We cut the cable cord and we couldn’t be happier!

Do you ever have the same conversation with your spouse over and over again? I’m not talking about a serious conversation. I’m talking about the one that never really gets resolved or has an ending hence the repetitiveness of it. The conversation that you just get annoyed with because, I mean really, how many times do we have to talk about it? This is what happened to us for the last year and it was all over the topic of our cable bill. Just writing about it has me annoyed already.

We only have one TV in the house and one DVR box with HD channels. For a few years now we have been paying roughly $170 for cable (no movie channels) and internet. That didn’t include what we pay for Netflix and Amazon Prime. Total we were paying about $195 a month. I know you just read that and you’re like what?! Or you’re like me and pay the same and feel my pain. Either way we knew something had to change.

When I was on maternity leave I watched literally nothing but Netflix. If the TV (cable) was on it was just for background noise. I watched Parenthood, Blacklist and Grey’s Anatomy in my 11 weeks off of work. Of course all of that was in between taking care of a newborn and sleeping. But truthfully I pretty much never left my couch and never changed the TV off Netflix. (Don’t judge me. You would have done the same thing.) Multiple times throughout those 11 weeks my husband would question why we didn’t just cancel the cable? Maybe the question was rhetorical or maybe he wanted me to answer but I never did.

Months passed and we still had that darn cable bill and that unanswered question of “why do we still have cable?” Want to hear all the reasons I wouldn’t give it up?

1. What if there was something on TV that I really wanted to watch and then we didn’t have cable anymore?
2. What if I get bored with Netflix and Amazon Prime and I want to watch cable?
3. What if you (my husband) want to watch football but then you can’t because we don’t have cable?
4. What if we cancel it and then I really really miss having it?

Do you see a pattern here? I was sounding like a brat and had zero logical reason to not cancel cable. I was recording shows and never had time to sit down and watch them anymore. I would forget that I even wanted to watch a show to begin with. My husband and I have opposite work schedules during the week so when I am home I really don’t have time to be in front of the TV anyway. My time is filled with taking care of our daughter and cleaning and then before I know it, it’s time for bed. With that being said about 4 weeks ago my husband asked me again what should we do about the cable. This time I finally responded with “do whatever you want. I’m fine with it either way.” And do you know what he did? He canceled the cable. He actually went through with it. I went home that night, sat on the couch and said to myself “I can’t believe I told him to do whatever he wanted. I didn’t think he would actually cut the cable and now I want it back.”

Four weeks later we still don’t have cable and I couldn’t be happier. Without cable we have done things that we used to do and got away from. Two of the biggest changes for us was we started eating dinner at the dinner table again and we started doing game nights again {although we probably should tone it down some. They get a little too competitive}. Not having cable has been the most freeing thing I have done recently not to mention we are saving about $120 a month. Maybe you’re not ready to cut cable yet or maybe you’ve been thinking about it. I promise you once it’s gone you don’t miss it as much as you thought you would. We are all about that Netflix and Amazon Prime life right now and who knows? We could get cable again in the future. Until then let me know what “new” shows I should watch!