What was your New Year’s resolution? Was it quitting smoking? Going to the gym and losing 20 pounds? How’s that going for ya? For a lot of people saving money was on top of their list…Money for retirement, for a vacation or for something else important. One of the best ways to save a lot of money quickly, is to cut back on those monthly bills that seem reasonable at first, but can add up to thousands of dollars over the course of the year.
Since cutting critical things like electricity or insurance is out of the question, you’ve got to look at other line items, like cable television. The average household is paying around $85 a month for the privilege of watching programming that mostly amounts to reruns of cheesy reality shows.
If you decide to start saving money today, by the time you’re making next year’s resolutions, you’ll have saved over $1,000. For a lot of people, the choice between a week of pools and umbrella drinks versus afternoon marathons of Duck Dynasty has been an easy one. That’s why hundreds of thousands of households each year are cutting the cord.
But don’t worry, you don’t have to go cold turkey.
You can still enjoy a lot of your favourite shows including access to live local news and sports programming with these three easy steps.
- Buy an Over-The-Air HDTV antenna
Over-The-Air (OTA) HDTV antennas let you capture FREE broadcast signals from local TV stations. For between $50-$100 you can buy an antenna at a local electronics or department store that will enable most urban and some sub-urban dwellers to access a great selection of broadcast TV including sports and local news. (Find out what channels are available in your area using our TV signal locator tool.) - Buy an Over-The-Air DVR
Many folks with cable are also addicted to their cable-company supplied DVRs so they can save and watch shows at a later date. There are several Over-The-Air DVRs on the market now, including Tablo, that let you browse, record and stream free broadcasts for between $199 and $300…that’s the cost of only a few months of cable. - Supplement with Neflix, Hulu or Amazon for premium content
If you can’t live without your Walking Dead zombie fix, add on a subscription to Netflix (or Hulu or Amazon) and you’ll still be able to watch many of your favourite premium cable shows for around $8 a month.
Total 1-time cost of cutting the cord without going cold turkey: Less than $500.
Saving money while maintaining access to your favourite programs is easier than ever and it’s guaranteed to be a less painful resolution than hitting the gym.
Who knows, saving money might be the first resolution that you actually keep!
