Life without Cable - Confessions of a Roku Owner

When Aaron and I got married, we made a few changes to our "lifestyle."  We wanted to find ways to save more money to put us in a position to buy a house within the next two years.  The first thing we did was to get rid of cable.

Let me start by saying that I hate Time Warner Cable with every bone in my body.  There are no warm fuzzy feelings for them. Anywhere.  At the same time, I like TV. I like internet and, at least around where we live, there just aren't that many other choices.  To get what we wanted, we couldn't get the price down to less than $100/month.  So, we gave up the cable, but kept the internet.

For those that don't know, when you get rid of cable, you have to use another platform to watch TV.  You can use bunny ears or you can stream from the internet.  Enter the Apple TV, Roku, Xbox, Blu-ray players, etc.  It's basically like a smart phone, but for your TV.  You have apps that you use to watch shows and movies.

I was the first to move into our apartment, around August 2013, and Aaron moved in after the wedding in September. We didn't buy the Roku until after the wedding.  That means that for roughly a month, the only TV I had was through the bunny ears.

Confession #1: I bought a Dooney & Bourke bag off of QVC.

Bunny ears are bad news if you live in wooded areas or in a multi-family housing situation (condos, town homes, apartments). Our bunny ears pick up about 20 channels.  A quarter of those channels are some form of PBS and most of the others come in very choppy.

QVC comes in perfectly every time.

One Saturday morning, about two weeks before the wedding, I was watching QVC because nothing else was coming through clearly.  They brought on these snake embossed leather purses.  And they had MAGENTA.  I cannot resist animal print, real leather, or crazy colors.

Oh! And five easy payments? Yes, please!

Sigh. Perfection.

It arrived a week later and went on the honeymoon with us.

I have had middle-aged women tell me they also own my bag (but in a much more demure color). I don't care. I love that bag.  You could rob me and I would give you everything in it, just not the bag. True story.

Confession #2: I have watched Grey's Anatomy from the beginning to the current season (ahem, that would be 10 seasons) in 4 months.

Don't judge me.

For four years, I didn't have time to watch TV.  I had a DVR, but I couldn't go back and watch whatever I wanted, when I wanted.  In fact, I generally forgot what was actually on the DVR.  With the Roku, I have Hulu Plus, Netflix and Amazon Prime, among other things.  I decided to start back at the beginning of grey's because I could. And I did. Soon, I will have to find a new obsession as I'm only 5 episodes away from being completely caught up.

Confession #3: I lose entire days of my life watching TV (ahem, Grey's Anatomy)

Remember when I said I didn't watch TV for four years? I'm making up for the lost time.

Confession #4: I was scared to get rid of cable because of Bob Van Dillen.

I watched CNN Headline News for years. You can't get that without cable.  I enjoyed it because it was interesting, nothing too political and the anchors are snarky smart alecks.

And this.

Who doesn't want to get their weather from this guy?!?

Alas, Bob was not worth the extra $60/month to keep the cable.  Now I just stalk his blog.

Confession #5: I actually enjoy not having cable.  

I watch so much more TV now that when I actually had cable.  I can watch older shows, go back and watch old episodes and it's all on demand. It's a LOT cheaper (we're saving roughly $60/month). Now I just have to find a new obsession...and weather man...