Over the summer, B was accepted into an internship that meant moving a few states over and into his mom's house. While not cooking dinner was nice, cable television was even nicer.
I was 5 months pregnant and tired. Watching mindless television when the Queen was napping was fantastic.
I had my rules. I would not turn the television on while the Queen was awake. She deserved my full attention, even if it was from a couch (I was suffering through major guilt of having taken her babyhood away). Besides, I really didn't want her to have nightmares from watching my kind of television. You know, the creepy kind of television. I am a sucker for mysteries and thrillers.
Every night after we ate dinner, B and I would put the Queen to bed and snuggle on the couch to watch an episode of Cold Case. Oh, how we loved that show. It provided everything from romance to humor to mystery. Fantastic.
If Cold Case was unavaliable, we'd watch some kind of documentary like Gang Land. That was cool.
All too soon, our little vacation was over. We moved back to our dinky apartment and mourned the loss of modern technology.
You see, we don't own a television. That's right. We are medieval like that. (We also don't own a dishwasher or laptop but that's for another post.)
We didn't intend to not own a television, it just worked out that way. When we married, we had a tiny TV, but no cable. After awhile, our computer was more convenient to watch movies on so we (literally) kicked the TV to the curb. So long, sucka!
When we moved to our new apartment, we were faced with a decision: do we get a new TV? This led to a re-evaluation of why we decided no cable in the first place.
At this point in our lives, we do whatever is necessary to make ends meet. We limit our eating out to once a week, we are gravitating to cloth diapers, we turn on the heater only when it's necessary, and we own very used--and old--vehicles. Anything to save money.
When we talked about cable we discussed the pros and cons. Sure, we might have nightly entertainment, but the money we would save without it seemed more important.
Without one second thought, we decided no cable and no new TV.
We haven't looked back since.
5 hours ago
Good for you guys!
ReplyDeleteI have a friend who lives on welfare and who sometimes doesn't have enough food to feed her family. But...she has cable. Such a messed up world we live in.
Amber, my husband's always been so anti-TV that we've pretty much lived without major pop-culture all these years. I watch HGTV, but that's it. We've never had a household where the TV blares on in the background all the time and I think it's good for the kids. They certainly read a lot!
ReplyDeleteGood for you. It is clear from this post (and others), that you have your priorities in check. For what it's worth, I used to watch embarrassing amounts of television and recently I watch little to none. And guess what? I am much happier now.
ReplyDeleteAs you may have gathered, we watch a fair amount of TV in our house - not nearly as much as we once did, but still quite a bit. On the one hand, I recognize the money and interaction that cable TV can suck out a home. On the other hand, I don't know how I would have managed - as you clearly have - the last nine months with an infant and a toddler and no "Yo Gabba Gabba" breaks. For us, moderation is what we strive for - or balance, to borrow your favorite word. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's great! I don't watch a lot of television either, but I haven't been able to totally get rid of it. I really admire people who do, though.
ReplyDeleteWell done, my friend. Well done. As always, you have a clear voice and an even clearer sense of resolve. I love love love that. You are a gem, Amber. I enjoy every little peek into the world of Amber and Mr. B.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
But no House on Monday night? Bummer.
And even more of a bummer, no Dora or Diego or Harry Potter to distract the kids? Shoot me now! :)
The only reason we have as much cable in our house as we do is because it's free for us.
ReplyDeleteI could honestly do without it.
We went for years with a tiny 12 inch screen and the one channel we got with an antenna. But we finally converted over to a real TV with satellite. I don't watch a lot and what I do I do I DVR and watch without commercials. Most of what I really want I can watch online and if it were up to me we would probably get rid of it, but compromise is part of life and so it stays. All 52" of it.
ReplyDeleteMy children were always upset that I could care less about the newest TV technology. We do have cable but the 32" TV is one that I won at a church raffle many years ago.
ReplyDeleteLike Charlotte, I tend to DVR - with the exception of news. I listen to news throughout the day as I work.
WOW!!! I think that's terrific!
ReplyDeleteI would miss my "Mad Men." :)
Wow, I have to give you both credit for taking this step. I watch a ridiculous amount of TV. I do realize how lucky I am - I grew up in the country with 3 channels.
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of yesterday's post at realdelia.com - she wrote about realizing she doesn't miss the gym membership they had to give up. (She does miss the dishwasher, however!)
I wish I weren't the only one in my house who felt the same way about this, and what bugs me most about cable is you come on with a contract for x amount of time, so you end up paying even if you change your mind later. You can see just about anything on the internet now, I'm so ready to go that route when our contract expires.
ReplyDelete[...] our mode of football viewing was discontinued when we changed internet service providers. As we don’t have a TV, we were stuck. How were we going to watch our beloved Cougars as well as the other 8 games [...]
ReplyDelete