YNAB You Need A Budget

[blackdiamond]

I also recently purchased an antenna and got 0 channels when connected to our main TV. When I moved it upstairs it pulled in over 30 channels, mostly junk but does get almost all of the major netoworks. If I didn't have cable network I'd hook the antenna to the exisitng cable network in the house and place it in the attack, but I'd have to run a new line to make that work with my current configuration. The Roku is doing great and I really don't miss having network TV at all.

[ecrews18]

We have aluminum siding on our house so the indoor antenna didn't get good reception. We bought one for $50 that would work outdoors (but is the size of a modem) and we have awesome reception now. We ran a cable through the siding and house just like they do for cable or dish and hooked it up to the tv! I flat out refuse to pay for cable tv...paying for high speed internet is expensive enough for me!

[litterbug]

I'm really in a dilemma because the Tour de France begins this Sunday, and the only way to watch Universal Sports is to subscribe to DishTV, which requires a two year commitment. And then there's world cup skiing and snowboarding competitions, which are some of my favorite things in the world, and only available on U.S. I don't want to spend the money, but I really, really want to see my favorite athletes and teams do their thing, and there's no substitute for the commentary that's only available on U.S.! So I need to look at my categories to see what I can cut back on. I can do it, I just don't want to because until last season I got U.S. free on OTA HD broadcasts!

[Luna]

I have never had cable and I have watched the Tour de France since 1986. Last year, NBC sports Network had $30 subscription for all live coverage of the Tour. I haven't checked to see what they are offering this year, but I would assume something similar. I hook my computer to my TV and watch without a hitch. The only problem is getting my work done when the Tour is on, especially since my TV is also my second computer monitor.

[litterbug]

Last year, NBC sports Network had $30 subscription for all live coverage of the Tour. I haven't checked to see what they are offering this year, but I would assume something similar.

!!! Did you get that over the air? Through NBC's website? Does it include the commentary? I wonder if they did the same with World Cup snow sports. It would be great for me. I'd still miss the professional snow sports competitions, but I'd get the important stuff.

U.S.'s $30 season pass provided live feed only, which was close to useless because I got no information about the course, new athletes, or what was going on behind the scenes or during the off-season. Very much a bummer.

[Luna]

Oh it had plenty of commentary. It was really good coverage. As I recall they also had a recap show in the evenings for people who work during the live feed (as in work and cannot watch while at work. I count my blessings that I work from home.) I believe it was Phil and Paul doing the commentary. In previous years, I found Eurosport to be good but the Internet was hard to get once they figured out folks were watching without paying. Time to look up my options and plan for July.

[litterbug]

Oh it had plenty of commentary. It was really good coverage. As I recall they also had a recap show in the evenings for people who work during the live feed (as in work and cannot watch while at work. I count my blessings that I work from home.) I believe it was Phil and Paul doing the commentary. In previous years, I found Eurosport to be good but the Internet was hard to get once they figured out folks were watching without paying. Time to look up my options and plan for July.

I checked, NBC is indeed selling the Tour package for $30. I usually did record the recap show (I assume you mean the 2 hour version), because I'm often not home in time. It also looks like NBC Sports will offer World Cup skiing and snowboarding--hopefully bundled together.

As you can tell, I'm a bit of a junkie. I love watching people do stuff I'd never even think of trying, even when I was a wild young thing. I hope to ski the downhill course at Snow Basin this year, but I won't look anything like Lindsay Vonn, and that's not just because I won't be wearing a skin suit.

[S3NTYN3L]

I, too, need to dump my exorbitant cable bill!
Just a few snags from the research I've been doing...

I LOVE Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Breaking Bad. (AMC)
I also require Person of Interest but, since that's on CBS, it's a non-issue in my book.
My wife will still need her mind-numbing reality TV from whatever networks produce such garbage. (Bravo and TNT, I think).
We'll both need Survivor. Again, CBS, so non-issue...

I can live without my History & SYFY channels as they're just pouring out the same reality garbage as everyone else these days, so...


I've already got a sub to NetFlix.
Should I also be looking into adding Hulu AND a Roku box?

HALP, I want to get rid of my $90+/month cable bill, lol!



EDIT:
OK, We bought a Roku box yesterday.
So far, so good in terms of functionality.
I'm not happy with pretty much any of the channels they offer, so I think I'll return it since we can stream our Netflix (and/or Amazon Instant & Hulu+ if/when we choose to get those) through our gaming console.


My plan now is as follows...
Our cable provider, RCN, charges us $14.95/month to "rent" the HD-DVR.
For $12.95/month, we can swap it out for an HD-TiVo box with the exact same functionality.
That'll save us $24/year.
Couple that with dropping the "Total Premier Pack" @ $16.95/month, which we've never really taken advantage of, and we'll save $227.40/year.

Factor in the Netfilx subscription, $95.88/year, and we'll be saving a grand total of $131.52/year.

I also realized that I'm paying roughly $45/month for Internet access @ 15mbps down/2mbps up.
They're over-charging me. They now offer 25mbps down for the same price, so I'll get that changed as well.
No real savings, but at least now we'll actually be getting what we pay for.

I may try and talk them into lowering my Internet bill once I inform them that I now know about the over-charge if they won't just upgrade me at no extra charge.



2nd EDIT:
OK, so we're not going to be returning the Roku.
We'll be giving it to my father so he can shut off his DirecTV account.
I've also, FINALLY, talked him into shutting off that darned land line of his. It only took five years, lol!
His total savings will be roughly $95/month.
He very rarely watches any sort of TV and, when he does, it's usually older/classic movies or religious in nature.
From everything I can tell from my perusing the Roku lineup, it'll be right up his ally!
Hopefully, it'll be enough to get him back into the black at the end of the month.

As for wifey and me, we ended up with a TiVo Premier and 25mbps Internet.
The TiVo "rental" is $2/month less vs the "standard" HD-DVR.
We dumped the "Total Premier Pack" but the savings are a wash because of the monthly subscription RCN charges on TiVo's behalf for their services.

Long story short, we've almost doubled our Internet speeds for $5/month less, lol!
Hey, at least we're saving something...

[sulaco]

Here's my advice. Don't do cable, Netflix, Hulu, internet, antenna, etc. Drag out the puzzles instead! Your quality of life will increase greatly and after several weeks of withdrawal, you'll be thanking me!

[blackdiamond]

Here's my advice. Don't do cable, Netflix, Hulu, internet, antenna, etc. Drag out the puzzles instead! Your quality of life will increase greatly and after several weeks of withdrawal, you'll be thanking me!

Sounds like you're a puzzle and board game type of person. I don't dissagree that doing this would greatly benefit all families, I'm not a fan of puzzles or board games (my wife's family is). I'd rather look at a wall than play most games for any length of time. My wife knows which games she can get me to play on occasion and lets me opt out whenever there are enough players to not require my services. I grew up without a TV so have learned to live without one, but puzzles and games are not a great alternative for me, I'd almost rather clean the bathroom.

I'm finding that we're spending less and less time watching the Roku with Netflix and Hulu Plus after the initial period of excitement. It's just enough of a pain to have to actually choose what to watch that we end up just watching the few shows that we subscribe to. Our wasted TV time is spent just watching the same show in the background (stand up comedy) or just listening to Pandora.

I'm just about over not being able to watch NASCAR and have also adapted to having to watch the NFL games in the bedroom. With our 16 month old we pretty much get to watch the second half of SNF after he's in bed unless one of our teams is on and we make an extra effort.

[3100]

We got rid of cable TV in late 2008. We have an Apple TV and a Netflix subscription (both discs and streaming). Sometimes we get "season passes" to shows we like that are available through iTunes (like The Walking Dead), which allows us to watch shows the day after they air. (I believe this is possible through Amazon Video, too.) Other shows, like Survivor, are available free on network sites the day after they air. We just hook the laptop up to the computer to watch those.

I can relate to the pain of having to choose what to watch--sometimes I'll have a weekend afternoon when I feel like just lounging around and watching something...and find myself spending a half hour just trying to figure out what. It's a rare occurrence, though, because during normal TV watching time (we watch one show or movie an evening generally), we have our roster of shows to select from, or we have a Netflix disc on hand.