Back in July we decided to cancel our DirecTV subscription and I have to say, after my initial withdrawal from MSNBC, it hasn’t been a big deal for anyone in the house. I asked the boys if they missed it and they said they didn’t. Because of the tall trees near our house we can’t even get a signal for basic channels with a digital receiver/antennae so we have been getting by on Netflix and DVDs. I’ve just increased the time I spend listening to NPR for my news fix and it’s all working out quite well. I certainly don’t miss the commercials, especially the ones for prescription meds. Those used to drive me crazy. I’ve never been sure how I feel about the way they offer free samples. It’s like hey — here’s a Concerta coupon. Not quite the same as a Cheerios coupon. Personally I feel that doctors should be giving out the info on prescription meds, and not the producers themselves. But that’s just my own little pet peeve.
I also enjoy the lack of toy commercials and not having to hear the “I want this, I want that.” The boys also watch substantially less TV as a result, even though we’re pretty willing to put on any of their DVDs for background noise. So that’s been good, too. And, of course, the cost savings. We maximize our Netflix subscription by watching lots of stuff online, and I use Hulu for shows like The Office, The Daily Show, and The Colbert Report. I thought this would be a lot harder than it was. I’m in no rush to go back to it, either. Of course, we’ll see how we feel in the middle of winter when the list of things to do becomes a bit more limited. We shall see.
We did away with our cable to save money, and we seriously don’t miss it. I made the comment to Jeff last night while watching Monday TV sitcoms that all the shows seem to be about sex! It’s really annoying and boring after a while. The kids love PBS Kids. We are watching less TV, which is good. With Hulu and Netflix, we’ve got it made! I should write about this on my blog.