How to SAVE Over $100 on Your Cable or Satellite Bill

Looking to learn HOW to lower your cable or satellite bill? Then this post is for YOU! With the inflation of our grocery bills and the crazy market, I thought I would update this post with EVEN MORE streaming options available for ways to save big!

We bought a new house back at the end of August 2016. We have a bigger home that comes with a larger mortgage payment. So we were going through our bills and thinking of what we could get rid of. We routinely do this anyway. We decided to not only drop our gym member ship (that we hadn't used in months) as well as drop satellite. So I know what you are thinking: You just made the switch to cable, but nope we completely pulled the plug and now we are saving more than $100 a month on television.

***This post was originally written in 2016, but I thought I would update it with what we are using now, new pricing, etc.***

How to SAVE Over $100 on Your Cable or Satellite Bill

We were criticized by our family when we first decided to do it. "How are you going to watch the Olympics?" "How are you going to watch 'A Christmas Story' all day on Christmas?" Serious questions, y'all. And at first, we hadn't worked out all the kinks yet. My husband did a lot of research and now I want to share all of our tips and tricks to help you save over $100 by breaking up with cable/satellite for good!

First, you need a way to stream. We have a Roku smart TV that we bought for our new house. I had already received one through the Netflix StreamTeam program so we knew that we would love this one as well. You could also stream on various gaming systems as well.

Our Streaming Services (Edited 7/22/2021):
1. Netflix - $15.99
2. Hulu LIVE TV - $64.99 ($5.99/month without LIVE TV)
3. Amazon Instant Video - this is included with our Prime membership, so I don't include this in our pricing.
5. SlingTV - edit we broke up with this, but for $20 per month for LIVE TV, you can't beat that.
6. Antenna
7. HBO Now - we only had this for Game of Thrones, so cancelled. LOL
8. WWE Network - my husband had this before we broke up with anything, but now they are on Peacock.
9. YouTube - free
10. Peacock - FREE unless you want the extras and then it's only $4.99/month. We got this mainly for The Office, but now WWE is on there.
11. Disney+ - we got our first year free with our Verizon membership & it's $7.99 a month after.

Second, you need to evaluate what you actually watch. We noticed we were still recording shows that we had long broke up with and had no intentions of picking up again. We recorded shows that we just had around in case we wanted to randomly watch something, but it wasn't a necessity - all of which we found could be streamed on Netflix or Hulu. I was already mostly watching Netflix, the only shows I was concerned about were The Walking Dead which we watch live with SlingTV and Game of Thrones which we have the HBO Now app for.

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How to SAVE Over $100 on Your Cable or Satellite Bill

What about sports? I don't watch sports, but my husband does. For wrestling he has the WWE network. He has had this for a while because it is the cheapest way to watch every Pay Per View event. For other sports like football and baseball, we use a combination of SlingTV and our antenna. He has not missed a game that he has wanted and if you are a hard core sports fan, depending on what sport you watch there is an app for that.

What about being able to record? How many shows do you have recorded RIGHT NOW that you have recorded for a LONG time, but haven't watched and you don't really have any plans to watch it? Plus, how many things do you record that can be found on Netflix? The only thing I will say that stinks is not being able to pause live TV, but there are commercial breaks for a reason.

Adding everything up, how is it cheaper? The antenna is an up front cost (although there are cheaper options available on Amazon), but it will pay for itself very quickly. I will say to do your research and pay for one that will provide the range you need. The cheapest streaming option for Netflix is $7.99/month. SlingTV is a little more expensive at the cheapest option being $20/month, but they do offer a first month free trial. HBO Now is $15/month. Hulu has a free first month trial as well and plans start at $7.99/month and SHOWTIME is available for an additional $8.99/month after free trial. Adding all of this up, we were paying more than double for satellite, we had to constantly worry about prices changes or channels being dropped, and we were still paying for some of the services listed above anyways!

How to SAVE Over $100 on Your Cable or Satellite Bill

I do not miss satellite (and I have never missed cable before that). We are saving a decent amount of money each month by doing it this way and we have everything we could ever want to watch at our fingertips. Living in a digital age, I understand the importance of disconnecting. Turning off the TV and enjoying your family, life outside, or even the simple quietness. But who doesn't like to indulge in some good TV every now and again? In this way, you don't have to break the bank to do it. I understand it isn't for everyone, but neither is satellite or cable! You have to find out what works for you!

***My husband watches sports and that is been a struggle, but my sister-in-law broke up with cable and satellite and got YouTube TV (the paid for version). They don't have trouble watching any sports her husband wants to. We also no longer watch any shows live. It isn't something we miss. We aren't really TV watchers anymore in general. I do like TV on in the background, but it's mostly for background noise. Breaking up with cable and satellite was a great way to break up with our TV addiction.

What are some TV shows you like to watch? Do you have any questions about breaking up with satellite/cable? Let me know if you made the plunge and how it has affected you/your family.

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12 comments

  1. I cut the cable two months ago and it has been awesome. I have a firestick for netflix and Kodi and I am set. I was afraid I would miss it but I realized I was not watching tv as much as just having it on for background noise.

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    1. I will have to look into Kodi. Thanks for the tip!

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  2. But,how much are all of those streaming services costing you? I know that some of them are free.

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    1. We were paying for the WWE Network and Netflix before anyways. There are free options and we may get rid of some of these in the future when we re-evaluate what we watch. But we are still saving over $100.

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  3. Oh darn, you can repeat my first comment. I guess I had skipped the paragraph for htat! Sorry.

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  4. I love my Roku! I have had Roku for years and I am amazed at how many more channels have been added over the years. If you are interested in cutting cable you should check out the channel list on the Roku site, Amazing choices!

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  5. We dropped DirecTV, bought an antenna, and watch Netflix...so happy with the big savings!

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  6. I'm still currently under contract :( i do have hulu netflix crackle and amazon prime video i plan to cut direct tv as soon as my contract is up!

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  7. We havent cut cable quite yet. I like shows on AMC like Walking Dead Preacher Better call Saul. I also like the History channel and a few others. Every time we come close, some new one comes on. We dont have streaming devices though so it is a bit harder.

    ellen beck

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  8. My husband is always trying to find ways to save on our expensive cable bill. We have cut out a lot of channels to lower our fees. This is advice is definitely good for us.
    twinkle at optonline dot net

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  9. my tvs been unplugged for about 3 yrs now. I dont even know when we had time to watch it. I've got a netflix card that was given to me thats also about 2 yrs old or more...tried to give it to my kid and he's also too busy to want it lol

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  10. My brother's family recently did the same as you guys did. He says they're very happy with it. They cut their bill in half and they get all the same shows.

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Thanks!
♥,
Diana