Saving Money Little by Little: #1 - Netflix

My first installment to the Saving Money Little by Little topic can be found in the "entertainment" category of our lives. I know no one likes to downgrade things that may make them happy but one of the ways the hubs and I save money is by not paying for cable (insert jaw-dropping-gasp here). 

The hubs and I don’t spend ridiculous amounts of time in front of a television. In fact, right now we don't even own a television. Our schedules are usually filled with other things during the evening and I don’t want Abilene learning how to grow up through a screen (instead of through me) during the daytime.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-TV. Trust me, it’s very entertaining and Brad and I have been addicted to our fair share of shows (24, Friday Night Lights, Burn Notice and Bones. Can I get an "amen"?) . But what I do know is, I don’t want to be paying for the time that I’m not spending in front of the television – which is a lot.

The average bill for basic cable and satellite tv with premium channels in 2011 was $86 a month (NPD Group). Ouch!

The average hour long television episode is really only 42-45 minutes worth of actual show. The rest of the hour is commercials. So not only are you paying for the television you’re not watching throughout the day, you’re also paying to sit through ads for at least 15 minutes of whatever show your watching.

Ew. I hate wasting money.

The hubs and I have been using Netflix for a couple of years now and we absolutely love it. It’s perfect for our lifestyle and for our wallets.

We use Netflix mostly for television shows. That being said, we pay for their most basic “package” which is simply unlimited internet streaming (no DVDs) each month. So the hubs and I can watch anything that Netflix offers through instant streaming (not through snail mail) anytime we want and as much as we want .

Here are some things we love about using Netflix (in no particular order):

• No commercials: We’ve become so accustomed to no commercials and a 42ish minute show time that it’s hard for me to watch normal tv now at a friend’s house. For some reason, now a whole hour seems like too much to commit to and commercials are a constant reminder of how annoying it would be to live with them on a regular basis.
• Internet based: Netflix is available to us anywhere there is an internet connection so, for example, when we were living with the hubs parents during our move, Brad and I could still watch a particular tv series we liked on our computer, even though it wasn’t currently playing through Brad’s parents’ cable.
• No timeline: We can watch what we want to watch any time we want to watch it. If Abilene happens to go to sleep earlier than expected or - more times than not - later than expected, we can still start a show whenever we want to. And if the show is interrupted, we can either pause it or stop watching and pick up exactly where we left off on another day.
• No waiting: If there’s a twist to a show we’re watching that we just can’t believe happened and we have no will-power to wait until the next night to see what happens, we can cheat and watch the first 5 minutes of the next episode to satisfy our curiosity (ahem, not that we ever do that). No waiting for commercial breaks, no waiting a whole week to see the next episode, and (if the show is old enough) no waiting in between seasons to find out what happens next. 
• Price: For us, this "breaks the bank" at a hefty $7.99 per month. We used to have the plan that included movies mailed to your house for $15.98 (I know, so expensive right?) but we realized we just didn’t really watch the movies so I’d rather use that extra $7.99 somewhere else – like on more ice cream each month. I swear I didn't even care about ice cream until I married a man who loves it. Totally his fault. 

Lemme tell you: It’s glorious, people.

And! 

That’s a savings of $78 per month (or $936 per year!) based off of the national average.

That's almost $1000 saved a year in unwatched television! 

So yeah, that would be why we don't pay for cable.

That being said, I'll end with letting you know that Netflix isn't paying me to express my undying love for them (although I'd have no shame in totally taking it if they did), we just really love using their services and keeping more of our money.

Find other little ways we save money by clicking here!