Are you looking to save money by cutting cable? The truth is you can save up to $1200 – $1800 a year by cutting the cord and using cable alternatives. That's a HUGE savings that could make a big difference in your family's ability to pay down debt, afford a new(er) car, or ride out a tough financial season.
Asking friends, readers and team members revealed that a cable bundle can run between $150 – $200 a month. If you take into account that you'll need to find internet elsewhere, you'll still be pocketing around $100 – $150 a month. (WOW! Worth looking into, right?)
Here's how to save money by cutting cable – and still be able to watch your favorite shows, sports and news programs.
How to Cut Cable & Save $1800
There are so many cable alternatives out there these days – you can pick and choose what to buy based on your family's preferences and your budget. But even if you use ALL of the options we talk about below – you'll STILL pay less than cable!
My family does the Netflix, Hulu, Amazon trifecta – and it serves us VERY well. We have an enormous buffet of programs to choose from when it comes to kids' shows, HGTV and National Geographic type shows, new episodes from hit TV series, movies, and even news programs. (If our home wasn't in a weird valley that gets no antenna signal – we'd also be able to watch local news, etc…)
So other than sports, we don't feel even a little pinch at having cut cable years ago. (We could add sports to our lineup if we were willing to pay for Sling TV – but it's just not in our budget right now.)
Here are some of the best options out there for replacing cable service:
FREE Options
If you're SERIOUS about saving, you can definitely do it! Using free resources like YouTube, online TV channels, and even the library for dvd's can keep your television costs down to almost nothing. We've been in a season where it was library dvd's and nothing else – and we survived!
If you're okay with paying something to get the shows your family really enjoys, here are some more possibilities:
- Watch Live TV, local news, local sports
- One-time cost that will give you a good free way to watch tv and get more local channels!
2. Amazon Fire TV – Included with Prime for $99/Year
- We LOVE this option because we use Prime for so much already (Free shipping, etc)
- Decent selection of shows, movies and cool original hit series
- If you don't already have a Playstation, XBox or some other streaming stick device, you'll need to make a one time purchase of Fire Stick – $39.99
- Bonus: Amazon Prime is also offering a free trial of HBO right now
3. Netflix – $10.99 (No commercials)
- My favorite, favorite service for price and selection!
- AMAZING selection of shows, movies and original series
- Choose to watch it on up to 4 screens for a few dollars more (We do this)
4. Hulu – $7.99 (Skip commercials for extra $4/month)
- Different from Netflix in that you can watch more current episodes, but there are also occasional commercials
- Watch Live Shows the day after they air
- Great Catalogue of episodes from many seasons (so you can binge watch shows)
- Really good selection of Movies, Original Series
5. SlingTV – $24.99
- This is the one you splurge on if you're looking for more specific viewing choices
- Live News, Live TV, ESPN
- Extra $5 to get more Sports & News Channels + Ability to watch on up to 3 Devices
- Huge Catalogue of Shows and Episodes
This isn't an exhaustive list, but I really hope it helps if you're trying to figure out how to cut cable and still have plenty of shows to watch.
You can get a FREE Trial of most of these services at any time – so you can check out their programming and ease of use for yourself!
THE ULTIMATE PRICE COMPARISON SHEET
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Hello Laurie, We have DirectNow, it’s new. We liked the Live streaming channels better that Sling and you get more. Around 60 channels for the price of $35 a month. We signed up at Christmas when they had a promo of $25 a month. You still don’t get locals but we have the anttena fo that. We also have Netflix and Hulu. We have mote TV then before for half the cost. We are saving around $100 a month. That huge!!!!
We have DirectTV Now also and be cause we are ATT Wireless customers, we have the 60 plus channels for $10/ month. They now have contracts with 2 of the 3 main local stations and working on the 3rd. We can use our account to sign into the tv channel apps on Firetv and watch live shows the next day. We no longer have Hulu so the cost is pretty much a wash.
We have DirectTV Cable/internet bundle with the family package for the last 3 years and pay $45/month. We also have an HD antenna, Prime, and Disney Plus. So we end up paying about $65/month. But my mom just got rid of her AT&T cable bundle and switched to YouTube TV, which is $50/month. It has all the channels, sports and local included, plus you can still DVR programs. It’s another great option to have.
I have had Sling in the past along with an antenna. I had the blue package along with the $5 Heartland add on. Worked really well. I used in for the winter months and then cancelled…..no subscription required.