at bed time.
As a family we have decided not to get cable again for many reasons. One being the programming. I don’t want the TV to dictate how my daughter is raised. I’d often find her watching shows that were much too old for her age, she too getting sucked in to what the TV portrayed as normal. This decision also saves us $120.00 a month. That’s how much we paid for our Premiere channels, HBO and Showtime upgrades and additional HD programming. That’s money we can use doing things together as a family.
We signed up with Netflix which is only $7.99 a month. I can dictate when and what my girls watch. My kids can spend more time playing and reading. Like I did when I was a kid.
Would you consider ditching your cable?
I’m with ya! I wish I could cancel our tv but my hubby thinks it’s a necessity like food and water. We use it mostly for background noise also. The kids would play so much more if we didn’t have it. Great call Kristin!
We don’t watch TV for 3 years and are doing just fine without it. Internet and DVDs are out main sources of entertainment.
We don’t have cable and it does help us focus on doing things as a family because there isn’t much to watch on the few channels we have.
I have been thinking about doing this for months, pretty much every time I get a bill! We already have one of the cheaper packages, but it does seem like a waste when I don’t like having it on most of the day. We try to limit it to an hour a day but I think my daughter probably watches closer to 2-3 a day. And that’s mostly PBS so at least I know it’s okay shows. I have caught myself forgetting to turn it off when she gets up until I notice she is paying attention to it, but I am getting better about that. I am just so addicted to my shows I don’t know if I could do it. You’ll have to update about how much you miss it!
We went without cable for awhile…got sick of paying so much $$ for it! But when we moved they offered us a great deal to bundle our internet with cable for the same price we WERE paying for just internet and if we unbundle, we’d still be pretty close to that amount for just internet. Between DVDs and Netflix my kids had plenty to watch.
I have not had cable since 5th grade (approx. 20 years ago). My parents did not want to pay for it growing up and neither do we now. We do have netflix and it works out fine. My husband and I are not tv junkies. We don’t even watch netflix often but do enjoy the streaming when we want to watch something. I think it is great you got rid of the cable. It is way too expensive and money can be spend else where.
wow! well as long as you didnt ditch tv all together.. THAT would be crazy!
I thought about this for a long time. Then I looked at the 6+ weeks of shows I am behind on my DVR. Initially I may cry… but I could possibly do this. I probably never will though. LOL You are brave.
We did the same! Life is much more peaceful and fulfilling! Plus I was not happy with some messages being portrayed before my daughter
We did a long time ago, with absolutely no regrets {and I get a slight satisfaction when there’s no interest or recognition when we go shopping and Charlie sees famous kid character x, y, or z plastered all over the kid’s section}. We have a Roku, so Mat and I can watch movies that aren’t in our collection if we want. Charlie really only watches an occasional DVD as it is and we are picky with what movies are in her dvd case. Besides, if I’m feeling in the mood to watch a tv show I watch it for free with Hulu!
I was paying over $200 a month with Comcast. I just recently took of HBO since I don’t rarely watch it. I have the Netflix too so the HBO was a waste of money.
I can’t ditch cable though. There are a couple shows that I LOVE to watch that I record on DVR so I can watch them when it is quiet.
We’ve been thinking about doing that but since we have our internet and landline bundled, I’ve been lazy about it. We need to get a Roku or Apple TV or something, though, to stream through our TV.
Cat, I figure we can rent the seasons I really want to watch after they’re over because like you I love my HBO shows and Showtime. . We have plenty of movies and with hulu and Netflix I can still watch shows and movies. Netflix has Caillou, like 76 episodes. I can’t ask for anything better and only $7.99 a month and we can stream it right through the xbox.
I could give up TV in a heart beat. I don’t watch it. (Aside from House on Monday Nights) Anything I truly want to watch, I can find online…we have netflix so everything is there as well. Good for you! Can’t wait to see what fun things you come up with to do as a family! $120 can go a long way!
It’s funny you bring that up because I’ve been arguing with Jon about cancelling the cable for months. We pay over $200/mo with Comcast for cable, internet, phone and a few premium channels. While I’d probably miss Showtime, we could totally do without it altogether. He on the other hand thinks it’s a “necessity” ugh.
I think if I hadn’t grown up as a TV kid of the 70s I would go without TV (or cable) as a parent, but I personally just couldn’t give it up. I actually am considering ditching our cable once we have a new HDTV in the living room – the rest of the TVs are already, but the living room isn’t and we need something that we can easily hook into our home network to stream videos, hulu, etc. onto before I can ditch cable.