At lunch today, I said to Vince . . “Do you realize this is the last weekday we’ll have TV?” He groans and moans and tells me his friends from work are going to call me and tell me I’m a terrible wife. So, I said “Do you want to keep it? You don’t have to cancel it! I’m not MAKING you do it!” He said no . . it makes for a better story to tell them that I’m making him turn off the satellite because he isn’t getting enough done around the house! It’s getting very deep around here . . good thing I have boots! 
I’m so excited about beginning a Life Without TV! It won’t totally be without TV because we’ll still have Netflix but so far, it seems like we plan what we want to watch and when we want to watch it.
As soon as the Super Bowl is over . . goodbye Dish Network! If he isn’t happy, he can always get it back but I think it’s worth trying.
I cut off my cable and survived
I can get 15 channels with a set of cheap rabbit ears and I have a roku. I don’t miss paying that $85 a month.
I think it’s great that you are doing away with TV. We have been fighting Verizon because we currently have internet and phone. They are going to raise the price $10 and, oh, you can get TV with the same price. Well duh!!!! We don’t want TV, so our price should be lower. Nope same price with TV or without. Hummmm…… I think they are about to lose a customer.
We got rid of television years and years ago. My children borrowed videos/DVDs from the library. Now we have Netflix and are as happy as clams! I miss football, but we can listen on the radio sometimes.
We have been cable free for 2 months and while I miss one or two current running shows it has been a great decision. It was easy to let go of cable as we don not watch sports. Not sure what will happen at next years Thanksgiving dinner – maybe it will be at someone’s house that has cable. Netflix is great and I still get to watch my show at a later date. Saving almost $1200 a year – can’t beat that!
Last week after reading that you were noy going to have TV, I called Dish and went from America’s Top 200 channels to their Smart pack plan. We already have the Roku and Netflix. I do miss the Hgtv and the Food and the Discovery channel viewed on the big screen. I have found I can watch some things on the iPad. But that sort of defeats the purpose doing all this to start with except for the saving money factor. No TV to me should be nothing visual going on. No Roku, no Netflix, no watching TV on the IPad or the computer. So while the idea is good in, I feel like I really have not reduced my visual “fix” of not “watching something” in a passive mode. Like I couldn’t possible be without the computer screen in front of me, I’m not seeing the benefits of not being able to watch A TV screen either. The only thing I’m saving is money, but I still yearn to “watch”. Especially when I’m tired and seeking something to entertain my idle mind. I read a lot. Maybe Vince can pull it off. I wish him luck. But , even though I have limited viewing now, my habit of “watching” has not.
I tried giving up satellite and lasted about two years. I hope I never have to do that again. lol
I’m with you, Karla, ain’t no way! LOL (can’t believe you lasted THAT long!!)
I’m giving it a month Karla, if I miss the programs I liked when I had the more expanded programming plan, then I’ll go back to paying Dish. It’s not like I need to deprive myself. I’m not a couch potato as I only watch TV late evenings for a few hours. I’t's my unwind time before bedtime. But, I do miss my favorite channels already. I’ll see how Netflix works out, and Amazon Prime.
We cancelled ours more than a year ago now. We have netflix and Hulu plus which is only about 1/4 what we paid for our digital TV service. There are some things we want to watch that we can’t find online but then they usually get each season as it’s over on Netflix. We’ve managed, we just have to avoid “spoilers” on the shows we plan to watch that everyone else has already seen. We have an older son who is married and they have cable, if we just have to see something we can have them DVR it for us.
We’ve been without TV for about 20 years now and do not regret it at all. (OK, now and then during baseball season, we wish we could watch the Tigers, but we’re happy listening to the radio.)
I’ve been without cable or sattelite for a year now and don’t miss it. I use Netflix also. Internet I could not do without. And our cable company will not give me a good price for only internet. I have to pay $100 amonth just for that. Doesn’t make sense.
Check out getting yourself a ‘hotspot’ of your own. I’ve seen them for $50 install and $10 a month.
We’ll be getting tv in 2-4 weeks when we finally get a television. lol. We are already paying for it (comes with our internet) so now we’ll just be able to use it. I have a feeling we won’t! Netflix (and the occasional Redbox) is good enough for me.
I’ve been in the planning stages. We got Netflix the first of the year using a Roku. My contract period is up the first part of March, then we are planning to shut it down. They just raised our rate another $6 this last month. Nice to read everyone else’s comments and see it is possible to survive
I think the hardest part will be missing FOX News. Might try the rabbit ears another reader suggested. Tell Vince he’s not alone.
In my life, I’ve only had cable once and that was only for a few months, when the TV broke, I threw it out and the cable too. TRUE I was 8.5 months pregnant in the hotest yr in the 80′s, but I don’t think that influenced me at all!
We do have a antenna, and get quite a few channels. Idon’t know if that would work for you. I like your idea of netflex, and watching what and when you want to watch whatecver! I like the control of it!
I admire you for doing that but I’d have a hard time parting with BBC America!
You have really made me think about doing this. I have 17 years till I can retire and that would save over 20,000.00 that I could add to my Roth IRA. That could actually mean much, much more.
Excellent thinking, Yvette! Put the $$ for cable into your retirement fund!!! That is a fabulous idea!
BLM
darn…i was hoping it was the count down to a quiltathon…
We grew up without TV but my Mom would rent one if one of us was really sick and also for the Winter Olympics. My brother’s family has TV only in the winter – in the summer he puts it into storage! 2 of my sisters currently have no TV. I wish I could get rid of the TV in my house, but DH is pretty attached to it. My son’s friends come over to watch certain shows because they have no TV. I think having no TV is becoming more common again. Cheers! Evelyn
We had our DirecTV cut off almost a year ago and haven’t missed it at all. Between “regular TV” shows, Roku Box, and Netflix, we still have tons to watch!! We were only watching about 2-3 shows on Non-Broadcast channels (SyFy & BBCAmerica) and it was costing us almost $70.00 a month. Definitely NOT worth it!!
I have Dish as when I watch TV it will usually be Discovery, National Geographic channels and an occasional Hallmark movie channel movie. Rarely have anything on until evening or if I am a on a marathon quilting session have it on as background. Local news and weather is good and occasionally watch FOX. The radio is on most of the day to my favorite music station. I do like the TV weather when we are in a storm watch area although have just found an internet site that follows the storm trackers,
Sign up for WeatherBug on your computer. They are always there with the latest weather info. Very reliable.
Back in the early 60s my husband decided we would not have TV. No cable or satellite back then. No TV meant no set. And then one day I met him walking to my mother’s house so he could watch President Kennedy talk about the Cuban Missile crisis, and that was the end of not having a TV set. There are times when you need to be able to see the news. Or the President explain why we are going to be having a war with the Russians. But truly, the next time we have a Super Storm Sandy, you will know that too.
My question is . . did knowing about the Cuban missile crisis really make a difference in his life? I find that knowing every little tidbit of news is a bit much. We can watch CNN or Fox News online and that’s as much as I need to know. I can tell you that if there’s something like Super Storm Sandy heading my way, the local newspapers and local radio stations will have much better info for me. We don’t have any local tv stations but we do have local radio stations.
Nope . . absolutely no need at all for us to have TV but that doesn’t mean that everyone else doesn’t have to have it . . just means at this time . . we don’t need it.
Good for you,Judy! I wish I had the nerve to get rid of tv. I think once I retire, I could do it and that’s not too far off. It gives me something t talk about at work because no one there quilts. My co-workers already think I’m an old lady who sits there and does knitting and crcheting of which neither I can do or want to. I tell them that there are lots of young people who quilt and they always say “sure M-K”" with that knowing little nod of their head. Anyway, enjoy your tv-less or should I say satelitte-free home.
I LOVE that you’re doing this! I’m also contemplating the idea… Not sure if DH will want to part with certain stuff, but I plan to talk to him about it.
Cheers & positive thoughts for NO TV!
BLM
We’ve been TV free since 1993. Will never go back! We have internet so anything we need to know we do. Also the year we got rid of TV, was the year that our kids grade point averages in school went up. When asked by the teachers what had changed, they were shocked that the only change was no TV…
We haven’t had cable for the last 12 years. People at work are absolutely amazed that we can survive without it, and once in a while I worry that my kids are missing out by not getting to watch stuff their friends are watching. But we can find enough on network tv and also on hulu to keep us entertained, and I think it is a much more satisfying way to live, not constantly having the tv on. I’m quite amused by the ads for the services that let you tape up to 4 shows at once – that means in one hour you can record 4 hours of tv – who has time to watch all that!?!? Hope your cable-less time goes as well as you’re hoping!
No TV….turn the radio on. life without TV is just more time to play at our work or work at our play. more and more we end up on PBS. we haven’t had cable since the early 70′s. I could live without TV but not without radio…
Years ago we had a big satellite dish and paid about $600.00 a year (no movie channels included). When they raised the price to over $700.00 we decided to call it quits. This was many years ago and we have survived. I love HGTV and I did miss miss that. We have an antenna in the attic and a ROKU. We have Amazon Prime (which includes movies & TV programs) and Hulu Plus. We don’t seem to miss what we don’t have now. Our son says we are 1 of the 10 people in the United States who don’t have cable. Guess that will make you number 2!!!
Haven’t had incoming broadcasting in 18 years!