How to Keep TV from Stealing Your Money and Your Life

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TV is costing us all a lot of time and money. Is it worth it?

I recently signed back up with cable TV service. As regular readers know, I’ve been without paid TV service for over a year now. I canceled my Dish Network last fall while competing in the FNBO Direct Pay Yourself First Challenge. There were several reasons I canceled. But the main two were cost and time. It just wasn’t worth paying for something that I wasn’t watching that much of anyway.

As I mentioned, when I canceled I had service with Dish Network. This time around I chose Time Warner because I wanted TV service without a contract. Something Dish was unable to do. Also Time Warner ended up giving me a sweet deal on a cable / internet bundle. We’d been having trouble with ATT internet, so I decided it was a good move. Another reason I chose Time Warner is because ATT never got around to installing uVerse in my neighborhood. You could have had me, ATT!

Anyway, I have mixed feelings about this recent retreat back into the world of paid TV. The past few days have been good in that I’ve been able to catch up on shows that I’ve been missing. Not to mention watch most of the season-opening NFL games. I’ve really enjoyed it.

But I’ve also seen some negatives, in that other areas of my life begin to take a back seat when cable TV is around: family time, exercise, sleep, and blogging, to name a few.

I’ll discuss one of those briefly. Building this blog wasn’t easy. I didn’t do it by sitting in front of the TV every night for the past year watching reruns of Dog the Bounty Hunter. I’ve been hard at work on this site. And having no TV helped me make that happen.

That’s not meant to disparage anyone that watches TV every night (or Dog). It’s just a testimony that you can do something else with your time, make some extra money, and still find time with a little bit of TV. I also said that to motivate myself to not get caught up in too much TV, lest this blog’s content suffer.

So as a nice reminder to you and I, I thought I’d put together a quick guide to keep TV from stealing our money and our lives:

Just Say No

Consider going cold turkey with the paid tube. There’s plenty of TV available over the air for free that will keep you busy for an hour a day (a good limit). You can even watch some shows online. Mrs. PT and I got by using these two methods. You didn’t think I was going to totally let my newly purchased flat screen TV go to waste, did you?

Going without paid service is not for everyone. But if you want to watch less TV and get more done, this is a good compromise. Or, you could make bold move and remove all the TVs from your house. Simply force yourself to spend time doing other things.

Get a DVR

If you’re not into going without TV, then consider a DVR. The Digital Video Recorder (DVR) or Tivo is one of favorite inventions of the last decade. Watch only the shows you want to watch, when you want to watch them, and skip all the commercials. It’s really how TV was meant to be watched. If you’re going to have TV, this for me, is a must have. A huge time saver.

Drop the Extras

While you’re signing up for DVR, make sure you not paying for some other services that you aren’t using? Are you even watching all those premium channels? If not, call up your service provider and have them removed.

Threaten to Cancel or Change Service

If you’re going to keep your service, make sure you’re getting the best deal you can. The cost of TV service varies greatly from person to person. It’s likely the only thing stopping you from getting a lower monthly TV bill is you calling in and asking for it. Scan your local paper or look in your junk mail for a competing TV service offer. With that in hand, call up your current provider and discuss getting a better deal. Be nice and simply ask for a better monthly fee that can compete. They’ll do a lot to keep you on as a customer.

Combine Services

One area of savings that’s often overlooked is the bundling of services. Having your phone, internet, and TV all with one provider can help save a nice amount each month.

Set Limits

Lastly, set limits for yourself on the amount of TV you watch each day. This is especially important if you have kids. Life’s best enjoyed when we keep things in moderation. And TV is no exception. As a family, decide on a good limit (1 hour is enough to help you veg out for a bit). More importantly, find something else to do with your time: read, talk, walk, organize, build something, write, create, etc… Having something to fill the void is what’s going to keep you tuned into life and tuned out on TV.

Is TV stealing your time and money? Let me hear from you in the comments below…

Photo by bdunnette

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