I’m considering taking my cable box in to Time Warner tomorrow and canceling my cable (but not my internet). I watch TV too mindlessly, and I pay a lot for really only a handful of shows that I watch with any regularity. And those I can actually watch on the internet; anything else, I can get through Netflix.
I figure I can save myself $60 a month doing this, and if I switch to a prepaid cell phone, I can save another $25 and be free of Verizon’s yoke (they keep calling me to get me into another 2-year contract. Um, no).
And maybe, just maybe, I’ll start knitting again for real.
I shed my TV years ago (and the cable along with it) - I don’t miss it one bit. The odd show I’m interested in watching isn’t too hard to come by online, and as you point out, there’s a lot more time for other activities.
(Okay - I probably spend my cable budget in the bookstores, but that’s my weakness!)
I couldn’t get rid of cable, because then I wouldn’t have ESPN. That would be very hard.
I don’t think I’d go so far as to get rid of my TV. It’s too useful for DVDs, which I don’t watch mindlessly. If I put one in, I have to actually think about what I’m going to watch and how much time I’m going to commit to watching it. Whereas, I can veg out for longer than that while channel-surfing, but since I didn’t think about what I was going to watch, I enjoy it less.
So, did you do it? And if so, how’s the adjustment going?
Not yet. I haven’t had time yet to bring the thing by before work, and since the box is heavy and I need to build in waiting time once I get there, it’s a bigger production than just sashaying in to drop it off.
Which is to say, inertia is getting hold of me.
But next week, I don’t have any weekday classes, so I should be able to do it then.