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\")
I don’t have cable and don’t miss it either. I don’t watch a lot of sports, but I’d suggest it’s a good reason to visit friends or hang out at a nice sports bar/pub!
We don’t have cable OR a TV. it rocks. We have awesome computers & a huge monitor–so we can watch netflix & dvds & stuff. And you can find most TV shows online now–so I love not paying for it!
p.s. that line was from Babe 😉
Babe! 🙂
I had basic cable for quite awhile – only $10 a month and gave me the major networks so I could watch my favorite shows. I love Netflix and you can watch stuff on Hulu Plus. I would love to get rid of cable now, but my bf loves watching sports so I’ll never be rid of it 🙁
Babe! Love that movie and quote that same line all the time (ignore the crazy looks)!
My husband loves sports as well & we actually have satellite so he can watch all the football games in the fall. I’m not sure I’d be a fan of getting rid of it altogether, because I love having the mindless tv to watch while I’m on the treadmill, otherwise I get pretty bored.
I would definitely consider canceling our satellite subscription… if we had internet. 😉 We live in the middle of a field where it’s hard to get tv or internet so we had to make a decision. I’d definitely make it with Netflix but I don’t think I could talk the boy into going without sports either!
My fiance and I are in the same dilemma right now. To cancel cable or not to cancel cable. Such a toughey! We do watch a lot of Netflix and Modern Family is also really the only show we care to watch regularly. Greg also loves watching Jeopardy every night, but we could still save a lot of money by dropping down to the very basic cable and still have access to Jeopardy for him 😉 We would also miss sports, but we could always go to a restaurant to watch a big game if we needed….I also consider when we have company stay with us. It would be nice to be able to flip the TV on for them at least….
This is exactly what I have been thinking, too! I find that once the TV is on the evenings, I’m considerably less productive and then stressing out because I’m not getting everything finished. If I want to start it back up again during a particular sports season I could, or just use specific games to meet up with friends to watch the game at a bar. The benefits of going without it (not to mention, the money saved) seem to really outweigh keeping it. Btw, I really only watch Modern Family and New Girl, too!!
I never had cable growing up, and I still don’t get cable. I just have an antenna so I get the basic channels like NBC, ABC, Fox, CBS, the CW, and some other ones – for free! If I want to watch anything else, I just watch it online. The sports thing might be harder to overcome, though.
Ahh! The tube. I have to agree, its a filler for me and my husband as well! Most nights we turn on whatevers on and then both be on our phones yuk! We love walks and would probably go on more if tv wasnt an option. One day our cable/internet was out and so we only had each other (so dramatic!) And we honestly had a great time together, just focusing on each other and talked a lot more! Hmm u may have sparked something in me here 🙂 ps my hubs will be upset u got this in my head! 😉
Love being cable less! We do Netflix, a half price student offer on amazon prime and a shared Hulu plus account. Make watching tv special relaxing time for me and my honey because we are intentionally picking shows we both like. Between no cable and shared Internet, we are saving 110 bucks a month. If there is something we really want to watch live, we’ll go to our local sports bar and sweet talk our way into watching what we wanted.
So I guess we should be best friends because I knew exactly what you were talking about! 😉 Anyways, my husband and I have been talking about cancelling our cable too. It’s almost a waste of money because we don’t watch tv that much mostly Netflix. Our cable was acting weird on Monday and I haven’t even called to get it fixed yet…so I guess that’s a good indicator. I’ve been running a lot too so when I sit in front of the tv for a while I feel so restless.
We just canceled ours and got the roku. Cube so we can hook netflix and hulu to our Tv. Best. Decision. Ever! We save 70/ mo and have more time to do fun adventurous and productive things. We also communicate so much better when there isn’t that the draw to mindlessly watch whatever is on hgtv.
As far as sports.. Bryan loves sports but it has been a more social thing for him now- he meets his guy friends to watch the game at sports bars now instead. Its a win win!
I Tivo the national and local news and the handful of shows I watch. I have a Verizon TV/internet bundle so I have a lot of channels I don’t watch. I wish you could buy channels al le carte, I would buy 15 to 20.
We’ve been cable-free for almost 3 years now. When I first moved into an apartment by myself, in the middle of college, I had a great part-time job and my rent was cheap, so I opted for the HD, dual-DVR package…one of the top sellers. After the promo period was over, my bill was over $100 a month. Not a lot to some, but to a college kid it is! Lucky for me, my computer-saavy boyfriend found a way for us to have “cable” without having to pay for it. Now we download all of our favorite shows…in HD…and commercial free! It’s great! Plus, now when I happen to glance over at the TV at my parent’s house, I find it odd that people pay for it and put up with all those ads!
I definitely watch way too much TV. I think I’d consider getting rid of TV if I didn’t have a roommate. You can watch so many shows online now that it almost seems silly to pay so much for cable…but then again we only pay $30 a month so it doesn’t seem that bad! I would definitely be a lot more productive, I think, if there was no TV around to suck up all of my time!
My husband and I have always had a television, but We do not have cable. We actually watch netflix and huluplus on our Roku and Xbox and we LOVE IT!
All of the shows we watch, including Modern Family and New Girl! Did you watch the New Girl this past Tuesday? Loved it!
-Abby from To Dental School and Beyond
Out house is really similar. We have been mainly cable free for the 6 years we’ve lived together. The only times we’ve had cable were motivated by the boyfriend wanting to watch the Tour de France, but we always cancelled it quickly after. We have an antenna and that gives us more than enough things to watch if we want to. I agree that it makes it more of an “event” when you don’t have mindless stuff on all the time.
I feel the same way about cable! I have one or two shows but it becomes more of a default and takes away from sooo many other things I could be doing. And I should be reading more!
I totally say that’ll do pig to my fiancé and our two dogs- def think this qualifies us as best friends 🙂
I could totally go tv-free. My husband, however, could never live without! He’s a die hard sports fan.
We watch WAY too much tv in our house. It’s exactly what you said-filler entertainment. We use it as background noise and as a random activity to take up time, but we really don’t have too many shows that we actually look forward to watching. We’ve talked about getting rid of cable and we are actually looking to move into another apartment closer to summer, so we may wait til then when our contract runs out.
Oh one of my favorite movies is Babe!! That was the one reason I became vegetarian. Couldn’t eat meat after seeing that!! Haven’t to this day!
We also talked about cancelling our cable, but there are times when I do enjoy it, so its a hard decision. We work opposite shifts, so on quiet evenings, its nice to have something to watch when bored or when something special comes on. However, on a normal night, I have maybe one or two channels that I watch regularly. Otherwise I simply flip thru looking for something interesting. We could get basic cable which would save us quite a bit of money each month. But I would miss the Starz channels with the all day movies.
I’m the same way… I really don’t watch all that much TV, just a few specific shows. I would recommend Netflix and a Roku Streaming Media box (www.roku.com). They are fantastic! You can add free channels and paid subscriptions. They are definitely worth checking out. It’s nice because you can watch what you want, when you want. It still doesn’t solve the sports issue though.
LOVE that picture of your first apartment. It is so stinkin’ cute! 🙂
I always think of myself as a TV junkie so I am not sure how I would do without it, but lately I have noticed that it is more of a background item as opposed to being my main focus. Maybe I could live without it and just watch my few “must-see” shows online. Now you’ve got me thinking… 😉
Oh TV. I went from having deluxe every channel to basic. I thought I was going to miss all my HBO shows a lot, but I am surprisingly totally fine with it. I only watch Modern Family and Duck Dynasty religiously so it’s not too bad. I mainly use it as background noise to make it feel like there’s someone there when my fiance’ isn’t home. I have found that I read A LOT more now that I don’t have a crazy amount of channels. But my fiance’ is a sports fanatic and come football season the no TV thing would be an issue. He needs to watch his Clemson Tigers play and I need to watch the Gamecocks…kind of a problem in itself…
We’re more or less TV-less in my apartment. I have an antenna and a digital converter box, so I’m able to pick up probably 15 channels or so. There was a one-time $100 cost to buy the antenna and digital converter box, but other than that it’s completely free for me to watch TV. I’m a big sports fan so I definitely don’t like that I don’t get ESPN, but honestly it’s not the worst thing in the world. If I DESPERATELY need to watch a game, chances are I know someone who will either let me come over or I could go to a bar and watch the game there. Other than that, though, I watch so little TV that I can’t possibly justify the cost of cable. Pretty Little Liars is the only show I watch on cable, and I can get that for free through the Internet as well, soo…yeah. Life without cable really isn’t that bad!
I just cancelled our cable today for the exact same reasons! I don’t think I’ll be missing it. I should be filling my time with other more productive things.
Do it! It’s one of the first things I tell my clients to do when they are looking to cut a few dollars. Our cable is ridiculously expensive and if your husband wants to go watch sports, what a fun adventure to go to a local restaurant and make an event of it. I have friends who don’t have cable and follow their beloved teams all season long for the cost of a beer and a plate of fries split among friends every weekend. Still cheaper than cable.
Oh Julie there are so many shows I need you to watch that will get you hooked on TV.
Homeland, Breaking Bad, Downton Abbey, Mad Men, Top Chef, The Killing…. Just to name a few.
I know what your thinking ” But can’t I just download them and watch them later?”
The answer is usually no!
You have to wait till the whole season is out and by then you know spoilers.
Oh Julie I love TV so much but I’m also not as productive or as slim as you! HA!
But I’m a big proponent of television.
In fact I want you to upgrade your cable package.
I don’t watch much tv at all- a lot of the time I just put it on for background noise!
To have or not to have cable. It’s something we could all live without now that everyone has laptops, smartphones, and Netflix as well as host of other mediums that allow us to watch our favorite shows and movies without the headache of a huge cable bill monthly. Ryan and I are talking about the same thing. I know this isn’t a really good excuse, but during the cold winter months in the north I find being inside a bit more tolerable especially with a good show on in the background.
We watch our fair share since we do more TV than movies it seems. We have about 4-5 shows we regularly watch but we watch through Hulu plus and it works out just fine for us. No need for cable here and haven’t had it for years.
When I moved into my own apartment last fall cable seemed way to expensive, especially if I wasn’t going to be home that often to watch it. I recruited my boyfriend to help build a funky looking antenna for about 20 dollars and I’m able to get about 14 channels for free which fulfills my New Girl/Mindy Project/Downton Abby/Big Bang Theory needs 🙂
we just have netflix and the basic antenna channels. our kids watch sesame street, disney movies and the like on netflix. and we usually watch a show or 2 on there when they go to bed. but other than that the tv is not the center of our home. now internet, that’s another story ;o)
When I lived alone I didn’t have cable. Then I moved in with Kyle and he could not live without it, enen though he works 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Now I could definitely live without it, however, the husband to be LOVES to watch the soccer games….so I know it isn’t going anywhere 🙁
I went 6 years without any sort of television at all. When people would come over to my house they would be so confused with what to do with themselves. I never missed it.
When I got married, my mother in law gave us a television and now I watch it all the time, by default as you say. I was so much more productive pre tv. I really want to get rid of it again, but I really would miss the Bachelor. Lol!
That is such a pretty house! And oOoOO, I’m glad to know there’s other couples like that 😀 My husband and I don’t have cable, basic TV channels, or anything like that. We have a super old TV that we only use for movies IF we even make time to watch one. Sure, sometimes the living rooom doesn’t seem as “cozy” as other homes because there’s no background noise, but I feel like in the end it’s actually a good thing for us! At least for now, since that allows more time to do other things, especially communicating with each other–a lot. 🙂
Hey Julie! I have a question. I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while and realize you usually workout BEFORE breakfast. Do you eat at all before your workout or drink anything special to power you through? Thanks!
I have been married for 8 1/2 years and we haven’t had cable for probably 5 1/2 of those years. It isn’t worth it because we were also too busy to watch a favorite show at its time so then we were paying extra for DVR. Now, we have Hulu + and Netflix. We are able to watch most of our favorites. We also purchase full seasons of shows we know we love and collect. I don’t miss cable at all!
We went a few years without any cable at all and finally “splurged” lol, and got basic cable. That way we still can PVR our favorite shows (Revenge, Modern Family, The Bachelor) since they are all aired on local networks. Everything else we watch on DVD, download or stream. This way, we get through a lot more episodes of a show we are watching on DVD and we actually make progress on watching all the movies we want to watch. No wasted time just channel surfing! And no wasted time just watching lame reruns. Save the money, I say!!
I watch just about zero tv. I cannot stand when I meet people and they’re just like, “do you this [tv show #1]? Do you watch [tv show #2]?” like they have nothing else to talk about!! And really, the types of shows that are on tv right now are just plain sad.
When I lived in a group house with 3 other girls, we had tv because they wanted it. I was always working late, volunteering, seeing friends, etc. so I just never had time for much tv. I’d have the tv on late at night for some hgtv reruns as I was getting ready for bed, but that’s it. So, when I moved in with my bf in September, we didn’t order tv because we’re both pretty much never home. I don’t regret it. Not having tv means I don’t have an excuse to come home and plop onto the couch until it’s time for bed. I’d rather be reading or doing something crafty if I’m at home. My pet peeve now is when we go to other peoples house and it’s just so obvious when they depend on tv as their sole form of entertainment. I just feel like when they look back on their life, there won’t be a lot to show for it… just “I watched a lot of tv. I know all about Honey Boo Boo and the Kardashians.”
I think you and Ryan should try it. I understand wanting to watch the big sporting events BUT this can make it more of a social event. You can always watch the events with friends at their houses or a bar/restaurant.
Obviously, I’m pretty passionate about NOT having tv 🙂
My husband and I got rid of our cable over a year ago and it was one of the best decisions ever! At first it was tough because I couldn’t even DVR the shows I wanted to watch on network TV, but after missing Gossip Girl a few weeks in a row, I realized that life does go on! We both starting reading a lot more, plus it gave us more time to be active, and for our marathon Yahtzee sessions!
It ended up being good practice because we moved to Germany this year and don’t watch the TV here at all, basically because we can’t understand it! We both agree that Netflix has been a lifesaver, though!
The movie is Babe 🙂
I watch TV in the evenings, probably more than I should. But I’m usually exhausted and collapse on the couch, and my ex-boyfriend furnished my condo with a beautiful, large, flat-screen TV, so how can I not put it to good use? I could probably go TV free in my house, well cable-free, because Pretty Little Liars and Switched at Birth (the two shows I do watch) have been added to Netflix recently.
My boyfriend and I would gladly cancel our cable if it weren’t for sports. We both love football, he loves hockey, and baseball is on the list too. I think maybe we would cancel it in the spring/summer when I’d rather be outside anyway! I do watch a few shows (Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Tosh.0, Workaholics) but usually I’m just catching reruns (How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, the Kardashians – guilty pleasure!) and I think I could watch them through another media.
BABE:) We quote line in my family!
Love Babe!
No Tv here in over a year. Don’t miss it either!!!
I would love to cancel cable but my husband would never go for it. I have heard of people who have streaming netflix and apple TV situations that allow them to watch most TV shows right after they air. They pay per show, but even if they do this 25 times per month, that’s still cheaper than a $100+ cable bill!
The only thing I just can’t stand is those smug people who say “Oh, we don’t even own a TV” yet spend every evening crowded around a laptop screen. 😉
I don’t have cable (haven’t had it since college when it was free – and I’m 25 now), and I don’t miss it at all. I have Netflix (which is totally worth the money) and an antennae (haha). I wouldn’t be opposed to getting cable in the future, if they started charging reasonable prices, but until they let me get it for $10 a month or less I’m sticking with Netflix only. Oh and my gym has cable, so if there’s something I’m desperate to watch, I can watch it there.
I have had so much fun reading everyone’s comments on this, it seems like a topic lots of people are very passionate about! I guess I am somewhere in the middle on it all. My fiance and I do watch a lot of sports, which we would both miss. Otherwise, I don’t watch a whole lot, just my weekly dose of the Bachelor and Parenthood when they are in season. I go to bed early though and I know that Dan enjoys watching TV while I snooze next to him. Bottom line, even if I went a round-about way of getting there, is I think each person/couple/family should do what they enjoy! Like anything else, TV can be nice in moderation 🙂
We dropped cable a while ago. We got a roku box and have Netflix and Hulu plus through that. We also got a fancy antenna for about $100. Now our monthly bill is $14 (compared to $85ish) and I don’t miss a thing. I can watch the bachelor live on the antenna and Hulu acts like a dvr so we can catch all the shows we miss.
The only downside is no espn during football season, but that’s what the bar is for 😉