Comments on: Frugal Alternatives to Cable

By: threeundertwo

threeundertwo — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 15:03:43 +0000

We dumped our cable years ago and never never miss it. Our library has a huge assortment of dvds too, and Netflix takes care of everything else.

Best thing we ever did. I like being in control of what my children are exposed to.

By: Xandara

Xandara — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 22:20:38 +0000

I wanted to get rid of cable after my ex moved out, since I work at a library and since I'm there every day, I can get new movies even faster than just going to the library. Which I'd be at every day if I didn't work there anyway. :X Anyhow!, my dad likes to visit every so often and he said he couldn't deal without having TV when he visited, so he gave me a nice check to cover my cable for the year. Later, I met my boyfriend and he's since moved in and he loves his cable because he never had cable while growing up and missed out on all the shows the cool kids were watching. And now that we have TiVo, too, we watch more TV than ever because there is always something recorded for us to watch! It's madness… I just want to read a book!

Oh, but I am commenting to say, KUDOS for mentioning the library!!! It amazes me every time I tell people to go to the library to get a movie and they are 100% clueless that libraries have movies nowadays.

By: Miss Britt

Miss Britt — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:07:04 +0000

I'm stumbling this – AND trying to convince my husband to ditch the cable bill.

By: Anna @ Rusty Cottage

Anna @ Rusty Cottage — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 16:14:02 +0000

Thank you for writing this! I needed to know that there were others out there. We turned ours off a couple of months ago and there have been a few times that others have made me feel stupid for doing it and like I am deprived or something. But seriously, if you don't have the time and you could use the extra money then I say, why not? I am sure I will keep up with Grey's during the fall by watching it online. I am going to check out this Hulu thing too. Again, thank you so much!
~Anna @ Rusty Cottage

By: Melissa

Melissa — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 15:23:09 +0000

Hubs and I did away with cable a few years ago when we'd just gotten married and were navigating our newlywed budget. The impetus was when we realized that we pretty much were only ever watching Food Network. I miss Food Network, but not the monthly bill!

By: Niffer

Niffer — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:54:05 +0000

I've been trying to "cut the cord" as well. Haven't been able to do it yet… still working on it, but as I look back at our viewing habits; it's mostly PBS for my kiddos, and movies, and I'm on this darn computer now when I used to be watching TV. Also, I've been watching the new episodes on the web. gotta love that! I guess I really don't know what I'm waiting for… Hmmmm.

By: Vic @ Glowstars

Vic @ Glowstars — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:46:29 +0000

We had cable at one point, but dropped it in favour of freeview (I'm in the UK – it comes with all the basic channels like the BBC range etc, but none of the movies or premium channels). It's got cbeebies/cbbc for kids, fiveUS to feed our CSI addicition and not a lot else despite the presence of almost 70 extra channels. I don't think I'd ever go back to cable now – it's just not worth the cost.

By: Di

Di — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:32:01 +0000

I'm so glad you wrote about this. We dropped cable the last time we moved and are totally taking advantage of everything you listed here. We can follow all the shows we want to, and aren't mindlessly watching in the evenings.

By: ivon

ivon — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:20:08 +0000

All you need to connect your pc to the tv is an S-video cable. The s-video cable is really cheap under $10.
There are two types 4 pin and a 7 pin s-video cable. Just check behind your tv and pc.

By: Debbie

Debbie — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 14:09:07 +0000

I want to dump my cable. Every month I look at that huge bill and then any time we turn the TV on we complain that there is nothing to watch. I need to look into this idea of hooking the computer up to the TV. That might get me to finally cut the cable cord!