So long, Cable!

I did an unthinkable thing the other day.  I called up our cable TV provider, Surewest, and canceled our service.  When the Customer Retention Specialist asked which competitor we would be switching to, I said "None."  When he asked what our plans were for TV, I said "We don't really know right now, we're more concerned with getting bills paid off."

And then it was gone - all of my 700,000 channels in glorious High Definition precious shows tenderly secured on my DVR - gone.

And you know, at 3 days cableless, it doesn't feel so bad.



The decision to drop TV was solely a financial one.  Our contract for an incredible rate was up, and the monthly fee was going to increase $40.  When I called the company to see if they could lock us in for our current rate, they said the best they could do was only increase the monthly by $20.  Now that doesn't seem so bad, right? But looking at the financial goals we have for ourselves - get law school loans paid off in 4 years, prepare to move to a larger house when the SuperRad Fam grows taller, maybe (dare to dream) afford a second car someday, etc. - the fact was that Cable was a luxury, and we can do without such a luxury if we can put the saved money towards a debt.

"Leave no debt oustanding..." (Rom 13:8) Something that a lot of churches should be more mindful of and counsel their congregates, but I digress...

Truth be told, there are a lot of great options out there for us that will only cost a fraction of what we've been paying for the luxury of watching 700,000 when we really only watch about 10 shows on a regular basis - everything else is just filler.

1.  A laptop running the Hulu desktop app, hooked up to the TV gets us our NBC, ABC, and FX shows that have us hooked (thank you, FX for putting 'Lights Out' on there for us).

2.  An old AppleTV allows us to purchase season passes for the few shows that we can't get on Hulu for much less per month than watching them "for free" with cable. 

3.  RedBox for $1 per night movie rentals when we absolutely want to watch a new release, the Library for older releases, or rent from iTunes over aTV if neither is a convenient option.

Finally, the time that Lady Rad and I have spent previously vegging out in front of the TV at the end of a long day and watching TV just for the sake of being too tired to do something else has freed us up to actually spend quality time with one another, something that we both have complained we get too little of these days.  We hung out on the front porch sharing beers and had conversation while enjoying the Spring rains the other night, followed by a quick board game, and then reading.  Who knew such a thing could be so rejuvenating, it was almost like dating all over again.  You know, when you actually did things together instead of just sitting next to each other.

Now this is the Honeymoon phase of no cable, I grant you. 6 months from now when I'm climbing the walls because its Pilot Season, it may be a different story.  But for now, I'm satisfied knowing that I'm about $75/month closer to being law school loans (and professionally) free to do better things with my time and money.