Cutting the Cord – Living Without Cable

Have you ever thought about what you could do with an extra $700-800 a year? Sounds like a pretty nice extra bit of cash right? Well, there’s a way you can save that much that is becoming more and more popular and easy to do. And that is by cutting out cable. *gasp* Cutting out cable? But what about all your favorite shows?! Not to worry, there are plenty of ways you can still catch your shows and save a good $60+ per month.

You can get local channels by purchasing a $15 digital converter box and don’t have to worry about any monthly fees – and depending on where you live, you may still have around 60 channels.

Here are some of the ways you can save:

Hulu – allows you to watch your favorite shows FREE. They are usually added the day after they’ve aired, so you might have a 1-night delay, but it beats paying that cable bill.

Netflix  – Offers a cheap way to rent thousands of movies and TV shows. You can choose different subscription options, from Instant Watch on your TV and computer  to Instant Watch plus movies in your mailbox. Plans start at $7.99 a month.

Amazon Video on Demand (http://www.amazon.com/b/?ie=UTF8&node=16261631&tag=googhydr-20&hvadid=2421641721&ref=pd_sl_15356wjtq3_b) – offers many discounted and even some FREE shows and movies you can watch instantly. There are also movies for as low as 99 cents, and you can watch on your computer or TV (either by hooking up the computer to the TV or if you have a compatible device – see their site for more info on compatibility).

Internet - Many newer TVs or devices like blu-ray players, XBox, Playstation, and Wii will now let you connect to the internet to stream movies and shows to your TV for free without having to connect your computer to the TV itself. Many TVs now come Internet-ready or have adapters you can buy (roughly $80).

Google TV – lets you set up apps on your TV and customize the home screen so you can put your Hulu, Netflix, NBC, ABC, TBS, and other sites on the home screen. You have to have a product that works with Google TV, but even if you buy the Logitech Revue (http://www.logitech.com/en-us/smartTV/revue) for $300 you would still save $420 this year and $720 next year.

Sports – Getting sports online is still tough. It might be possible to drop down to a basic cable package and just order sports packages. You can pick from sports packages for the year or for certain seasons so you can catch all of the football or baseball games.

If you have decided you still need cable, it doesn’t hurt to call your cable provider and see if they can lower the cost or give you a good deal. My family has called several times and asked what kind of deal the company could give us so we wouldn’t switch providers. There is always some sort of special running, and they do have the power to lower your bill.

Tags: cut cable, google tv, hulu, netflix, save money, save money on cable