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Dear HGTV,
I love your show Design Star. What I do not love is this:
Why must you feature each week’s losing contestant on the show’s homepage? The only reason I ever visit your website is to watch Design Star, and each time I log on to watch a new episode, my excitement is immediately diminished upon seeing the homepage, where spoilers abound.
Please rethink your website design, and stop showing me who loses before I even get a chance to see the show.
Your fan,
Mayde
It’s now been a little over 2 weeks since Dan and I canceled our cable TV service, and to be honest, we still don’t miss it. We’ve found some really great shows to watch online, we’ve been able to keep up with the shows we used to watch when we did have cable, and we’ve expanded upon our home theater setup for optimum Netflix and Hulu viewing.
Some of our new favorite shows are Dexter, Kids in the Hall (one of Dan’s old favorites), Invader Zim, and documentaries from the National Geographic channel. We’ve also been watching a lot of B-rated horror movies.
We’re now using our Playstation 3 almost exclusively for TV viewing. We downloaded the Netflix and Hulu apps for the PS3 (both free), and bought the PS3 remote ($25). We were originally looking for the adapter that would allow us to use our Harmony 700 universal remote to control our PS3, but these adapters are fairly expensive and not really worth the cost of tracking one down. (For the record, we did try the Auvio Universal Remote Receiver, but it didn’t work.)
We also have a desktop computer running Windows 7 hooked up to our 42″ TV, so that we don’t have to watch online video on a teeny tiny monitor. The TV and computer are just connected with a standard HDMI cable.
This whole transition from life with cable to life without cable has taken some getting used to and there have been minor upfront costs, but still, the savings are worth it. At least we’re not the only ones who’ve decided to cut the cord.
So, still think we’re crazy? Have you considered canceling your cable TV service? Want to know more about our media center setup? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Dan and I made a big decision this week that we hope will simplify our life and save us a ton of money.
We canceled our cable service and our home phone line.
I know this seems like a drastic decision, and you may be asking, “Why, oh why would you do such a thing?” This is why:
Ever since our Triple Play promotional discount expired this past summer, we’ve been paying over $150/month for TV, internet and phone. This seemed a little outrageous to us, so we decided to make some cutbacks.
Since we almost never use our home phone, that was an obvious thing to cut out of our budget. Deciding to cut our television service took a bit more thought and a lot of number crunching. We ultimately made our decision based on two main points:
To elaborate on the first point, some of our favorite shows include House, Law and Order SVU, Glee, Raising Hope, Hoarders and Intervention, all of which are available through either Netflix or Hulu. Plus, with these paid accounts, we can finally watch some of the other shows we’ve been meaning to watch, such as 24, Community, Arrested Development and Dexter. The wide selection of TV shows and movies available through these services make it well worth the small monthly price. Let’s do the math:
TV Service from Optimum = $93.78/month
Home Phone Service from Optimum = $19.95/month
Netflix ($9.99/month) + Hulu Plus ($7.99/month) = $17.98/month
We Save = $95.75/month
We’ve been living without TV for three days so far, and we haven’t missed it. We’ve been taking advantage of our Hulu and Netflix accounts, watching a lot of online videos, and we’ve even found a PS3 application that will let us rent new movies on demand. The only hard part now is figuring out how we’re going to return our cable box to Optimum.
What do you think about our decision to cancel our cable service? Do you think we’re crazy, or is the huge savings worth it? Have you ever considered canceling your television service in favor of services like Netflix and Hulu? Do you have any TV or movie recommendations for us? Let me know by leaving a comment.
Seeing this really makes me wish that I had watched the Emmys yesterday.
Can’t wait until Season 2 of Glee starts in September!
