Cable Be-Gone!

Way back when we had our apartment. Way back to over a year - almost two years - ago, Rob and I rid ourselves of one very addicting and money-consuming luxury.

Cable TV.

This seems like such a drastic turn from my normal posts lately (all about Addie - although this does have a little bit to do with her technically). It also seems quite outdated considering we got rid of it so long ago. But it's better late than never to talk about this topic, especially in light of the fact that before we know it Addison will be older and TV is often a topic of concern or question when it comes to children.

We aren't saying that we are any better than anyone with cable, who let their children watch TV. We just decided this was best for our family and also best for our wallets. When we first decided to get rid of cable was a couple of summer ago, it was because we realized we hadn't turned on the TV (we did watch movies though) for over three months, yet we were paying for it. That seemed a little insane for us. We were basically just taking money away from ourselves.

I'm not saying I don't enjoy watching a little cable when we go somewhere else like a hotel or heck the hospital when Addie was born, but for the most part I don't miss it. I always enjoyed watching The Discovery Channel or TLC or The Food Network, but most of the time I napped through whatever I turned on. Was it really worth spending all that money just so I could take a decent nap every day? Probably not.

And now with the birth of Addie, I'm even more glad we don't have cable. I don't want temptations to just stick her in front of the TV or the fights to get her out from in front of the TV each day. I much rather fill my daughter's head with characters from books or go outside and play. I'm not saying she won't ever watch TV. We have a collection of Disney movies, which I don't have a problem exposing our daughter to from time to time.

This isn't to say that we completely gave up TV all together. We bought those digital bunny ears and get the basic channels. We don't necessarily watch TV anymore than before - although I do enjoy The Rachael Ray Show every morning (when Addie allows me to watch it that is). Instead of paying a certain amount for more channels than we could ever watch, we paid one amount (WAY less than we would be paying each month), and now can watch about 12-15 basic channels. A way better deal.

Now we have more money, and we aren't feeling like we are wasting time watching pointless cable TV when we could be bonding as a family or really doing anything at all.