In 2015, I decided to eliminate my subscription to cable TV.
Was it easy to do cut the cord? NO! It honestly took me close to a year to call my cable provider to cancel my subscription. It took me another 6 weeks to return my cable box and the various cords that connected my TV to the world of limitless channels, endless commercials, and the repeated experience of there being nothing on TV that I wanted to watch.
That first Sunday without The Walking Dead was torture. I was very consumed by thoughts of Rick and Darryl and Maggie and Glen and Michonne and Carl, and the many other hangers-on who hadn’t yet been killed by the zombies. Fear not, Dear Reader! The human mind is such that nearly any change can be accommodated once it has been in place long enough. By my third cordless weekend, I was asking myself why I’d ever cared so much about fictional characters who were being chased by zombies. Amazingly enough, my life was still completely satisfying without knowing all the details of the challenges, tribulations and triumphs of the merry band of imaginary folks who devoted their time and energy to avoiding the jaws of the ravenous undead.
So why did I get rid of cable?
Believe it or not, my reason for doing so wasn’t driven by my budget. I have the money to pay for cable television but I chose to cut the cord anyway.
My choice to eliminate cable was driven by my spending priorities, one of which is to not spend money on things that don’t make me happy. Many TV shows are simply garbage – I no longer wanted to pay for garbage. In the same way that I wouldn’t spend money at the grocery store on rotting meat, I didn’t want to direct my hard-earned money to the purchase of subpar television shows.
Despite the increase in diversity on TV (yay!), the vast majority of the plot lines continue to be unrealistic (boo!). I cannot relate to them. The storylines are not reflective of my life or my priorities, so I was no longer invested in the characters or their particular challenges and conflicts. I found myself watching TV to solely kill time – I definitely wasn’t being entertained! I’m not likely to be engaged in a foot pursuit of bad guys down busy streets, nor will I be trying to uncover various conspiracies week after week. Everyone in my world is human so plot lines with extra-terrestrials or mythical creatures aren’t always relatable to me, although they can admittedly prove to be entertaining every so often. As for sitcoms and rom-coms, they generally wear thin after sooner or later since there are only so many ways for the they-used-to-hate-each-other-now-join-in-the-celebration-of-their-wedding-story to be told.
For example, I love Grey’s Anatomy! As with everyone on television, except the news, the people populating the screen are exceptionally attractive. The good doctors at Grey Sloan Memorial Hospital are forever finding empty closets or lounges at the hospital where they can have sex with each other. And when the hospital is full, they’re inclined to have sex in their cars in the parking lot. More often than not, I wondered how the hospital wasn’t sued for sexual harassment every week. In my world, my employer has very strict rules against sex in the work place!
The questions that I had about the characters were never asked or answered. Specifically, I could never stop wondering about the money aspect of Grey’s Anatomy. Exactly how much did the doctors earn as they progressed through their residencies? How did the hospital make money as a private business? Most importantly, how did their emergency room patients pay for their treatments? No one ever asked them about insurance or sought any kind of payment, yet they received topnotch care from everyone at the hospital for weeks or months on end depending on the storyline. Did they all have supremely good health insurance? On top of the compellingly-written storylines and their associated emotional traumas, were any of the patients or their families thinking about the money?
One of the more beautiful aspects of TWD is that money was no longer a concern so I easily believed that those folks had no financial worries. One season, they even found a newly-built subdivision that had been completed just before the zombie apocalypse so everyone was able to move into a brand-new beautiful home without the hassles of saving for a down payment, arranging for financing, and paying to hook-up their utilities. Even for a show about zombies, this was a bit un-realistic.
Have no fear – I still watch TV. I simply do so on Netflix and CraveTV.
Truth be told, I can consume most of the same programming for a much cheaper price through Netflix and CraveTV. (And if I ever learn how to stream over the Internet, I’ll be able to watch even more shows!) It’s simply smarter to pay the lower amount for the same thing. I looked at cable television the same way that I looked at toilet paper prices. If one grocery store has the same brand on sale for a lower price, why would I go to a different grocery store to pay more? My favourite shows on Netflix are the same whether I’m paying several hundred dollars a month to a cable provider or whether I pay $11 per month to Netflix. Why pay more for the same product?
The exact same shows on Netflix are devoid of advertising. Hooray! I’m now able to watch an episode of my favourite show from beginning to end without the interruption of loud commercials at critical points. Of course, there’s nothing to be done about the embedded advertising within the TV program itself. As a result of consuming fewer commercials, I find that I’m also a lot less inclined to go shopping or to believe that my life is sorely lacking because I don’t purchase a particular shampoo. For me, consuming less advertising translates directly into consuming less stuff. How awesome is that?
And while my decision to cut the cord wasn’t motivated by money, I cannot ignore the fact that saving over $100 per month has been very good for my other financial priorities. Since cutting cable, I’ve saved atleast $3400. It might even be more since I’m sure that my former cable provider has implemented a couple of price increases since 2015 when we parted ways.
And what did I do with that extra $100 per month? Like I said, fewer commercials has translated into less shopping. My former cable TV payment was re-allocated within my budget. I used some of it to pay for my Netflix subscription and I used the rest of it to increase the amount of money that I contribute to my retirement and investment funds.
How about you? What would you do with the money that you’d have if you were willing to cut the cord?