food for finance: cutting the cable cord

(healthy) food for finance is a column where we talk about how fitness and finance correlate with each other. join us on our journey to be both physically and financially fit.

"Money talks, but all it ever says is good-bye" -American Proverb

If you know my husband, you know he is an avid sports fan. By sports fan I mean a huge Mississippi State fan. His grandfather attended MSU. His parents met and attended at MSU. He attended MSU. His sister went there and many more of his family graduated from State. It is in his blood. In turn, I joined a cult! My in-laws have season tickets to the big 3 sporting events: football, basketball, and baseball. Kyle grew up playing sports. It is a part of his life. So what happens if he can't make a game?  He watches it on TV. Sometimes the games are on local stations but sometimes they're not. Kyle even watches his rival school, Ole Miss, play. Why, you ask? Because he likes to see them lose. He would watch all games if he could. Not just MSU games. Don't get me wrong, Kyle does other things than watch ESPN! He is married you know! He does a good job at balancing it out.

However, Kyle did the unthinkable. He cut the umbilical cable cord. WHAT?! WHY?! HOW?! We talked about it for a year before it happened. We had DirecTV in our bedroom and the living room. In March of 2010 we cut off the cable in our bedroom. That saved us $8 a month and we got the "free tv" converter box. We didn't really watch TV in our room so that was easy. We were still paying over $80 a month for cable just in our living room (we had a HD/DVR box.) Kyle called and got it lowered to $60 a month for 6 months. Well, that ended in August. Then he called to cancel and they gave him 2 months free. So we rode that out until October.

Kyle finally said he was ready to cut if off.  He said up until now, he felt like he deserved cable. Then he said what he deserved was to pay off our debts. Now I'm not saying that if you have debts and cable that I think you're horrible for enjoying cable. I am saying that Kyle realized that we could take that $88 we were spending towards cable and attack our debt snow ball faster. We've decided to live under our means to get ahead. We cut a lot of things that I will talk about later. We still have fun. Especially now since we're debt free but the house!

So, since October of 2010, we have had no cable. And we're making it just fine. We even got us a HD antenna. Whoo Hoo! I laugh at Kyle because he didn't cut off the cable. He had it suspended for 6 months. In April we are supposed to tell them if we want it back on or not. Wonder want we'll do!?!

We did splurge and get Netflix. We honestly don't watch that much TV anymore. I do miss it but we are so busy and we get so much more done! It is amazing how much time was spent watching TV. I really miss my DVR! This is just a temp thing until we complete baby step 3.

We are taking financial peace university at our church. The teacher asked the class what can you do to cut your bills and we told our cable story. All the men in the class looked at us like we were crazy! Who would ever do that?! We did! We are so on board with this plan it is not even funny! I feel like I'm training for a marathon and we are only about 10 miles in.  I like to think of it this way; If you're trying to lose weight, you want to exercise and eat better. This will help you to lose calories and weight. I am a chocolate peanut butter fan. I love the Reese's cups that come out during Easter time. I'm so bad that I will buy them up, freeze them, and eat them all year. Well, I'm giving up my Reese's so that I can lose some pounds. We've got this!