About 4 years ago my husband and I cut the cable and have never looked back. We save about $60 a month every month by not having cable. We aren't bored watching the news at night with our rabbit ears either. We are still able to watch the tv shows we love every day. In fact, we both agree we like it better this way.
If you are trying to save money ditching cable can be a great way to save some extra cash every month. I have talked to some people who are paying over $100 a month in cable. Get rid of the cable and have an extra $60-$100 a month in your pockets. Want to know how to watch your favorite TV Shows without cable? It's easy!
Netflix
Netflix is my favorite way to watch my favorite shows without cable. I love the way we can watch what we want to watch whenever. I don't have to worry about what time the tv show is on. When I am ready it is there for me. Netflix starts at $7.99 a month and gets as high as $11.99 a month, a complete steal compared to cable.
Netflix has plenty of popular shows like Friends, Family Guy, and How I Met Your Mother. They also have their own Netflix exclusive shows like The Crown or Orange is the New Black. Plus they have a pretty decent movie selection too. You should easily be able to find plenty of shows and movies for the family.
Hulu
Hulu is a great way to get the latest tv shows. Hulu has most of the Fox, NBC, MTV, plus many more cable shows in their content. They update some of the tv shows regularly so you can often watch the shows 24-48 hours after they come out. I love using Hulu to watch Masterchef, Masterchef Junior, and Shark Tank. Hulu also runs between $7.99-$11.99 a month.
Amazon
Amazon is perfect for a movie rental or those harder to find tv shows. It does seem to be a little pricier to watch, however, it's still cheaper than cable. You can rent a tv show or movie for anywhere from free to around $4. We usually spend around $5 dollars a month renting from Amazon.
DVD.com
Remember years ago when Netflix was a mail-in DVD service? That has now become DVD.com. You can sign up and have DVD's of tv shows and movies mailed to your home. We tried the first month free but found there was so much to watch on Hulu and Netflix that we never continued on with the service. You can try one month free and after that prices start at $4.99.
Sling TV
I haven't tried Sling TV but we do have a couple of friends that dropped cable for Sling and love it. You can get over 140 channels plus plenty of live sports. It is the priciest of all the options at $20 a month, but still way cheaper than cable. If you have a sports fan in your home it may be worth the $20 a month.
Ever since ditching cable we have saved $1000's and still been able to watch the tv shows we love. If you are trying to save money try out a couple of the options and see what works for your family. We bought an Amazon Fire ($89) to stream the shows to our tv and use Hulu and Netflix. We have the basic of both Hulu and Netflix so our bill is under $16 for both each month. We usually buy a few dollars worth of Amazon movies a month to come in right around $20 a month total. Way cheaper than the $60+ we paid for cable!
Get rid of cable and still be able to watch the shows you love! For under $20 you can easily find a service your family will love. It's easy and you will really save.
Sara says
We live out in the country with SLOW expensive satellite internet service and satellite tv. I could easily ditch tv, but not my darling husband. The nearest decent sized town is 50 miles What can I do?
Lindsey says
We love Netflix. That's what we use to watch our favorite shows.
Susan Lawson says
We tried this when we moved into our new home. The problem, however, is being able to record shows when we aren't home or want to watch something else. Buying a recording device seems to be more complicated than necessary. Do you have any suggestions?
Julie says
Sorry, I don't know of any good way to record without a device. We usually just watch whatever is on Netflix or Hulu so it can be watched whenever we want.