Cut the Cable

For years we have resisted cutting DishTV from our household. We only have 1 TV and a basic package/dvr that was costing us about $76/month. We justified the expense, saying it was so small that it wasn't worth getting rid of. 

A few days ago, while reviewing our budget and goals, I thought again to myself, why do we have this? Most of everything we watch is on Netflix or available at our local library. My husband jumped on board and I cancelled DishTV yesterday. 

My husband went to Walmart to get a digital receiver for our tv and to my surprise, for a one time $30 purchase, we now have 28 free channels. We can now watch local and national news, throw on some PBS kids shows for my son, or stay up to date on Grey's Anatomy, which is mainly what we used Dish for. For some reason, I didn't really realize we could get that many channels for free or have them come in so clearly.

Why didn't we do this sooner?!?

This one change will save us over $900 in one year. This one change won't pay off our mortgage or get us to FIRE, but it is one step that, stacked on top of a few more changes, will make a huge difference over time.