Thinking of Cutting the Cable

For the past several years, I've been planting the idea with ABM that perhaps we should get rid of cable or at least reduce our package. Until recently, he didn't give the notion a second thought. ABM doesn't really have any hobbies and even if he did, he wouldn't be in the mood to engage in any of them on most days. He is so wiped out from work that all he wants to do when he comes home is zone out in front of the box. Before services like Hulu became popular, the only option ABM would have is to sleep. Nowadays, however, getting rid of cable doesn't mean doing without TV altogether.

Right now, we are paying $180 a month for cable, not counting taxes and fees. We can't find a better deal around here on the internet, so we will probably stick with Time Warner for that. We can cut the phone portion almost in half if we switch to Vonage, and ABM has no problem with that. The biggest issue ABM has is giving up the TV. Even though I've shown him that practically all of the dramas and comedies we watch are available online, he isn't sure that he wants to give up access to channels like HGTV and DIY Network. There are only two reasons he is giving it any thought. First, our neighbor came over and told us that his family has been without cable for over a year and they are happy; sometimes ABM attaches more importance to an idea if it comes from someone else, even if I've told him the same exact thing. Secondly, the TV is the largest portion of our bill at $102 a month. That's not counting the $18 a month we pay for Netflix. If we got rid of cable TV and signed up for Hulu Plus, that would cut our TV bill to $28 a month.

ABM wants to get a TV tuner for his laptop ($79) and see what it would be like to watch shows through other means before we actually have the cable TV turned off. Now would be the best time to try this experiment because with his current work schedule he hasn't had time for much TV, anyway. I'll let you guys know when we start and how it goes.