In looking for additional savings in your budget, many people decide to cut the cord and get rid of cable to save money.  But before you look for alternatives to cable, you should determine if this is the right savings strategy for you.

I have asked my dear hubby, Andy, to write this post; because I might be the savvy shopper, but he is the crafty cordcutter!

Are You Ready to Cut the Cord?

My beautiful bride asked me to write a post on getting rid of cable, aka: cutting the cord or cord cutting.

As some quick context – I am not the authority on cord cutting but am a bit of a gadget guy. We have been cable free for about a year and while there has been a bit of a learning curve we have been very happy and have no intention of going back. To be honest, the actual installation, with the exception of maybe the antenna, is the easy part. In my experience, it is important to understand what cord cutting is and is not…so let me share some of my simple insights.

Cord Cutting: Things to Consider Before Getting Rid of Cable

User Viewing Experience

If you think that cutting the cord will give you a cable like user experience you will probably be disappointed. You are paying a premium for a point and click experience with cable, but with that comes a steep price tag and lots of content that you hate. I mean who really watches the Hallmark channel?! Sorry, I couldn’t resist – don’t fret Hallmark channel lovers you can still get the Hallmark channel if you cut the cord. Cutting the cable will require a bit of a behavior change in how you access your programming via the many alternatives to cable tv. So if you are not ready for that change, cutting the cord may not be for you.

Know What You Want After You Cut the Cord

Everyone is different. Some people have their channel(s) that can’t live without. For instance, if you can’t do without ESPN, BTN, CNN, FoxNews, etc. then you need to know that going in. Also, if you are like us and love your DVR and can’t stand it when you watch a commercial- then you will need to account for a DVR too. You can easily solve for all these; but just remember the more services you want built back in, the more the cost you add back in as well. So be honest with yourself at the start, because if you say you can do without a certain channel or service and don’t account for it you will be frustrated.

Flexibility Not Just Savings

I mean the name of Mary’s blog is Mission to Save so you know that saving money in the budget was a big part of our decision. To give you an idea, we are saving about $80 a month (that’s almost $1,000 a year). So in general, you will probably save some nice coin. Cord cutting gives you the flexibility to pay for services and channels that you want to consume while avoiding crazy taxes and being loaded with channels that you will never watch. And in most cases, you are not locked into any long term 1 or 2 year contracts so you can drop a service anytime.

Don’t Try to Figure Cord Cutting Out All At Once

I can all but guarantee shortly into your cord cutting journey; you will quickly realize that something you thought you needed you really don’t or vice versa. For us we thought we could do without a DVR and found that we hated having to watch the on-demand episodes with an extra 20 minutes of commercials. Everyone is different and that is what is cool about cutting the cord, you can taylor your “set up” to your needs. So just know going in, you will probably make some changes along the way.

I know I didn’t get into the nuts and bolts of how to cut the cord, maybe my beautiful bride will have me back for another post  (YEP, I will!). There are importing things to consider like the right antenna, wireless bandwidth, smart devices, DVR options, streaming service, etc. But first, consider what it is you want because that will make the technical aspect pretty straight forward. I would encourage you to consider taking the cordcutters plunge – worse case is you hate it and you can go back to cable.

Since hubs wrote this post, we have seen that Netflix has raised it’s prices and Hulu is also adjusting their rates. These are two of the alternative to cable tv that you might have considered.

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So, Are You Ready NOW to Cut The Cord?

If you answered- YES! Then be sure to check out part 2. Hubs is back with great details on just how to cut the cord. It’s a must-read for anyone getting rid of cable (if I do say so myself.)

(BTW- great work hubs, right?! Leave him some comments below to let him know he did a great job, or if you have any follow up questions.  You can also ask/comment in the Mission Savers Group on this topic.)