Television used to be one of the cheapest forms of entertainment. However, if you’ve looked at your cable bill lately, you’ll see that prices for cable have risen drastically. If your cable bill has gotten way out of control, look for ways to cut cable costs.
Evaluate Your Needs
While cable is wonderful and gives you many choices of entertainment, do you really need 200 cable channels? View your cable provider’s list of packages and select one that better fits your needs. Cut out the channels you do not watch on a regular basis. If you have more than one premium movie channel, reduce it down to one. Stop paying extra for pay per view movies and wait for them to air on your movie channel instead.
Bundle Services Together
Another way to cut down on your cable costs is to bundle your services together. Why pay separately for your cable, Internet and phone service? Call your provider and ask about bundling your services together. It is usually less expensive. Be aware, however, of the terms and length of the contract and ask about penalties if you cancel the bundled services early.
Switch Providers
Call your cable company to let them know you are cancelling their services and going with another cable provider. The current cable company will often offer a special deal to retain you as a customer. If your current cable provider will not offer a better deal, go ahead and switch your cable services. Most cable providers will offer good deals for new customers.
Subscribe to Netflix
If the other options to cut your cable bill don’t work out, subscribe to Netflix. Reduce your cable to just the basic channels so you can still get the local news and supplement your entertainment fix with Netflix. Netflix has a large number of both movies and television shows. Their plans range from $4.98 to $29.98 a month depending on the plan you choose. You can choose from DVD’s that are mailed directly to you, instant streaming or a mixture of the two.
Watch Hulu
Hulu or Hulu Plus are both another option to reduce your cable bill. Hulu offers the latest television shows and movies with instant streaming. Hulu is free while Hulu Plus is $7.99 per month.
Cancel Cable
Perhaps the best way to reduce cable costs is to drop cable all together. Instead of plopping down in front of the television every evening, pull the plug and be more productive. Spend time with your family; go for a walk or just cozy up with a good book.