When hubby and I (this post was originally by Laura) bought our home 2 years ago live streaming never crossed my mind, we had Netflix but I didn’t consider any other options out there. So we set up a horrid two year contract with a national Satellite company. As always the first year was bliss and then the big charges stated rolling in after that. For a simple package we were paying $60+ per month with DVR and junk fees thrown onto our bill.
After a few months into it we decided something had to be done, it was just a waste to throw that much on TV for us! After calling the Satellite company to see when we would be able to cancel and check on any early cancellation fees I realized it was cheaper for us just to bite the bullet and finish the service, so we did.
Once October hit (our two year mark) I called them up to cancel. I didn’t want to hear any big speech about discounts or lower rates because I knew any rate they would offer was going to be more than we wanted to pay, period. So after repeating myself 10 times that I wanted to cancel (seems I had three reps. who were hard of hearing…?) We finally had our service cut off.
Great, we were free of $60+ a month charges! So we started to think… we already pay for internet and we already pay $8 a month for Netflix… what other options are there so we could still watch some of our favorite shows? We decided to check out Hulu Plus for $8 a month and it lets us watch all the shows we love for cheap! You can see a list of all the shows Hulu Plus offers here.
The only “investments” we needed to make was a Roku device for our bedroom since we already had a Blu-Ray player for the living room that streamed. So we checked out and found a Roku device for $70, basically the same as one month’s worth of Satellite service. (You can find it for just $49 here!) So we still get to watch all our favorite shows, keep Netflix and pay way less than we were before!
Also see: Save $54.79 Every Month By Snipping and Subbing Your Cable Plan!
Let’s add it up just to see how much this process REALLY saves:
Satellite Service at $60/month = $720 per year
Hulu Plus and Netflix service at $16/month = $192 per year
Total Savings = $528 per YEAR!
And if you want to get technical, we already had Netflix in our home so we are really saving $624 per year! When you look at it in a year’s prospective the savings really hit hard. So if you’re considering making the move and dropping the high priced satellite or cable companies live streaming is a fantastic option!
Now if you’ve done the “bundle” or talked your provider into offering your services super cheap (or you’re married to the cable guy) then this route may not be for you. But the average family pays $60 per month for TV service and has internet on top of that! So why not lessen your monthly cost and make use of the internet you’re already paying for?!
The post From Satellite to Streaming: We saved $528 a Year! appeared first on Frugal Living Mom.