Green Panda Treehouse

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Update: The Carnival of Money Hacks #10 hosted by Money Hacks featured this article!

Photo Credit: Midnight-digital

Last post I wrote about how the cable plus internet bill was less than the cable bill at home. One way we achieved it was cutting the extra channels. If we would’ve maintained both the extra channels plus the internet it would’ve been about the same price we paid in our last state for just high speed internet.

Some people may have wondered why we didn’t just keep the extra cable channels if they was no change in our budget. The real wasn’t whether we can afford, it was whether we used it enough to justify paying for it. My husband and I got used to not having those channels and were able to be fine. In fact some of the shows are available on the channels website, which gives the benefit of saving money and fitting TV into our schedules.

I was tempted to keep the channels, especially since I love Sci-Fi, HGTV, and Spike TV (they show Star Trek a lot). When I looked at how much TV I watch, though, I realized it was a waste of money. I could think of three ways to better use it:

1. Pay down my car debt. I can’t stand having this loan. This would help me sleep easier at night. (It’s growing everyday and my last payment had $50 applied to interest!)
2. Put that into savings. That’s an extra $200/year that give me a cushion from bills.
3. Put that towards our eating out budget. We do enjoy eating out with friends once in a while and I’d rather do that then veg out in front of the TV. I think after we pay off the car, we might increase our eating out budget.

Does this mean I’ll never upgrade my cable? No, never say never. Circumstances change and I can see myself watching HGTV. I just don’t think it’s the best use of my money now.

What bills have you cut down? Which expenses do you think are worth it? What’s your favorite channel and why?