Life Without Cable, 6.5 Years Later

Don't get me wrong. I have often looked at getting cable again. So many channels, you can pay per view the fights. That's where all the new shows are and I would know what is going on by watching the news.

Then I start calculating the cost for each box in every room, and I would probably want the hopper. I see family post on Facebook that the weather effects the satellite tv. I also went over to my sister's house the other day and didn't find anything on. It seems for the most part people aren't watching live tv anymore, they record it to watch later.

So in the mean time we have tried different, alternative cable options*-

Amazon Prime $8.99/month video only; other plans available
I did a free trial of this and it was impressive. They had many options, plus there are other perks to amazon prime. In the end we cancelled but if I ever decide I need to order more items online I will defiantly look again. I also think they have added more to what you watch.

Sling Tv packages $20-40/month plus extras available
They do have three options for payments. It was alright, but it still wasn't the assortment I was looking for in an option. We didn't continue after the free trial.

Hulu $7.99/month with commercials $11.99 without
This used to be a free service and I loved it. I was able to create a list of favorites, all the shows I liked to watch, except for CBS shows. Then I just went to my list and was able to see if any new episodes were available. I did subscribe to the free trial just to watch 11.23.63  because the book was so good, I had to see how they put this into a short series. I ended up canceling it, but I would consider this again because it has a lot of good tv shows, just not the best for movies.

Yahoo View FREE
Hulu free is now over here. I hate I can't make a list of shows I like to watch and it is a constant search for when new shows are on. I do love that they have older shows, like Major Dad.

CBS All Access limited commercial $5.99/month
I haven't subscribed to this yet. It has old episodes of Big Brother, so I plan on subscribing sometime soon.

DirectTV Now packages starting at $35/month (promotional price currently)
We are just starting our free 7 day trial of this, and it seems promising. We do have more problems streaming videos on this than with Netflix, Hulu, or Yahoo. Also you cannot use PS3, PS4, or Xbox right now.

Playstation View Packages $29.99/month and up
I looked into it, but it doesn't seem as good as the others. Depending on how well DirectTV Now streams we might try this next.

Netflix $7.99/month for one tv to stream. $9.99 for two
This one we have been streaming subscribers for years, like when it used to be $7.99. The kids love the shows and I rarely can't find anything to watch. Normally just binge watching old shows, like Friends, or watching a Netflixs original.

*Please note prices are subject to change.

Do you have cable or do you stream?

5 on Friday - October 4th

the good life blog

The new fall show have started and even though I don't have cable I have been able to watch some of the show through Hulu and CBS.com. Here are 5 new shows that made me laugh:

Mom

 

 

1. Mom on CBS Mondays 9:30/8:30c
 I love a show about a dysfunctional family. It makes mine seem more normal. It is actually two episodes in and there is a lot of drama. I just hope this show doesn't get too crazy too soon, and then it will be struggling for a plot.

The Goldbergs

2. The Goldbers ABC Tues. 9/8c
A comedy about a family in the 80's. I love remembering some of the things from my childhood, and this show is full of great actors/actresses. It seems to be based on someones passed and has included some real home videos at the end.

Super Fun Night

3. Super Fun Night ABC Wed 9:30/8:30C
Rebel Wilson has played some great parts in movies and now she has a new show. She is looking to have fun along with 3 friends and they draw out a new place each week. My favorite quote: "Let me just email you the address and a photo of me five years ago when I was at my physical peak." This show had a lot of I can't believe she did that/said that moments.

The Millers

4. The Millers CBS Thur 8:30/7:30c
"THE MILLERS stars Will Arnett as Nathan Miller, a recently divorced local roving news reporter looking forward to living the singles life until his parents' marital problems unexpectedly derail his plans." I can't wait to see how this show progresses. The parents are hilarious, I just hope they don't take away my free full episodes on the web.

Sean Saves the World

5. Sean Saves the World Thurs 9/8c
This one also has some awesome talent, Thomas Lennon as the hated boss, and Linda Lavin as Sean's mom. I love the back and forth of Sean and his Mom. I watched this and Welcome to the Family, and I thought this was a better show. I still like Welcome to the Family but it didn't make me laugh, but has a good story.

What new shows are you watching this Fall?

Fallen Behind

Yesterday I got up and started making some of the meals that I had planned for the weekend. I started the Mexican pork in the crock pot, put brownies in the oven to bring along to my friends house later that day, and started the sesame chicken. It turns out that I didn't have enough soy sauce for the chicken so I will have to finish that today.  Soon enough it was time to get my son's t-ball pictures retaken, so we took off for the next suburb over. When we got there 15 minutes later I realized I left his glove for his game at the house. Since my sister lives there I was able to get into her house (she just happened to be near my house at the time, shopping at the mall) to get him a glove.  After his last game of the season, we scooted off to my friends house to see her 2 month baby and go swimming in her pool.  After a couple hours of fun we headed home.

I don't know if it was all the driving or the fresh air or frustration that exhausted me. No one seemed to want to eat dinner except me and my son. Then I realized Big Brother 12 was on in less than half an hour and I wanted to see if I could get any reception. Got that working after I found the remote and a half broken antennae.  All I could do was lie down after all this and think of all the things I still needed to do. I thought maybe if I could take a power nap then I would get up and finish my kaboose list.  But my husband decided he needed to go see a friend who got a promotion, and my kids wanted to fight right next to me, so I wasn't able to nap.

I did make my bed and empty and reload most of the dishwasher. I also packed my kids and washed some clothes.

So I woke up this morning to somewhat of a mess. The crock pot was still full of juices I was letting cool:

So I sat down for a few minutes to read A Slob Comes Clean. I am still catching up on her older post.  It motivated me to decided I better get up and do the dishes that were mocking me and it wasn't so bad. Took less than 5 minutes to empty and clean the crock pot and put a few dishes in the dishwasher.

I dumped the liquid into 2 plastic bags before tying them up, and put them in the trash to throw out the whole garbage so the dog doesn't get into it again. Sorry the pictures are blurry, I was in a hurry. Then I cleaned off the dining room table and I feel so much better. Now I am trying to figure out what to do since the kids are leaving with my mom today for camping. I will have to work 8 hour days today through Wednesday, but Thursday is a whole day off and Friday my sister and I will leave to join the family at the family reunion over 10 hours away.

So I'm feeling somewhat optimistic for this week. I'm going to try to find some extra money and put a rubber band around by wrist to snap when I feel the urge to spend. I heard Dr Joy Browne tell someone to do this for smoking so I think maybe it could work for my spending habit.  I do feel good because yesterday I remember my friends birthday was coming up and my first thought was to run to Walmart for a cookie cake, and then I started to think of other things I could buy while I was there. I resisted that urge and made the brownies. It's amazing that I have a huge brownie box with 5 easy to make pouches of mix sitting in my cupboard from Costco, and I still 1st think of going out to buy something. 

OK, now I'm off and running.

No TV and I'm loving it

As a child both of my parents worked, and they worked opposite shifts to save on daycare with 3 kids. I watched a lot of TV and ate a lot of TV dinners as a kid. As I grew up I always seemed to feel better with the TV on. I would do homework in front of the TV, eat, surf the Internet, cook, babysit, fight with my boyfriend, etc. When I was in college I didn't want to pay for my own cable so I didn't have as much to watch with an antenna, but I still consistently had the TV on. So last year my husband decided we should have cable, which we have had before. Ever since the need for converter boxes, we get very poor reception in the valley where we live. We watched a lot of TV in that year, probably too much.

Last Saturday I canceled my cable and I'm loving it. I have my Internet and that is all I need. You can watch so my shows on the Internet these days it seems like such a waste to continue paying high price for cable. Now my kids watch DVDs, and I don't have to constantly monitor what is being watched ( I am not a fan of some Cartoon Network cartoons). I can watch my shows any time I want to, before I didn't splurge for the DVR and I would stay up too late watching a later show. Today my daughter is playing with her cousin and was reading him a book. This is the girl who hated to read at the beginning of first grade. I also woke up and started cleaning while listening to my Dr Joy Browne podcast. If I still had cable I'm sure I would be glued to the TV guide looking for something to entertain me. My husband still thinks we should shop around for a new package but I don't want to play the game of promotional pricing. If anything I would buy a media player once I learn more about them. My sister has also volunteered to DVR Big Brother, and I can watch a marathon when I visit her. I feel optimistic about my decision and I hope the positives of no cable continue.