Tip #3 – Cut Your Cable
Welcome to day three of our roughly 10 day journey to save $10,000 over this next year. If you missed the introductory post of 10 Money-Savings Tips to Help You Stash $10,000 you’ll definitely want to check it out so we’re all on the same page.
But to sum it up – here’s our mission:
For the next couple weeks we’re going to look at one money-saving tip each Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Thursdays we’re going to hear Personal Finance bloggers’ and hopefully some readers’ ideas and experiences on how they’ve saved money!
If you’d like to be included in the Thursday posts – please let me know your best money-saving tip here! We’d love to hear your stories of what you did and how much money you saved by implementing your tip!
If you’re a blogger and have posted about your money-saving tip, please include a link to your post!
Tip #3: Cut Your Cable
I know I’m stepping on to some thin ice here, but I just have to do it. The average digital cable subscriber spends approximately $75 per month and many pay well over $100!
Now before you get too upset – I am NOT suggesting you need to get rid of your cable altogether, although there are some who are in full support of cutting cable completely and have saved a lot of money doing it!
Take for example, Kita – from Personal Finance Journey. She recently posted about how she got fired up to knock out some debt and made a radical decision to cut off her cable completely and saved over $70 per month!!
What I’m suggesting here is at the very least taking a look at your bill and sacrificing a bit to help shave some expenses. Especially with all of the technology out nowadays like streaming from Netflix, Xbox or even just using your computer to watch shows online – there is no reason why you can’t find the shows you want.
Seriously, do you really need 800 channels?
My wife and I just recently moved in our new house and after some debate we decided to go with the Direct TV family package, which includes channels we like HGTV, DIY and Food Network. It also has all the cartoon and kids programming that we wanted as well since we have a daughter that is totally into Dora.
It only has 50 channels, but the regular rate is $43 per month with taxes!
It doesn’t have ESPN, but can I get by without it? No – I mean Yes, yes I can. I can actually check any highlights I want on ESPN.com!
Will I miss some games I really want to see? Sure, but I can see most of the games that I’m into and if there is something I want to see, I can always find a friend or family member and invite myself over!
I remember talking to someone a while back who was loaded to the gills with credit card debt. It was so bad that the interest being paid was similar to most people’s mortgage payment!
One of the things they staunchly refused to cut back on was their $150 cable bill stating they “needed” all those movie channels and premium packaging for their teenage boys.
One of the things you can do also is to negotiate with your cable provider for a lower rate.
So, take a look at your cable bill – see if there are some channels that you can do without for a while and give your cable company a call! You’ll be glad you did.
Estimated Savings: $25-$75 per month
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Check Out All The Tips From Our Series
Tip #1: Cut Back on Going Out to Eat
Tip #2: Evaluate Your Entertainment
Tip #5: Negotiate Your Cell Phone Plan
Tip #6: Get Rid of Your Land Line
Tip #7: Slash Your Grocery Bill by Cutting Out Junk Food!
Tip #8: Use Coupons, For Everything!
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10 Money-Saving Tips to Help You Stash $10,000!
Should You Give Money to a Homeless Person?
7 Most Important Habits That Rich People Use to Build Wealth
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for the include Jason! I would encourage anyone to give this a try…after a month you may find you don’t miss cable at all!
.-= Lakita (PFJourney)´s last blog ..Cutting Cable Saved Over $70 per Month =-.
My husband and I did this about 6 months ago. We knocked our cable down to the very basic package ($13 a month). It took us about a week to get use to the programming choices. We don’t miss all of the cable channels except two – The History Channel and HGTV.
We got rid of one TV. That saved 5 bucks a month. Now we watch less and spend more time together. Best 5 bucks I ever saved.
No problem Kita – thanks for sharing your “win” with cable! Good luck on the journey!!
Tam, thanks for checking out the blog! Nice job in knocking that cable bill down! I’m sure paying that $13 bill each month helps ease the loss of the missed channels! I’m not sure if Hulu carries any of the HGTV shows or not, but it might be worth a look!
We cut our cable a couple of years ago, and after a couple of weeks we really didn’t miss it at all. A lot of the shows are available online anyway, through sites like Hulu.com and ABC.com.
And for the shows that we’re really big fans of, we get them on DVD when they’re released. It still costs less than cable, and we can watch them as much as we want. Plus, no commercials and if there are any big cliff-hanger episodes, we don’t have to wait a week or more to find out what happens
Mike, thanks for the comment. After the initial shock of not having the cable, it sounds like you adjusted pretty well.
We have never had cable. We don’t miss it. The kids watch plenty of PBS and we have in the past had a subscription to Blockbuster Online.
.-= Laura´s last blog ..The Little House on The Prairie Musical =-.
Nice tips!
I absolutely agree…. I never even turn on the TV anymore (except to play xbox) and have no cable… I don’t even kno if the aerial is plugged in!
The internet, local library and even Redbox provides enough entertainment to replace cable easily.
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