I don’t know what’s happening with your cable provider, but ours just keeps jacking up our rates to the point where I would open our monthly statement with shaking fingers. In fact, it finally got so bad we dropped cable and went to a satellite TV provider. This hasn’t cut our bill in half or better, but it has reduced it by about $65 a month, which is not small change.
Can you do without a cable or satellite TV provider?
I was talking with a friend in his 20s not long ago when I happened to ask who was his cable provider? “I don’t have TV,” he said. “I get all my television through my computer.”
If this sounds a bit far-fetched, think about it. There are all kinds of content that you can get on your computer and then stream it to your TV. Many people have found they can replace conventional television with Hulu, Netflix, Apple TV and other such sources. While these non-conventional sources do cost money, they put you in charge. This means that unlike cable or satellite TV, you don’t have to pay for a full package to get the programs or movies you really want. Instead, you can buy them à la Carte. This way, you’re paying for only the content of your choice and not for a bunch of channels like RFD-TV, the Documentary Channel, SOAPnet, or OVC, which you would not watch if someone held a gun to your head.
Do without the premium channels
You can also cut your cable bill simply by eliminating the premium channels you may now be paying for. Channels such as Cinemax and HBO might be fun but they can also be very expensive. If you like movies, you could get Netflix movies delivered to your home or streamed to your TV for less than $20 a month. If you don’t mind running out when you’re in the mood for a movie, there is also Redbox, which costs just $1 per movie for 24 hours. You could get 10 first-run movies a month from Redbox and still be well ahead of what you’re paying now for premium movie channels.
Do one thing and save $50 a month
While this does not come under the category of cutting your cable bill, there is one quick way you can reduce your phone bill from around $50-$60 a month to less than $20. It’s called VoIP or Voice over Internet Protocol phone service. You can get it from a company such as Vonage and enjoy unlimited calls for around $19.95 a month. Or you might drop that landline entirely. If you have a cell phone, you probably don’t need a landline. I know of many people who have dropped their conventional phone service in lieu of their cell phones. I mean, after all, do you really need to pay for two phones? Of course, you do need to be careful about the plan you sign up for in terms of how many minutes you get each month and whether or not texting and Internet access is included or optional at extra cost. This is because if you’re not careful, you can end up with a bill from your cell phone provider that’s as bad or worse than what you are paying for your landline.