The Writers Coin

A month ago, I wrote Cable TV is Here to Stay…for Now. I had just finished doing a whole bunch of research on ways I could cut my cable and decided most people weren’t ready to make the jump.

There wasn’t (and still isn’t) a convenient, reliable way to kill your cable bill and replace all the functionality you get with cable (like DVR and not having to fiddle with a bunch of wires or remotes).

The Challenge

But after I wrote the post, I said to myself, “Carlos, you aren’t ‘most people,’ you’re a tech-savvy person willing to figure a way to make this work.”

The challenge was set: it would test my problem-solving skills, my research skills, and my tech skills. I was excited to come back and disprove my article and announce to the world how I had killed my cable and saved a bunch of money.

It didn’t go as planned.

I spent a bunch of time and money figuring out a way to replace cable with an antenna and my Internet connection, while while making it as convenient as possible so my wife would approve.

And I couldn’t do it.

I tried different setups, I altered strategies, I returned one product to test another one…none of it mattered.

In the end, I couldn’t get the channels I wanted with the reliability and quality that I get from cable.

If I would’ve been successful, I would’ve saved $564/year.

Cable=Convenience

And that’s when I realized I wasn’t paying $47/month for “cable.” I could replace cable and make it all work, but it wouldn’t be as convenient.

And that’s really what it comes down to: convenience.

So I’m here to reaffirm that cable cutting isn’t ready for the masses. The masses watch a lot of TV and they want the channels they want without interruption and on a DVR.
Cable cutting won’t be ready for primetime until someone comes out with one product that you plug into your TV and boom—you get everything you need in one, handy remote.

Of course, some of you can do that fairly easily if you don’t watch a lot of TV or don’t need a DVR. But for the average TV watcher that’s been spoiled by having a DVR, cable is still the best option.

What’s the Best Option?

There are pretty much three basic ways you can replace cable, and the most convenient is to get a TiVo Premiere or something like it. Plug an antenna into the back of it, and you’ve got all the major networks (if you’re lucky) and a built-in DVR.

Then you can use their Amazon Video on Demand channel to get the rest, along with Netflix and Hulu Plus.

It’s convenient, but it’ll cost you $20/month (or the $499 one-time fee) and if your antenna doesn’t bring in a good signal it won’t matter: you won’t be happy. Still, that’s the closest thing I could find to buying one box that does it all—and again your paying for convenience.

I’d love to hear from people who’ve made the switch, are happy with it, and what setup you’re using. Please share in the comments!

Image by Luke Wisley

I’ve been doing a lot of writing for Wisebread this month, and I wanted to share some of my favorites here:

How Lessons from Moneyball Can Help Your Career: Loved the book, haven’t seen the movie yet. But the idea of finding something that’s undervalued and dominating it will certainly help you in your job. This post was also quoted by BNET, which was awesome!

6 Tips to Shrink Your Bills Every Year: I learned a lot of tips when I did my bill audit, and these are some tips I learned from the whole experience. People were pretty impressed with the idea of doing this on an annual basis.

Learn New Skills for Free: The Power of Forums: I’ve always wound up on forums when trying to learn something new. It was only when I was trying to learn how to build my own PVR (kind of like a DVR) that it hit me how useful and helpful forums can be. So I wrote a post about and some things NOT to do.

How Investing Drives Us Crazy: Lessons From a Trade: I made all the right decisions. I wasn’t greedy. I was responsible. I did my homework. And it didn’t matter…this trade wound up driving me nuts regardless.

Any favorites out there? I’ve been writing about career stuff a lot lately, and it was kind of fun to relate Moneyball to something we can all use in our working lives.

I’ve been doing a lot of research in my quest to cut my cable bill, and let me tell you: there are hundreds of different ways to go about it. It all depends on your viewing habits and how addicted you are to the conveniences of your current setup.

Which can make the whole process very intimidating.

So I’ve tried to create a guide to help everyone thinking of cutting their cable and get them going in the right direction.

The First Step: Who Are You?

Before you start buying things and excitedly hooking them up, you should know the type of viewer you are and the different alternatives that are out there.

There are three types of TV-viewing habits:

The Addict: Loves his/her shows and won’t miss them for anything. Loves talking about the shows and the characters in them. TV isn’t just something to do, it’s an art that exists to be enjoyed, discussed, and critiqued. If this is you, then this is going to be a real challenge—but it’s still possible.

The Average Viewer: Watches a show or two religiously, but that’s about it. Will flip the TV on if there’s nothing else to do—will find something to watch. Missing an episode is not really a big deal—DVR to the rescue. If this is you, cutting cable is definitely possible depending on which channels you watch.

The Casual Viewer: You have no idea what Modern Family is all about and would rather turn the TV off than channel surf. You have very few things you have to watch. If this is you, congratulations—cutting cable is going to be easy for you.

Up Next: The Setups

When you break it all down, there are three basic ways to go about replacing your cable:

Network Boxes

There are tons of products out there that are easy to set up and bring a ton of content to your TV (via an Internet connection): Apple TV, Roku, Vudu, some DVD players, some TVs, etc. The idea here is to open up the Internet on your TV.

Pros: One box, one connection.
Con: Relies on apps—no app, no channel. No broadcast networks built it.

TiVo

The company that made their brand name a verb (“I TiVo’d the game last night”) makes it pretty easy to cut cable. Hook up an antenna to this device and boom—you’re pretty much there. With Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, and Hulu Plus you’ve got a wealth of options at your fingertips.

Pros: Very easy, very convenient. Built-in DVR.
Cons: Monthly bill eats into your “profit” from cutting cable.

DIY Setup

This is what tried to do. It requires the most amount of research, time, and patience. But it’s well suited to people who like customization and digging into details. And putting themselves through hell.

Pros: Set it up however you want it, no monthly bill…ever.
Cons: Time consuming and costly. Will test your patience.

And Lastly: Cost

Before you pick a setup and run with it, see how much it’ll cost you and compare it to your current bill. How much is convenience worth to you? How easy will it be to watch all your shows? How much do you want to save?

If you go the DIY route, you’ll probably spend more money up front but reduce your monthly bill to zero. A network box is a one-time cost, but won’t get you all the channels in real time. And if you go with TiVo, it pretty much gets you everything but the monthly bill will eat into your profit.

There you have it! I hope this helps everyone out there that’s been toying with the idea of eliminating their cable bill. Good luck!

For more on cutting cable, check out my Wisebread article Cable TV is Here to Stay…For Now.

Image by Nick J Webb

There are two parts to your budget: the money you make and the money you spend. Money in and money out: it’s at the very core of every company’s budget, including your own.

A lot of poeple recommend we focus most of our time on making more money vs. cutting our expenses. After all, the money you make is unlimited on the upside (you can always make more), but you can only cut so much from your budget.

Your expenses are a fluid, ever-changing thing, and you should always keep them in check. That’s why I recommend taking an annual look at all your bills and exploring ways to maximize where your money is going. Plus it can be a lot easier to cut your bills than it is to make more money.

I just finished doing this myself and I was surprised at how much money I could still save. Especially since I’m one of those really proud personal-finance bloggers that thinks he’s got his stuff all locked up, optimized, and nailed down.

If a better deal was out there, I would’ve caught it, right?

Wrong.

After running through all my bills, I was able to cut my expenses by $120 $150. All it took was making some calls, doing a little research, and taking a look at how much I use the services I feel I “need.”

Here are the details on where I saved money:

T-Mobile ($75 $100): This was the big one. I got M and I on a family plan (BEST PLAN EVER is what their marketing calls it) that protects us from those damn overage charges by giving us unlimited minutes, texts, and data. T-Mobile’s plan is dirt cheap because they don’t offer any phone subsidies: if I want a new phone, I’ll have to pay for it myself. No worries there—I enjoy the challenge of finding a good deal on a phone.

I also had to commit to a two-year contract, something I willingly accepted in exchange for the savings. Bonus: the rep on the phone offered me an additional $10/month off my bill for trying their voicemail to text service. So far, it’s pretty hilarious—my buddy apparently invited me to “watch the game toilet bowl.” Classic.

Update: The final bill finally showed up and with all the discounts they threw at me (along with a 6% discount through my work), I am now paying less for both ($69) of our phone bills than I was for my own ($71). Unbelievable!

Car Insurance ($45): This one was easy. I went on Geico’s site and created a bunch of quotes (it’s really easy) to see how they compared to our current provider. Because we own our car outright, we didn’t need one type of coverage we were paying for. And because we joined AAA (they have some amazing discounts), we didn’t need the roadside assistance part either.

I got another discount because I’m a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder (Berkshire owns GEICO), so that made it even cheaper. It’s true, GEICO can save you 15% or more! I also made a note to change my condo insurance when it comes up for renewal in a few months—I found a cheaper alternative there as well.

Netflix ($5): Not a lot of money, but every bit counts. Especially since the bill goes down from $11 to $5. This came about because of the price change—they kind of forced me into it, which is fine by me.

$120 may not sound like much, but that’s money I don’t have to make on the other end anymore. And by committing to an annual bill audit, you can ensure that you’re expenses will always stay in check.

Sweet Image by tommy the pariah