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No TV

So, as you may know, back in June we cut our budget to the bone and on the top of the list was our satellite television subscription.  This was not an easy choice! If you know us at all, you might be hard pressed to find another couple/family who liked tv as much as we did.  Many of our conversations within and outside the family began to center around this funny show or that.  It didn't seem to bother us if it wasn't a show only we had seen... all the better, we could describe all the menusha to them. 

We had our favorites... some edifying, some not.  We had family shows, we had Mom and Nolan shows, we had Haley and Daddy shows.  One time we even got a video just for the dog!  It was all about cats.  He didn't care about it at all. hhmmm.  We had dvr'd shows, we had can't wait to get home and watch it shows. 

Guess what... I am hard pressed to remember more than one or two shows that I would even care to watch now.  I went to Hulu on my spiffy new laptop the other day and I could only think of two shows I would like to catch up on.  Trouble was, there were no new episodes to watch  - three months later! That would not have stopped us from watching tv all summer long.  Just sittin there watching things we had already seen.  Laughing at jokes we had already heard. 

When we cut the tv, we decided we would keep our Netflix account open and use it often.  Well about two weeks into that plan our DVD player decided to finally give up the ghost, and it isn't in the budget to replace it.  Maybe Someone is trying to tell us something here....

We didn't give up tv for all the right reasons.  Just one... at the time.  Although, Frank and I had, had numerous discussions about how much tv was being watched at home and that, in theory, we didn't like it.  Once we went and saw a great show at the Gallo featuring a very large group of siblings who all played Irish fiddles and danced.  They were fantastic!  Mid way through the show, I leaned over to Frank and said...."I bet they don't have TV!" 

Now, so far Haley and Nolan haven't decided to buy a bus and tour the country performing all their tricks, but a few good things have come of it.  Firstly, we have saved $45.00 per month.  This was down from the $63.00 we were paying before I called them to complain.  That is really good.. in fact it adds up to $540.00 per year.  Here are a few things we can do with $540.00/year:

Eat out at a middle of the road restaurant as a family, 10 times.
Eat fast food as a family, 27 times.
Go to the movies as a family, 19 times.
You could drive to our new cabin and back 10 times.  But I have to warn you, the VHS player there is on it's last legs, so you probably won't get any tv there either. 

But here are a few things that I didn't bargain for.  My house is quiet.  Our downstairs is built on a "racetrack" floor plan where every room is open to the next.  Add hardwood floors and everything downstairs is pretty loud all of the sudden.  Even the dogs footsteps can be annoying when you are trying to concentrate.  But the television sits quiet.  My kids don't ever fight about what to watch.  Although they hadn't been doing this much lately, as Nolan had taken to watching dvds on his laptop.  No more fight.  There is no more nagging to watch tv when we should be doing other things.  No more lazing about on Saturday morning watching tv.  Oh there is lazing going on, don't you worry, but not in front of the tv.  The best thing is there is no pull to procrastinate in front of it.  Frank and I would turn it on to "unwind" in the evening.  The evening would drag on until we were almost too tired to drag ourselves up the stairs and to bed.  Never mind all the things that sat undone while we watched.  I have read more... so has Haley.  I have learned new tricks on my computer.  I have grown more interested in what flies by our windows.  But all in all, what I like best is the quiet.

Comments

Carrie said…
Wow! I am very impressed! Kind of inspires me to give it a try =)
11:38 AM
Cathi said…
Brilliant post! I can't wait for tomorrow!
1:46 PM
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