Good morning!
I hope your day is off to a good start! I’m hoping my day doesn’t take a massive dive for the worse when I head off to the dentist this morning. I have an appointment to get a filling repaired. An old filling fell out last week and I have a nice little hole in my tooth that needs to be patched up. Sounds like a rockin’ good time!
Workout
Today’s workout began with a two mile run on the treadmill.
After my quick run, it was off to the weight room for a Best Body Boot Camp workout! I flip flopped the final two circuit workouts for the week and did the upper body circuit workout. That’ll do, pig. That’ll do. (<— If you can name that movie, we should probably be best friends.)
Breakfast
I made myself a plate of scrambled eggs with shredded cheese and spinach for breakfast this morning.
On the side I had a rather questionable toasted whole wheat English muffin. I found it in the freezer this morning and I’m pretty sure it was on its last leg. I ended up making myself an egg sandwich with the English muffin and scrambled eggs and all was well.
Television Decision
Last month Ryan and I started talking about canceling our cable. We actually went without television in our house for two years back when we first started living together.
(That apartment is still my favorite place that we’ve lived! I loved all of the windows and the hardwood floors.)
We weren’t sure how we would handle it, but we both didn’t really miss it at all. We had NetFlix and found that when we would watch TV together, it felt like a planned event rather than just a default activity since we were watching DVDs of movies or TV shows that we were both interested in watching together. If there was a show on TV that we really wanted to keep up with, we’d watch it online a few days after it originally aired. Most days we just didn’t watch TV at all and I honestly didn’t miss it.
We got cable again when we moved into our second apartment (a decision that was motivated by Ryan’s desire to watch the World Cup) and have kept it ever since. When we started talking about canceling our cable last week, we realized we don’t really have many shows we watch regularly. New Girl and Modern Family are the only two shows we watch together weekly, though I also watch The Bachelor and Ryan loves sports.
Paying for cable doesn’t seem worth it when we only care about a few shows, but aside from that, we realized that we’ve started to use TV as a default form of “filler entertainment.” We’ll find ourselves sitting on the couch watching random shows we don’t really care much about at all at night. When we didn’t have TV, we read more, went on more walks with Sadie and were more productive around the house in the evening.
But on the nights when neither of us feel like doing anything, TV is a pretty sweet thing. I’ve already told Ryan I’m all in for canceling cable but he really likes watching sports and isn’t fully on board yet. We shall see!
Question of the Morning
- Do you watch a lot of TV? How many minutes/hours of TV do you watch a day?
- Have you ever considered going TV-free in your house? Would you want to?
Fun fact: According to the New York Daily News, Americans watch an average of 34 hours of television a week.
![\"Quantcast\"/](\"//pixel.quantserve.com/pixel/p-1e3-7hOJ_U8Bg.gif\")
My husband and I dropped all except basic channels three years ago. We decided the money wasn’t worth it, and we haven’t missed it. We’ve also been toying with the idea of dropping even that as well since we can catch up online for the two shows that we do watch. Netflix helps a lot and we mostly use our TV for DVDs and video games anyway.
I went without cable when I lived with friends my first 2 years of college, and I honestly LOVED it. When I started I wasn’t sure I could live without it, but after a month I didn’t want to go back! Now that I’m home with my parents for the semester, I’ve been spending way too much time watching “filler” shows and have been pushing them to make the switch too. We’ve got a Roku which puts Netflix, Hulu, and ESPN on all of our tvs. Don’t need anything more than that!
The boyfriend and I went cable-free when we moved into our current apartment – and I’m perfectly fine with it. There’s a few shows that we’ll catch up with a few days later, but like your experience, we found that we were just engaging in a lot of ‘filler’ entertainment. Not necessary!
We have been cable free for almost a year now and don’t miss it at all! We have netflix, hulu plus, amazon prime, and use rabbit ears to get the basic channels. This way we now have an extra $80/month to spend on something more fun!
I’m keeping my cable. My brain won’t turn off (it’s delightful like that) and I actually “need” the background noise so I don’t make myself nuts. Or nuttier. It’s up for debate, depending on who you ask 😉
Honestly, though, if we had to give up cable TV we could. If there were any shows important enough (Survivor, in our house) we could always just by the season on iTunes. And as for my special brand of crazy, I have podcasts galore to keep myself occupied 🙂
My husband and I just cancelled our cable, and are saving over $120/month because of it! I bought him a Google TV box for Christmas (about $99 on Amazon), and with that plus our Amazon Prime membership, we just watch TV series together like Downtown Abbey. I don’t miss it at all, and I have so much more free time to play with my puppy and clean our house!
I could honestly live without a TV too. I normally just have it on for background noise and never pay attention to the shows that are on. Every once in awhile it is nice to be able to sit down and watch some TV but that’s hardly ever for me!
I TOTALLY say, “That’ll do, pig. That’ll do” to myself sometimes. Love Babe 🙂
And while we’ve gone without TV, we definitely like having it but only with a DVR. The only things the bf and I watch live are sports games and big news coverage (like election night). Otherwise, we have a set number of shows we DVR and watch while skipping through commercials. I’d strongly consider getting rid of the TV altogether if we started watching random shows, which we used to when we had more evening free time. I think it just eats away at your day and you don’t spend quality time together!
I have moved in January. So, I still have no cable. I am living with a mifi for internet. I do miss being able to see news. But I have been turning a local radio station on for news and weather. And can also get that from online. I really do not miss it. I have been using dvd’s for now. I really like not having tv, but I do miss having the morning news. So, I am not sure I will keep the full cable when I do get it. It is almost freeing to live without it. And with netflix, which I am living without for now too, I miss that more that cable.
Since I am usually at work all day and then generally have stuff going on after work, I really appreciate the couple hours before bed where I can veg out and watch a reality show. It definitely takes time away from my reading, but I do manage to squeeze it in a few minutes before I fall asleep before bed. I live with a room mate who is my friend and it is kind of awkward to hole yourself up in your room instead of hanging out! I am sure when I live on my own I’ll have more time for quiet time and reading.
I watch WAY too much television mostly due to having surgery after surgery. It’s embarrassing how much television I watch. I wish I would sit down with a book more because I feel like television just “rots your brain” haha. I was throwing around the idea to take online education/mathematics courses because I just cannot stand sitting and watching television day after day. It’s just boring after a while.
We definitely would never get rid of our cable. We watch quite a bit of TV, but I don’t feel bad about it because we have very active lives as well. I think we strike a good balance, and it works for us.
This is a really random question but what happened to Sadie’s birthday challenge?
YES!!!!!! 🙁
What a great idea!! I would love to not even own a TV, and just watch any show I might like on my laptop (anywhere I want, too!). But alas, my boyfriend won’t have it. He enjoys relaxing after work watching mindless TV before going to bed. Also, he needs to watch his soccer matches, too! 🙂
I am a news junkie! I always have it on Fox News or Fox Business Network.
I have never watched tv on a regular basis, and honestly, that fact at the end of your post about the average person watching 34 hours a week shocks me! Without regular tv, I already feel like there are too many things going on in my day, and if I’m lucky can get down early enough at night to feel fully rested. If you do decide to cancel your cable, I don’t think you’ll regret it! Sure, there may be some nights when you wish you could flip through the channels, but I think overall you will be glad with the money you’ve saved and the more productive, or more social ways to spend your evenings. Even if you do plunk a movie in, or surf the web to find a show to stream, at least you are picking something consciously rather than checking what happens to be on, and settling…
And it likely will cause you do spend your evenings doing other activities, such as going for walks and reading, as you said, which are often even better! Unplugged is the way to go! 😀
Walks are great, because you can think and unload your brain at the end of the day, rather than getting stimulation from a show….which ends up making your brain even more hyperactive than it was before!
Don’t get me wrong: I love winding down to a great, fun flick at the end of the night (and you definitely still can if you do decide to cancel), but I do think it is worth the savings and the more quality time to cancel your cable 🙂
I didn’t have cable (other than basic $15 cable to get a clear picture) for YEARS, but my husband has EVERY channel imaginable and loves TV, so I don’t think we could ever go without…now that I have it, I definitely enjoy some HGTV myself on the weekends 🙂
I wish I could convince my hubby to lose the cable, that just wouldn’t happen.
I watch a few shows but nothing I couldn’t find online or wait on, or just stop watching I suppose. I admit I spend atleast an hour a night sitting in front of the TV but it’s usually when I’m online reading blogs, making meal/workout plans for the week, etc.
I’ve never had cable so it’s definitely do-able. And really not that big of a deal.
I don’t have cable either. It’s been about 1.5 months since I had it. I really don’t miss it at all. I only used it for the news in the morning and that wasn’t worth what I was paying. Now I just get all my news online. I like being able to come home and read a book instead of go brain dead (well, that’s how it feels… 🙂 ) staring at the TV.
Babe? Haha.
We are a TV family, its on even in no one is watching which is probably a bad habit, but it is what it is. We got rid of our satellite subscription about 5 or so years ago and we haven’t missed it. We have Netflix and our dvd collection. Although I must complain about the rate of new additions on Netflix being a bit on the low side. We sure don’t miss that bill and all the crap TV that we didn’t watch. Plus I don’t really have to worry about what my kids are watching now, Sponge Bob and Iron Man are harmless, but some of that stuff on cable that are cartoons just scare me to death thinking about kids watching them. We get out and do a lot more since turning off the cable. Go for it!
We don’t have cable, and we haven’t for about 4 years now…We do however have an HD receiver (basically high tech bunny ears haha) We always go to a friend/family members house for big sports events ( super bowl/other games my husband watches) The receiver does get us local channels though so it is nice when we want to keep up with a show…. I think in the end we haven’t missed it and you can almost always find it on the internet or go somewhere and hang out to watch whatever you want!!
My husband and I cut out cable about 5 months ago. For the same reasons, way too expensive and we didn’t have any shows that we watched on a regular basis. It was actually quite nice to be without it. However, we are now scheduled to get it hooked back up next week and after reading your post I’m really sad that we caved. Let me correct that and say, my husband caved – since March Madness is coming up! Maybe I’ll convince him again in the future. Good luck!
I lived without cable for 7 years, just had netflix and internet (even before streaming really became popular). My husband wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t live in the house before we met, and he finally admitted cable wasn’t worth it.
That said, when we moved into a new house we needed internet (for work and sanity) and the deals to get cable were so cheap, esp when bundled with internet, we said we’d get it while we got the promo deal. Well the promo deal was going to run out and I heard that you can call to get them to renew the promo deal if you threaten to quit. Long story short, I called to cancel my service at a date in the future, then called a sales rep before that date and they gave me an even cheaper deal, 2 year contract, and 1 extra digital box than what we had. It helps that we have competitors in our area, but if you are ok with cancelling to begin with, it might be worth a shot. My husband agrees you can watch most stuff online now with the exception being sports, and I feel kinda guilty taking that away from him but for the small amount we pay extra for cable now, I don’t mind. Also we never had a DVR before now, and we watch must less tv with a DVR b/c we really only sit down ~1 night a week to watch shows together b/c we arn’t afraid of missing a show if we want to go for a walk or something. We also don’t get sucked into watching stuff we don’t really like b/c of that.
That said, I’m a big fan of not having cable 🙂 I would be considering the same if I wasn’t paying so little for mine.
Good luck!
We talk about cancelling cable as well. We have Netflix and use our friend’s hulu account, so we get plenty of TV watching in. I don’t think it’s worth it to keep paying for cable, but the man likes to watch hgtv while he’s getting ready for work. So weird. Not even the news…. HGTV. Boggles my mind.
Random question — Do you use really small plates and bowls? I haven’t noticed this before. I originally thought you had a ton of eggs, but then I saw your plate compared to your fork.. it seemed really small. I’ve read articles that if you eat on smaller plates, you actually eat less. Do you do that on purpose or totally chance?
Isn’t that quote from the movie Babe?? I love that movie!!
I don’t have cable and it makes it a treat when I visit my parents who do! I do have the digital signal in my area though that comes in great for local stations. I find that my TV watching is always planned and I watch shows I really want to see rather that just whats on. I also find that I read more books, which I love! Life without cable isn’t all that bad :p But I could see if someone wanted access to more sports than it might be a different story!
It’s Babe! When I was coaching women’s golf I would tell my girls “That’ll do Golfer, that’ll do.” They loved it and it kept them entertained and a little more relaxed on te course!
We recently got rid of cable for the spring/summer. We only get cable during college football season and then get rid of it immediately after. This time around we decided to buy a digital antenna for the TV. We get all of the standard tv channels for free! It’s been nice to watch our favorite shows but also keeps me from watching Real Housewives, which is for the best 🙂
I grew up without cable in my house because my parents thought it was ridiculous to spend so much money on something so stupid. Now they have it (figure, after I go to college) but at school my roommate and I don’t pay for cable. These days, you can find anything on TV so we don’t see the point in spending $70+ per month for something that you can get for free.
Julie! I have a solution for you! I am living on my own in a little studio, and cable is just not a good option for me right now. I don’t watch much TV either. What I decided to do (thanks to my boyfriend for the idea 😉 is get Hulu plus and this baby:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004QK7HI8/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00
I get about 7 major channels on my TV for free! It gives you the option to watch things live if you want (like GMA, the Bachelor, sports), but you’re not paying a monthly fee. And I swear the quality is the same– I don’t even notice that I’m watching from a satellite. I just add the channels that it gets, which for me is FOX, ABC, NBC, CW, CBS etc., to my “favorites” and switch channels that way.
Obviously, you get way fewer channels, but it’s nice to have a few if you just want to have some noise on, or if you’re dying to see who Sean sends home… 😉 Plus, it’s very discreet. It’s worth it, I promise!
When we moved into our house, we ditched cable. And I do not miss it. Most of the time. We have Netflix streaming, which helps with boredom, or we get movies from Redbox. We realized that we spent a lot of time watching HGTV and Food Network but once we were in a house, we needed to do the things we were watching and not zone out with them on the tv. The only thing that can be problematic is not having a DVR.
I don’t watch much tv. Maybe 1-2 hours a day…MAX! There are definitiely days that I don’t watch any tv at all. Usually when I “watch” tv I’m really on my laptop working or taking care of e-mails and it’s only half being watched.
In college my roommates and I cancelled our cable to save money but they never came out to disconnect the box, so we got free cable for over a year! It was great, but felt bad when we moved and actually had to pay again!
I think the hardest thing for me to live without would be college football! Only so many games are on ABC/CBS and I would miss so much! In the end though, if it came down to a financial decision I could give it up. I’d rather have my computer than my TV.
Hi! I think the no tv Idea is a great one. I hadnt had it for well over a year when my fiancé and I moved in together. They had a great deal when we moved in a few months ago so we just got local channels. I think we get a dozen or so. Fortunately he doesn’t care about sports (he’s British so thats not that weird) anyway our motivation to get it in part was the presidential debates which were coming up. We don’t watch it so much now. Unless it’s to see the news for a few minutes. We watch movies and his favorite go to Fraiser. Anyway, I feel like you, it’s really a filler that I don’t need and if Ryan wanted to watch a game you could always make a date of it and go to a bar or resturant or you could go to a friends house.
We gave up cable completely about 4 years ago and haven’t regretted it once. I’ll admit that my husband came home with a new television (christmas bonus gift to himself!) and we connected it to a digital antenna and got ourselves AppleTV. Between those 2 things, I can’t imagine we’ll ever go back to cable!
marci
Love babe and we say that all the time!
So happy to read about the other “no TV freaks” out there. I read about this challenge in The Nest magazine years ago and a couple gave up TV for a month. I approached my hubby with the idea and he was receptive. Our relationship got better and we were doing so many more things around the house, reading, talking, and having dinner at our table (instead of the coffee table). We never looked back I would say that was maybe 5 years ago.
Having TV now seems like such a strange thing. After we had our son (he will be 2 in March) we are convinced no TV is the way to go. We are always doing fun things in the backyard, reading, and doing silly things together. For example, the other night the little guy started hopping and my hubby and I joined in and we were all laughing. My husband turned to me and sarcastically said, “Honey, we should probably be watching TV like everyone else!” Ha, ha! Also, our son has an amazing vocabulary for his age and honestly I think part of it is that we do not have the TV to fall back on and let him just watch a show or two, instead we read a ton of books every night and times in between.
Not going to lie we totally have a couple of shows we follow, but usually just watch on our IPhone/IPad or laptop (if it is something we both like). However, if we fall into the trap of being on our phones too much before bed, one of us usually checks in and says, “Hey, lets not be on our phones at all tonight.”
Our son gets to watch the occasional football or baseball game or cooking show at the grandparents, but he gets board with TV easily and usually goes on to do something else.
My husband an I both agree, canceling TV it is by far the best thing we have ever done for our relationship and also for our son. Saving money is just extra!
We don’t own a tv, and I’ve lived without one for about 12 years. It was a decision we made in my family to cut out negativity and focus more on spiritual things/our relationship with God. We’ve learned over the years that we’re more productive and aware of how we spend our time, also how we live daily. There are also more studies surfacing showing the actual effects of constant media and television specifically. The constant motion is altering brain development/patterns and is a big contributor to what is now called the Dumbest Generation; that alone is reason enough to limit the amount of media we allow ourselves. By the way I’m only 24 and I realize this isn’t the mentality of my generation. Just wanted to leave my thoughts… I say go for it!
BABE!!! The movie is ‘Babe.’ I find this to be absolutely hilarious, because I used to quote that line from the movie all the time. Not too sure why, either. It just seemed to strike a chord with me – maybe the inflection of his voice, the tender way in which he spoke it – who knows. But, much to the dismay of my sisters, there was a period of my life when I quoted it All The Time. Haha – glad you can relate 🙂
I’ve been thinking about the value of having cable lately too! I don’t really watch too much TV and the shows I do like, I watch on the DVR a few days after they air anyway. With Netflix and other services like it, I sometimes have a hard time justifying paying what we do to have cable. I agree that sports would be the only thing it’d be hard to miss, but I think it would be a good excuse to get out and socialize a bit more by going somewhere to watch the games that really matter to us. Good luck with your decision.
I have been considering the same as I’m rarely home to watch more than a few select shows- even then I don’t always get to watch them.I’ve been thinking about using Hulu or Netflix. I’d rather pay for something I justify.
Ahhhh! The line is from Babe haha. Love that movie!
I couldn’t afford my gym membership & my cable…so I picked my gym membership. Best choice ever. I have Netflix and I’m able to watch the only two shows I watch regularly online.
We have no cable – just a Tivo and Netflix! There are so many ways to watch TV now and cable is SO ridiculously expensive. My husband hates that he can’t watch all of his OKC Thunder games, but with all the money we save it is worth the sacrifice!
My husband and I have been having this debate too and HBO shows and his sports seem to be our biggest hold up. Now that Amazon sells season passes we are just hung up on sports and thankfully, almost all local games are broadcast on local TV. But I agree, it is a time suck and then your relationship suffers b/c you zone out in front of the TV instead of interacting with one another. I support your guys’ decision, plus it could save you some big bucks down the road!
In have been having the exact same debate lately. I actually called to cancel my on demand yesterday only to find out I couldn’t, but I did get a $7 monthly discount… Every little bit helps right?
As an actress: KEEP YOUR TV. OH GOD KEEP IT.
As a human, tell Ryan he can get a digital receiver for 20 bucks at target and keep his local sports channels. There are also some sports online.
We got rid of cable a number of months ago and haven’t missed it one bit! We like a few shows and my hubby loves sports and we have found MUCH CHEAPER ways to make do. We bought apple TV ($100 one time cost) and have Hulu Plus ($10/month) and have everything we need! I don’t miss that huge cable bill one bit!
My boyfriend and I don’t have TV in our house either. We fall into the same slump you mentioned as using it as default, mindless entertainment and it detracts from our connection. With that said, we have Hulu and Netflix accounts. I probably watch more than he does and I do miss TV in the background while I work from home, but I found I can still stay in tune with pop culture quite well without cable by catching up with shows in Hulu. Sports would be hard, not sure where you can watch those online, but I’m sure you can!
We recently cancelled our cable (to help pay off student loans, wahoo!), and it’s been fine so far. We actually went to a friend’s house the week of, and they just so happened to also have theirs cancelled. They told us of a $30 antenna they bought at Best Buy, and they get like 10 channels with it just fine. So other than the upfront $30, it’s basically free TV! We still watch American Idol and some of the shows on Fox, ION, etc. It works for now, but when football season rolls around again we may go back to cable. 😉