One of our best ever decisions!

One day about, oh three or four months ago, my husband was on the phone, yet again, with Verizon. They had switched their cable packages again and we had to either choose to pay an additional exorbitant amount to keep the channels we were used to, or we could pay the same amount we had been and gain a much smaller library of channels to choose from.

That's when it came to me*... Screw Them! We'll cancel our cable. We don't need them. We're always trying to make the kids less zombie-ish anyways, AND who has time to sit around and watch $100 worth of television a month when you have 3 little kids?

(* I say "it came to me" because this is the moment I agreed to it. My husband had brought this up many times before and gotten shot down - by me... cancel our cable - HA! how would I ever cook dinner without SpongeBob?!?!?!)

At a time when we have been trying everything we can to cut costs and spend more quality time with the kids, this seemed like the perfect timing, the perfect decision to make! And boy! Was I right!  We cancelled the cable (kept the internet - obviously! We're not animals!) and bought an antenna. We also stream shows and/or movies from Hulu and Netflix through our Roku when we want to. All this is more than enough for us and costs us about $65 a month (including the internet).

Let's review the benefits:

• A LOT less money per month!
• Kids (and parents) watch so much less TV. There are some days the kids don't ask to watch it at all. They play - using their imaginations, read books, help around the house, etc. I can also honestly say that Zoie - my almost 11 month old has never shown interest in watching TV at all!
• No TV in the bedroom = more quality time with the hubs, more sexy time AND more parental sleep - which is HIGHLY valued around here.
• Without the stupid TV noise in the background all day long - we are now big music listeners. Music is good for the soul. :)
• 95% less commercials viewed! This was a benefit I hadn't anticipated - but it is so so so nice. I love that the kids can watch cartoons and I don't have to hear "I WANT THAT!" a billion and a half times.
• Productivity: up 60% in the Deneweth household!

This has definitely been one of the best decisions we have made! Two days ago, Christopher asked me this, "If we were rich and didn't have to worry about cutting costs anymore, would we have cable?" To which I answered a quick, "Hell no!"

After we did this revolutionary thing called cancelling cable, I start reading news articles about other people doing it, the latest here in the St. Pete Times. Yup - I feel kind of like a trend setter. :D

Although - this is our first year without Shark Week - which is kind of a major bummer... :(