Our two financial goals are early retirement in Dec 2020 (at 57/60) and a major annual trip with the kids while they are still at home. Yes the travel is delaying the retirement by ~3yrs but is a choice we’ve consciously made. To that end, every other dollar of spending is under the microscope. Every dollar wasted on crap and nonsense is a dollar taken from the next trip or moving up the retirement date. When you have clearly defined goals it sure makes it easy to prioritize where your dollars go. Do we really need that $20 fast food meal while out running Saturday errands, or do we take 5 minutes before leaving and pack a picnic for the road? In the back of my mind I know the addmission price at the Louvre in Paris is $20. Forgettable heat lamp burgers vs. seeing the Mona Lisa? Um, really not a tough decision. Do I need those great $100 shoes or would I rather use it for a gondola ride the next time we’re in Venice? Again, no contest.
The idea of signing up for any recurring $100 monthly bill would drive me crazy, since I’ve calculated that for every $100 additional that I save moves up our early retirement date by a day. Everytime that $100 went out of the account I’d be imagining what I could have been doing on the lost day.

I love that you spent thousands on your trips but won’t spend $15 on tv. I completly get that. Many of my friends don’t understand our choices, but that’s okay, they don’t have to. It is slightly annoying though when they seem to throw money at every indulgence imaginable and then say “wow, I wish we could afford to take our kids to Europe for a month like that!”. Actually, you probably could if you made it a priority. Just saying.

How about good old conversation, playing board games, or just going for a walk? I hate competing with the tv when I’m visiting with someone. To me, it is the height of inconsideration. If I took my valuable time to come and see someone, then the least they can do is turn off their tv and talk to me. If not, I’ll gladly go home and spend my time doing fun stuff at home. (I have no problem filling my time at home.)

I stream Netflix from my X-Box (I’d have preferred an Apple TV, but I got this as a gift). Another benefit of the X-Box though is it comes with an ESPN app. I don’t watch a lot of sports, but I like college football. There are thousands of sporting events free. The commercials are even cut out. I watched the Sugar Bowl with Ohio State on it. As others have said, in my area you can get many sporting events over free broadcast TV. In fact, in my area there is probably close to fifty free broadcast over the air channels. Companies like NBC offer multiple channels over the air as opposed to how they just used to offer one.

Your recommended site, atdhe.net appears

SEIZED BY ICE- HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS

for having their way with copyrights, basically (I won’t quote the whole thing since it’s a picture and the text can be copypasted).

Anyway, If in the US, stick to ESPN3 for online sports. It’s 100% legal and free with many ISPs. Plus, our creative economy depends on the preservation of intellectual property rights, so this sort of thievery has repercussions.

Plus, the shows we always watch (Office, Big Bang Theory, Parenthood) are online anyway, so we can watch them there if we miss a week. I do miss hockey on TV, but with 2 little ones in the house, I don’t usually have 2 1/2 hours in a row to commit to anything.

If I was a personal finance coach/financial adviser, the first thing I would do with a new client is go through this exercise – find out their “unconscious spending”.

Also, the T.V thing is very interesting. It’s really the Sports – I find very few things more relaxing than plopping on the Couch for the final day of a golf tournement, a tennis major Final (or Semi)- or a baseball, basketball or Footbal game. Maybe there will be a sports only cable option one day!!

I liked one of the first comments from a person who consciously decides she wants TV rather than exotic trips. That’s what this whole post is about, right?! Unfortunately, many truly want nice things or nice trips and don’t realize they’re leaking money in small areas that don’t really matter to THEM.

I’m a huge sports nut and I watch games ONLY this way.

“Conscious spending” for me means first, having a spending plan with my absolute commitments laid out and second, knowing how much I have left over.

Third, it means choosing where to put the money each pay period, so that DH and I are covering everything that’s important to us in ways that are most cost-effective: whether it’s going out to a theatre or ordering a movie on PPV, going out to dance or taking some private coaching, going out to dinner with a couple of friends or having a dinner party for 8.

Like J.D. says, you can have anything you want – you just can’t have *everything* you want. Locking yourself into paying for something all the time, when you only use it some of the time, takes away from financial flexibility.

We stopped cable almost 2 years ago & haven’t regretted it. The few network TV shows we watch, we simply watch via the network websites. Sure, you don’t get to watch them the moment they broadcast, but we don’t care about that.

When our telecom bills hit $250 (cable/DVR/mobile/landline/internet), we cut back on cable and went back to Tivo.

The only show we’re willing to pay for is Mad Men, downloaded to Tivo from Amazon for $2-3/week. Way cheaper than cable. Our current place came with an “antique” antenna in the attic, which works beautifully, and is far less ugly than the satellite dish our neighbors have.

We Tivo most shows we want to watch, and most come in on the 25 or so stations we get via free digital signal. We could probably spend all our TV-watching time on PBS shows (we get 8 stations).

I thought we were complete Luddites, but it turns out our market (Milwaukee) is about 26% cable-free.

For example, on the surface that $125 jacket may seem like a wasted expense when you can get one for $60. But, if you know you will wear the $125 for 3 years, vs, the 6 months it will take you to turn your back on the cheapie, the long-term value of the pricier option is obvious.

I now have DSL through the phone company (just the DSL, not the landline) and it is $28 a month with all the taxes. It’s fast, I watch streaming Netflix through it and am very happy with the customer service.

I also bought an antenna at Target and get 15 OTA channels. I spent $30 on the antenna and $100 on Apple TV and that, along with a $10 a month Netflix subscription, is all the TV I need. I probably watch MORE TV now than I did with cable because there is always something interesting on.

For those of you asking about alternatives to your broadband, check for DSL. It has been perfect for me.

When I decided to drop down to the cheapest cable package I also paid for the next fastest internet speed. So instead of paying appx $50/mth I’m paying about $65/mth for cable and internet. But it’s worth it to me because not only do I watch streaming video and listen to streaming radio, I also play WoW and use Skype all the time.

I’d read your piece about how to negotiate with the cable company for a lower monthly rate. I knew that I had to be prepared to cut the cable if I couldn’t negotiate the rate I wanted. And that is exactly what happened – the cable lady laughed at my request to lower my monthly rate and then charged me $160 for the ‘privilege’ of pulling out of their contract early.
What had annoyed me so much was that the contract had offered $10 a month off the bill for 12 months. I accepted this contract. Then they hiked the monthly rate! So they had me in the contract, but they hiked the rates so that the deal wasn’t worth the paper it had been printed on.
The cable company has so far lost over $1000 in subscription fees from me. I get all the TV I want on the internet – Hulu, Netflix, etc.

The biggest benefit though has been MORE TIME. Instead of veging in front of the TV I’ve cut the cable and cut the ball and chain that was sucking time out of my like. I’m now so much more productive, and less stressed by not watching the politics, death and destruction that poses as news.

Thanks J.D. you’ve saved me a lot of money and improved my life.

P.S. I suffered about six weeks of withdrawal after cutting the cable – it was all I could do not to call up and beg to be reconnected – but going cold turkey worked in the end.