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When I got married, I was the money saver. I had always tried to live frugally. My husband, not so much. So, you can imagine my shock when he suggested we GET RID OF CABLE to save some money!
C’mon now, we can’t cut the cord, right? How will I flip through the 200+ channels until I find the right thing for my mood?
Getting rid of cable seemed like a horrible idea!
After some thought…and convincing, I agreed to get rid of cable. Afterall, saving money is awesome and if I hated it we could always just get it back.
That was 8 years ago and I often wonder why I didn’t get rid of cable sooner!
According to Fortune, the average cable bill as of Sept 2016 is $103 per month. And that average sees pretty significant increases every year. That means that, on average, people are paying $1236 per year for cable.
There are so many AWESOME options to keep you entertained if you are thinking of getting rid of cable. And they can save you upwards of $1000 per year!
What could YOU do with an extra $1000/year?
So, if you are ready to get rid of cable (or are atleast to thinking about getting rid of cable) here is how to get rid of cable and still get your tv fix:
1. Hulu.
If you are getting rid of cable, think about getting Hulu. Hulu is an awesome streaming service if you want to keep up to date (in almost real time) on current shows.
They have most (not all) current shows available the day after they air. In addition, they have lots of older shows in their entirety (as well as movies) available for streaming.
Hulu’s cost per month starts at $7.99 which is the plan we use.
2. Netflix.
Netflix is another awesome streaming service that is awesome to use if you get rid of cable. Netflix, in my opinion, has a better movie selection than Hulu.
They don’t, however, have shows up the day after they air. Typically, on Netflix, they add an entire season at a time after the current season wraps up.
Netflix stars at $9.99 per month.
3. Amazon Prime.
If you get rid of cable Amazon Prime might be a good place to get your entertainment. Amazon Prime is more than just a streaming service.
Amazon Prime comes with lots of other benefits including Free two day shipping, music, kindle books and so much more.
With Prime comes Amazon Video, which like Hulu & Netflix, has a wide selection of tv shows and movies to stream. Amazon Prime is $99 a year.
4. Sling TV.
Sling TV is a service that starts at just $20 per month. It allows the user to have 30 channels (at that $20 price, more at higher tiers). So if you’re afraid of losing your channels when you’re thinking of getting rid of cable, this is a great option for you!
So, if you love flipping channels and don’t want to give up watching your shows in real time, then Sling TV might be the perfect solution to help you get rid of your cable.
5. Antenna for Local channels.
Don’t want to lose your local channels when you get rid of cable? For under $15 (one time cost) you can get a digital TV antenna (we use this RCA one).
Simply hook the antenna up to your TV and you will get all of your local channels. Boom! And no monthly fees are involved!
6. Amazon Firestick.
Ok, so if you are wondering how to get rid of cable but still have your services easy to access try a Firestick. Once you have all your cool streaming services, you will want an easy way to have them displayed on your TV.
We use an Amazon Firestick. They are quite cost effective at just under $40 (one time cost).
You can load all of the apps you will be using like Hulu, Netflix, Amazon Prime – and others like Spotify (if you also want to listen to music). That way when you turn your TV on you just click on what you want to watch! (It will be like you didn’t get rid of cable at all!)
Even if you choose to combine several of these options, you will still see a significant savings by getting rid of cable. For example, we have Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime.
(Amazon Prime is something we have for the other benefits like FREE two day shipping. With Netflix & Hulu, we haven’t even really used the Amazon Prime video services much at all, but they do have a TON of awesome options.)
So, even having all three of these services, we only spend about $26 per month! (We do also have an antenna and Firestick – both of which are a one time purchase cost.)
Our cable bill use to be just about $125 a month. So, by getting rid of cable we are saving about $100 a month!
Now that you know how to get rid of cable, what are you going to use your savings on?!
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