“I’m sorry. Perhaps I heard you wrong,” said the customer service representative on the other end of the phone line. “I thought you said you wanted to cancel all cable services.”
Oh no, he heard me correctly. We officially cut the cord to cable television about a month ago. What I envisioned to be extremely difficult ended up being just what God intended.
During Lent last year, we fasted from many things as a family. While we didn’t give up television, we did give up screen time (computers, gaming systems, iPhone games, etc.) for various days throughout the 40-day season. Quite honestly, there were only a handful of shows we watched. The rest of our television viewing was mindless channel surfing that kept us up way too late. That, and the DVR was filled with too many shows we eventually ended up deleting because we didn’t have the time, or focus, to enjoy them.
On the flip side, we don’t get to watch most shows in “real time” and we rely on sites like Hulu and Netflix for current shows. It’s either Redbox or the actual movie theatre for Hollywood magic. It remains to be seen just how painful fall football season (we are Texan, after all) and March Madness will be next spring with no cable, but we know it was the right thing to do. This is why we have friends with cable, sports bars with televised games and an internet connection to live-stream the games we can’t miss, right?
Financially, we are saving more than $125 a month.
Psychologically, I’m no longer dreaming about “interventions,” infomercials or the Jason Bourne trilogy.
Emotionally, I’ve had the time, and the energy, to connect with my husband again.
Behaviorally, the kids are getting outside even more and yelling less at each other.
Spiritually, I feel like a got a piece of my life back—the part that really mattered.
It’s funny, because once I announced it on Twitter and Facebook that we’d taken the leap, I heard from tons of friends who had done the same. Evidently, it’s all the rage. More importantly, I feel like the leap allowed us to do the most important thing, make time for God. Even if it’s only a half hour here, fifteen minutes there or a glorious hour somewhere in between, the Holy Spirit has found a comfortable home on our living room couch. That is the biggest blessing of all.
Kathryn Whitaker is the mother of five children, 11 to 2, and wife to an amazing Catholic man, who, thanks to no more cable, she’s gotten to know again. With all that extra money, they’ve been able to enjoy some great date nights! You can find her blogging over at her personal blog, Team Whitaker.
Way to go, Kathryn! We decided before we were married to not have TV, but the internet sites and iPhone do make it nice to be able to watch some movies and other shows when we want to. I’m really missing watching the Olympics right now, though!
Blair recently posted..Monday Motivation
Congrats.
Football season isn’t too bad. That’s what friend’s houses are for! We cut the cord several years ago and my husband, a huge Steelers fan, has survived.
I just wish we knew where the money and time we used to spend with TV has gone. I cannot seem to figure it out. If Americans spend x amount of hours watching TV daily, where are those extra hours in my life? Funny, how one habit replaces another and have realized, for me, computer time has replaced TV time. Gotta get it under control!
I’m right there with you! People look at me like I have three heads when I tell them that my four-year old son doesn’t watch TV. My husband and I watch a little, but once our $80/month rate (for phone, cable and internet) expires, we are going to ditch the cable and get a Netflix subscription instead.
In our married life, my husband and I have never had cable. It saves SO much money. It also keeps us from wasting time watching garbage we didn’t really care about. I agree that people truly don’t understand how we can survive without cable. Most everything that we would watch is available on the internet. I would rather watch it on there when I have time!
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{Kathy} Much to my chagrin, my husband took leadership of our house and made a decision without ME at the beginning of Lent 2012. Without so much as a warning, he canceled our satellite service. Shock and awe ensued. I was pretty miffed. HOWEVER, I have been humbled by this act of his obedience that he performed to the call God gave him. Have we missed it? Sometimes. Do we need it? Um, no. I observed all of the same dynamics in our family life as you did. I am very, very thankful my husband did not listen to me.
Mothering From Scratch recently posted..MOMtor monday: books that flipped our pancakes
I had gotten fed-up with the increasingly inappropriate commercials that would come on while the kids were watching TV. I cut off cable for 10 years and it was a fabulous decision. The kids learned to seek other distractions, like books and their toys. Not having access to cable instantly ended arguments that the kids would have about who-got-to-watch-what-and-for-how-long. We had kept our DVD player and our Netflix subscription so that we could watch occasional movies and shows. It is amazing how much time you suddenly have when you don’t sit in front of the TV for a “moment” just to find that 2 hours has passed and you didn’t watch anything redeeming during that time. When we moved a year ago, I regret to say that we put in cable . However, I’m about to cancel it again, because I’ve found that after going so long without cable, the way we we watch TV has changed. Also, there’s nothing on that we can’t get through another source if we really want to watch something. Yes, the money saved is a bonus too.
AMEN, y’all. I’ve been stalking Twitter and the Internet during the Olympics (man, it’s tough not to have the DVR right now), but once every two years just doesn’t justify the cost or the headache of having cable. It’s about perspective and growth and we are loving our cable-free house. My only question is: Why the heck didn’t we do this sooner?!
Kathryn recently posted..Snip, Snip Goes the Cable
We cut our cable as a way to save money, and it’s helped us tremendously in so many ways. My kids don’t clamor for STUFF — because they don’t see it on commercials. I don’t get sucked into the Desperate Housewives, Bachelor, etc talk — I have no clue about those things, or what celebrity is pursuing whom. It’s awesome.
Dianna recently posted..Giving Our Children Back to God: Saints and Scripture Sunday
We cut cable out a few years ago, and the only time we’re really itching for it is during college football season. Thankfully, some games are streamed live on the Internet if we have time to watch. We subscribe to Netflix, and it allows me and the husband to watch something after the kids are in bed. We LOVE that we’re saving money. People really do look at you like you’re crazy when you say you don’t have a t.v.! I’ve been in houses, though, where the t.v. is on constantly as “background noise,” and by the time we leave, my nerves are shot!
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We discontinued our cable about two years ago. Best decision we ever made. We really don’t miss it. We have an HD-TV which can pick up digital airwave channels with an antenna. We can also hook up to the internet for You Tube or live streaming. There are many benefits such as we can be very selective about what we watch, we save money, we don’t have to worry about super-offensive content showing up on our TV when changing channels but we still have to be firm about the amount of TV we permit ourselves and our children to watch.
We have basic-basic cable. I think my husband got that same flummoxed reaction when he called and said, “This ‘family’ cable is ridiculous. Whatever happened to that basic package? Don’t you offer it anymore?” Even with basic cable, ewhich offers us networks and a smattering of a dozen or so other channels, there’s still too much to choose from. We’re huge Netflix fans, and so grateful not only that our kids are protected from lots of sleaze, but that they get less “gimme-I-need” indoctrination.
Kathleen Basi recently posted..I Am Not Indispensible
My husband and I just decided to cut cable a couple weeks ago to save a little money, and I definitely feel like I have more time to devote to some of those things that I mean to do but keep putting off… We may be cheating a little bit because we have Netflix, but my life doesn’t revolve around the DVR anymore! (I am missing watching the Olympics, too, Blair)!
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What an inspirational post! While we may not have the courage to cut entirely, the end results you have described are VERY motivating to head to a more regulated, limited place. Great post….thank you!
Cheryl, it was a decision two years in the making. We slowly kept cutting back until we were like, “let’s just cut the cord already!”
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