Guest Post: Living TV-Free Saves Us More Than $37.99 Each Month

photo by jenn_jenn

Guest Post by Rachel from Modern Mommyhood

Some people think my family is crazy for not having TV. My husband says, "We have a TV. We can watch a snowstorm whenever we want." That's because we don't have any channels.

One time, we rigged up some rabbit ears and tried to get the Steelers game, but much to my husband's dismay, it didn't work. Not even a little bit. We live in town and our homes are too close together to get any signal that way.

We sat down, looked at each other, and knew it was probably for the best. Right now, I am a stay-at-home mom. Money is tight, so we can't afford that bill. We have a mortgage, two student loans, and ever-increasing utility bills. It's worth it to be at home with my one year-old daughter.

Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy plopping on the couch after the little one is in bed and zoning out to a good show. After a long day, it's nice not to have to think about anything. But, during the day, I don't need that kind of distraction. The way I see it, not having television has saved us money in more ways than one.

First (and most obvious), it saves us $37.99 a month. That's how much it costs to have some channels around here. I could definitely use that money for something else: more groceries, clothes, Christmas, saving up for a new dryer…

Second, when I am not in front of the television, I am finding ways to earn money. My communications degree has led me to several free-lance writing gigs, and I need all the time I can get to brainstorm ideas and query local publications.

Third, when I am not in front of the television, I am finding ways to save money. When my daughter goes down for a nap, I head right for the computer. I find great ways to save money on sites like this one and MomAdvice.com. I can also check out deals at my local supermarket's website and fill out surveys on Lightspeed to earn a few gift cards.

Fourth, when I am not in front of the television, I am being productive. We won't have take-out expenses because I am cooking dinner. We won't have to hire a cleaning service because I am dusting and vacuuming each week. We won't have to pay for disposable diapers because I am taking the time to clean the cloth diapers.

So in reality, we are saving a lot more than $37.99 a month. Besides, when I want to chill out after a long, hard day, there is always Netflix!

When Rachel doesn't feel like being productive ;), you can find her blogging over at Modern Mommyhood.

From Money Saving Mom: Just out of curiosity, how many of the rest of you live TV-free? We are almost 99.9% TV-free--our rabbit ears pick up a few channels so if there is some rare major news event we want to watch (say a Presidental election, etc.), we're able to catch it. Most of the time, though, our TV leads a very solitary life--only being used for educational videos and the occasional family film.

Aside from all the extra time we have, the money saved on a cable bill, and the junk we're not bringing into our home, we've also found we're less likely to covet if we're not being bombarded with silly commercials about the latest and greatest products we "must" have.

Comments

[Jen]

We also don't pay for cable, but are able to get a few channels. We rarely watch tv, though. And if there's something I want to catch or a particular show I want to watch, most of the networks have free episodes online. Also, we mainly use our tv for netflix rentals!

[Bonnie]

We aren't TV "free" -- a couple at church gave us a really nice handle-me-down TV because they felt "sorry for us" -- but we never watch it except for DVDs. And yes, it is possible to have a life and enjoy it without TV!

There is so much on TV (and movies for that matter) that doesn't belong in my home, much less my heart. As a helpmeet, I can encourage my husband to "set no wicked thing before (his) eyes" (Ps 101:3) by keeping the TV off and carefully researching our movies before we watch them (I like pluggedinonline.com for this). Ps. 101:3 is just as important for us girls, too! Its hard for me "to do all to the glory of God" if I'm wasting time or watching something that will pull my heart away from Him. I'm not saying that everything on TV is bad; we just want to be careful.

I'm glad to hear that we're not the only "weirdos" out there. :)

[Michelle]

We have not had a TV in our home since 1989! My daughter was 2 when we decided it was not in the best interests of our family and she is now 21. Our sons have not had one their entire lives. I think we are all a little (alot!) better for not having it in our lives.

[KayleighJeanne]

We haven't had cable in years, and we don't bother trying to get any other channels. We do have a huge DVD and VHS collection though. At night my husband and I watch movies together instead of television.

I also like that it gives me more control over what my young daughter watches. She has a shelf of classic children's movies to choose from. Even if I approve of a TV show, the commercials are likely to contain something I don't approve of.

[Lisa]

We have been cable free for over a year now. The kids play more, do crafts, etc. Plus we can check out movies for free from the library...or the redbox movies are only $1 or get free promo codes online! Also..there are a few shows I like to watch..like survivor, big brother, etc...but you can watch the full episodes online on the computer anytime you want! love it!!

[n]

We have been very happily tv free for almost 4 months. I love it more every day!

[Kama @ Today's Housewife]

I just moved 2 weeks ago and went from TiVo and having the TV on ALL day long for background noise at least to pretty much silence. It has been weird. We have one TV with an antena that works most of the time in our bedroom. The other TV's have DVD players, so I pop in a movie if I need noise. Plus a lot of stations have their shows online. We plan to watch Survivor that way this season if it doesn't come in clearly on the TV. My mom will be coming to stay with us for a few weeks because I'm due in a week. She watches TONS of TV too and has a lot of programs on TiVo. It will be interesting to say the least... :)

[Andrea]

We sold our TV at a garage sale over a year ago and don't regret it! When we feel like watching something, we can usually find it online. My family and our friends can't believe we don't own a TV, but we don't feel like we're missing out on much.
Also, she mentioned cloth diapers. Great way to save money in my opinion, as well as help out the environment. It's also MUCH easier than most people think!

[Audra]

We have been without TV for 2 years now. We first gave it up after the local station stopped airing the Friday night Red Sox games on the "cheap cable" package we had. We've never missed it since!

[Holly]

we're tv free. And have been for our entire marriage. I can see that my 3 and 1.5 year old girls have a lot different play habits and wants than kids who watch tv, and that's a good thing to me. Sometimes I miss being able to watch a movie, and I definitely miss watching the Cubs, but other than that, I'm very happy to be largely out of the media loop.

[Trixie]

I can relate to Lisa's comment. We didn't have tv most of the time I was growing up. And for most of the time before marriage. It really used to bug some people.

On two occassions people gave my parents their old black and white tv when they upgraded to colour just because they felt sorry for us. We had more fun without one, I think.

Take Care,

Trixie

[Lynn]

We have been cable free for about 7 years now. Based on the rate for basic cable we had when we first moved in our house, we have saved more than $1500.

We have old rabbit ears and are able to get ABC, Fox, NBC, Peachtree TV (used to be Turner), 2 PBS stations, CBS, WB, and UPN for free. We do live in metro Atlanta so I am sure that helps. When we first canceled the cable, we bought a $50 antenna. We found that the old rabbit ears hubby's dad had in his basement actually worked better so we returned the new antenna.

This works for our family since we rarely watch TV. This month, I have watched one show in addition to the news/election coverage.

My kids can watch a little bit on the disney channel and cartoon network websites which keeps them feeling a bit "normal" but we really limit that. They may watch one or two shows each week but never more that that.

We rent at least 1 DVD a month for each kid and for us, but never more than 2 (unless hubby is traveling - then I get 2 for that week for me :).

[Becky@FamilyandFinances]

We don't watch tv, either. My husband borrowed his dad's digital converter and tried hooking it up, but we still didn't get a decent reception, so back it went.

It's nice, actually. I live in Wisconsin, where everyone is a Packer fan. Since we don't have tv, it gives us a good excuse to visit with family on Sundays to watch the game together. We have a system down, now. Every other Sunday we hang out with my husband's parents and the opposite ones, we go to my parents! I love the "forced" family time and our siblings have started making it a habit, too :)

[Dawn]

We have a TV in our living room, and one upstairs in the bonus room over our garage. I would love to have no TV in our living room. The one in the bonus room is not set up for regular channels; it's just used for the occasional DVD.

I'm a SAHM, and I very rarely (once a month?) turn on the TV during the day. My DH loves to watch an hour or so of TV at night after the baby is in bed...and for that, we pay $40 a month. :(

[Jessica]

We have a tv and get in 3 local stations. I only watch it for news in the morning when I exercise for 45 minutes. Otherwise we borrow DVDs from the library. Our almost 2 year old dd has no interest and we do not have videos for her.

I'm sure it saves us money for several reasons:
1- most obvious- no cable or satellite bill
2- less temptation to buy
3- my daughter is active and so are we
4- no requests from my daughter- she doesn't know Big Bird from Superman.

[Liz]

We cancelled our satelite in January. It took a couple of months to get used to no tv, but I can honestly say I do not miss it one bit. There was so much junk to sift through to find the good stuff - and even then the commercials were ridiculous! NBC and CBS now many of their shows online. My husband hooked our computer up to all the tv's so we can still sit on the couch and keep up with the Amazing Ract together!

[seesawstar]

we've been TV free for about 2 months now, and quite by accident. We can't get satellite and I've been procrastinating switching to cable. We've saved some moolah, but I'm really starting to miss TV and my husband wants to catch football season. We also just got a brand new 42" HD LCD TV, and really want to start watching goodies on it. It's an expense that we're willing to pay for...just because it gets so much done around here - like folding laundry.

[Christina]

We are not entirely TV free...we do have TV and we have basic cable, but only because our internet would be a lot more expensive if we didn't have cable...it's actually cheaper to pay for internet and cable than just internet alone. But, we almost never watch it. We go weeks without watching TV and only use the TV for movies...which for my husband and I averages maybe once every 6-8 weeks. I love not having the TV on!

[Katherine]

I sometimes wish that we could go without TV, too. We live frugally in almost ever other way but we pay over $100 per month for cable and internet. My husband says we can't do without it! The cable and the high cell phone are the last two areas I really wish we could cut back!

[Janeen]

We don't have a cable connection to our t.v., although I've thought about it because we love the Food Network and Discovery and History channels. I know it can lead to being a temptation though. We get a few channels through rabbit ears (that'll end in Feb!) and we rent a lot of movies from the library or cheap video stores like Family Video

[Claire in CA, USA]

We live at the foothills of a mountain range, and don't get reception unless we have cable...which we refuse to do. So, we don't watch network tv at all.. We have Netflix, and sometimes we rent movies from Blockbuster. My kids see some tv at their grandparents' homes, but that's fairly infrequent. I get my news from the internet. I have to say, my life is much more peaceful without the constant buzz of the tv (as it was years ago). The news started to make me anxious. It's less emotional if I can read it instead.

[Emily @ Little Home]

Right now, we have one old TV with rabbit ear attenaes. It is in the basement and it is good enough for us. The only thing we miss is when we get together with friends to watch a big game, it has to be at someone else's house.

[meggan]

we do not have a television. the kids watch videos on the computer once in a while. we have a "no media on school nights" policy. the computer used to be in our bedroom so we would watch netflix but we canceled that and moved the computer into another room. now we don't watch hardly anything. it would be nice to watch musicals on fridays as a family, but i have a hard time regulating my television consumption. even when we just had the local stations, i wanted to watch pbs all day long. it's best for us to be cold turkey.

[Baleboosteh]

We have been TV free for about three and a half years now. Here in the UK you have to buy a TV license (£139 per annum) to watch the basic BBC and commercial channels (5 in all). If you want cable/satellite channels on top of this you would pay an additional monthly fee which varies according to the package you choose.

We can truly say we do not miss it or regret it for one moment. We listen to audio books, read aloud to each other, listen to podcasts and mp3 sermons and talks. And of course, there is always conversation! As we tend to be early to bed people it would be hard to see how we could fit tv watching into everything we do in an evening. Also, given the quality of the vast majority of UK TV programmes (or rather the lack of it) I cannot imagine us ever going back to it.

It is heartening to see that we are not the only ones to actively choose to be TV free. Here in the UK it is considered a rather unusual choice. If homeschooling and being car free doesn't confirm you as being odd to most people, being TV free will certainly do it!

[Cher]

We watch mainly family films together and can easily get our news off of the radio. I think it is a good move for us. I feel more motivated to exercise, cook our meals, clean, and best of all play a lot with our little one, and even take a nap now and again.

[Liz]

We have gone without cable since our summer move! The only thing that I miss is the morning news but other than that there has been some benefits...(1) The kids get outside to play more (2) there is an amazing amount of TV via the internet for free and (3) we are saving approximately $45 a month. I am interested to see what is on the kid's Christmas list as they have limited media influence these days. Our family and neighbors think we are a bit strange - but it is working for us right now!

[Jennifer]

I agree. We have been TV free for years. We let the kids watch videos. but no TV. we dont miss it, and our kids don't have a terminal case of "Mommy, can i have" the way some of our friends' kids seem to. Also, being a christian homeschooling family it is good to know we are monitoring what goes into our kids minds.

[MaryEllen]

We don't even own a TV. Not only does it save money, but it saves time. Besides, 99% of what's on there is not fit to watch anyway. I have never once felt deprived because I didn't have a TV. If there are major news happenings, we are able to watch them online.

[A.D.]

We only watch DVD's on our TV. My husband was a TV junkie when we got married 30 years ago. He's weaned now. A relative gave us an old TV when we got married; when that died I bought another old TV at a garage sale for $30. We've never purchased any other TV.
The last time we watched an actual TV program that I can remember was on Sept 11, 2001. We kept it on all day to watch the unfolding news.
We haven't yet invested in that converter box thing we'll need to keep using our TV, so I suppose soon we won't be able to even watch the important news. But then laptops work fine for that.

[Jan]

We do have cable- I feel it is our one area of entertainment as we never go out to eat or go out to see movies or rent them. Our daughter is only allowed to watch PBS or Noggin (no commercials). We usually only watch the news or baseball games or some reality shows like The Amazing Race. I also DVR Jon & Kate + 8! If we had to drastically cut back cable would be the first thing to go.

[Tammy]

We have a whopping 4 tvs in the house, but we don't have cable. One TV is in the Master Bedroom for piling on the bed to watch an old movie. We have two living spaces and a tv in each room. Three of the four tvs were given to us by people who "felt sorry" for us, because we homeschool and chose not to have a tv for a while. We watch DVDs from time to time, and watch the news and weather, which is a must in Oklahoma (Tornado Alley!). Otherwise, the tvs are off and the cable money stays in our pockets.

[Nisha Muschette]

We don't have cable and we only miss it every now and then when we are over someone else's house with cable. This actually gives me more time to do productive things as well rather than being distracted by the television. However, we did go out and get the digital converter box which gives us more basic channels and better reception. I can live without cable and probably t.v too!

Oh yea, we are avid fans of Netflix, I am actually giving away five free one-month trials at my blog http://newwifememoirs.blogspot.com.

[Jessica]

We don't pay for cable so we only get a few channels (though we gained a couple more when we got our digital converter box!). We don't really watch TV, but we do rent movies for ourselves and the kids. I like that we don't have to bother with commercials. Our kids don't even know what they are and they rarely if ever ask for things.

[Jessica]

Sorry, I forgot to mention your local library may be a cheap (or free!) option for renting movies instead of paying for NetFlix or the like. Or you could always use the free Redbox codes!

[Nisha Muschette]

We don't have cable and we only miss it every now and then when we are over someone else's house with cable. This actually gives me more time to do productive things as well rather than being distracted by the television. However, we did go out and get the digital converter box which gives us more basic channels and better reception. I can live without cable and probably t.v too!

Oh yea, we are avid fans of Netflix, I am actually giving away five free one-month trials at my blog http://newwifememoirs.blogspot.com.

[Lyn]

We went without any t.v. for about a year. Only recently we added our limited basic cable for about $13 month. With it being the election year we wanted to have it back for a while. Essentially we have local channels and some PBS channels (love PBS!). Without this we aren't able to get any type of signal.

I actually find it's very frugal for us. We don't rent movies in general. We also don't go out much so for $13/month it's a deal and is basically our entertainment besides having a very basic internet plan. My husband loves football & sports in general so he enjoys being able to see an occasional game. It is also helpful when I need to rest and need something to take my mind off of being in daily pain. Like anything else, it takes discipline to not let something take over one's life. Having some t.v. back has not affected my shopping habits because I'm already determined before I step into a store these days to not be taken in.

I'm sure most everyone knows this, but you'll need a converter box after 2/17/09 if you rely on rabbit ears or an antenna or you won't have any reception.

[Jennifer]

We are almost tv-free. It would cost over $1000 to run cable down our driveway, and frankly, we are too busy to sit and watch tv. We do have rabbit ears and get a few local channels and PBS. I try to limit my daughter's tv watching to a 1/2 hour a day, if that. I grew up with satellite and cable and occasionally miss the decorating shows on HGTV, but I think I tend to "want less stuff" when I watch less tv.

[Julie]

We do have TV in our home. We keep one TV in the family room. Our preschooler watches no more than 45 minutes throughout the day of carefully selected children's programming. After he's asleep, my husband enjoys watching sports, especially the hometown baseball team. If it's not sports, he enjoys political coverage.
I select one show each season and watch that. American Idol has been a favorite.
We also have a small TV in the kitchen. Before we had children, we watched the morning news as we got ready for work. Now that I'm a stay at home mom, that TV stays off most of the time.

[Heather]

That was the very first (and easiest) thing we got rid of. If I have access to TV, I will watch the most ridiculous, boring, trash just because I like the sound of the TV on, and once I turn it on I can't pull myself away from it. We still have the TV to watch movies (free Redbox Mondays!!!) but our life is so much better now that it's off 98% of the time. There are few TV shows I like to watch, but all of them are free online on the network's website! The only time I wished we had TV was during the Olympics. But my in-laws recorded some for us, and we went over to friends' houses for some of the biggest events.

When we had cable internet, they would have charged us more for them to block the basic cable signal than for us to subscribe to basic cable in addition to the internet. So we quickly switched to DSL, and thanks to the commenters on this blog 5-6 months ago I tried calling the phone company to ask for "dry-loop" - and they cancelled our phone service making our internet cheaper without any extra things we don't need!

[Erin]

We are tv free and it's great. We don't waste time sitting in front of "can't miss" shows. And we don't have all the commercials convincing us that we "need" something or other. We do have a netflix sub for 9.53 a month and we can watch tv online through hulu and the network sites if we really want to. But that generally only happens when hubby is deployed because the house is so quiet I start to go a little nuts at night. :) But the benefits of being tv free are awesome.

[Having Fun at Home]

My husband told his high school class that we don't have any television connection, and they just about fell over they were so shocked! :-)

[Melodie]

We've been TV free since we got married 3 1/2 years ago. I second everything that was said in the post. It has been invaluable for us!

[susieshomemade]

I am in awe of people who live without a TV. I can't do it. I am too plugged in. We have made sacrafices for me to stay at home but that and internet are not ones that we are willing to make.

[Katherine]

Cable comes in our bundle and if we paid for everything separately without cable we'd save $15 a month. I'm starting to think we should do that though b/c I can't remember the last time we turned the TV on! I think it was the Olympics. We're not getting our money's worth. Sometimes we'll borrow a season of shows from the library or watch them online at the TV station's website. We watched 4 seasons of lost that way during my hubby's cancer treatment. I can't stand commercials so that works better for us anyway.

[Pruett]

We are a mostly tv free family. I have a tiny b&w tv (I got it for my 6th birthday oh-so-many years ago!!) that I so that I can watch the news as I make dinner for my family. The children are limited to videos (mostly RedBox or from a library sale) watched on a tv that was a hand me down gift. Other than that...no televison watching. I really didn't like all of the commercials that my children were exposed to so I decided to do this several years ago. I have found that we spend more time together and that the kids play more as a result. If you can image - I have received alot of criticism about my decision and have been told that I was "depriving" my children by not letting them veg out in front of the tv after school! I am happy with my decision.

[Anna @ Rusty Cottage]

We live TV free! Saves us $39.99 each month + just like you said, I am actually being productive. When we did have cable I would find myself wasting so much time. Occasionally I miss it. Especially right now when all the Fall shows are getting ready to start. However, if I really must watch a show I can watch it on abc.com (not sure if other networks do that). I also signed us up for Netflix 4 weeks ago and am really impressed with their speedy delivery and service. It costs less than half our cable bill would cost.

Growing up we only had cable for MAYBE 3 years of my life. Most of the time TV is a real waste of time and brain cells :o)

[Judy]

No TV here! :)

[Rachael]

No tv for us...we do watch dvds on our laptop on the weekends and right now I have a free trial to netflix, but I can see that getting old fast.

[Erika]

My husband was raised with little TV, and though my family watched more on TV, I always read more than watched. And I have lived without a TV in my house/dorm/apt. for 14 years now. We watch DVDs on our laptop occasionally, but we barely ever have a week that we can justify the time for that!

While we were dating we started the habit of reading aloud books together. We've gotten to share lots of old favorites and discover new ones!

[Mindy]

I canceled my cable about 2 months ago and they still haven't turned it off yet. You can't beat free cable! I still hardly turn the tv on though.