“Visual Sounds No.1” Mixed Media on Paper. All Rights Reserved 2014. Totsymae.
On Tuesday of this week, my life will be different, folks. It’s gonna be intellectually stimulating with creative immersion, saving me $120.00 a month. I know. That’s a nice little chunka change. Where is that whopping sum of money coming from, you ask so curiously. Well, I’m finally boycotting cable companies. along with getting rid of my home phone. Nobody calls me on it anyhow. And there are only so many channels that can be watched. Not that I try to watch’em all. Bye-bye Ripoffcablecompanies, hello $1440 a year. That’s how much I’ll be saving.
I spent 45 minutes on the line trying to convince these folk why they were no good for me. That the relationship was over.
“I see where I can get you down to $154.00 a month for the plan you currently have,” says Ripperoffer.
“Yeah, that’s what I started off with and now I’m at $200.00. What you’re offering is temporary. I need something long term that’s gonna benefit me.”
“What channels do you watch now?” probes Ripperoffer.
“I watch Bravo, OWN…I watch’em all.”
“Do you watch sports channels?”
“No.”
“One moment, as I look in my system.”
Honey please, look right on.
“Will $150.00 work for you? What’s comfortable for you?”
“Look, there’s no promotion you can give me long enough or steep enough to retain my services.”
“Oh, so you’re looking for a permanent promotion?” Ripperoffer chuckled.
“Yes,” I said, with a didn’t you know kinda tone.
“Well, we can offer you DirecTV.”
“Yeah. I had them before and they go up after the promotion. Look, I’ll give up TV before I continue paying these prices.”
That brought an end to Ripperoffer trying to swindle me. Now, I realize there’ll be some withdrawal symptoms. Maybe I’ll resort to scratching my belly or walking in circles until I get back to that place I used to be of not watching television. Maybe I’ll get smarter by reading relevant books, writing a Scandal-like TV show, run a tortoise marathon or sail the Pacific on a self-made boat. The possibilities are endless, folks.
What have you gotten rid of that bettered your life and whatnot?
All Things Totsy and Beatrice 
Imagine what you can do when you’re not watching!
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Maybe not a coincidence that service ends on my birthday.
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I am glad you found the strength to do give up your cable service.
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Actually, strength had little to do with it. It just didn’t make sense anymore. Know what I mean?
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Good for you. I too am cutting back. But with Netflicks I can get anything I want. B
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Yes. I will be using Netflix and/or Hulu. What is that? 9 bucks? A huge drop from $200.
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That’s awesome! I think the cable people better watch themselves, I see no benefit anymore to what they are offering. Many people in my neck of the woods, rely only on free DVD’s they check out of the library. They have some good movies over there, it’s free, and you can control when and what you watch.
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Yes, they should be watchful. The rates are ridiculous. If more folk tuned them out, the rates would be a lot less. As it is, like the folk you know, I’m resorting back to my DVD collection. Was just waiting for my contract to end with those vultures.
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We are thinking of getting rid of our home-phone, too. No reason to have it anymore. Good for you for down-sizing. Now, you can live a bit more 🙂 xx
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Yes, you should. Don’t give away money. I’m just gonna put that money in my savings. I feel richer already.
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Good for you! I gave up cable years ago because I hardly watched any of the channels. Now I just have Netflix.
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I didn’t have it for awhile, so now I’m back to that. I’m glad though. It doesn’t make sense to spend that much. I’ll be using Netflix or Hulu, along with the library of DVDs I already have.
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Good for you! I wish I had the gumption to do that.
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I thought I’d never get the gumption to drop it. All I have to do now is pack their stuff and ship it back. Good riddance.
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Congrats. I am starting to look at the entire downsizing myself.
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You know, I was waiting for my contract to expire. I couldn’t wait for this moment to come. Ridiculous prices.
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I went without TV for 2 years. It was a sweet relief! Now that I live with my sister, there’s TV available. I still don’t watch it.
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Yes, Netflix that’s the solution.
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Either that or Hulu. This is the best decision I’ve made all year….Hmmm…I don’t know if that’s a good or bad thing.
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It’s all good.
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🙂
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What have you gotten rid of that bettered your life and whatnot?
Please don’t laugh. Church. (Yup.)
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I’m laughing! You’re a mess.
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Congratulations on recognizing your needs and acting on it! Yay!
We’ll probably always have cable tv here. It’s a part of our landscape.
Stupid question… what will you do for internet connection? (I’m older than you so I can ask these questions.)
Lovely painting by the way! Love your style.
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Yes, yes! As of tomorrow, I’m free. The internet will work without a phone line with fiber optics and whatnot.
Thanks.
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Good. For. You. Enjoy the raise and praise yourself for your resourcefulness. Yoo hoo HULU; bring on the Netflix gigs…I’m doing a happy dance for you. There are other options out there.
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Hulu and NetFlix…You’re singing my song.
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We did that. We fired Comcast and two weeks later, went to U-Verse with ATT. What can I say? We have no will power. The funny thing is, I only watch CNN and VH1 for their music videos. We do watch sports (Baseball, Football, Soccer), but only our teams. The only thing we watch together is movies, and shoot, we could rent those. I’m just a cable junkie. The end.
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Creatures of habit, I guess. I’m just a creature who wants to save my money.
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We canceled cable about a year ago. We still enjoy TV. We have Netflix and Amazon Prime. They cost about 15$ a month for both. Occasionally there’s a show that isn’t offered for free on Amazon, that we really want to see and we pay for it. We watch what we want, but still never come close to spending 150 a month! Good luck, you can do it! It’s completely worth it.
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I’ll definitely look into Amazon Prime. Thanks for sharing. I’m doing the happy dance.
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Welcome to the growing crowd of the uncabled! I gave up cable a year and a half ago. Best decision I ever made. I’m a member of Netflix and have an old fashioned antennae for the local news. I hardly ever watch that because I’m so disgusted with the commercials! You can also invest about $100 in a gizmo called a Roku that connects you to the internet so you can watch all kinds of stuff (Amazon Prime movies, Hulu, You Tube movies…) It’s amazing what’s out there without being a slave to a cable company.
I’m happy for you! 🙂
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I hope the crowd keeps growing too. That’s the only way they’ll lower prices and stop taking advantage of folks who wanna watch a li’l TV. I’ll have to look into the Roku gizmo. That way, I won’t have to use my computer. I tell you though, I feel like I’ve lost 50 pounds by getting rid of that bill.
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I know the feeling. It’s good and I don’t miss cable at all!
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You’re very brave, Totsy. Let us know how it goes. I’ve often imagined myself doing the same, but I’m too chicken. The thought of missing my TV shows is unnerving.
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You can do it, Monica. I’m rootin’ for you to take that step. While I already miss my favorites, I look at the return I get by not watching them. I have decided, however, to invest about 100 bucks in Roku and that’ll settle everything.
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$1400 a year can buy you a lovely little vacation, and the way i see it, its better to live life than to watch it on tv!
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I hadn’t even thought of that. And I do need a vacation.
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I’d rather have just the 20 channels I like instead of the bargain (?) price I am paying for the 200 channels I never watch.
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