photo by jenn_jenn
Guest Post by Rachel from Modern Mommyhood
Some people think my family is crazy for not having TV. My husband says, "We have a TV. We can watch a snowstorm whenever we want." That’s because we don’t have any channels.
One time, we rigged up some rabbit ears and tried to get the Steelers game, but much to my husband’s dismay, it didn’t work. Not even a little bit. We live in town and our homes are too close together to get any signal that way.
We sat down, looked at each other, and knew it was probably for the best. Right now, I am a stay-at-home mom. Money is tight, so we can’t afford that bill. We have a mortgage, two student loans, and ever-increasing utility bills. It’s worth it to be at home with my one year-old daughter.
Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy plopping on the couch after the little one is in bed and zoning out to a good show. After a long day, it’s nice not to have to think about anything. But, during the day, I don’t need that kind of distraction. The way I see it, not having television has saved us money in more ways than one.
First (and most obvious), it saves us $37.99 a month. That’s how much it costs to have some channels around here. I could definitely use that money for something else: more groceries, clothes, Christmas, saving up for a new dryer…
Second, when I am not in front of the television, I am finding ways to earn money. My
communications degree has led me to several free-lance writing gigs,
and I need all the time I can get to brainstorm ideas and query local
publications.
Third, when I am not in front of the television, I am finding ways to save money. When my daughter goes down for a nap, I head right for the computer. I find great ways to save money on sites like this one and MomAdvice.com. I can also check out deals at my local supermarket’s website and fill out surveys on Lightspeed to earn a few gift cards.
Fourth, when I am not in front of the television, I am being productive. We won’t have take-out expenses because I am cooking dinner. We won’t have to hire a cleaning service because I am dusting and vacuuming each week. We won’t have to pay for disposable diapers because I am taking the time to clean the cloth diapers.
So in reality, we are saving a lot more than $37.99 a month. Besides, when I want to chill out after a long, hard day, there is always Netflix!
When Rachel doesn’t feel like being productive 
, you can find her blogging over at Modern Mommyhood.
From Money Saving Mom: Just out of curiosity, how many of the rest of you live TV-free? We are almost 99.9% TV-free–our rabbit ears pick up a few channels so if there is some rare major news event we want to watch (say a Presidental election, etc.), we’re able to catch it. Most of the time, though, our TV leads a very solitary life–only being used for educational videos and the occasional family film.
Aside from all the extra time we have, the money saved on a cable bill, and the junk we’re not bringing into our home, we’ve also found we’re less likely to covet if we’re not being bombarded with silly commercials about the latest and greatest products we "must" have.
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We have never had TV. My children know nothing about the current children’s programming that is all the rage such as Dora or Hannah Montana. They do recognise Pooh and maybe Tigger, but barely.
I will likely also shut off our Internet service,at least for a time. People have live without it for centuries, and I could, too! I enjoy keeping up with current events on CNN’s website but in reality, there is no pressing need for me to know every gruesome thing that’s happening!
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I’m a busy single Christian gal that grew up, mainly, without television. My parents would hide the tv on us. I’m grateful to parents that were concerned about what was filling their children’s minds. Lord willing, I would love to be married in the near future and I pray that my husband will also have this conviction. I have a tv, but like the guest writer, I too have snow. The only snow we have right now and it’s not outside:).
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My husband and I made a commitment before we were married to live TV free the first year of our marriage. We could then focus more time and attention on each other and making our marriage stronger. After the first year, we didn’t miss the “tube” and eight years later (and almost 3 kids) we still do not have TV! This has been one of the best decisions we ever made!!! I hope many of your readers will make it too.
I never thought of the money we were saving by not paying the cable bill, since we have never paid it. But I do know we save money by not being lured into wanting “stuff” we see on the commericals.
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We have the rabbit ears, and get very little reception, with it. We mainly watch family movies, together on our tv. There is so much worthless stuff on tv, that we know that we aren’t missing much.We do enjoy a good presidential debate, too!
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I agree with Marsha. I think we need to include the INTERNET as part of this no-screen lifestyle. This is a big trap for us women who are always blogging, surfing the web, coupon searching, etc. It can be just as unhealthy. More time away from these devices equals more family time. And isn’t that what we’re all really striving for? Just a thought…
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We have a tv in our living room and in our basement living room. We pay $14.16 a month for basic channels, PBS, the weather channel. We really enjoyed watching the Olympics this summer together! My husband really appreciates being able to watch a bit of sports on tv, and in my opinion this is a pretty cheap hobby, so I’m fine with it. It’s also been fun to watch movies on the regular channels rather than having to rent them. Especially classics.
I think our family does a great job of not letting tv become too much of a part of our lives. We watch one show on Thursdays that is 30 minutes long and another on Mondays that is an hour. We normally fold clothes or clip coupons as we watch. The shows start after our kids go to bed. I think you can find a way to balance tv in your life. It doesn’t have to be an either/or situation. By that I mean either watching it all the time and inhibiting relationships, or not even having it as an option. Of course, if something is too much of a temptation for you, maybe it is better to just cut it out entirely. It just isn’t a struggle for us.
I don’t really see the difference between watching movies on dvds and watching tv shows. You’re in charge of how much you watch with either option. If someone is concerned about “wasting time”, then watching a dvd would also be wasting time.
We also frequently have guests over to have food and watch shows together and just talk. The tv has been a great asset in building relationships, believe it or not. We have had a couple over weekly who do not have a tv service, but really love a show that we watch. They had just rented the dvds, but instead started coming to our house to watch it with us each week, and to hang out.
There is always the potential for any activity/hobby to take you away from doing something else. Something more productive, something that is eternal vs. something insignificant. Even good things. I could spend a lot of time trying to save my family money but how much time is too much? I could spend x amount of time trying to keep my house clean, but how clean is enough? What is most important? Every choice impacts other choices and other people. We all need to have an avenue to relax, laugh and to know what’s going on in our world. Thankfully, tv isn’t our family’s primary way to do these things. But I love that it is a way.
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TV-free here. We use ours for videos only. And the videos are free–Pittsburgh has a huge library system and you can request just about anything you might want to watch, and they’ll have it!
Given how hard it is to control viewing even with just dvd’s and no channels, I’m glad we’ve avoided tv entirely. And it’s true, the screen really tethers you. About the only useful thing I can do while watching a movie is fold laundry.
We’re big talk radio listeners though.
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Here’s a conversation I have almost weekly:
“Did you catch the latest Office last night?”
“No, we don’t watch TV.”
“Oh, neither do we, except for a couple shows we follow. Speaking of… did you see…?”
“No, really, we don’t watch TV. At all.”
We have a TV leftover from our college years, and it gets its fair share of DVD usage, but a TV station is never turned on. AND, I’m delighted, it’s NOT in the living room- it’s relegated to the back of the house. We listen to NPR for our news & entertainment. The TV will be booted before the end of the year, and I can’t wait! We’re replacing it with a bigger computer monitor, so we’ll only have one computer/TV/DVD-player device.
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We do have TV. We have a sat. dish. We have cut out so many other things to save money. I respect my husbands wishes to be able to relax with his sports channels and games, and the news networks. We do not watch much. The kids enjoy occasional shows, which of course we closely monitor and must approve, and I can find myself being a Game Show Network junkie! I’m a fan of the oldie goodies too, The Waltons, Little House, etc.
On our budget, there is so little entertainment going on, other than our family time which we get a lot of, that we do not feel convicted that having our TV is an issue—for us. I respect others’ choices in this area.
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Since I see no one has already mentioned this, my family and I are able to avoid paying for TV by watching all of our favorite shows on Hulu.com. It has full episodes of lots of great shows, and even some movies. It’s a great alternative!
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I LOVE TV!!! I have no kids and my husband really enjoy spending our free time together watching our favorite TV shows. Its great cheep entertainment, and it helps me relax after work. We have a whole entertainment center hooked up with HD, DVR, which is really nice. I did just start going to the gym which has also been a nice diversion. I am enjoying this “kid free” time in my life. I know that it won’t last much longer so I am enjoying it now!!
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Kudos to all of you who can live TV free! My Dad and Mom, who live in a small rural town in Quebec, use rabbit ears and we all think they are crazy because they only get 2 English channels and the others are French. Not that we sit in front of the TV all day long, but it is nice to know that when we have a chance to sit, we can watch a choice of shows!
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We watch very little TV for the same reason most folks don’t watch it at all–I don’t like the values it portrays (kids channels, like Nickelodeon, seem to be pushing that to be cool, you must have the right clothes and be a rock star, like I want my kids to learn that!). We got a huge chuckle when recently, at work, some of my husband’s construction friends were talking about a show they had watched the other night, and when my husband said, “I didn’t see it, we don’t have cable” they looked at him like he was from another planet!
As a landlord, I am always amazed at tenants who are having difficulty paying their rent, yet they always have a huge TV and I had to give permission to their TV company to set up a satellite dish on my rental’s roof! $30.00, $40.00, $50.00 per month for TV? But you can’t pay your rent? They don’t find a lot of sympathy from me…..
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We also just get a few channels with the antenna and seldom use it. We watch videos (mostly free ones from the library or ones we own). When I’ve been wiped out with pg or illness my mom has taped some HGTV for me, which I enjoy. But I love being able to zip through the commercials too.
Most often, if we happen to end up watching TV someplace else, we are reminded of how good it is to not have it.
(But before I get too proud of myself, I must admit I could and probably should cut back on internet time.)
Jennifer
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Technically we have it b/c it comes with the internet, but we never get to watch it. We only have it on when our 8 month old is asleep and since she sleeps on my lap more often than not, it almost never happens. She almost always wakes up as soon as it goes on–she can hear it!
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I am so envious of all youTV-less people! My husband is a TV junkie. The TV is on 24/7. He never turns one off. Many times, there are two on at once-with no one watching either of them. It drives me nuts! I have told him that if he dies before me, I am placing the remote control in his hand and burying it with him. He is a sports fanatic and cannot live without ESPN. He had to do without in the past when we lived in other areas, but since we got the dreaded DISH six years ago, there has been no turning back. We could even get very good free TV where we live now, but it’s not going to happen. Oh, I watch a lot of TV too, but just because it’s there. I could live without it altogether-especially to save that $65 per month!
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We do not have cable, however we do get a few local channels for free with an attenna. I enjoy staying caught up on the local news, international news and watch a couple things when I want to, but we can live without it. I like to know beforehand if it will freeze tonight so I can cover my tomatoes or the like!
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We have basic cable. We don’t watch that much tv but I couldn’t imagine not having it at all. I find it funny though that the writers big reason for not having tv was saving the $38/month yet she says she has internet and netflix.
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TV free here. It’s way too expensive to have a bunch of channels that never have anything on anyway. And, I would be too tempted to just sit and do nothing when there are plenty of things to do.
We do buy some tv series on dvd and watch those for tv time. Some of our favorites are Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons.
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Just wanted to chime in that we’re TV free and have been ever since we got married almost 11 years ago. My DH keeps saying that “someday” we’re going to have to get it when the kids need it for school but…..I’m hoping to hold out. =)
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We have two TVs and no cable. We can’t even get local channels. We have found that there are free (and legal) ways to watch TV online…on our time. It saves us tons of time.
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I grew up in a TV addicted household, one in every room but the bathroom and, for most of my girlhood, my own room. I chose to marry someone who absolutely loves live sports, and this is the main reason we pay a bunch of money for cable. I recently convinced him that the TV should go in a “TV” room, not the living room. I really wish I could live in a house without a TV though (but this would mean a house without my husband!) Commercials make me mentally and even physically sick, though I enjoy watching Netflix and online documentaries, plus a few fluffy shows here and there.
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We have a television and we have very, very basic service (15 channels) for about $10 per month. This is a huge downgrade for us because we used to have Dish Network with a DVR and over 100 channels–when we were making twice as much money. Honestly, it hasn’t made a huge difference for us. We didn’t watch a lot of tv to begin with and the shows we did watch were on basic stations, which we have now. We do miss the DVR because we could always fast-forward commercials. If it were to all burn tomorrow, though, it would be an adjustment, but a small one. As with any modern technology, tv, in and of itself, is not evil…just the abuse and misuse of it. It is a means of grace for those that can afford it and choose to have it in their homes. Not having a television can also be a means of grace. It all depends on one’s family situation, I guess.
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We go tv free for 6 months at a time (the maximum amount of time we can suspend our directv without having to pay the contract termination fee of $240–we have to keep doing this until the turned on time equals 18 months)and then have to have the tv on for 3 months at a time. Although this three month period of “TV on” has convienently occured durring the olympics, conventions, and debates we have also found that our children think they OWN the one tv during this time period. They are 8 years apart and don’t watch the same shows so channel conflict errupts daily. I can’t wait until Nov 12th when we are once again “TV Free” for another 6 months. The house becomes more peaceful, I get more done, I buy less, I’m less compelled to do major home improvement projects and more compelled to be content with what we have, we sit down to watch DVD’s as a family. Unfortunately we have to do this cycle 4 more times! Arghh…I wish we had never signed up for this “deal.”
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No TV here! I started without one while I was living on my own about six years ago, and when we got married we continued the tradition as an “experiment” — now I don’t know how we got anything done with one! If we have major quilting or knitting to do we listen to the radio or books on tape.
I do have TV at work and some of my clients like it a lot (I work with the intellectually disabled). I’ve noticed, and I’m glad, that I have become a lot more sensitive to even just previews of shows. I’m now much more aware of how the crime shows such as the CSIs so often sexualize violence and death, and I don’t think I’d be able to watch them now. I’ve personally found Phillipians 4:8 to really be playing out in my life since I’ve given up the telly.
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I am wondering if I am brave enough to give this a go??
What could happen if the tv went off?
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We tried television free and decided to do Netflix instead. I will admit it, it bombed in our house. We do love to watch television, but we forgo many other extras to have the television. I did decrease our plan during the warmer months though because we weren’t watching it. I thought that was a great alternative for someone who does not want to cut their plan out entirely.
I am so touched to see my site listed up here. Thank you so much, Rachel! You made my day!
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We just never found much that appealed to us on TV! Between the skin, materialism, cussing, violence and more… I am much more in tune with reality and a healthy mind without it! My husband and I don’t watch any, our 4 year old “earns” a “productive, educational” show on PBS from time to time. I agree, the things I get done with out it… How does anyone have time anyway! The money saved – a major plus.
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Totally TV free living for ten years or more (my son is 11) in a COMPLETELY TV crazed nation. People intive you over for a meal and it is consumed with the TV on!!!!!!!! Everything here is based on TV! Everybody told you our kids (now 4) would be social outcast and basically retarded because of lack of TV. It turns out they are way ahead of their classes BECAUSE they have not TV. They read with excellent skills, have fervid imagination and know a lot more than just what is on TV. People are always amazed to find they live a TV free life, but can’t really say much negative about it as the kids are really well adjusted, sociable, and interesting! We never have enough time to do all we want NOW, I can’t imagine if we had a TV to eat away at time on top of everything else!
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We’re mostly TV-free too. When I was a student, I found that I wasn’t getting my readings done because I’d always have the TV on. I grew up in a family with two working parents, so TV was the babysitter. I was so used to it that I had to have it on ALL THE TIME and I could never concentrate on anything!
So one day, I just called our cable company and told them to cancel it. I knew I couldn’t just keep it off myself. Well, it worked! My grades improved, I’m reading more, I’m enjoying life more because I’m concentrating on it. It makes such a difference! Not to mention that my relationship with my husband has improved so much because now we actually spend our evenings together instead of just synchronized TV-watching. We talk more, we both sit in the kitchen and make fancy dinners every night, it’s great! I don’t miss it, not one bit. Of course, it’s an added bonus that we are saving all that money, too.
I do have a lot of DVDs. I sometimes rent TV shows and, if I like them, I might buy a couple seasons for myself. So when I want to do the occasional splurge TV weekend, I do still have that option.
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We are TV free, but do enjoy watching DVDs!
Not having cable/tv access is a great money saver, and I usually don’t miss it.
Nice Article!
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My husband and I have been TV free since we married 10 years ago. At that time, neither one of us actually owned a television set and we couldn’t afford to buy one (not to mention pay a monthly cable bill). Over time, we no longer missed it. These days, 99% of the stuff on t.v. is trash — I’d rather pay for a Netflix subscription and cherry-pick films or shows to watch.
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