Money saving tip #2: DUMP Cable

This one seems like a no-brainer.

Give up cable.  It's a drain on the pocket book and not even remotely necessary these days.

We had a very popular national "brand" of cable, high speed, telephone and were originally paying $125 per month two years ago.  In those two years, the initial offer wore out, so we went up to $140 per month.  But it didn't stop there: they continued to raise the rates so often that according to last notice we received, we were scheduled to be paying $170 per month.  That's $2040 per year - and we didn't even have the larger package or ANY HD channels at all whatsoever. HIGHWAY ROBBERY!

So, we researched and found a great deal on a telephone/high speed bundle through Suddenlink.  We moved to this and are paying $62 a month for this.  We bought an AppleTV for our main television (or rather "Santa" bought it for me as a Christmas gift), and we were already paying for Netflix.

If you don't know this already, you are 1) living in a box, and 2) missing out: Netflix streams TONS of stuff for free.  Well, sort of for free. We pay to have two DVDs at a time sent to us, and the streaming is free.

AppleTV streams Netflix so seamlessly that my four year-old knows how to use it. You can also purchase television a la carte through the AppleTV, but we haven't done much of that. A few seasons of some children's shows so my daughter still has her Team Umizoomi, Oswald, and Sesame Street.  We haven't ventured into buying any Disney seasons because they are way too expensive.

I also have a Mac Mini that I bought a year or so ago, and this computer is hooked up to the bedroom television.  I have to watch my Young and Restless, along with my How I Met Your Mother and Rules of Engagement: I do this via the CBS website.  LOVE YOU CBS!!!  Thank you for keeping free television, well...free!!

We pulled out an OLD antenna and use that, too, but it isn't used often.  It is there for things like Dick Clark's Rockin' New Year or President Obama's speeches.  That sort of thing.

If you think of it on a long term scale, paying for cable is ridiculous.

"BRAND NAME" cable/high speed/telephone: $170 per month, $2040 per year, $20400 a decade.

Suddenlink high speed/telephone coupled with streaming Netflix: $78 per month, $936 per year, $9,360 per decade.  Over the course of ten years, that's an $11,040 difference!  That $99 AppleTV has already paid for itself within the first month, by the way.



Where are we now with monthly savings?
Tip#1 - Dish Towels $5 per month
Tip#2 - Dump Cable $92 per month.
Total per month: $97
Total per year: $1164

I'm not sure how GREEN this tip is, but it obviously keeps the green in our pockets!.

And we're only on tip #2!