QuestForAMillion.net

After taking a long look at our television viewing, we’ve decided to dump cable. Other than cartoons, most of what we watch is on the free broadcast channels, and the kids are starting to outgrow some of the cartoons. We’re currently on a special deal with Comcast where we get a ton of channels, HBO and a couple of DVRs for about $45/month. That ends in June and our current package cost would increase to $110/month. I don’t mind paying for something if I feel like I’m getting value out of it, but we don’t anywhere near $110 worth of value out of cable TV every month. Even if we dropped to a lower package we’re looking at over $50/month and that wouldn’t include any DVRs. We don’t watch much TV but we’ve come to totally rely on DVR capability. That’s one thing we’re not willing to give up.

To that end, we’ve decided to be good American citizens and stimulate the economy with the stimulus check we received today. We purchased a home theater PC and a media center extender to be able to get TV in the bedroom. The PC has an HDTV tuner in it so we can get the over-the-air broadcast channels. We’ll be able to record TV shows and have a media hub for all of our digital movies and music. This is a significant up-front cost but within a relatively short time we’ll have made it up by not paying for cable. And we’ll have a laptop we can take on the trips we intend to start taking over the next few years.

Anything we can do to eliminate monthly expenses is a bonus as far as I’m concerned, even if it does require an up-front cost. As long as we can absorb the cost without difficulty it places us in a better position for the future. Part of what helped to push us to make this decision now is “free” money from the government plus a small expected inheritance. Our income is sufficient for the stuff we need to do, we might as well have a little fun with some of the “extra” money that comes in.