Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Living without Cable TV

We haven't had cable for the last 2 ½ years (with the exception of a short period of time when my sister-in-law was living with us). My husband may feel a little differently than I do, but I honestly don't miss it one bit. I'll admit that it was a bit difficult to give up some addicting reality TV, but I quickly got over that as my time filled up with all things baby. 

Yes, we still have a TV and watch it regularly. In fact, I get all of the channels included in a basic cable package for FREE. ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, PBS (a must with kiddos) - we are able to watch them all for free! 

So, for today's Top Ten Tuesday, here's my list of how we do cable-free TV:
How to watch TV without cable

  1. Get an antenna. The old rabbit ear antennas will work perfectly fine, but there are much more discrete options out there now. We have a flat antenna, called the Mohu Leaf. It blends right into our white walls, but you can also hide it right behind a photo or painting.
  2. Hulu. Any shows I miss can be watched (for FREE) on Hulu. There's no need to pay money for  Hulu Plus. CBS shows aren't on Hulu though. :(
  3. Watch Online. Okay, so technically this covers #2 also, but it's my list & I do what I want. :) For any CBS shows or others not on Hulu, I just go to their website and the shows are normally up within a week.
  4. Amazon Prime. So this one costs money, but it's minimal and we had it anyway because we order so much from Amazon (can't live without my favorite coffee).  I actually didn't realize that you could stream movies + TV shows from Amazon Prime until recently.
  5. Netflix. We also pay for Netflix, but I don't watch it too often. It's used more by John and once a week during family movie night.
  6. Apple TV... or another way stream video on your TV. This is key to fully enjoying Netflix or Hulu Plus. It's nice to see things on the big screen (as opposed to your computer screen) whenever you want.
  7. Watch Sports at a Restaurant. Sure, it's not always ideal, but you can see any game / match / event for the price of a dinner that you don't have to cook. That's a win win in my book.
  8. Buy Instant Downloads. Even before we dropped cable, this was on my list. Just buy the last season of your latest obsession and let the binge watching begin.
  9. Redbox. With lots of websites offering free movie codes for red box (like this one), you can enjoy a movie that's not offered on your other services.
  10. When all else fails, go to a friends house and watch their cable. :)
Linking up with Emily from Manhattan Emily for Top Ten Tuesdays today.

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8 comments:

  1. Quinn, amen to all of this! I haven't had cable since I moved out of my parent's house to go to college all those years ago. But with the advent of internet streaming, I don't miss it at all. And I don't find myself wasting tons of time channel surfing. I just stream the shows I love and forget about the rest. I'm glad you are a fellow Without Cable household :)

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  2. We definitely do a lot of hulu and netflix and have an apple tv to stream! :) What are some of your favorite shows?

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  3. We have been seriously considering doing this as well. Cable is so expensive, especially when for a much lower monthly rate we can get Netflix AND Hulu Plus. The only thing that's stopped us so far is the sports. My husband LOVES them (especially football), and there really just isn't good online streaming for them. We recently switched back to TimeWarner from DirectTV but still have all of the satellites, etc. installed...if only we could JUST get the NFL package every season without the required 2-year contract, we'd be golden!

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  4. It took a lot of convincing before my husband was willing to pull the plug on cable! After a few months without it though, he didn't really miss any of the sports channels (we also mainly watch local teams, so they are usually on local channels too). Also, I think he secretly enjoys being able to say 'Oh, well that sports event is not on any local channels, so I might as well go to a sports bar + enjoy some kid-free time while I'm there'… I still haven't convinced him that I need some kid-free time at a Bravo TV bar to watch my trashy reality TV :)

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  5. That's a hard one… I am loving Scandal right now. My husband is currently obsessed with Breaking Bad (like the rest of the nation) and Sons of Anarchy

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  6. You just perfectly described why I love not having cable! You have to actually make your own choices and don't get sucked into a show by channel surfing that you didn't really want to watch anyway.

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  7. We got into breaking bad, too. I didn't think I would like it because the beginning was way too stressful and gruesome, but I got hooked after 5 episodes. Trying to figure out what next to watch since BB is over.

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  8. I haven't watched BB yet, but I might get into it one day. I tried watching Orange is the New Black because everyone said it was so good, but I stopped watching after the first few episodes. I'll let you know if I hear of any good shows out there

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