Great Savings Tip #67

This post is part of our continuing Great Savings Tips series, which originally brought you 65 ways to spend less and save more.  Over the course of the next couple months, we plan to bring 4 to 5 new tips every week until we bring our tip count “All The Way To 100!“  Today’s tip: Cut your cable bill.

Nothing To Watch

100's of choices and nothing to watch?

Tip #67) Opt down or out of cable TV: Have you looked at your cable bill recently?  Do you get what you pay for?  Maybe I just don’t get it, but what’s with all those stations that all play the same thing over and over and over again?  As I scan through my channels I theoretically have dozens or even hundreds of to choose from, but when I look a little closer at the actual programming there’s often nothing I consider worth watching.  Worse, if I do decide to watch, almost every channel has about ten minutes of advertising for twenty minutes of show.

What Do You Pay For?

What's your cable costing you?

Okay, take out your calculator.  A $50 per month cable bill works out to $600 per year.  In ten years, that adds up to $6000.  Assuming the price never went up, by the time you’ve been paying your cable bill for thirty years you will have spent $18,000!  Now, if you enjoy your cable and take advantage of the programming then you’re set.  However, if you think the selection is only fair, why bother paying the cable company so much money every month?

The Alternatives

This network adaptor plugs in a DVD player and let's you stream video to your TV.

These days there are a lot of alternatives to cable TV.  You can always buy, rent or borrow shows and movies on DVD’s.  Buy used DVD’s from Half-Price Books, borrow DVD’s for free from friends or a local library, and rent them for as little as a buck a piece at Redbox.  You can also download shows and movies off the internet from companies like Netflix, Hulu, or Amazon.  Plus, if you have a relatively new television, there is a good chance you already own a DVD player, Wii or other device that will let you stream your video direct to your set.  Of course, downloading takes a broadband internet connection so you will still be on the hook for that.

Going Retro

If you are wondering whether you’re getting your money’s worth on cable, consider switching to the most basic cable package available, or opting out of cable altogether. Either option can save you a bundle over the long haul.   If you choose to opt out you can usually install an antenna.  For a good article on the various issues to consider when installing an antennae see this post from Crutchfield.com (an electronics retailer).

To be sure you don’t miss our next tip, register with our site and we’ll send you an automatic notice for all our new posts.  Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!  Oh, and please tell your friends about us.

By Bob Anderson

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